“Say,” said the master of the schooner, slowly and thoughtfully. “You tell me the particulars of this matter and maybe I can put you on the track of something. I never heard of any lady being abducted.” He saw that he was cornered and that if arrested matters might go very hard with him.
In a few words Dick and his brothers told about how the Stanhope fortune had been stolen and how the lady herself had been abducted and taken to Boston. Then they said they had positive proof that the lady had been taken aboard the Mary Delaway.
“Where is the proof?” asked the captain, and now his voice was not as steady as it had been.
“Well, for one thing, there is a sailor on the tug who saw the lady on your vessel,” said Dick. “In the second place I’ve got a letter, written by one of those rascals, and naming your boat——”
“What! Did any of those lunkheads write it down in a letter?” roared the captain. “If they did——” he stopped, in great confusion.
“Ah, so you admit the crime, do you?” said Dick, quickly.
“No, I don’t admit no crime!” growled the captain of the schooner. “I promised to do a little job for two gentleman, that’s all—and I did it—and got paid for it.”
“What was the job to be?”
“If I tell you, you won’t try to drag me into it, will you?” was the anxious question.
“If you don’t tell us, you’ll surely go to jail.”