It is therefore necessary that we should all,
without any exception, submit to a search of our persons by the officers
here."
No objection to this proceeding having been offered by any of the
persons present, the search began; my friend submitting himself the
first.
The operation was a tedious one; for it was unsuccessful. One after
another, including the three suspicious characters already alluded to,
was searched, but no pocket-book was found. At length, the last person
was taken in hand; and he, too, proved innocent--at least of the
possession of my lost treasure.
I was in despair at this result, thinking that my friend must have been
mistaken as to the robbery--that is, as to his having witnessed it--and
that my money was irretrievably gone. No such despair of the issue,
however, came over my friend--he did not appear in the least
disconcerted; but, on the completion of the fruitless search, merely
nodded his head, uttering an expressive humph.
"It's gone," said I to him in bitter anguish.
"Patience a bit, my lad," he replied, with a smile. "The pocket-book is
within these four walls, and we'll find it too."
Turning now to one of the men belonging to the establishment, he desired
him to bring one of the rakes with which they levelled the sawdust in
the area.
It was brought; when he set the man to work with it--to rake up, slowly
and deliberately, the surface of the sawdust, himself vigilantly
superintending the operation, and directing the man to proceed
regularly, and to leave no spot untouched.
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