r a moment, and appeared to be
greatly surprised.

"Didn't you know there was to be a funeral in Burlington this afternoon,
Dory?" inquired the landlord, almost holding his breath.

"I didn't know any thing about a funeral," answered Dory, trembling with
emotion.

"You haven't heard the news? Didn't you know that one of your family
was"--And the hotel-keeper paused, afraid of the effect of the sudden
imparting of the information to the boy.

"My mother isn't dead, is she?" gasped Dory, clinging to the
office-counter for support.

"No, she is not. But another member of your family is to be buried
to-day," added the landlord.

"Is it my sister Marian?" groaned Dory.

"No, Dory: it is your father."

The young skipper staggered to a chair, and dropped into it. The
landlord hastened to him. His father was dead. Though it was known in
Plattsburgh, and had been for three days, that the Au Sable steamer,
while in charge of Perry Dornwood, the assistant pilot, had been run
over a point of rocks, and wrecked, Dory had not heard of it. Some who
could have told him the news did not care to hurt his feelings; others
did not know he was the son of the pilot; and many heard of the event,
and forgot it the next minute.

"My father dead!" groaned Dory. "And I did not even know that he was
sick!"

The landlord did not care to give him the whole of the sad particulars.
He was silent, thinking that some friend of the family could discharge
this painful duty better than he could.

"That is what my uncle Royal wanted of me, and I have been running away
from him," added Dory.

The landlord had seen Captain Gildrock the day before when he came to
Plattsburgh to look for the boy; and he supposed he had found him. He
concluded that the skipper thought it necessary to take his boat to
Burlington, and had therefore permitted the Sylph to go on without him.
He was surprised to see him when he came into the hotel.

The Sylph had merely come up to the wharf to land her passengers, and
Peppers had only told about the trick played upon him by Pearl. In fact,
the captain had asked him and Moody not to mention the fact that his
nephew had run away from him. It looked like an unpleasant family
matter, and he did not care to have it talked about.

Dory was overwhelmed by the intelligence of the death of his father. It
was some time before he recovered his self-possession, and then only
when the landlord again reminded him that he might b