Lav leaned against the rail. To tell his story meant confessing his state of mind.
“I guess I’ve been sore because you and Mr. Dugald fooled ’round with those new folks. Jealous. I get that way lots of times—all hot inside because I’m different. And I go off somewhere alone and stay there until I fight it down.”
“I know, Lav. Aunt Achsa told me. Did you go to the dunes?”
“One night I did. Stayed there all night. But one evening I went out on the breakwall. There’s a place out there where the rocks are piled so’s to make a cave. I used to play there a lot when I was a little kid. I crawled into it. And I hadn’t been there very long when I heard somebody talking—two men. They were up close so’s I heard everything they said.”
“And what did they say, Lav? Oh, tell me quick!”
“I could only get scraps of it. I didn’t dare look, I didn’t dare move. But one fellow called the other Jed. I heard ’em say something about ‘risk’ and a ‘stranger from Boston asking too many questions ’round Rockman’s to be healthy,’ and Jed Starrow—I’m dead sure it was his voice—said, sort of blustering like, ‘Let them search the Puritan! They won’t find anything on her now!’ And the other fellow answered him: ‘There’s too much in this, Jed, to take any chances.’ That’s what they said, Sid, and then they went on.”
“Oh, Lav, they’re pirates!”
“Well, not exactly pirates, but they’re up to something that’s sure. Maybe they’re rum-runners. There’s a lot of that going on. I thought you were crazy, but I guess you weren’t.”
Sidney’s lips trembled with eagerness. As long as Lavender knew what he knew she felt that she would be justified in telling him what Cap’n Davies had told her.
“It isn’t rum—Lav,” she whispered, “It’s diamonds!”