It was a sort of nightmare, and I guess I struggled with
the dream-robber. Then, all of a sudden, I woke up, and--"
"Was your pocketbook gone?" asked Mollie.
"No, but my money was. And that was the funny part of it. How anyone
could get the money without taking the pocketbook I couldn't see.
And there wasn't anyone in the car with me but a boy--a peddler, I
think he was."
The girls looked at each other. Matters were beginning to fit together
most strangely.
"I didn't know what to do," the young man went on. "I didn't want to say
anything that would seem as if I accused the boy, and I felt the same
about the trainmen. I knew if I said the money had been taken and the
pocketbook left they would only laugh at me. I was all knocked out, and
hardly knew what I was doing. I jumped off the train, and went back over
the line, thinking the bill might have blown out of the window. But--"
"That is just what did happen!" cried Betty.
"What's that?" the man exclaimed, excitedly.
"I say that is exactly what happened!" went on the Little Captain. "At
least, that is how I account for it."
"What sort of a bill did you lose?" asked Mollie, trying not to
get excited.
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