Mr. Longbrook was quite willing to hear the story, for he was deeply interested by this time. He asked Dory and his companion into the store, and locked the door again. Bolingbroke gave his part of the narrative first, and Dory finished it out.
“I believed Bolingbroke told me the truth; and I accepted Mr. Lingerwell’s statement that one of the two must have stolen the money,” said Dory. “When the skipper and engineer left the Juniper to catch my passenger, I looked the steamer over, and found the pocket-book. I put the piece of newspaper into the place where I took out the bills, hoping that Mr. Lingerwell would suppose he had the bills until he got to Burlington.”
Then followed the skipper’s account of the quarrel on board of the Juniper, which confirmed Dory’s statement. It was as clear to the merchant as it was to Dory, that the head man had stolen the money.
“Where is Lingerwell now?” asked Mr. Longbrook.
“He is on board of the Juniper, tied hand and foot; and the engineer is keeping guard over him. He did not know I had been on board of the Juniper in his absence; and he was sure that Greeze must have taken the money from the pocket-book, and put the newspaper in its place. You can do what you like with him.”
“I knew that man was a villain!” exclaimed Bolingbroke when Dory had finished his explanation. “I saw why I was sent to the safe for the cash-book, when it was almost within reach of his hands; and that was one of my reasons for running away. I was a fool, but I was frightened.”
“I wish I had known that Lingerwell was a rascal a little sooner. Since he went after this young man yesterday, I have been examining my books. I am satisfied that he has robbed me of hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. I can see just how he has done it. Now we will go down and see him, and we will have a warrant for his arrest.”
By this time it was seven o’clock, and the merchant departed for the warrant and the officer to serve it. Dory and Bolingbroke went with him.
As they passed the Van Ness House, Dory was not a little surprised to see his uncle standing at the entrance of the hotel with quite a little crowd of boys. The skipper counted ten of them, and he wondered if they were to be pupils in the Beech-Hill Industrial School.
“You are here in good time, Theodore,” demanded Captain Gildrock, as he recognized his nephew.