“I will tell you why that man ran into me, and why he was chasing me up the lake.”
“That’s the point; but make the yarn a short one, or the steam-launch will be upon us before you get through with it. You have the floor, Mr. Millweed,” replied Dory, as he glanced at the approaching steamer.
“But I don’t want to be caught by that man! It might be fatal to me. He is a conspirator; and
he is seeking to destroy my good name,” pleaded Mr. Millweed earnestly.
“I don’t understand the matter. Is the man an officer?”
“Not at all: he is chief clerk in a store in Burlington, and the steam-launch belongs to his employer. But he is rapidly overtaking us,” said the passenger.
“Why should he be after you? What have you been doing that is wrong?” asked Dory, who had no idea of enlisting on the wrong side in anybody’s cause.
“I have done nothing wrong. I will tell you all about the matter, only don’t let that man get hold of me. Upon my sacred honor, I am guilty of no crime,” continued Bolingbroke Millweed.
Dory was greatly tempted. He had a reputation on Lake Champlain, won but a short time before he made his snug harbor at Beech Hill. On two occasions he had successfully kept out of the way of a steamer. He had been pursued all one day by the swiftest steam-yacht on the lake, but by his “tactics” he had kept out of her reach.
If the young man had been guilty of a crime,