e Owen and Miss Edith
until each shall have a chance to make up his mind."

"Owen seems to be very much attached to Miss Edith, and their being
together all the time may result in something very serious. He is a
young fellow of twenty, and I doubt if he knows his own mind; he is
fascinated by a pretty face."

"There is no doubt of that; and the face is as pretty a one as I ever
saw," added Washburn, with emphasis.

"My father says Owen's mother is very rich, and that she is more afraid
he will fall into some entangling alliance of this sort, than she is of
his becoming a drunkard, or becoming a bad man," I continued, recalling
some of the conversations my father had had with me.

"They say Colonel Shepard is rich enough to satisfy even an English
nabob," suggested the mate.

"I suppose Owen's mother expects him to marry a duchess," I replied. "I
saw her when I was in England; but she had no love for me, and I have
no doubt she wished I had never turned up."

"I should say that Edith Shepard was good enough for any fellow, even
if he were an earl or a duke," said Washburn, shrugging his shoulders.

"Luckily it is none of our affair, though my sympathies are all with
Owen," I added. "I wonder if Nick Boomsby came on board this
afternoon," I continued, willing to change the subject.

I called Cobbington into our room, and was informed that Nick had been
on board, and had been treated with distinguished consideration.

"Did he say anything about going with us, Cobbington?" I asked.

"He only said he should like to go with us, but you would not allow him
to do so, and he had given up all thought about it," replied the new
steward. "Besides, he said he was the important witness in a law-case
that would come up to-morrow morning."

"I don't believe he would stay for the law-case if I would give him a
berth on board," I added.

I related the particulars of the robbery of the messenger, and
Cobbington commented on them at some length. I found that he knew the
messenger, and had not a very high respect for him. He had his doubts
whether there was any four thousand dollars in the transaction. It
looked more to him as though the messenger had arranged the affair so
that he could appropriate the money to his own use. Cobbington had
worked with Buckner, who was a poor man, and had come to Florida, like
himself, to save his life.

"Why did Nick jump over the counter, and chase Buckner, then? Nick says
he saw Buckner ta