"Who was he?"
"I don't know," replied Ethan, for not many of the particulars in regard to the hidden treasure had yet been circulated. "But they say Stumpy was with young Bennington when he found the money."
"What! Stumpy! With him! Then they will divide it between them!" exclaimed Squire Moses; and the amiable old gentleman did not seem to rejoice at this possible accession of fortune on the part of his grandson.
"I don't know about that," said Ethan, who was certainly not less troubled than his worthy patriarch.
"But they ought not to touch the money—none of them. It belongs to the heirs of the man that was drowned. It ain't no better'n stealing to keep the gold," continued Squire Moses, with an overflow of honest indignation.
"That's so," added Ethan, sharing the virtuous sentiments of his father. "Of course the money belongs to somebody, if the man that buried it is dead. But I want to know more about it; and I'm going down to see Stumpy."
"I'll go with you, Ethan," said the squire; and together they left the house.
"If they should keep the money, and divide it, Joel's widow would pay off the mortgage on the house, and Bennington would settle up his interest money on the first of July, I suppose," mused Ethan aloud, as they walked along the street.
The landlord of the Island House appeared to be disposed to look the facts squarely in the face, however disagreeable they might be. If the money was divided, he could not expect to become the landlord of the new hotel, which was the height of his ambition.
"I don't know," replied Squire Moses. "I don't go near Bennington now; I don't say anything to him about the interest money; I don't want to disturb him, or to set him a thinking. He not only promises to pay the interest, but he promises to pay it on the first day of July. If he don't do it at the right time, I shall foreclose. I believe the man is ruined now; and the longer I wait, the more money I shall lose. He ought to know that such a big hotel, furnished as extravagantly as the new house, would not pay in such a place as Rockhaven. He can never recover himself in the world."