“Half a dozen times. Why, I came out to-day to look for it. The water is rather shallow where the sloop went over, and I made a net and dragged the bottom, but I couldn’t find the box or the bracelet. The net is in my boat now.”
The chums were now convinced that Will Carey was telling the truth, for Jack and Pepper well remembered how concerned Carey had been over the loss of the blue tin box and how he had not told what it contained. The presence of the drag-net also added color to his tale.
“Why didn’t you give Miss Ford her bracelet long ago?” demanded Pepper.
“I—I wanted to—to tease her a little, that’s all,” answered the Pornell Academy student. “I wish I had given it to her now.”
“If you can’t find the bracelet, you’ll have to pay for it,” said Andy.
“I—I know that, but—but——”
“But what?” demanded Jack.
“I—I can’t pay for it right away. My father has cut me down—he says I am spending too much foolishly,—and I lost a lot on a bowling match we had with some Putnam Hall fellows.”
“Yes, we heard something about that bowling match,” said Jack, not to let the prisoner get a clue to his identity.
“Hullo! hullo!” came a shout from a distance. “Where are you, Jack? Where are you, Pepper? Hullo, Andy! Come this way, we have got on the trail of those two crazy men!”