"Perhaps you will be able to clear this thing up," added Captain Patterdale. "I wish to ask you a few questions."
"I will answer them truly. The only wrong I have done was to conceal what I thought there was no harm in concealing."
"It is not wise to do things in the dark."
"You will excuse me, sir, but you have done the same thing. If I had known that your tin box was stolen, I should have understood several things which are plain to me now."
"What, for instance?"
"If I had known it, I should have brought these bills to you as soon as Laud paid them to me, to see if they belonged to you. And I should have known why Laud was digging clams on Turtle Head."
"Laud says he paid you no money."
"He paid me three hundred and fifty dollars for the Juno—these four bills and the three I paid Mr. Leach."
"He persists that he don't own the Juno, and says that Captain Shivernock lets him have the use of her for taking care of her," continued the nabob.
Donald's face, which had thus far been clouded with anxiety, suddenly lighted up with a cheerful smile, as he produced the cover of an old tuck-diary, which contained the papers of Ramsay & Son. He opened it, and took therefrom the bill of sale of the Juno, in the well-known writing of Captain Shivernock.