After Captain Joe had been praised for his part of the fight on shore, and after Teddy had been told what a hero he was and given all the honey he could consume at one sitting, the two, the dog and the bear, repaired to the aft deck to compare notes and fall asleep.
“That’s some bear!” King said, as Teddy shambled away.
“The fellow must have stepped on him,” Alex grinned. “Teddy is particular about not being stepped on. He doesn’t like to be used as a rug. My, how those chaps did swim! Guess they thought there were a dozen bears in the water after them! Yes, Teddy’s some bear.”
King eyed Alex with disapproval for a moment and then asked:
“How did you come to let Don Durand get away from you?”
“Ask the Mexicans how they came to let us get away from them,” replied the lad. “I guess you saw what was going on. When Don ran away we were all pretty busy. Besides, you were not much farther away from him than we were. Why didn’t you catch him?”
“You were with him some time before the Mexicans came up?” asked King.
“Not so very long,” was the reply.
“What did he say to you?” was the next question.
“He said he took the money from a man who stole it, and would return it to its real owner as soon as he could find him.”