man that wrote it gave it to me. You got the letter, and
you ought to know more about it than I do."

"I know all about him."

"Then I can't tell you any thing."

"But I want to connect that man with this boat."

"You can connect them if you like. Was there any thing about the
Goldwing in the letter?" asked Dory, who was quite as much puzzled as
Pearl appeared to be.

"None of your business whether there was or not?" exclaimed Pearl
savagely; and the letter was evidently not a pleasant topic to him. "I
am not here to answer questions."

"Nor I either; and here we are equal," replied Dory, as he took the
tiller of the sailboat from the forward cuddy, and inserted it in the
rudder-head.

"The man that gave you that letter got you to buy this boat for him,"
said Pearl. "He knew I wanted her, if you did not."

"The man that wrote that letter never said a word to me about this boat,
or any other; and I did not buy her for him," replied Dory, startled by
the statement of the waspish young man.

Dory was afraid the events of the day might connect him with the elder
Mr. Hawlinshed, who had taken the steamer for the south while he was
absent in delivering the letter. He had come to the conclusion that
Pearl Hawlinshed was a "hard case," as he must be, or he could not have
assaulted his father in the woods. There was plainly a quarrel between
father and son, and he did not wish to know any thing more about it. All
he cared about the matter was to keep the secret inviolate.

"I suppose if you did it you would lie about it," added Pearl.

"You should not judge me by yourself," added Dory quietly.

"Don't give me any of your impudence, or there will be a broken head
round here somewhere," snarled Pearl.

Dory did not want a broken head, and he did not want to give the son of
his friend a broken head; and he did not want to quarrel with the
waspish fellow. He concluded that it would be the wisest policy to say
no more, and he went on with his preparations for getting the boat under
way. The wind was blowing very fresh from the north-west.

The Goldwing had a bad reputation in Plattsburgh, and he had his doubts
about going across the lake in her. He could see the white-caps down
Cumberland Bay, and he decided to put a reef in the mainsail. Pearl
Hawlinshed was not disposed to leave. He had obtained no satisfaction
from the purchaser of the Goldwing, and he evidently believed there was
some trickery by which he had bee