Page:Tomlinson--The rider of the black horse.djvu/314

298 and using the counterfeit paper money, which it was said was being provided by the bushel in New York and placed where it was most likely to accomplish that for which it had been made.

Somehow he had himself stumbled upon the "word" which served as a password among the trusty, but what it was that he had said he was unable to recall or to conjecture. He resolved to be cautious, and perhaps he might be able to learn more, though he was sincerely troubled by the fact that Hannah and her mother were staying in the house of this man.

"You want me to leave this at Josh's house?" inquired Robert at last.

"Yes, sir, yes. I did n't know at first whether I could trust you or not, but just as soon as you said what you did, then I knew you were one of us, too. Let me show you," and, with trembling fingers, the old man drew forth from his coat a package of bills—doubtless the very ones he had been counting when Robert had surprised him—and held them forth. "Here are eighty-eight Connecticut forty-shilling bills, and here is one of thirty dollars in Continental currency. They are n't so good as some, for they 're a bit pale; but most o' the Connecticut bills are