n, if both
vessels are registered and rated seaworthy, nothing that happens to
one can be laid to the other unless, as in the present case, one
deliberately damages the other. The principal punishment is a moral
one administered by the former friends of the dishonest man, but the
victim can collect money damages. Naturally the insurance company will
change its charge so as to accuse Nat instead of you.

"They have a proven case against him already, and he will have to pay
them nearly all they gave you--so that, in the end, he really pays you
for the damage he did that day. Then, I understand, he is going to pay
an amount to the family of each man who lost his life in the _May_, on
condition that they will never sue him."

"Whee-ew!" whistled Code. "When he gets through he won't have much
money left, I guess."

"No, I guess he won't," agreed the judge, "and it serves him right.
He'll probably have to sell his schooner and start life over again
somewhere else. I hope he starts honestly this time. Then you won't
take any action against him, Code?"

"Me? Oh, no!" said Schofield. "I've nothing against him now. Let him
go. But I'll tell you one thing, squire--he had better be smuggled
away to-night quietly, because, if the crowd gets hold of him, it
might not be good for his health."

The squire agreed and Code went back to his work. Late that afternoon
Pete Ellinwood swung the last basket of the catch to the scales and
Code completed his tally.

"Sixteen hundred and seventy quintal," he announced, "and forty-three
pounds. At a hundred pounds a quintal that makes 167,078 pounds, and
at three cents a pound totals to $5,012.34. Not bad for a two months'
cruise, but my soul and body, Bill Boughton, how the fish did run!"

"It's a good catch, Code, and fine fish," answered Boughton, who had
been writing. "How will you have the money--in a lump or individual
checks?"

"Separate checks." Boughton went back to his glass-surrounded desk to
write them.

Code, being the sole owner of the _Charming Lass_, took two thousand
dollars as his share, and the rest was divided almost equally among
the other nine men, a trifle extra going to Pete Ellinwood for his
services as mate.

"It was a toppin' haul," declared Pete jovially, slapping his
well-filled pocket after a visit to the bank, "an' the rest of them
poor devils won't get over two and a half a pound--some of 'em only
two, when there's lots of fish. Half a cent a pound is