two or three turns in front of the bank, he finally
screwed his courage to the sticking point, and timidly asked an
attendant if he could see the banker.

"I think so. I'll see," was the reply.

In a few seconds the man reappeared, and said that Mr. Blake could
spare a few minutes. Hat in hand, Sam entered the ground-glass door
which bore on it in imposing gilt letters the word "President."

The interview was brief, and to Sam most unsatisfactory. The banker
pointed out to him that he was a minor, and as such that his note would
be no good; and also that, without the permission of his father, he
would not think of lending the youth such a sum. Much crestfallen, Sam
shuffled his way out toward the main door of the bank, when suddenly a
voice he recognized caused him to look up.

"A hundred and twenty-five dollars. That's right, all shipshape and
above board!"

It was the old captain of Topsail Island, counting over in his gnarled
paw one hundred and twenty-five dollars in crisp bills which he had
just received from the paying teller.

"You must be going to be married, captain," Sam heard the teller remark
jocularly.

"Not yet a while," the captain laughed back. "That ther motor uv mine
that I left ter be fixed up is goin' ter cost me fifty dollars, and the
other seventy-five I'm calculating ter keep on hand in my safe fer a
while. I'm kind uv figgerin' on gettin' a new dinghy--my old one is
just plum full uv holes. I rowed over frum the island this mornin',
and I declar' ter goodness, once or twice I thought I'd swamp."

Sam slipped out of the bank without speaking to the captain, whom,
indeed, since the episode of the melon patch, he had no great desire to
encounter.

As he made his way toward his home in no very amiable mood, he was
hailed from the opposite side of the street by Jack Curtiss and Bill
Bender.

"Any news of the boat?" demanded Jack, as he and Bill crossed over and
slapped their crony on the back with great assumed heartiness.

"Yes, and mighty bad news, too, in one way. She's safe enough. The
Dolphin--that fishing boat--found her and towed her in. But--here's the
tough part of it--it's going to cost fifty dollars for salvage to get
her from the Dolphin's captain, the old shark!"

"Phew!" whistled Jack Curtiss. "Pretty steep. But I suppose your old
man will fork over, eh?"

"That's just it," grumbled Sam; "he won't come across with a cent. I
suppose, if I don't pay for the hy