"So you thought better of it, did you?" said Captain Bagley.
Alec looked puzzled. "Thought better of what?" he asked.
"Now don't try any bluffs on us," said the shipper tartly. "Be honest and admit you stole the money and we may overlook it. We understand that you were in trouble and needed the money badly."
Alec was almost dumb with astonishment. "Admit that I stole the money!" he cried. "I don't understand what you are talking about. I never stole a cent from anybody."
"Come, come!" said Captain Rumford sharply. "Don't make the matter worse by lying about it."
Alec's eyes blazed. "See here," he said angrily. "I don't care if you are the biggest oyster shipper in Bivalve. You shall not call me a liar. I didn't take your money or anybody else's. You've got to take that back. I won't stand it. I'm not a thief and I'm not a liar."
Captain Rumford sat sharp up in his chair and fastened his keenest glance on Alec's face. His look seemed to bore right through the lad. But Alec never flinched. He looked straight into the captain's eyes until the shipper shifted his gaze to Bagley.
"Cap'n," said the oyster shipper, "if that lad's a liar, he's the nerviest one I ever met with. He's the first man that ever lied to me and looked me square in the eye afterward."
"See here," said Alec, trembling with anger. "I demand an explanation. I tell you I am neither a liar nor a thief; and you have no right to call me one."
"Well, that's a simple matter," said the shipper. "Captain Bagley left you alone in the cabin of his boat with his pay-roll, or what was left of it. When he came back, you had gone and the cash had disappeared. The captain says you had very great need of money and were worrying about how you could get it, when he left the boat. Have you any explanation to make?"