"Your mother tells me that you have done every thing you could to help her, and have given her all the money you earned. I am very glad to hear so good a report of you, for I have been told that you were rather wild.

The only doubt I have in regard to you now is as to where the money came from to pay for the Goldwing."

Dory told all he felt at liberty to tell, but this did not satisfy his uncle any more than it did his mother.

"A man doesn't give a boy over a hundred dollars without some very strong motive; and your mother is not likely ever to know the nature of this mysterious transaction," added the captain.

"I can't break my promise, uncle Royal," protested Dory.

"Some promises are better broken than kept."

Captain Gildrock's residence was about twenty miles up the lake on Beaver River, where he had a large estate. Dory had never been there, though he had seen it from the river. It was decided that Mrs. Dornwood and Marian should go to Plattsburgh in the Sylph and then go home with the captain, as Dory was to be away for three days.

After dinner Dory went on board of the Goldwing. He had seen and invited the members of the Goldwing Club to go with him, and they were at the wharf when he arrived. In a few minutes they were sailing down the lake.

CHAPTER x.x.x.

CAPTAIN GILDROCK DILATES UPON HIS NOTABLE SCHEME.

The first thing Corny Minkfield did was to apologize for his conduct the last day he had been on board of the Goldwing. He was afraid then that Dory had been guilty of some offence which might get them all into a sc.r.a.pe. The skipper accepted the apology, and they were as good friends as ever.

"We are all invited up to Beech Hill," said Thad, when the difficulty between the skipper and Corny had been healed.

"Where is Beech Hill?" asked Dory, who had never heard the name before.

"Don't you know the name of your uncle's place?" demanded d.i.c.k Short, laughing.

"I never was there, and I never heard the name before."

"We are going up in the Sylph from Plattsburgh to-night. Captain Gildrock is the bulliest man on the lake," said Nat Long.

"He has got something in his head," added Thad. "He treats us fellows like lords."

"He asked my mother what I was going to do in the way of business; and she told him she should get a place in a store for me as soon as I got through school," said Corny. "You ought to have heard him talk then! He said I was too much of a fellow to be a counter-jumper."

"What is he driving at, Corny?" asked Dory.

"I don't know: he didn't let on; but he has got something in his head."

The skipper found that his fellow-members of the club knew no more about his scheme than he did himself. They had a very jolly time on the trip; but the wind was light, and the Goldwing did not arrive at her destination until nearly dark. Dory hastened to the hotel to report to the landlord, who was very glad to see him.

"I am glad you have come; for there is a gentleman in the house who is very anxious to see you, Dory," said the hotel-keeper.

"Who is it, sir?"

"It is Pearl Hawlinshed's father. When he heard that his son was in trouble, he hastened back."

Dory remembered that he had a secret to keep; and he said nothing, expressing no interest by word or look in the arrival of Mr. Hawlinshed.

He asked about the party he was to take out the next morning, and learned that it consisted of two young men from New-York City. They came in while he was at the counter, and he was introduced to them. They appeared to be very gentlemanly young men, and treated the skipper very politely.

After they had talked a while about the trip, they expressed a desire to see the boat; and Dory went with them to the wharf. They were pleased with the Goldwing, and directed Dory to procure the provisions and other supplies for the cruise. They gave him a list of what they wanted, and Dory could not help thinking of what his uncle said when he found "one gallon of best Bourbon whiskey" among the articles to be procured.

On the other side of the wharf was the Sylph. The young men from New York manifested a great deal of interest in the magnificent craft, and wanted to see more of her. But visitors were not allowed on board, for her owner said he should as soon think of strangers coming into his house as into his yacht without an invitation. While the young men were regretting that they could not see more of the beautiful craft, Captain Gildrock, with Dory's mother and sister, came down. At his nephew's request he invited the New Yorkers on board.

Dory had never put his foot on board of the Sylph before, and he was quite as much interested as his pa.s.sengers. Mr. Jepson was directed to show them through the yacht; but, after they had looked into the engine-room, Mr. Hawlinshed came down the wharf in search of Dory, who was obliged to postpone his examination until another time.

