Chapter 18

DORY DORNWOOD DECIDES TO "FACE THE MUSIC."

"I'm not going back to Plattsburgh!" exclaimed Corny Minkfield. "My mother will want to know what has become of me by this time."

"What are you going to do, Corny?" asked Dory in the gentlest of tones.

"I am going back to Burlington," answered Corny.

"All right! I don't object," added Dory, as he headed the boat for Plattsburgh.

Thad laughed, and Nat and Dick smiled. Corny talked and acted as though he "owned things;" and the others were rather pleased to see him taken down a peg when he was in this mood.

"You promised to take us back to Burlington, Dory; and now you are going to drag us back to Plattsburgh," growled Corny.

"But you don't want to sail all over the lake with a thief. If I go to Burlington now, I shall be running away from the officers. I must go to Plattsburgh, and face the music."

"Hurrah for Dory!" shouted Thad. "Is that the way a thief does it?"

"Hurrah for Dory!" added Dick Short. "That isn't the way a thief does it."

"But I want to go home. I don't want my mother to worry about me," added Corny.

"You called me a thief just now, and I can't run away from the place where they accuse me. I will put you ashore at the light-house, or on Colchester Point."

"You might as well put me ashore on Stave Island. I want to go back to Burlington."

"We are bound to Plattsburgh now; and I shall not stop to rest until I have seen the men that charge me with stealing that money," replied Dory very decidedly.

"The man that charges you is in that steamer, and you run away from him," retorted Corny.

"The Missisquoi is hard and fast aground. If I give myself up to him, I shall only have to stay on board of her all day; for he may not get off. I may be in Plattsburgh before he is."

Corny grumbled a while longer, but the skipper took no further notice of him. The course of the Goldwing carried her within a short distance of the stern of the Missisquoi. Captain Vesey and Pearl had tugged at the poles until they saw that it was useless to attempt to get the steamer off in that way.

Pearl was plainly disgusted with the situation. The bow of the boat was as far out of water as when the schooner passed her before, and the efforts with the poles had not started her a hair. When the enterprising extra pilot of the steamer saw the Goldwing coming, he hastened to the stern.

"Come alongside, Dory Dornwood! I will make it as easy as I can for you when we get to Plattsburgh. Take me on board," shouted Pearl.

"I am going to Plattsburgh to face the music," replied Dory.

"Take me with you!" called Pearl.

"I don't want you," answered Dory.

"I can get you off, and make it all right with you."

"No, I thank you," added Dory; and he declined to take any further notice of his persecutor.

For the present the excitement was ended. It was about seven in the morning, as Dory judged by the height of the sun. Thad got out the provisions; and, though there was not much variety to the repast, the boys ate heartily. After the meal some of them went to sleep. Before ten o'clock the Goldwing was alongside the wharf, in the position where Dory had first seen her.

The skipper lowered the sails with the help of the rest of the club, though Corny was still too much disgruntled to do any thing. Every thing was put in order on board, and Dory locked the cabin. Before he had finished, Corny went off alone. Just as the party were going to leave the wharf, a couple of men came down. They walked directly to the boat, as though they had seen her coming up the bay, and had business with her.

"Is this the boat that went off from here yesterday morning?" asked one of the men.

"Yes, sir: this is the boat," replied Dory, hoping that the men's business related to the charge against him.

"Are you the boy that bought her?" continued the man who did the talking.

"Yes, sir: I am the one that bought her and paid for her," answered Dory. "Do you know of anybody in this town that wants to see me?"

"I can't say I do," said the man, looking at the other one, and laughing.

"There was a little steamer here in the forenoon."

"That was the Missisquoi."

"A man went off in her to look up this boat. Have you seen any thing of the steamer?" asked the man.

"Yes, sir: she is hard and fast aground on the Colchester shoal, near Law Island. The man that went in her to look up this boat was Pearl Hawlinshed. I don't believe in him, and I kept out of the way of him and his steamer."

"How could you keep out of the way of a steamer in a sailboat?"

"I managed it. But I didn't know till he hailed me from the steamer that I was charged with stealing some money from one of the hotels. Can you tell me any thing about the matter, sir?"

"I think we can tell you all about it," replied the speaker. "This is Mr. Moody, the man that lost the money."

"And this is Mr. Peppers, the detective, who is looking up the case," added Mr. Moody.

