“You see,” he resumed, “I hold no grudge against the bear, if he did dump me into the river! He did just what I would have done under the circumstances. I don’t blame him. He is a good little beastie!”
“You wasn’t helping the law any by locking us in there to be drowned!” Clay remarked, his eyes flashing.
“Wasn’t I?” asked King. “Let us see about that. You, Don, took fifty thousand dollars of another man’s money out of Chicago. You carried it in a belt about your waist. I had to find that money, didn’t I? I searched the Rambler for it! I had to maroon two of the boys on a sand island and tie Captain Joe up in order to do it.”
Captain Joe licked his chops as if he was thinking of making settlement for the insult right there. Clay called him away, or he would have taken hold of the deputy’s leg.
“Yes, I searched the Rambler, and got up-river in a steamer after being dumped off. Here I heard that lights had been seen in the old house the night before. Now, what was more reasonable than to suppose that Don had visited the old shack and buried the money in the cellar? I was there looking for it when you boys came in. I should have released you as soon as I had finished my search, only I couldn’t unlock the door. All I could do was to go for assistance, and you all know how that came out. I nearly lost my life at the hands of a mob, any member of which would have done exactly as I had done.”
“You say it well!” snarled Tom. “I don’t trust you, though!”
“Now,” King continued, without taking notice of the remark, “I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I understand that there is a question as to whom this money belongs. It may belong to Don, for all I know! Well, if you will put the cash in the hands of a banker here I’ll go back home and say nothing about the deal until you boys have had time to turn around. But I want it understood, too, that my client, this Josiah Trumbull, is not to be molested by you for anything he has done in the past.”
Don agreed to this, and King continued.
“I have a notion that my client is a roughneck, as well as a three-card sharp, but I’m going to do the best I can for him, for all that. If it can be shown that the money belongs to you, Don, or to you, Tom, it shall be turned over to you. But if this cannot be shown, Trumbull is to have it, as against any other claimant. Is that right?”
This was reluctantly agreed to, and then the boys and King prepared the best meal the larder was capable of, and enjoyed it hugely. After this they went to the town, leaving Tom and Clay on board, and the money was put in escrow in one of the banks. Don also put the government bonds on deposit there. King’s eye stuck out when he saw the bonds and was told where they had been found, but he only expressed congratulations.