"Both of us were as straight as a gun."
"How did it happen, then?"
"It was blowing like Sam Hill, that day, you see—didn't Captain Chinks tell you about it?"
"He didn't say you were both sober."
"Well, I was; and if he drank anything that day, I didn't see him do it,' persisted Ben.
"But what in the world did you want to land your stuff in that place for?"
"What place? What stuff?" demanded Ben.
"Those cases of brandy, of course. It's all right, my man. Captain Chinks will be down here to-morrow. Little Bobtail here picked up the yacht, and took her into Camden. The stuff was all landed in the night, so that only two or three persons know anything about it—Little Bobtail, myself, and a friend of mine."
"Who is he?"
"He's a friend of mine. We were on the lookout for this lot of brandy, and we took it off Captain Chinks's hands, so that he won't have any trouble in getting rid of it."