"As soon as I heard about it, I came back to face the music," said Dory.

"Your name is Dory Dornwood, I learn," said Mr. Peppers.

"Theodore Dornwood is my name, but I am called 'Dory.'"

"Just now we are rather more anxious to find the other man than we are to get hold of you," continued Peppers. "I don't believe there will be much music for you to face, Dory."

"But Mr. Hawlinshed said I was wanted here, and I have come. Is he an officer?" asked Dory.

"He is no officer, and he had no right to arrest you."

"Hallo, fellows!" shouted Corny Minkfield, coming down the wharf: "there is a steamer over here which is going to Burlington, and we can go in her."

"I should rather go in the Goldwing," said Thad, looking at his companions.

"You must be in a hurry about it, for she will be off in a few minutes," added Corny. "We won't get home to-day if we don't take this chance."

"When are you going, Dory?" asked Nat Long.

"I don't know when I shall go. If you have a chance to go, you had better use it," replied Dory.

After a little discussion, the four members of the Goldwing Club decided to improve the opportunity to get home; for Dory could not say that he should go to Burlington that day. All of them but Corny took occasion to say that they believed Dory was all right, so far as the money was concerned; for the detective did not seem inclined to say any thing about the matter beyond the rather encouraging statement he had already made. A few minutes later the skipper saw a small steamer leave another part of the town, and he was again alone so far as friends were concerned.

"I think we had better go up to the Witherill House, and look the case over," said Peppers, after the boys had gone.

"Why do you say there will not be much music for me to face, Mr. Peppers?" asked Dory, as they walked up the wharf. "I am accused of stealing the money, and I don't understand the matter."

"I am sorry Hawlinshed did not come back with you," replied the detective, without answering the question. "In fact, we want him more than we want you."

"Do you want him as evidence against me?" inquired Dory very anxiously.

"We are looking into the case, and finding out all we can. We have some ideas, but we don't say much about them," said the detective.

Dory could not get any thing more out of the officer. They soon reached the hotel, where he was introduced to Mr. Velsey, the landlord, who was informed that the skipper of the Goldwing had come to face the music, whereat he looked very good-natured, and conducted the party to a private parlor.

The landlord wanted to know where Dory had been since he left the hotel the morning before; and he told the story in full of his trip on the lake, and the pursuit of the Missisquoi. The hotel-keeper and the detective were very much amused at the manner in which he had dodged the steamer, and especially when the hero stated that he had left his pursuers aground on Colchester Shoal.

"But, if I am charged with stealing this money, I want to know about it," said Dory when he had finished his narrative. "Pearl Hawlinshed said I was wanted here; and here I am."

"You were about the hotel night before last, were you not?" asked Peppers.

"I was. I was here to see a gentleman who had a room on the next floor. I left between ten and eleven," replied Dory promptly.

"I don't think it is any use to go into that matter, Peppers," interposed Mr. Velsey, when he saw that the detective was disposed to make as much parade over the case as possible. "Come to the point at once."

"Have you any money, Dory?" asked the officer, evidently coming to the point as directed.

"I have: I have sixty dollars and some change," answered Dory, without any hesitation, as he put his hand upon his wallet in his pocket.

"Have you any five-dollar bills?" continued the detective.

"I have two five-dollar bills. The rest of the money is in tens."

"Will you show me the fives?"

Dory produced his wallet, and handed the two bills to the officer. Peppers passed them to Moody at once. The latter shook his head, and handed them back to the detective, who returned them to the owner. The skipper wondered what all this meant, and was very much surprised that Peppers did not ask him where he had got the money he paid for the Goldwing.

"That sets you all right, Dory Dornwood," said the landlord. "I am sorry we made you come back to Plattsburgh, but Hawlinshed was sure you were the one that stole the money from Moody's room. We are satisfied now that another person committed the robbery."

"Then you don't want to send me to jail?" added Dory, with a sensation of the most intense relief.

"Not at all. We didn't know so much about the case yesterday forenoon as we do now. The next man we want to see is Hawlinshed. You say he is aground somewhere in the steamer."

"On the Colchester Shoal: at least he was three hours ago," added Dory.

"That's in Vermont, but I will give you ten dollars to put Peppers in the same boat with him."

Dory was glad enough to do it. The tables had turned.