Within an hour they came upon an open road and soon reached the village. It was not necessary to inquire for the owner of the little reticule, for on a wooden post outside the post-office was a notice written in a delicate hand on a half sheet of note paper:
LOST
Lady’s small hand-bag on road near Ticonderoga. Finder will confer great favor by kindly leaving with postmaster or returning to
Miss Antoinette Crosby,
Buck Mansion.
The word “great” was underlined several times, the word “kindly” was underlined twice, and the word “Miss” once.
“How far is it to Buck Mansion?” Harry asked, sauntering into the post-office.
The postmaster took a leisurely scrutiny of both boys. “What yer want to go up thar for?”
“Just to see some one. About how far is it?”
“Well, up here folks calls it three mile. City folks sometimes calls it five. One man that was up thar last summer calc’lated ’twas ten—said ’twas ten mile down and twenty mile back. He was a kind of a comic. But I can tell you right now they ain’t got a vacant room in the house.”