with my boat?" queried the Sheriff, who did not
at all understand the situation.

"I didn't run off with your boat. It ran off with me first, and ran
away from me afterwards. If you hadn't taken the oars out I should
have rowed into Dubuque and sent some one back to the island with her.
As it was, I had to go wherever she chose to take me, until she set me
ashore on a tow-head, and went on down the river by herself. I'm glad
of it, though, for if she hadn't, I should never have found the
_Whatnot_."

"The _Whatnot_!" exclaimed Billy Brackett. "Are you living on board
the _Whatnot_?"

"Yes, sir, this young gentleman is a guest on board of my boat," said
Cap'n Cod, who now found his first chance to speak; "and glad as I have
been to have him, it would have made me many times happier to know that
he was the son of my old friend and commander. Why didn't you tell me
the truth in the first place, boy?" And the veteran gazed
reproachfully at Winn.

"I did tell you the truth so far as I told you anything. I didn't dare
tell you any more, because I heard you say you were a friend of Sheriff
Riley, and knew his skiff. So I was afraid you would have me arrested
for running off with it, and in that way delay me so that I would never
find the raft. Besides, I wanted to wait until I could get a letter
from home to prove who I am, and I hadn't a chance to write until we
got here."

"With me, the simple word of Major Caspar's son would have been
stronger than all the proof in the world," said the loyal old soldier;
"and though you did, as you say, tell the truth so far as you told
anything, you did not tell the whole truth, as your father certainly
would have done had he been in your place."

"The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," quoted the
Sheriff, in his most official tone. "But look here, Cap'n Cod," he
continued, "you haven't yet explained what you know of this young
fellow, and his suspicious, or, to say the least, queer performances on
the river."

"Cap'n Cod!" interrupted Winn. "Is your name Cap'n Cod?"

"It is a name that I have been known to answer to," replied the owner
of the _Whatnot_; "and after my performance of last evening I don't
suppose I shall ever be allowed to claim any other."

"If you had only told me all your names in the first place," said Winn,
with a sly twinkle in his eyes, "I should probably have done the same.
I have so often heard my father speak of Cap'n Cod's