"Yes; I caught the boy and made him return them."
"Did you get your money, too?" went on Linyard, as he cut the envelopes open.
"Not yet, but I'm pretty sure of getting it in the near future."
"Hope you do; two dollars ain't much, but it's something, and nowadays everything counts. Will you read these letters for me? My eyesight ain't none of the best any more, and besides, writing is kinder stiff reading for me at the best."
"Certainly I will, Mr.—"
"Avast there on that figurehead!" interrupted the old tar.
"Doc Linyard, I'll do it with pleasure."
But it was no pleasure after all for Richard to read the two communications, for each was a disappointment.
The first was from a firm of lawyers who wished to take the case in hand at "astonishingly low terms," which must, however, be paid in advance. The other had been sent by a private detective, who was willing to institute a search for the missing party for the modest sum of three dollars per day, also payable in advance.
"Just what I thought they might be," observed Doc Linyard, when the reading was finished. "You can tear them up. We don't want such outside help."