“It’s a lie!” snapped the woman, desperately. “I never seen the watch and ring; but he said the Cap’n was dead, all right, an’ that’s why Sam run away with the property.”
“Who was the sailor?” enquired my father, thoughtfully.
“Ned Britton, sir.”
“Aye, an honest, worthy lad, who sailed with me for years. And he had the watch and ring?”
“Yes, sir. Ned was taken with a fever when he escaped from the wreck, and after he recovered they told him that several bodies had been washed ashore and buried by the villagers. On one of the bodies they found the watch and ring, so Ned naturally thought you had perished.”
“When the ship broke up,” said Captain Steele, slowly, “and I knew the end had come, I sent one of my lads to my cabin to get my trinkets while I attended to lowering the boats. I never saw him again. For my part, my leg was crushed by a falling mast, but I got entangled in the rigging and the mast floated me to a little island where a dozen fisher-folks lived. One was a bit of a doctor, and cut away my mangled leg and nursed me back to life. While I waited for a ship to touch the island I regained my strength and made myself a new leg out of cotton-wood. Then, one day, a schooner carried me to Plymouth, and the Captain, who was a kindly man, loaned me enough money to bring me to Batteraft where I thought I’d find my savings; enough to buy a new ship and start business again. But Mrs. Ranck met me with the news that my son had stripped the house of all my valuables and run away with a man that was known to be a pirate. My room was quite bare, I found, and Mrs. Ranck claimed she had hardly enough left of her savings to buy food with. So here I was, a cripple and condemned to poverty after a successful career; and it’s no wonder my thoughts were bitter towards my son, whom I never would have believed could act so ungratefully. My only comfort was that Sam had believed me dead.”
Uncle Naboth nodded approval.
“Quite proper, sir,” he said, “an’ all quite right and shipshape. Sam didn’t take a penny’s worth from this house; but I made him my partner, in your place, and we’ve had a successful voyage and come back rich as Croessuses. You’ll live in clover, from this time on, Cap’n Steele, even if you never get back the property Mrs. Ranck has robbed you of. But why not make her give it up? She can’t have squandered it on riotous living, by the looks of her.”
Captain Steele turned to the housekeeper.
“What have you to say, Mrs. Ranck?” he asked.