“That all?” Jim nodded. “Haven’t forgotten any?” Jim shook his head. “Funny,” said the Captain. He opened the parcel, displaying a soiled envelope with a letter showing beyond its torn edge, a cheap-pocket knife and an assortment of coins. Three of the coins glittered brightly in the light from the near-by window. “This fellow had sixteen dollars and forty-one cents when we searched him. Fifteen dollars was in five-dollar gold coins. We asked him where he got them. He said”—the Captain eyed Jim intently—“you gave them to him.”
There was a moment’s silence. Jim was still staring wide-eyed at the officer. Clem was staring fascinatedly at the three gold coins. Then the Captain’s voice came again. “Of course, if you didn’t give them to him he probably stole them and it’ll be up to us to find out where. It probably won’t be hard, for gold-pieces are scarce and folks who have them miss them if they disappear. I didn’t believe the fellow’s statement, because it didn’t seem likely to me that any of you fellows at the school would have so much money on hand. Judging from the condition he was in when we took charge of him, he must have had considerably more to start with. Anyhow, that’s his story. Says he was looking for work and was strapped and asked you for a loan and you came across with twenty dollars in five dollar coins. He was lying, eh?”
Silence again. Clem’s gaze was on Jim. Jim’s was on the bright red carpet. Jim moistened his lips with his tongue and looked again at the questioner. He shook his head.
“No, sir, he wasn’t lying,” he said evenly. “I had—forgotten.”
“Oh, you’d forgotten.” The Captain’s gaze narrowed. “It’s a bad idea to forget things, Todd, when it’s the police who want to know,” he went on dryly. “You did give him the money, did you? How much?”
“Twenty-two dollars—the last time, sir.”
“To-day?” Jim nodded. “Part gold, was it?”
“Four five-dollar gold-pieces and a two dollar bill,” replied Jim.
“Quite a lot of money for you to have, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, sir.”