"Tell me quick."
"That depend upon circumstances. While I am held in custody I have little inducement to do you a favor."
"Sturdy will release you, won't you, Sturdy. Only tell me where my mother is, that I may go to her at once."
"Why," said Bill, cautiously, "I don't know, exactly. He may be trying a game, and giving us information won't be worth anything."
"You can keep me here till you have sent to ascertain if I have told you the truth."
"No, no," said Peter Manson, terrified at the prospect, "don't let him stay here. He would rob me."
"Rob you," sneered Randall; "it looks well in you whose money has been dishonestly gained, to charge me with theft."
"He—you won't mind what he says, gentlemen," said Peter Manson, trembling. "He only says it to spite me."
"To spite you! Yes, you old hunks, I will spite you, and that with a vengeance! Hark you, Sturdy, I have kept this old man's secret long enough, and though I hate you, and that boy there, I believe I hate him worse. If I will reveal to this boy a secret which will insure to him a property of from twenty to thirty thousand dollars, will you agree to let me go, and give me a thousand dollars?"
"Can you do it?" demanded Sturdy, in surprise.