BEFORE Captain Simms would permit the lad to leave him, he had to hear the story of Steve's experiences. The story was frequently interrupted by grunts of approval on the part of the skipper. The latter was not an emotional man, as was evidenced by his greeting of Rush after the boy had, as it were, risen from the lake.
Rush's story finished, he asked the captain to tell him all about what had occurred after the accident.
"It isn't what did occur so much as what's going to happen," answered the master gloomily.
"What do you mean, sir?"
"I shall lose my license."
"What, and you not to blame? Impossible."
"Yes, but how am I going to prove that I am blameless?"
"The authorities will believe what you say, will they not?"
"They have just as good a right to believe the captain of the other boat. He will say it was my fault, and perhaps I shall say it was his fault, and there you are. Both of us will lose out in the end. The other skipper was saved and I am glad of it. It seems too bad that, after all these years on the lakes without a blemish on my record, I have to be knocked out at this time. My wife and little girl will be heart-broken."
"Perhaps it will not be so bad as you think, sir. Of course, we are all deeply grieved over the loss of life. That cannot now be helped. It is our business to find out where the blame is and fix it there, no matter whom it hits. I know one whom I am pretty sure it will not hit."