"You won't?"
"No, I won't," repeated Dory. "That is my secret. I have to keep it, not on my own account, but for the sake of a person who was very kind to me, and gave me a meal when I was hungry. That is all I can say about the case. I didn't steal a dollar or a cent, and I am willing to face any man that says I did."
"That fellow in the steamer says you did; and we have been running away from him since yesterday morning," replied Corny.
"That man, whose name is Pearl Hawlinshed, has something against me; and I don't care about putting myself into his hands," answered Dory.
"I suppose you don't," added Corny with a sneer. "I don't like this thing a bit. We have been with you since yesterday morning, and they say the receiver is as bad as the thief."
"Do you believe I am a thief, Corny?" said Dory, looking his accuser squarely in the eye.
"I don't see how I can believe any thing else. I don't want to believe such a thing of you, Dory. Fellows like you and me don't have forty-two dollars in every pocket of their trousers; and you won't tell us where you got the money," answered Corny a little more moderately.
"You talk and act just as though you did want to prove that I stole the money I paid for the boat," added Dory. "All I ask of the fellows is to believe that I am innocent until I am proved guilty."
"That's the talk! that's fair! I don't believe Dory did it!" exclaimed Thad.
"Let him tell where he got the money, then," replied Corny.