Jack was willing the squire should think there might be, nor was he sure there were not a few pieces in the rubbish about the trunk; so he said, “It belongs to me, if there is.”
“Belongs to you? You little scapegrace! By what right?”
“It belongs to me,—that is,” added Jack, “if the real owner doesn’t turn up,—because I found it.”
“Found it, on my land! You haven’t got it off from my land yet, and I forbid your taking it off. What’s left in the log you haven’t even had in your possession. I want nothing but what’s my own by a plain interpretation of law; but the law’s with me in this. If you had once fairly got the coin away without my knowledge, there might have been some question about it; but that you’ve been caught trespassing, and that you’ve no right to take anything from my premises in my presence and against my express orders, is common sense as well as common law.”
Fire and tears rushed into poor Jack’s eyes.
“And do you mean to say you’ll take all this money away from me?”
“Sartin, I do, since it don’t belong to you, not a dollar on ’t. I’ll make ye a reasonable reward, however, if you give it up without making me any unnecessary trouble.”
“What do you call a reasonable reward? Half?”
“Half! of all that money!” exclaimed the squire, in huge astonishment. “Preposterous! I’ll give ye more than liberal pay for your trouble. I’ll give ye five dollars.”
Thereupon grief and fury and fierce contempt burst from the soul of Jack. All the softening influences which had been at work upon him for the past few months were forgotten in a moment; he was the vicious, desperate, profane little canal-driver once more. Looking up through tears of rage at the startled squire, he shouted, “Go to thunder, you hoary old villain!” and followed up this charge with a volley of blasphemy and abuse, which lasted for at least a minute. By that time the squire had recovered his self-possession; so, in a measure, had Jack; and the hurricane of passion that had swept everything before it was followed by a lull of sullen hate and despair.