One day, the narrator stepped out for his tea and a meal. He was dressed in a suit and he had a wallet in his coat pocket in which he had kept fourteen rupees. He went into a crowded restaurant and ate a full meal. The meal and tea cost him eleven annas. When he put his hand in his coat pocket to pay, there was no wallet in his coat pocket. When he told the restaurant owner that someone had picked his pocket and had taken away his wallet, the owner thought that he was telling lies. He threatened to gouge his eyes out if the bill was not paid. Then the narrator told the restaurant owner to keep his coat in the restaurant and that he would go out and bring some money.
The restaurant owner did not trust him and forced him to remove his coat, shirt and shoes off. Finally, he asked him to take off his trousers. The narrator told him that he had nothing underneath and expressed his reluctance to take off his trousers. But nobody in the restaurant believed him. As he had no other alternative, he began to undo the buttons of his trousers. At that moment a stranger announced that he would pay the money. He was a sixfoot-tall, fair-complexioned man wearing a red turban and white trousers. He paid eleven annas to the restaurant owner and asked the narrator to follow him. Soon after reaching a deserted bridge, he took out five wallets from his pocket and asked the narrator to choose his from them. When the narrator pointed towards his wallet, the stranger asked him to open it. The narrator found his money intact and put it in his pocket. Thus the narrator realized that his wallet had been stolen by the stranger.
