"I have just as much right to say he took the letter, as he has to say I took it. He had just as much to do with it as I had; and he was in the office when I left it."

"But you went back again, you rascal!" said Captain c.h.i.n.ks, angrily.

"No, I didn't go back again."

"You left the office before I did, but you overtook me on the road to the Portland steamer wharf. You went back again; I know you did!"

stormed the captain.

"I didn't go back."

"Well, where were you all that time?"

"I went into a shop and bought some gingerbread and cheese, and I can prove it, too."

"Didn't you hear me tell the post-master that I expected a letter with some money in it, the day that letter came?" asked the squire.

"No, sir; I did not."

"I told the post-master what I expected when I asked him to send me the letter. You were in the office then, Bobtail."

"No, sir; I didn't see you at all that day. I wasn't in the post-office half a minute before the letter was given to me," answered Bobtail, decidedly.

Squire Gilfilian wished to make it out that the boy knew there was money in the letter, to account for his stealing it; but he made no progress in his effort.

"I'm going to look this business up, anyhow," said Captain c.h.i.n.ks, savagely. "I want your boat for two days, Bobtail."

"You can't have her," replied the young skipper, decidedly.

"I suppose not," sneered the captain. "You don't want this business looked up."

"Whether I do or not, you can't have the boat."

"What's the reason I can't?"

"She is engaged; but if she was not engaged, I wouldn't let you have her."

"Steady, Bobtail," interposed the squire. "You are a little too crank for a boy."

"I can't help it. The last time Captain c.h.i.n.ks was in the boat, he pitched into me; and that's where he got that black eye. I don't want anything more to do with him."

"I'll pay for the boat," said the captain, who seemed desirous at this point to change the subject of the conversation.

"You can't have her. She is engaged."

"Who is to have her?"

"Two or three parties want her. I'm going off for two days."

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know. The folks didn't tell me where."

"Who are the folks?" demanded Captain c.h.i.n.ks.

"It don't make any difference who they are. But I haven't time to stand here talking all day. If you want anything of me, I'm ready to face the music."

"Captain c.h.i.n.ks wants your boat to investigate the matter of the letter," said Squire Gilfilian. "He is going to Bar Harbor, and wants the boat so as to find the person who bought her, for of course she will be known there. You had better let him have her."

"I can't let him have her. She is engaged."

"But this is a case that will warrant you in breaking your engagement."

"I don't think so."

"Your character is involved in this matter; and it is for your interest to have the case cleared up."

"I don't believe Captain c.h.i.n.ks will clear it up. I know more about him than some other fellows do, and I don't want him to whitewash my character. I can't stop any longer, sir," said Bobtail, as he saw Mr.

Hines and the deputy-sheriff watching his movements.

Captain c.h.i.n.ks was very angry at the boy's last remarks, and began to storm at him. Squire Gilfilian tried to calm him, and Bobtail walked off while he was doing so.

"What's the matter, Bobtail?" asked Mr. Hines, when the boy joined him in the office of the hotel.

"They are trying to make it out now that I bought the Skylark with the money taken from the letter," answered the skipper, as he proceeded to give the substance of the conversation with the squire and Captain c.h.i.n.ks.

"Then the captain is going to Bar Harbor--is he?" laughed Mr. Hines. "I hope he will go. I may want to use him there."

"Are you going to Bar Harbor, sir?" asked Bobtail.

"That's where we are bound."

"But I am not a pilot beyond Sedgwick. I have been there, but never to Mount Desert," said the skipper.

"No matter, my lad; I'm a pilot to Bar Harbor, and it's quite time you learned the way there," replied Mr. Hines. "Now get ready as fast as you can, Bobtail, and don't say where you are going or who is going with you; for I don't believe Captain c.h.i.n.ks would go to Bar Harbor if he expected to meet me there."

The skipper purchased some provisions and stores for the yacht, which Monkey had sailed up to the wharf at the head of the harbor, as he had been instructed to do. Bobtail sent word to his mother that he should be gone two or three days, and went on board. But his pa.s.sengers did not appear, and he waited impatiently for them. Captain c.h.i.n.ks was loafing about the wharf, and Bobtail concluded that this was the reason they did not come. The captain was evidently curious to know who were to go in the Skylark. After waiting half an hour, a boy brought a note to the skipper. It was from Mr. Hines, desiring him to sail at once, and to stand up towards North-East Point. He obeyed his written order, and beyond the point, a boat with his pa.s.sengers came off from the sh.o.r.e.

Mr. Hines and the deputy sheriff went below, so as not to be recognized by any persons in the boats which were sailing about in the vicinity.

The skipper laid his course for the northern point of Deer Island, and the Skylark went off flying on her cruise.

"I began to think you were not coming," said Bobtail to Mr. Hines, who sat near the cabin door.

"We couldn't get on board at that wharf without being seen by everybody; and Captain c.h.i.n.ks was watching us," replied the custom-house official.

"Mr. Philbrook drove us round to the point, where we got a boy to bring us off. Are there any boats near you, Bobtail?"

"Not a single one, sir. There is a lot of mackerel catchers half a mile to the southward of us, and the Portland steamer is coming round the point."

"All right," said Mr. Hines, taking a seat in the standing-room opposite the skipper. "Has Captain c.h.i.n.ks any boat fit to go to Mount Desert in?"

"He had one a while ago, but I haven't seen her lately. I don't know where she is now."