be of value
to him.

This was the second fight Tom had that night, and it was a lively one.
During its progress, he gained a good idea of Johnny's power of muscle,
and Johnny thought Tom was a remarkably strong and active boy to be the
coward he was. Long wind, and the consciousness of being in the right,
brought the clerk off with flying colors; and, after a five minutes'
struggle, the captain of the Crusoe band lay helpless on the bed, and
Johnny, with his hands in his pockets, stood looking at him. Tom was
almost beside himself with rage and alarm, but the victor was as cool as
a cucumber.

"Tom," said he, as soon as he had recovered his breath, "did it never
occur to you that you are getting low down in the world? What will your
father say when he hears that you are running around with a lot of
burglars? By gracious, old fellow, you're done for--you're gone up!
Where's that money?"

"O, now, it's half way to the island," whined Tom. "You'll let me go,
won't you, Johnny? I'll never do it again."

"Who's got the money?" demanded the clerk.

"Those two robbers. They got into a yawl and started off. The governor
told them to wait for us at the head of the island. Say, Johnny, are you
going to release me?"

"Where did you leave the governor and his crew?"

"In a skiff, at the end of the pier. Let me go, Johnny, won't you? I'll
never do it again, as long as I live."

"How were you going to sea?"

"In the Sweepstakes. We captured her, and she is ready and waiting now.
Say, Johnny, why don't you answer my question?"

"Where have you been during the last two weeks?"

"On Block Island. We've got a harboring place there, near the shoals. O,
now, Johnny, come back here and release me."

But the clerk was gone before the words were fairly out of Tom's mouth.
He had heard enough to satisfy him, and he believed that prompt action
on his part was all that was needed to insure the capture of the
robbers.

"I'll run down to the vessels, in front of the elevator, and alarm the
watch," soliloquized the clerk. "I'll ask one of the captains to send a
boat's crew after the governor and his crowd, and then I'll raise men
enough to handle the Sweepstakes. I'll start for the island in her, and
the robbers, thinking it's all right, will come on board, and the first
thing they know they'll be prisoners, and I'll have possession of the
seven thousand dollars. That's the way to work it."

Fully occupied with such thoughts as