"You can answer it, Bobtail."
"I mean that, for certain reasons, I must decline to answer it."
"You must, eh?"
"Yes, sir."
"I didn't think this of you, Bobtail. This morning I got you out of a bad scrape. If I hadn't done so, you would have been taken up for stealing that letter, which contained five hundred dollars. Now, you go back on me the same day," added the captain, more gently.
"I don't go back on you, sir. If you own this boat, I'll tell you all I know about her."
"I don't say that I own her."
"I know you don't say so; and for that reason I can't say anything more about her. You only told the truth about the letter."
"But I might have held my tongue, and I'm sorry now I didn't."
After this speech, Little Bobtail had no doubt that Captain Chinks was a bad man, and he felt the necessity of extreme caution in dealing with him.