"Then my promise covers nothing. Laud Cavendish paid me that bill," added the boat-builder.
"Laud Cavendish!" exclaimed Nellie.
Her father shook his head, to intimate that she was to say nothing.
"Laud Cavendish gave you this bill?" repeated the captain.
"Yes, sir, and six more just like it; only the others were not mended. I paid Mr. Leach three of them, and here are the other four," said Donald, producing his wallet, and taking from it the four bills, which he had not returned to their hiding-place in the bureau.
Captain Patterdale examined them, and compared them with the two in his possession. They looked like the bills he had deposited in the tin box, when Hasbrook paid him the thirteen hundred and fifty dollars and interest. Twelve of the bills which made up this sum were fifties, nearly new; the balance was in hundreds, and smaller notes, older, more discolored, and worn.
"Laud Cavendish paid you three hundred and fifty dollars, then?" continued the nabob.
"Yes, sir; just that. But what is there wrong about it?" asked Donald, trembling with emotion, when he realized what a scrape he had got into.
"Following your example, Don John, I shall for the present decline to answer," replied the captain. "If you don't know—"
"I don't!" protested Donald, earnestly.