midnight
He became acquainted with the proprietor 's wife , and found that she was sister to the wife of C. B. , who was that year the president of the association of rogues , he having been elected to that position at M. in the State of Indiana in the month of August . He also learned that her father resided about fifty miles from Baltimore . The detective was aware that this close corporation of rascals had nine directors , and , knowing the position of C. B. in the association and his connection with the proprietor of the saloon , and understanding also the method of distribution , he concluded that two thousand dollars fell in the division to C. B. , and a like amount to the proprietor of the saloon . He left the saloon at midnight , and drove immediately to the residence of the father of the proprietor 's wife , and arrived there between nine and ten o'clock on the following morning , meeting the old gentleman in his wagon between his house and the main road , from which it was distant about half a mile . The detective was also aware of a rule among these robbers , that any considerable sum of money stolen , less ten per cent , should be buried for two years ; and , having ascertained only what has been above related , he felt sure of the fact that the old gentleman was the keeper of one ninth , at least , of the money stolen . He also felt confident that he had gathered enough of the truth to make a powerful impression upon the man he had gone so far to see , and that if he was not altogether given over to the service of this band of bad men , he could state facts enough , which the old gentleman knew were profound secrets , to stagger his mind and arouse his conscience . After an interview of less than an hour this detective , by an art of which we can not conceive , and by a magnetism and eloquence that no other man of my acquaintance ever possessed a tithe of , actually induced the father of these two women to dig up out of his garden two thousand dollars in twenty-dollar gold-pieces and hand them over to -- my friend Mr. Sidney , _ who sits at the other end of the table _ .