every foot of ground between the house and the landing-place, but
with no better success than before. By this time the ferry-boat,
which had been favored by a good wind during the last half-hour,
returned.

"What do you suppose became of that pocketbook, father?" asked
Lawry, as he stepped into the boat.

"I don't know. I don't believe he lost any pocketbook," replied John
Wilford.

"He says he did, and I saw it myself."

"Perhaps you did, but I don't believe there was any six thousand
dollars in it. If there had been, he wouldn't have thrown it about as
he did."

"He says there was six thousand dollars in the pocketbook."

"I don't believe it. It's a likely story that a man would throw down
his coat, with all that money in the pocket, on the drop. In my
opinion it's some trick to cheat his creditors out of their just due."

"It don't seem possible."

"That's the truth, you may depend upon it. That's the way men make
money."

Lawry was by no means satisfied with this explanation. He went into
the boat, and carefully searched every part of it. His father watched