the particulars of
the finding of the Skylark, so far as the boat was concerned, but
prudently repressed all allusion to the twenty cases of brandy. Captain
Chinks appeared to be nervous and uneasy, though, as he did not own the
boat, and knew nothing at all about her, Bobtail could not see why he
should be so. The dishes were cleared away, washed, and carefully
deposited in the lockers. The cook-room was put in order, the cabin
floor swept, and every article of furniture put in its place. Bobtail
seated himself on the transom, opposite Captain Chinks, and wondered
more than ever why he had taken so much trouble to visit the Skylark
when she lay so far from the town.

"What do you suppose this boat is worth, Bobtail?" asked Captain Chinks,
as he glanced forward and then aft, as if to survey the quality and
capacity of the yacht.

"I'm sure I have no idea," replied the young skipper.

"They asked me twelve hundred dollars for one about this size in Newport
last year," added the captain.

"That's a big price for a boat."

"But it was three hundred dollars less than she cost her owner two years
before. This don't look like an old boat."

"No, she's nearly new. I looked into the run this morning, and the
timbers and plank are as fresh as though she had just been built."

"I reckon she is a year or two old," added the captain. "She isn't worth
less than a thousand dollars, though you may buy such a boat sometimes
for half that money."

"Five hundred dollars is about all any boat of this size is worth down
here."

"By the way, Bobtail, did she have any sort of a cargo in her when you
picked her up?" asked Captain Chinks, in a careless way, as he raised
and lowered the table-leaf in front of him, just as though he was more
intent on ascertaining how the leaf worked than in obtaining an answer
to his question.

This was a very important interrogatory on the part of the visitor,
notwithstanding the indifference with which it had apparently been
propounded; and Bobtail had been expecting it. In spite of all the
captain had said, and in spite of the fact that he had declared he knew
nothing about the Skylark, our hero could not help connecting his
visitor with the contraband cargo; perhaps because the captain was the
only man in Camden who had the reputation of being concerned in this
sort of business.

"This is a pleasure craft, and wasn't built to carry cargo," replied
Bobtail, who had already decided how to meet