l, who had evidently lost his patience and his
temper.

"I didn't know any money had been stolen from a hotel; and I didn't
steal it," cried Dory, as the Goldwing passed out of easy talking
distance from the steamer.

"You stole the money to buy that boat, and it's no sale!" yelled Pearl.

"Stole the money to buy the boat!" exclaimed Corny, looking at his
fellow-members of the Goldwing Club.

"I don't believe it!" ejaculated Thad Glovering. "Dory isn't that kind
of a fellow. He wouldn't do such a thing."

Nat Long and Dick Short said nothing. They seemed to be in doubt. All of
them wondered where Dory could have got the money to pay for the
Goldwing, and the charge of Pearl Hawlinshed appeared to explain the
whole matter. Certainly the astonishing statement of Pearl made it look
very bad for the skipper of the Goldwing. When they asked where he got
the forty-two dollars to pay for the boat, Dory had refused to explain,
and had insisted that no more questions should be asked about the
subject.

Nat had winked at Corny to intimate that this disposition of the matter
was not satisfactory; but, as they were expecting a fine sail in the
schooner, they had been politic enough to keep silence. Now they looked
from one to another, for they did not like to say just what they
thought.

Dory was silent also. His heart was swelling with emotion. He was
accused of stealing, and he could not help seeing that he was in a very
uncomfortable situation. Pearl's father had given him the money, and he
had promised not to say a word about it. There seemed to be some
terrible secret between Pearl and his father. The latter had given Dory
one hundred and five dollars for the service he had rendered him in the
woods, and wished him not to tell where he got the money lest it should
lead to the exposure of the secret.

Pearl evidently had something against him. It might be nothing more than
the fact that he had outbid him at the sale of the boat. But the son
plainly suspected that Dory had some relations with his father, for he
had intimated as much as this.

The skipper of the Goldwing was considering what he should do. He was
ready to meet the charge against him, though he could not explain where
he got the money to pay for the boat. Pearl was after him for stealing
the money at a hotel,--what hotel he did not know. Was Pearl a constable
or a police-officer?

If his pursuer was an officer of the law, he was ready to give himself