'
"If it hadn't been for the policeman I don't think he would have gone,
but the policeman backed me up, and the clerk hurried off again; and
in the end the bosses decided they had better see me. They looked
precious cross, I can assure you, but before I had done speaking they
looked crosser still.
"'You say you've done that puzzle,'--they shouted--'the puzzle that
has stuck all the mathematical guns at Harvard and Yale--you--a
nonentity like you--begone, sir, don't waste our time with such humbug
as that.'
"'All right,' I said, 'give me some paper and a pen, and I'll prove
it.'
"'That's very reasonable,' the policeman chipped in, 'do the thing
fair and square--I'm here as a witness.'
"Well, with much grunting and grumbling they handed me paper and ink,
and in a trice the puzzle was done; and it appeared so easy that the
policeman clapped his hands and broke out into a loud guffaw. My eyes!
you should have seen how the faces of Pervis and Peters fell, and have
heard what they said. But it was no use swearing and cursing, the
thing was done, and there was the policeman to prove it.
"'We'll give you five hundred dollars,' they said, 'to clear out and
say no more about it.'
"'Five hundred dollars when you've advertised three thousand,' I
cried. 'What do you take me for? I'll have that three thousand or I'll
show you both up.'
"'A thousand, then?' they said.
"'No!' I retorted; 'three! Three, and look sharp.
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