第204页 / 共416页

"There's only one man I can think of, and that is the fellow who

got my motor-dory under false pretenses. You remember how he made

the cook and the boy help him get it over the side? Well, her

gasoline-tank was full and her batteries new. She was ready to go

two hundred miles on a minute's notice."

"But why should he do that--"

"Oh, think, Pete, think! Don't you remember? He's one of the men

I went up to Castalia to get, the time that lawyer came to

Freekirk Head. And he's the only man in the whole crew I don't

know well. I see it all now. He sent me a note the night before

asking to ship on the Lass, and I went to get him before any of

the other skippers got wind of it. You don't suppose he did this

thing on his own account, do you?"

"Easy, skipper, easy! What's he got against you?"