passage between Cedar and Garden Islands. The Juniper was close to the shore, and the islands were about the eighth of a mile apart. The wind was freshening every minute; and Dory decided to run by the steamer, going as near as it was prudent to go.
He could still hear the voices of the two men, though their tone had greatly changed. The skipper saw that the steamer was still at anchor, for she had swung around with her head to the wind. He was satisfied, by this fact, that the call for help was not a trick: if it had been, the Juniper would have been under way by this time.
“Juniper, ahoy!” called Dory, as the Goldwing came up with the launch. “What is the matter on board?”
“Nothing is the matter. Greeze has had the nightmare, and shouted murder in his sleep,” replied Lingerwell, trying to laugh it off, though the effort was a very sickly one.
“Help! help!” shouted the engineer from the other end of the boat.
“He don’t seem to have got over his nightmare yet,” added Dory.—“What is the matter there? What ails you?” demanded the skipper.
“Lingerwell has nearly killed me: he says I stole his money while he was after the Millweed fellow,” replied Greeze.
“Shut up, you stupid blockhead! Silence! Don’t say another word about it, and we will fix up the matter,” said Lingerwell in a wheedling tone, as though he would have given something handsome to have sealed the lips of the engineer.
“I won’t shut up! I have been insulted and abused; and I will have satisfaction if it costs me my life. I didn’t take your money. I didn’t know you had any,” growled Greeze, moving aft.
This explanation on the part of the engineer enabled Dory to understand the nature of the quarrel between the two men. When the Juniper had anchored, Lingerwell had evidently taken the pocket-book from its hiding-place, and found that worthless paper had been put in the place of the four hundred and fifty dollars. As he was not aware that Dory, or any other person, had been on board, he naturally concluded that the engineer must have robbed him of his ill-gotten money.