"He isn't dead."

"Yes, he is. The telegram came this forenoon."

"But I helped him on shore myself at seven o'clock this morning."

"He died at half past seven, the despatch says. And you didn't know it?"

"No, I didn't. That's strange. But I started for home as soon as I saw
him in the carriage, and slept all the way down."

Mrs. Taylor had not seen her son since the examination at the office of
Squire Norwood, but she had heard that he returned from Mount Desert
late at night, and had gone to Belfast early in the morning. Bobtail had
begun to relate his adventures at Mount Desert, when Squire Gilfilian
presented himself at the door. It was known now that the Skylark had
been to Bar Harbor, with Mr. Hines and the deputy sheriff as passengers.
The young skipper had told this the night before, but nothing more--not
even that his passengers had not returned with him. The squire had heard
this report, and he was anxious to know the result of the visit.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Taylor," said the lawyer. "I am glad to find your
son here, for I want to talk with him. But I wish to say to you, in the
first place, that I don't consider that mortgage fairly cancelled."

"Why not? Didn't I pay you the money?" asked Mrs. Taylor, very much
alarmed.

"You did, but that bill was already mine. Mr. Slipwing sent me five
hundred dollars, and I have received it--the very bill he sent. From you
and from him I ought to have a thousand dollars, but I have only half
that amount."

"Am I to lose that money?" demanded the poor woman.

"Well, am I?" echoed the squire, with a bland smile. "If my horse is
stolen, I take him wherever I find him, and whoever has bought or sold
him."

The lawyer was talking to a woman knowing but little of law and
business, and he was doubtful himself whether he could claim that bill
after it had passed, in good faith, through the hands of several
persons.

"I don't think it's right," protested Mrs. Taylor.

"Nor I, either," added Bobtail. "My mother didn't steal it, and I didn't
steal it."

"No one knows who did steal it," said the squire. "Captain Chinks still
contends that you took the letter, my boy; and he has gone down to Bar
Harbor to ascertain how the bill got there. He thinks you heard of that
boat, and sent some one down to buy her. He means to look up the case."

"He'll look it up with a vengeance," replied Bobtail. "It is already
looked up."

"What do you mean? I hear that you have