Chapter 26

WIND SOUTH-SOUTH-WEST, BLOWING FRESH.

"I think we have him now where we want him," said Peppers, after Moody, under his direction, had tied the prisoner, with the rope that had bound Dory, to the side of the boat.

Pearl Hawlinshed was panting from his effort to escape. He made no reply to the remark of the detective. He felt that he had lost the battle, and any further resistance would be useless.

"I am ready to hear any thing you have to say, officer," said Captain Gildrock, as he stepped into the standing-room from his boat. "If you haven't any case, I shall simply put things where I found them, with the exception of taking my nephew on board of the Sylph."

Dory had his doubts about this; for he was as determined as ever not to put himself into his uncle's hands. He had a sore grudge against him, and he did not want to have any thing to do with him. He had no doubt that the captain would decide against Pearl, for he knew enough of the case to understand that it was a good one. He was already considering in what manner he should get away from his uncle after the robbery question had been settled. He was likely to have a chance yet to use his skill and ingenuity in getting away from the Sylph.

"I am entirely willing to have you do what you think is right after you have heard the facts in the case," replied Peppers.

"Have you arrested my nephew for robbery, stealing, or any other crime?" asked the captain, glancing at Dory, who had retreated to the forward deck; for he wished to be in a situation for action when he felt that it was required of him.

"No, sir: I have not, and he has not been arrested. But I will tell you the whole story, and you will see in what manner Dory is connected with the robbery," answered the detective.

Peppers narrated all that had occurred at the hotel in Plattsburgh, giving all the details that were known in regard to the robbery of Moody's room. He added to it the particulars of the two days' chase of the Missisquoi after the Goldwing, with the landlord's statement in regard to Dory's supposed connection with the robbery.

"Then Theodore was charged with the robbery?" asked Captain Gildrock.

"By Hawlinshed, he was; but that was to cover up his own tracks. As soon as the landlord told me that Pearl accused your nephew of the crime, declaring that he had bought this boat with the money he stole from the room, I got an idea," continued the detective. "I found Moody, and he frankly told the facts. He will excuse me; but he makes temperance wine, though he drinks whiskey himself."

"I don't believe I shall ever drink any more," interposed Moody. "I have been in the habit of drinking considerable whiskey when I went to Plattsburgh: and, after I had done my business, I felt pretty good; for I had sold two hundred dollars' worth of my goods, and I felt like celebrating the event with a little tear. But I was afraid that I might lose my money; and I put one hundred and fifty dollars of it in my bag, keeping the rest in my pocket. I guess that scoundrel saw me put it there."

"It was not till after the Missisquoi had gone off on her cruise that Moody told me he had marked his money with the rubber stamp," continued Peppers. "Then the landlord told me that Dory had taken the money, and had been seen about the hall, near the room. He had bought and paid for the boat that morning, and I went to the auctioneer. I wanted to see the money the boy had paid. It was five ten-dollar bills; and that settled it that Dory had not paid for the boat with the money taken from Moody's room."

"I am glad to hear that," added Captain Gildrock.

Dory had thought he would be sorry to hear it; but there was a bad misunderstanding between him and his uncle.

"When Dory came back, he showed me the money he had, about sixty dollars," continued Peppers.

"Sixty dollars, besides what he had paid for the boat?" queried the captain.

"That is what he had; but he got eight dollars back from the auctioneer," replied the officer.

"That makes over a hundred dollars," said Captain Gildrock, knitting his brow as though he did not like the looks of this fact. "Where did he get so much money, if he did not steal it?"

"That's the question, Captain Gildrock," interposed Pearl, who spoke for the first time since the narrative was begun. "When you have looked into the matter, you will find that he stole it."

"I don't know where he got it," Peppers proceeded. "That is none of my business. All I know is, that none of the money found upon Dory, and none that he had paid out, was the bills Moody lost."

"But have you no idea where my nephew got so much money?" asked the captain.

"I have not the remotest idea, Captain Gildrock. It don't concern me to know, and I make it a rule to mind my own business. But I did find some of Moody's money in Plattsburgh. One five with the stamp on it was paid for a pistol, and the other for the provisions taken on board of the Missisquoi. Both of them came from Hawlinshed."

"It is a lie!" exclaimed Pearl with an oath.

"Both of the shopkeepers are ready to swear to the identity of their man. Now, I shall take the liberty to do what I have not had an opportunity to do before. I shall search the prisoner. Before I do it I should like to have you look at these two bills, Captain Gildrock. They are the fives paid for the pistol and the provisions by Hawlinshed." And Peppers handed him the bank-notes.

