"Well, then, I b'lieve you. But answer me only jest this one more—now don't git mad; didn't you have it in your mind to hook the money and hide it?"

The duke never said nothing for a little bit; then he says:

"Well—I don't care if I did, I didn't do it anyway. But you not only had it in mind to do it, but you done it."

"I wisht I may never die if I done it, duke, and that's honest. I won't say I warn't goin' to do it, because I was; but you—I mean somebody—got in ahead o' me."
THE DUKE WENT FOR HIM.

"It's a lie! You done it, and you got to say you done it, or—"

The king begun to gurgle, and then he gasps out:

"'Nough!—I own up!"

I was very glad to hear him say that, it made me feel much more easier than what I was feeling before. So the duke took his hands off, and says:

"If you ever deny it again, I'll drown you. It's well for