"What did he tell you to do?"
"He left us to get Miss Watson on board. We haven't had a chance to do so before, though we have been watching three or four days for one."
"Why did you wish to get me on board?" inquired Bessie, trembling in every fibre of her frame.
"O, you needn't be frightened, Miss Watson. You are not to be hurt, and you are to be treated as well as if you were on board of the yacht. Three years ago your father and Levi sent Captain Vincent to the state prison. He didn't forget it, and he is going to carry out the plan he began upon then."
"Am I to be carried to Australia?" asked Bessie.
"That depends on your father. If he pays the money Captain Vincent asks, we shall send you back. Your father and Levi served the captain a mean trick, and he always said he would get even with them; and I think he will now."
"But how came you in this vessel, Mat?" asked Bessie.
"I went into the yacht for the sole purpose of doing the little job I finished up to-night," answered Mat, with a sneaking smile.
"O, what a wretch!" exclaimed Bessie.
"A wretch? Well, perhaps I am; but it pays better than going before the mast in the yacht. Captain Vincent has your father this time where he can hold him," added Mat. "Levi has gone off to Portland to sail in the race, and he can't do anything for you this time. If you have a mind to write to your father, and tell him to come down with the rocks, I will see that he gets the letter within a week or so. He must put down about a hundred thousand dollars this time."