“Well, I’ll tell you what I think about it,” said Rob Dakin, some minutes later, after the boys had seated themselves in his store. “You say you found that piece of a bill in a locker in the cabin of your boat. Now there are two things to consider about that:
“In the first place, if the owner of the boat—supposing she was stolen—put that money in there, and he should turn up and claim the money, why, you might have to give it up. Of course the boat was taken over by the sheriff and sold, according to law; and if the owner claimed the boat I reckon he’d have to pay Mrs. Newcome what it cost her. But nobody has ever claimed her, and there isn’t really any danger of that. So far as that goes, the money seems to be yours.
“Now, in the second place, the men that had this boat, and who were sent to prison, might have had this money. Well, if it was their own money, why, the State would take it and keep it and restore it to them after they are set free. If it was stolen money, and the owner couldn’t be found, I can’t just say whether you could keep it or whether it would belong to the State. I’m not quite lawyer enough for that. But if they should deny knowing anything about it, why, I reckon it would belong to you, as you found it aboard your own boat.”
“Well, we will figure it in, anyway,” said Henry Burns.
So, at their request to draw them up a statement of their affairs, real “shipshape,” as Henry Burns expressed it, Rob Dakin set to work and, after some minutes’ figuring, produced a sheet at which they gazed with pride and satisfaction. It was as follows:
LEDGER OF THE VIKING—FISHING SLOOP
Earnings
1st trip to Loon Island$18.00
2d trip to Loon Island22.00
3d trip to Loon Island35.00
Lobsters—apart from crew45.00