l swear to it."

"Yes, but _you_ were with me, uncle."

"So I was, and hard enough work I had to convince them that I had
nothin' to do with it myself, but they saw that I couldn't jump a stone
wall eight foot high to save my life, much less break into a house, and
they got no further evidence to convict me, so they let me off; but
it'll go hard with you, nephy, for Major Stewart described the men, and
one o' them was a big strong feller, the description bein' as like you
as two peas, only their faces was blackened, and the lantern threw the
light all one way, so he didn't see them well. Then, the things found
in our garden,--and the villains will haul me up as a witness against
you, for, didn't I find them myself?"

"Very perplexing; what shall I do?" said Ruby.

"Clear out," cried the captain emphatically.

"What! fly like a real criminal, just as I have returned home? Never.
What say _you_, Minnie?"

"Stand your trial, Ruby. They cannot--they dare not--condemn the
innocent."

"And you, mother?"

"I'm sure I don't know what to say," replied Mrs Brand, with a look of
deep anxiety, as she passed her fingers through her son's hair, and
kissed his brow. "I have seen the innocent condemned and the guilty go
free more than once in my life."

"Nevertheless, mother, I will give myself up, and take my chance. To
fly would be to give them reason to believe me guilty."

"Give yourself up!" exclaimed the captain, "you'll do nothing of the
sort. Come, lad, remember I'm an old man, and an uncle. I've got a
plan in my head, which I think will keep you out of harm's way for a
time. You see my old chronometer is but a poor one,--the worse of the
wear, like its master,--and I've never been able to make out the exact
time that we went aboard the _Termagant_ the night you went away. Now,
can you tell me what o'clock it was?"

"I can."

"'Xactly?"

"Yes, exactly, for it happened that I was a little later than I
promised, and the skipper pointed to his watch, as I came up the side,
and jocularly shook his head at me. It was exactly eleven p.m."

"Sure and sartin o' that?" enquired the captain, earnestly.

"Quite, and his watch must have been right, for the town-clock rung the
hour at the same time."

"Is that skipper alive?"

"Yes."

"Would he swear to that?"

"I think he would."

"D'ye know where he is?"

"I do. He's on a voyage to the West Indies, and won't be home for two
months, I believe."

"