“You’ve got your nerve!” Alex replied angrily.
“If I should lose my nerve,” the deputy returned, with a wink at the struggling dog, “I wouldn’t get any jobs! Nerve is an asset with me.”
“What are you doing here—nosing in those drawers?” asked the boy.
“Looking for the belt you picked up down below,” was the reply.
“I didn’t pick it up,” Alex answered, with a frown which did not at all improve his appearance. “I didn’t pick it up.”
“Your friend did, though, and gave it to you. Where is it?”
“I haven’t got it! Some one came on board and stole it.”
“That may be. Clay and Case said the same thing. Let the belt go. Where is the money?”
“Stolen,” answered Alex. “Carried off when the belt was taken.”
“See here,” King went on. “Your chums told me about that, and I do not believe it. No boy would go to sleep sitting up, with fifty thousand dollars in treasury notes in his lap. That’s too thin.”