"What is your objection?" asked the passenger.
"I may as well be frank with you. I understand your reason for embarking on my boat in preference to waiting for a river steamer. You were in a hurry to leave the town."
"That's what I said."
"Shall I mention the reason?"
"If you like."
"Because you had been implicated in robbing a store—perhaps several. This is stolen money."
"I deny it. I may have been suspected. In fact, I don't mind admitting that I was, and that I thought it my best policy to get away. The good people were likely to give me a great deal of trouble. Thanks to you—"
"Not to me."
"To Clip, then, I managed to elude their vigilance. It makes me laugh to think of their disappointment."
Bob did not appear to look upon it as a joke, however.