se you can't ignore him because you are wealthy. He wants
a chance to earn an honest living, and he needs it, too. He's a strong
boy, a first-rate hand with a boat, knows all the best fishing-grounds
on the lake, and would be just the fellow to send out with a party who
wanted a guide and boatman. You can easily afford to pay him a dollar a
day for such work as that."

"Well, I won't do it," said Silas, promptly. "He's a lazy,
good-for-nothing scamp, Dan is, and I won't take him into business along
of me."

"But you will hire him, and give him a chance to quit breaking the game
law and make an honest living," said the sheriff. "By-the-way, Silas,
I guess you had better bring up those setters, and save me the trouble
of going after them."

"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