"No, sir; I can't say I did."

"You didn't stay any time in the library after you came down from
Michael's room, did you?"

"No, sir; I only went for my hat, and didn't stay there a minute."

"And you didn't notice the tin box?"

"No, sir; I didn't see it at all when I came out."

"Then of course you didn't see any marks upon it," added the captain,
with a smile.

"If I didn't see the box, I shouldn't have been likely to see the
marks," laughed Donald. "What marks were they, sir?"

"It's of no consequence, if you didn't see them. The box was in the
library--wasn't it?--when you went out."

"I don't know whether it was or not. I only know that I don't remember
noticing it," said Donald, who thought the captain's question was a very
queer one, after those he had just answered.

The nabob was no better satisfied with Donald's answers than he had been
with those of Laud Cavendish, except that the former looked him full in
the face when he spoke. He obtained no information, and went home to
seek it at other sources.

"I think I won't go out again, Donald," said Mr. Ramsay, when Captain
Patterdale had left. "I don't feel very well, and you may go alone."

"Do you feel very sick, father?" asked the son, in tones of sympathy.

"No; but I think I will go into the house and take some medicine. You
can run over to Turtle Head alone," added the boat-builder, as he walked
towards the house.

"Can't you go any how, Sam?" said Donald, turning to his friend.

"No, I must go home now. I have to drive over to Searsport after my
sister," replied Sam, as he left the yacht, and walked up the wharf.

Donald hoisted the jib of the Sea Foam, shoved off her head, and laid
her course, with the wind over the quarter, for Turtle Head--distant
about seven miles.

CHAPTER III

THE YACHT CLUB AT TURTLE HEAD.

The Sea Foam was a sloop yacht, thirty feet in length, and as handsome
as a picture in an illustrated paper, than which nothing could be finer.
It was a fact that she had cost twelve hundred dollars; but even this
sum was cheaper than she could have been built and fitted up in Boston
or Bristol. She was provided with everything required by a first class
yacht of her size, both for the comfort and safety of the voyager, as
well as for fast sailing. Though Mr. Ramsay, her builder, was a ship
carpenter, he was a very intelligent and well-read man. He had made
yachts a specialty, and devoted a great deal of study to the