Little Bobtail Part 34

"You must ask him who he is?"

"Don't you know?"

"I never saw him till a few days ago. In his kind of business, he don't always tell who he is. No doubt he will tell you before night who he is.

What have you been doing down here so long?" asked the skipper, wis.h.i.+ng to divert the conversation into some other channel.

"I have made a pile of money taking out parties to sail, while I'm waiting."

"What are you waiting for?"

"Waiting for the old man. Didn't he tell you?"

"No; he didn't say much to me."

"What did he give you for picking up the boat?"

"He hasn't given me anything yet," replied Bobtail. "How much do you charge a day for your boat and two hands?"

"Five dollars."

"I've taken some parties out in the boat, and I have been charging seven and eight dollars a day."

"That's a better boat than the Eagle. If I had her I should charge eight dollars a day. But how did you get that stuff out of the Skylark?"

"I ran over in the night, and landed it between one and two o'clock in the morning, when no one was stirring in our part of the town. I hid it away in the attic, and this man took it away in the night," replied Bobtail, confining himself strictly to the facts, though of course he was no less guilty of deception than if he had told a number of square lies, except that the deception was in the interest of justice.

"It was lucky for the old man that you picked that boat up; but he's mean if he don't give you something handsome," added Ben.

"I have had the use of the boat ever since I picked her up."

"Well, that's somethin'. There comes Monkey. Does he know anything about this business?" whispered Ben.

"Not a thing."

This was a sufficient reason for saying nothing more about it, and Ben soon returned to the Eagle. After breakfast, Bobtail went up to the hotel, where his pa.s.sengers lodged. In the course of the forenoon, the deputy sheriff "interviewed" Mr. Gordon, the gentleman who had sold the Skylark. He was sure he could identify the man who had paid him the five hundred dollar bill. When the steamer from Portland, which touches at Rockland, arrived, almost everybody went down to the wharf, Mr. Gordon among the number.

"If you see the man who paid you the bill, point him out, if you please, but don't say anything about it," said Mr. Brooks, as the gang plank of the steamer was run out.

"There he is!" exclaimed Mr. Gordon, as Captain c.h.i.n.ks walked from the boat to the wharf.

The deputy sheriff and Mr. Hines kept out of sight. Bobtail had been sent away in the Skylark, that she might not attract the attention of the smuggler, and was standing off and on a mile or more from the sh.o.r.e.

As soon as Captain c.h.i.n.ks landed, he was greeted by Ben, his nephew, who was doubtless glad to see him.

"I s'pose you are tired of waiting--ain't you, Ben?" asked the captain, who wore a troubled expression.

"Not a bit on't. I've been makin' five dollars a day, right along, takin' parties out to sail," replied Ben, with a cheerful grin; "but I had to pay a boy half a dollar a day to help me."

"That's pretty well."

"Why didn't you come down afore?"

"Because I didn't hear anything from St. John; and things are a little mixed up to Camden."

"Mixed! Why, I thought everything had come out fust rate. You got the Skylark and the stuff back as slick as a whistle."

"Who told you so?" demanded the captain, with a startled look.

"Why, Little Bobtail. He's here in the Skylark, and said you sent him."

Bobtail certainly had not said any such thing. Ben had inferred it from what Mr. Hines had stated. It was not prudent to talk of these matters in the midst of so many people, and the captain and his nephew hastened on board of the Eagle.

"I didn't send him," said Captain c.h.i.n.ks, very much perplexed.

"You didn't?"

"No; the young villain picked up the boat, but I couldn't do anything with him."

"Sho!" exclaimed Ben, who began to be worried himself. "Bobtail's here, and that other man with him."

"What other man!" demanded the captain, savagely.

"That man that took the stuff off your hands."

"What stuff!"

"Why, the liquor that was in the Skylark."

"What do you mean, Ben?"

"Didn't Bob pick up the Skylark and land the stuff in the night; and didn't you sell it to that other man? and didn't he move it out of Bob's house in the night?"

"No!" roared Captain c.h.i.n.ks.

"That's what they said, anyhow," added Ben, stoutly.

"Who said so?"

"Why, the man that took the stuff off your hands."

"Who is he?"

"Well, don't you know?"

"No, I don't," gasped Captain c.h.i.n.ks.

"I'm sure I don't, then. He wouldn't tell me his name. He came down in the Skylark with Bobtail yesterday."

The gentleman with a doubtful reputation uttered an exceedingly hard and naughty expletive, and he did so with much emphasis. His face was very red, and his lips quivered with wrath.