“Your friends would have been sending flowers, and bringing tears. They would be looking at you, to-morrow, and saying, in undertones: ‘Goodness, how natural he looks!’”
Halstead was puzzled for a moment or two. Then, comprehending, he grinned, though he demanded:
“You think Dalton would have dared anything like that?”
“Well, you notice what kind of a rascal Mr. Seaton thinks Dalton is. And you know we don’t go armed aboard the ‘Restless.’ Now, 43 I’m pretty certain that Dalton could have displayed and used weapons if we had given him any cause to do so.”
Ten minutes later, when Powell Seaton entered the room, he beheld Captain Tom Halstead seated at the operator’s table, sealing an envelope that he had just directed.
“What are you doing, Captain?” asked the charter-man.
“You know that miserable twenty dollars that I took from Anson Dalton for passage money?” inquired Halstead, looking up.
“Yes.”
“I’ve just enclosed the money in this envelope, with a note.”
“Going to return the money to Dalton when you find his address?” smiled Mr. Seaton, wearily.