"I didn't say she had any cargo, and I'm not going to say anything more about it till the owner claims the boat. That's the end of it."
Little Bobtail rose from the transom, and walked towards the companion-way. Captain Chinks looked very savage. He was evidently in a dilemma, from which he could not extricate himself.
"One minute more, my lad," called the captain. "I may possibly come across the person who lost this boat."
"If you do, send him to me, and he shall have his boat, and—and—everything that belongs to her," replied Bobtail, who was still full of wrath towards his late assailant.
"But, you see, if she had any smuggled goods on board of her—"
"I didn't say she had."
"You won't understand me! I say if she had. Now, perhaps I can make a trade with the owner for you."
"I don't want you to make any trade for me. Send him to me, and he shall have his boat. That's all."
"But he will be afraid to expose himself. Now, suppose he should offer to let you keep the boat, if you would give up the goods, if you found any goods in her. If I should happen to find him, or to hear of him, shall I tell him you will make this sort of a trade with him?"
"No! Tell him he can have his boat and everything that belongs to her. I've learned more about smugglers to-day than I ever knew before, and I wouldn't touch one with a ten-foot pole; and I wouldn't make a trade with him to cheat the government. I don't want to talk any more about it. I've got a sore throat now."