miration. "See!" cried the old man; "this is the prize--every dollar
of it. But you must count it--I'll help you--so!" As there was no
getting over the task imposed upon me without hurting his feelings, I
had to sit down and help to count the money--no very pleasant job for
a hungry man. After summing up our respective piles, there appeared to
be only a hundred and forty-nine dollars--just a dollar short. "Lieb
Gott!" cried the man, "there must be a mistake! Let us count it
again!" I felt that there was a necessity for counting it very
carefully this time, for the landlady's eye was on me with a very
searching expression. "Een, to, tre, five, fem, sex," and so on for
nearly half an hour, when we summed up our counts again. This time it
was only a hundred and forty-eight dollars--just two dollars short!
The old man scratched his head and looked bewildered. The landlady
moved about nervously, and stared very hard at me. It was getting to
be rather an embarrassing affair. I blamed myself for being so
foolishly drawn into it. Wishing to know if there really was a
mistake, I begged my host to let me count it alone, which I did by
making fifteen piles of ten dollars each, carefully counting every
pile. It was all right; the whole amount was there, a hundred and
fifty dollars. "All right!" said I, much relieved; "don't you see,
every pile is exactly the same height!" "Ja! Ja!" said the man; "but I
don't understand it. Here, wife, you and I must count it!" So the wife
sat down, and they both began counting the money, varying every time
they compared notes from two to ten dollars. Once they had it a
hundred and sixty dollars. "The devil is in the money!" exclaimed the
horse-dealer; "I'm certain I counted right." "And so am I!" said the
woman; "I can not be mistaken. It is you who have made the mistake.
You always were a stupid old fool about money!" This she said with
some degree of asperity, for she was evidently displeased at the whole
proceeding. "A fool, eh? A fool!" muttered the old man; "you do well
to call me a fool before strangers!" "Ja, that's the way! I always
told you so!" screamed the woman, in rising tones of anger; "you'll
lose all your money yet!" "Lose it!" retorted the man; "don't you see
I have made ten dollars by counting it to-night! There! count it
yourself, and hold your peace, woman!" Here the wife, suppressing her
wrath, made a careful and deliberate count, which resulted in the
exact sum of a hundred and