Sylvania. But I knew nothing about the matter, and it was
useless to conjecture what he was driving at.

The steamer was headed up the river, and we had actually begun our
long-talked-of trip. Cornwood steered the boat as well as usual, but he
was moody and silent. If he was ugly and bent on mischief, the worst he
could do, as I understood the matter, was to run the steamer aground.
This would not be a very serious calamity, and could involve no worse
consequences than a loss of time. I was not alarmed at anything he
might do while we were sailing up the river. I seated myself at the
side of the wheel, and allowed things to take their course, as, in New
Jersey, when it rains, they let it rain. But if Cornwood was angry, he
cooled off in the course of half an hour, and remarked that it was a
delightful day for the start. I was not obstinate on this point, and I
agreed with him.

"I don't think you treated me quite fairly, Captain Garningham, in the
affairs of poor Griff and his wife," said he, when the steamer was off
Mulberry Grove.

"Didn't treat you fairly!" I exclaimed, astonished at this new phase of
the argument. "Do I treat you unfairly because I won't have a man with
murder in his heart on board? Do I treat you unfairly because his wife
refuses to leave her place?"

"I have told you the reason why I am interested in the man; I am under
obligations to him," added Cornwood.

"I have no objection to your being interested in him to the last day of
his life; but I am not sufficiently interested in him to have a man who
draws a knife on another in this vessel," I answered. "I am not under
obligations to him."

"I have done the best I can to serve you, and I thought a friend of
mine might be entitled to some consideration," continued Cornwood, with
an injured innocence of tone and manner.

"Your influence procured for him and his wife places on board; and
Griffin might have retained his position, if he had behaved half as
well as his wife has."

"Poor Griff lay down on the deck to take a nap----"

"I don't care to hear that argument over again. I could have passed
over the scuffle, if he had not drawn his knife when there was nothing
to provoke him," I interposed.

"The assistant engineer did not tell the truth when he said he did not
lay the weight of his hand on him," protested Cornwood.

"I believe he did. I don't believe Griffin was asleep. He lay down with
his ear to the skylight of the captain's room