"Ham saw you have five or six bills. Now, you must tell me where you got that money, or I shall believe you robbed the mail."
"I shall not tell you," I replied, firmly. "If it was right for me to do so, I would; but it isn't right, and I can't."
"That's rich!" sneered Ham. "If you want any better evidence than that, you will have to send to Texas after it. His trying to lay it to me is the best proof I want."
"Ham Fishley, you know that what I have said is true," I continued indignantly. "You know that you opened that mail-bag after you came home from Crofton's, put the money in your pocket, and burned the letter."
"Of course that's perfectly ridiculous," said Ham, angrily.
"I'm tired of this jaw," added Captain Fishley, in disgust. "Buck, come round here."
"I know what you want, and I think I won't do it," I replied, leaving the store.
"Ham, go over to Stevens's, and tell him I want to see him," said my tyrant, coming to the door.
Stevens was a constable. I was not anxious to see him. I went to the barn, and by a roundabout way reached the swamp. I need hardly say that I was in great excitement and alarm. The constable was to be put upon my track; but I was not at all afraid that he would find me in the swamp, which for nearly half a mile had three feet of water on the ground. He could not reach me at the raft without a boat.
I went to work upon the interior of the house, put up a partition to divide Flora's room from the rest of the space, and built a bunk in her apartment. I had already rigged a steering oar, and at one end of the raft I had set up a mast, on which I intended to spread a square-sail for use when the wind was favorable. I worked very hard all the afternoon, and kept Sim as busy as I was myself in sawing boards of the right length for the work.