Mr. Hawlinshed took Dory's hand, but he appeared to be very sad. His son's trouble caused him a great deal of sorrow: in fact, the bad conduct of Pearl was the bane of his life. He told Dory that he had sold his farm in order to get his son away from his evil a.s.sociates near Plattsburgh. He had come to the conclusion that Pearl was worse than his companions. He had done all he could to save him, and had failed. He was going into a new and spa.r.s.ely settled region himself, and he had hoped to take his son there; but Pearl would not go.

"He wanted to buy the boat I have," said Dory. "He thinks you furnished the money, or at least induced me to buy her, to prevent him from getting her."

"I knew he wanted to buy the Goldwing; for he had a long talk with me about her the evening I first saw you, just as I was starting for Plattsburgh," continued Mr. Hawlinshed. "I think boating has been the ruin of him. He used to go off with young men of dissolute habits, and I think this was what first led him astray. He insisted that I should give him fifty dollars to buy the Goldwing. I refused to do it, and after much violent talk he rushed away from me. You were present the next time we met, Dory," said Mr. Hawlinshed.

"Perhaps it would have been better if you had given him the money,"

suggested Dory. "He took one hundred and fifty dollars from Mr. Moody's room, and I suppose he did it so that he could buy the boat."

"I am afraid it would have made no difference," replied the sad father with a sigh. "He said he could earn his living, and make some money with her; but it would only have been a career of dissipation for him. I hope you will not permit yourself to be led away while you are running the Goldwing."

"I can't see for the life of me why Pearl did not buy the boat if he wanted her so badly," added Dory. "She is worth ten times what I paid for her."

"He expected to buy the boat for twenty or twenty-five dollars; and, when she went above that, he was mad. He did not believe you could pay for her, and that she would be put up for sale again, and he could get her at his own price. If you had told me you meant to buy a boat, I should have tried to dissuade you from it; but you would not tell me.

You said it was your secret."

"I was afraid you might object."

"I should certainly. I should have sent the hundred dollars I gave you to your mother if I had known you meant to buy the Goldwing. You kept your secret, and you have kept mine I suppose; for that terrible scene in the woods appears not to be known to any one but the three who were present at the time."

"But my uncle and my mother believe there was something wrong about that money," added Dory. "I think they believe I stole it, or took it for doing something wrong."

"Is that your uncle on board of the steamer?" asked Mr. Hawlinshed, indicating the captain, who had seated himself with his sister and niece on the hurricane deck. "I wish you would introduce me to him, and I will soon set you right."

Dory conducted him to the presence of the captain and his mother, and introduced him to both of them. Mr. Hawlinshed told the whole story of his relations with his unfortunate son, who was now in jail. He related the particulars of the scene in the woods, and a.s.sured them that he had given Dory one hundred and five dollars for the good service he had rendered on that occasion.

"I am very glad to have this matter cleared up," said Captain Gildrock.

"I am happy now," added Mrs. Dornwood. "That money had worried me ever since I heard of it."

"I should not have allowed your nephew to buy that boat if I had known what he was going to do with the money," added Mr. Hawlinshed. "I think that boats have been the ruin of my boy; and, when they are used to take any and every body out for a frolic, they seem to me to be worse than bar-rooms and other bad places," continued Mr. Hawlinshed.

"My sentiments exactly!" exclaimed Captain Gildrock, looking at Dory.

"Of course I don't think there is any thing bad in the boat itself; but my son was going to take out parties, and make a business of it. Some very fair sort of men leave all their good behavior at home when they go off on these boat-sc.r.a.pes, and I don't like to have a boy of mine with them at such times."

Dory felt very uneasy during this conversation. He began to have his doubts about the business in which he had engaged. There was nothing bad in the use of boats, but Captain Gildrock contended that a man ought to be as careful in regard to whom he took into his boat as into his house.

It was not the boat or the boating to which Mr. Hawlinshed and Dory's uncle objected, but only to the miscellaneous parties he would be obliged to take out in order to earn his living.

Mr. Hawlinshed did not care to have the story of the scene in the woods repeated at this time; for it might make it go harder with Pearl on his trial. But those to whom he had told it were too glad to have Dory's secret cleared up to care any thing more about the matter, though they were full of sympathy for the unhappy father.