el, when I was
in the boat with you."

"Nonsense, Stumpy!" replied Leopold; and if there had been light enough,
perhaps his companion might have distinguished a slight blush upon his
brown face. "I never thought of such a thing. Why, her father has been
a member of Congress, and they say he is worth millions."

"I don't care anything about Congress or the millions; you would have
jumped overboard and drowned yourself for the girl at any minute."

"Perhaps I would; I don't know. She's a nice girl," mused Leopold.

"That's not all, either."

"Well, what else?"

"If Rosabel didn't like you better than she did the town pump, I don't
guess any more," chuckled Stumpy.

"I think she did like me, just as she would any fellow that did his best
to make her comfortable and happy."

"More than that."

"I don't believe it. But what has all this to do with your mother's
case, or my father's?"

"I won't mix things any longer. Her father is as rich as mud. I was
going to ask you if you wouldn't write to Mr. Hamilton, and ask him to
take the mortgage on my mother's house."

Leopold did not like the idea, but he promised to consider it.

"If I were you, Le, I should mention my father's case to him," added
Stumpy.

But Leopold did not like this idea any better than the other; and they
separated.

CHAPTER XI.

IN THE FOG.

Leopold parted with his friend opposite the Sea Cliff House. He entered
the office, where his father was busy in conversation with one of the
guests. Luckily the landlord, satisfied with the safety of his son, did
not ask him where he had been; for his absence on the water was too
common an event to excite any remark, and Leopold went to bed as soon as
he had shown himself to his mother, and told her that the squall had not
harmed him. It is one thing to go to bed, and quite another to sleep.
Leopold was tired enough to need rest, yet his future action in regard
to the hidden treasure did not allow him to do anything but think,
think, think, till he heard the church clock strike twelve. That was the
last he heard that night. But with all his thinking, his opinion was
just the same as before. The money did not belong to him, and it did
belong to somebody else. He could not escape these two conclusions, and
whether his father failed or not, he could see no way by which he could
honestly bring the twelve hundred dollars in gold to his aid.

Coming events pressed so heavily upon the minds of hi