"I don't think I am to blame for it," replied Chuck, who was pulling the bow-oar, next to Dory.
"You don't think you were to blame!" exclaimed Angy angrily. "Didn't you speak out loud when we were within a few rods of this chap we have picked up? Didn't you make it necessary to capture this fellow, so that he should not see us?"
"Perhaps I made a little noise when I saw the flash of light, but I didn't say any thing," pleaded Chuck.
"You made noise enough for him to hear you, and to let him know where we were; and I shall fine you fifty dollars out of your share," added the chief, as though he were talking to a delinquent schoolboy.
"Perhaps you will: if you do, you will wish you hadn't done it," replied the culprit, who did not seem to be in a submissive mood.
"Didn't you agree to obey orders, Chuck?" demanded Angy savagely.
"That is just what I have done; and if I was surprised into making a little sound when that fellow struck a light close to us, I am not going to be robbed for it," protested the delinquent.
"What are you going to do about it?" growled Angy.
"I can only tell you what I'm not going to do yet: I shall not submit to being robbed," said Chuck.
It looked a little like a quarrel among the marauders, and Dory hoped he might be able to derive some advantage from the disagreement. But they had said enough to enable him to explain why he had been made a prisoner. The burglars had evidently kept the run of him since he came into the road, and they were not willing that any one should know they had departed by water.