“I—I haven’t got the bracelet, I tell you,” said the prisoner, desperately.
“What did you do with it—sell it?”
“No, I—I gave it back.”
“You did not give it back, and if you say so again we’ll put you on the fire to roast.”
“Mercy! Mercy!” screamed the Pornell Academy student and fell on his knees. He thought he was in the hands of three rough persons who would be only too willing to carry out the dire threat made.
“What have you done with that bracelet?” demanded Jack, again. “Come, out with the truth at once.” And he raised a stick he had picked up, as if to strike Carey to the ground.
“Don’t hit me! I—I lost the bracelet!” screamed Will Carey. “Oh, don’t hurt me, please don’t! I couldn’t help it. I—I had the bracelet in a blue tin box in my pocket and I went for a ride on a sloop, and the wind knocked the sloop over and the box dropped out of my pocket. That’s the honest truth, I give you my word on it. I’d give anything to get the bracelet back.”
“You dropped it out of your pocket while on the lake,” said Jack, with deep interest. “Was that the day the Ajax raced with the Alice?”
“Yes.”
“Have you hunted for the tin box since?”