ut likely
it's some one the rogue has cheated."

"Hasbrook must have seen him," suggested Donald.

"The ruffian was disguised with his head in a bit of a bag, or something
of that sort, and he never spoke a word from first to last," added
Kennedy, looking over the article in the paper.

Donald wondered if Captain Shivernock had any dealings with Hasbrook. He
was just the man to take the law into his own hands, and assault one who
had done him a real or a fancied injury. Donald began to think he
understood why the captain did not wish it to be known that he was on
Long Island the night before. But the outrage had been committed in
Lincolnville, which bordered the western arm of Penobscot Bay. It was
three miles from the main land to the island. If the captain was in
Lincolnville in "the dead of night," on a criminal errand, what was he
doing near Seal Harbor, where the Juno was aground, at four o'clock in
the morning? If he was the guilty party, he would naturally desire to
get home before daylight. The wind was fair for him to do so, and there
was enough of it to enable the Juno to make the run in less than two
hours. It did not seem probable, therefore, that the captain had gone
over to the other side of the bay, three miles off his course. Besides,
he was not disguised, but wore his usual gray suit; and Hasbrook ought
to have been able to recognize him by his form and his dress even in the
darkest night.

Donald was perplexed and disturbed. If there was any probability that
Captain Shivernock had committed the crime, our hero was not to be
bribed by sixty or six thousand dollars to keep the secret. If guilty,
he would have been more likely to go below and turn in than to walk
three miles on the island for assistance, and he would not have gone
three miles off his course. But Donald determined to inquire into the
matter, and do his whole duty, even if the strange man killed him for
it. Kennedy was reading his paper while the young man was thinking over
the case; but, having decided what to do, he interrupted the ship
carpenter again.

"Are you still out of work, Mr. Kennedy?" he asked.

"I am; and I think I shall go to Bath next week," replied Kennedy.

"I know of a job for you."

[Illustration: THE NEWS FROM LINCOLNVILLE. Page 110.]

"Do you, lad? I don't want to move away from Belfast, and I should be
glad to get work here. What's the job?"

"We are going to build a yacht of the size of the Sea Foam."