“Why don’t you come on?” cried the wheelsman. “I thought you wanted to report me to the cap’n. What have you got to say to the steward, I ask you?”
“There’s a fellow below who is going to steal a ride to Chicago,” replied Bob, alarmed at the man’s tone and manner.
“No, he hain’t,” said Flint. “He’s only come back to get his money. Hand it out here.”
Bob’s assurance was pretty well frightened out of him by these words. His secret was not safe after all. He made a strong effort to keep up his courage.
“Hand what out?” he asked, trying to assume a look of injured innocence.
“Oh, you don’t know nothing about it, do you? I want that buckskin purse that you just put into your pocket. There’s fifteen dollars in it, or ought to be, and you stole it from your room-mate on the first night out from Norwall. Hand it over, I say.”
“I didn’t steal any money. You didn’t see me put any buckskin purse into my pocket, and I haven’t got any, either. The best thing you can do is to let me pass.”
“You needn’t put on no frills with me, ’cause they won’t go down. You didn’t know that the curtain of the window of your state-room was up that night, did you? You didn’t think I saw you when you took that purse out of your room-mate’s pocket, did you? Well, I did; and I heard you tell him when he asked you what you were doing, that you had been out on deck to see how things were going on, and that it was raining buckets and blowing great guns butt-end foremost. Aha!” he added, seeing that an expression of unbounded astonishment overspread Bob’s pale face. “I know all about it, don’t I? I stood here, too, while you were loafing at that bar, and saw you take that same purse from your pocket and pay for a glass of something out of it. And there it is, right there,” said Flint, making a sudden dash at the boy’s pocket and clutching it and its contents with a firm grasp. “Now hand it out without no more words, or I’ll walk you down to the old man and have you locked up for a thief. I sha’n’t ask you again.”
Bob was utterly confounded. The conversation between him and Guy on the first night out had taken place just as the sailor had repeated it, and that was the time he had stolen the purse from his friend’s pocket. But how in the world could the theft have been found out? Guy did not see him take the money, for he was asleep. Beyond a doubt Flint told the truth when he said that he had observed the whole proceeding. Overcome with fear and rage Bob could not speak. Mistaking his silence for obstinacy, the wheelsman seized him by the collar and began dragging him toward the stairs, intending to take him before the captain. Then Bob found his tongue very speedily.
“Hold on,” he cried. “If I give you the money will you promise that you won’t blow on me?”