“Perhaps you can tell me who drew it, then?” sneered the captain.
“I can.”
For one moment the captain thought that the supercargo might himself have been implicated; but he saw that this was absurd.
“Who did it, then?”
“The boy he was fighting with,—Jack Rodman.”
“Are you sure of this?” demanded the captain, in amazement.
“Yes; I saw him myself engaged upon it last evening. I would not have betrayed him, had he not tried to implicate an innocent party.”
Captain Brandon knew not what to think. He could not doubt the supercargo’s word after this positive statement, nor could he proceed to punish Harry for a fault which, as it appeared, he had not committed. Yet, strange as it may appear, he felt more incensed against Harry, who was proved to be innocent, than against Jack Rodman, whom he knew to be guilty. He could not help wishing that he had not been told the truth of the matter until he had inflicted punishment upon our hero.
In return for the supercargo’s explanation, he did not reply a word, but, turning on his heel, descended the companion-way to the cabin, where he kept himself for the next two or three hours. After he had left the deck, Harry went up to the supercargo, and in a frank way said:—