SET ON FIRE!
The Schooner Spitfire Given Over to the Flames.
Arrest of Captain Hannock for Trying to Defraud the Insurance Companies.
Was the Cargo Bogus?
And then followed a description of the arrest by Mr. Henshaw, and a harrowing account of two boys (Phil and myself), who had been left on board to be burned, and of the reasons for believing that the cargo was bogus, and that three New York merchants were supposed to be interested in the venture.
Of course the newspaper item was right in some particulars, but it was terribly overdrawn, and I could not help hut smile as I read it.
I wondered what Mr. Stillwell would say when he saw it. I determined to keep the paper away from him, it being time enough for him to hear of what had happened when he arrived in New York.
By the time I had finished reading the train was approaching the upper part of the city.
"Let me see the paper," said Mr. Stillwell.
As he spoke I had the paper rolled up and resting on the sill of the window, which was open. Not wishing to refuse him directly, I gave the sheet a slight shove with my arm, and this sent it fluttering away.
"It's gone," I replied. "It's dropped out of the window."
"You threw it out on purpose," he growled. "Luke, you're getting more uncivil every day."
"We have different opinions about that," I returned, with an air of utter indifference.