"It will be an easy matter to identify these bills. In addition to the stamp on them, this is the first time they have ever been out of the bank," said the captain, after he had looked at the bills.

Pearl was furious when the officer, assisted by Moody, attempted to search him. Moody handled him very roughly, and he was forced to submit to the operation. Peppers took from a pocket inside of his vest a wallet, which was found to contain quite a roll of new bills. The detective spread a couple of them out on the top of the centre-board casing. The red stamp appeared upon them, and they were exactly like those in the hands of the captain.

"It is a plain case, and I have nothing more to say," said Captain Gildrock. "You have made out your case, and I shall not interfere with your taking your prisoner to Plattsburgh."

"I knew you would be satisfied when you heard the case," added Peppers, as he put the money he had taken from Pearl into his pocket-book, and returned it to his pocket.

"I am entirely satisfied, Mr. Peppers," replied Captain Gildrock, glancing at the sky, and giving a general survey to the horizon to the southward. "I see the wind is hauling to the southward, and it looks like bad weather."

"I noticed that it was calm a little while ago," answered Peppers. "Do you think we shall have a storm, sir?"

"We shall have a good deal of wind, and some rain before many hours, if not before dark. I have to go in at Plattsburgh on my way south; and, if you choose, you can take your prisoner on board of the Sylph," continued the captain.

"Thank you, sir: I should be very glad to return in your beautiful yacht, especially if it is going to blow," answered the detective.

"You may take them on board in your boat, Mr. Jepson. I will take Mr. Moody in mine," said Captain Gildrock. "Theodore, you will go in my boat."

Dory made no reply to this intimation. He was looking over Simms's Point out into the lake, where a fresh south-south-west wind was now rolling up the white-caps. The captain seated himself in the stern-sheets of the port boat. Moody assisted the officer in placing his prisoner in the starboard boat, and took his place with Captain Gildrock. Pearl, though very sulky and even ugly, offered no serious resistance to the transfer to the boat. With his arms handcuffed behind him, he took the seat in which Mr. Jepson placed him.

The starboard boat, having received her complement of passengers, shoved off; and her crew pulled for the steamer. The port boat was waiting for Dory, who was standing at the bow, behind the foresail. He had the boat-hook in his hand, but he did not indicate in what manner he intended to use it. The fresh breeze was beginning to blow in the Gut, though the Goldwing was sheltered from its full force by the land.

"I am waiting for you, Theodore," called Captain Gildrock.

"I am not going, sir," replied Dory in a mild, but very decided, tone.

"Not going? Didn't you hear me say that I came down here after you?" asked the captain, evidently much surprised at the boy's answer.

"I can't leave the boat here, sir. It is coming on to blow, and she will drift off," added Dory, struggling to suppress his emotion; for he expected a very unpleasant scene with his uncle now that the issue had been reached.

Captain Gildrock seemed to have no suspicion of the state of feeling to which his nephew had wrought himself up. He appeared to think that his invitation to go on board of the Sylph was enough, and the present attitude of the boy was clearly a surprise to him. It was plain that he had not thought of the schooner, for he was silent when Dory intimated that she was not in a safe position for heavy weather.

"You can furl her sails, and throw over her anchor," said he after a moment's consideration.

"I don't think the anchor will hold her, sir: the sand is as hard as a rock here."

"Isn't she aground?"

"She was aground, sir."

"I will run the boat ahead, and we will drag her farther up on the shoal, and carry the anchor to the shore. Then she will be all right; and you can come up after her in a few days," continued Captain Gildrock, as he directed his bowman to shove off from the Goldwing.

The sails of the schooner were beginning to thrash and bang about as they felt the increasing breeze. The boat had been aground at the bow; but, the moment she was relieved of the weight of the three men who had been on board of her when she grounded, she floated again. Dory had noticed this fact; and, taking the boat-hook, he had thrust it down into the sand, and held her. As the wind freshened, driving her off from the shore, his hold was not strong enough upon the bottom to keep her any longer. But it must be added that Dory did not wish to hold her any longer.

The moment the boat-hook tore out of the bottom, the schooner began to make sternway. Then the jib, the sheet of which was still fast, filled, and the Goldwing whirled around like a top. Then a gust of wind struck the sails, and threw them all over. Dory rushed to the helm, trimmed the sails, and headed the Goldwing across the bay.