e
Au Sable."

"How do you know that the boy who was with your father bought the
Goldwing, Pearl?" inquired the landlord, who had told his news and lost
his interest in it till another uninformed person came along. "I don't
want to accuse any person of robbing my house without the means of
proving the charge."

"Oh, it's all straight, you may depend upon it!" replied Pearl. "I
thought the boy looked like a young rascal, and now I know that he stole
the money. Of course it is no sale, so far as the boat is concerned. How
is that?" asked Pearl, who seemed to realize for the first time, that,
if the money paid for the Goldwing was stolen, it would have to be
returned to the rightful owner.

"I should say it would be no trade under the circumstances. But you
don't tell me how you know it was this boy that was with your father
last night in my house," said the landlord impatiently.

"I don't know that he was in your house with my father. He was with my
father last night, for he told me so. He brought me a letter from my
father this morning. When we were bidding on the Goldwing, I found it
was the same boy. That's how I know it; and there is no mistake about
it," added Pearl.

"It looks as though there might be something in it. At any rate we will
have the thing looked into. Where is the boy now? What has become of
him?"

"The last I saw of him he was in the Goldwing, at anchor off the
breakwater, on the outside. I have no doubt he is going to Burlington in
the boat as soon as the weather is fit for him to sail."

"Perhaps he has gone by this time," suggested the landlord.

"I don't believe he has. It is blowing heavy out on the lake; and the
boy knows what sort of a boat the Goldwing is, for I warned him that she
would drown him."

"There seems to be no doubt that the boy is the same one that went to
your father's room last night, though that don't prove that he robbed
the room of one of my guests. I should like to see the boy, and have him
explain what he has been about," added the landlord.

"We will have him arrested if he can't tell a straight story," said
Pearl. "If you authorize me to do it, I will bring the boy up here; but
I may have to get a steamer to chase him, and there will be some expense
about it."

"I will pay any reasonable expense," replied the landlord. "You are not
an officer, and of course you can't arrest him."

"But I will bring him up here, whether I am an officer or not,"
continued Pe