“What setters?” exclaimed Silas, who acted as if he were on the point of taking to his heels. “I ain’t got none. I took ’em down to the hotel and give ’em up.”
“I am glad to hear it, because it will save me some trouble,” replied the officer. “I have had my eyes on those dogs ever since you got hold of them, and I should have been after them long ago if I had known where to find the owner. Don’t do that again, Silas. Honesty is the best policy, every day in the week.”
“If you will leave your business in my hands, I will attend to it for you, and you will not have to go to Hammondsport at all,” continued Mr. Warren.
And Joe was glad to hear him say it, because it showed him that the gentleman did not intend that his father should squander all his money, if he could help it.
“It is too late in the season for you to do anything with your boats this year, but I will give you and Dan a steady job at chopping wood, and if you take care of the money you earn, instead of spending it at Hobson’s bar, you can live well during the winter. If the reward is not paid over to you by the time spring opens, I will advance you enough to start you in business and build your house. Then I think you had better give Dan a chance.”
“So do I,” whispered Tom, to his friend Bob. “Dan has lived by his wits long enough, and if Silas doesn’t begin to take some interest in him, the sheriff will have a word or two to say about those setters. I can see plainly enough that he intends to hold that affair over Silas as a whip to make him behave himself.”
“Do you think Silas will ever have the reward paid him in a lump?” asked Bob.
“No, I don’t, because he doesn’t know enough to take care of so much money. Joe can get his any time he wants it, for Mr. Warren knows that he will make every cent of it count.”
Then, aloud, Tom said:
“Well, Bob, seeing that we’ve got to get up in the morning, we had better be going home. Come over bright and early, Joe, and we will take your things back to your cabin.”