His companions looked inquiringly at him.
“I don’t understand that remark,” said the captain, “when you are sure to blunder as long as you attempt to manage things.”
“That’s the p’int; I resign from this time forward; I haven’t given satisfaction and you may now do the work to suit yourselves.”
“It’s just as well,” commented the captain, “for we can’t make a greater mess of it than you.”
The story told by Vose Adams was a singular one, but the most singular feature about it was that it did not contain a grain of truth. Every statement was a falsehood, deliberately intended to deceive, and, seeing that he had succeeded in his purpose, he was satisfied.
CHAPTER XXIII
VOSE ADAMS
Lieutenant Russell gave no hint to Nellie Dawson of the scheme upon which he had fixed his hopes, until after she had confessed her love for him, and he was certain beyond the shadow of a doubt, that he possessed the sole affection of her heart. Even then he hesitated for he knew the shock it would cause the gentle one, who was devotedly attached to her father. But the resolution of Captain Dawson to spend the remainder of his days at the mining settlement, and his intention of selecting her husband from among those that had made New Constantinople their home for years, crystallized the determination that had been vaguely shaping itself in his brain for weeks.