aten him a little,
to induce him to pitch into me, though it was plain he did not like
the looks of the heavy tiller in my hand. I refrained from provoking
him any further than to persist in claiming possession of my boat.

"You say this boat is yours," said he, after a moment of deliberation.

"I do; if you need any proof, I will now refer to Mr. Leman, the
grocer, and Mr. Irwin, the provision-dealer; and if you belong on this
wharf, you must have seen me land from her more than once."

"I don't want to quarrel with you," he added. "I know the boat very
well, and very likely I've seen you in her; but I don't remember. I
live close to the shore beyond the village, and I was waked up in the
night--it was about one o'clock, I guess--by a lot of boys hollering.
I got up, and found all these boats heaved up on the beach, and the
boys trying to get 'em off. I helped 'em a while, and then brought the
boats round here, for they would all got stove to pieces there."

The man talked very well now, and I met him in the same spirit.

"The boys who got into the scrape ought to pay you for helping them
out," I replied.

"I don't like to be turned out of my bed in the night to do such a job
for nothing."

"You must make them pay you."

"They said they would, or that the schoolmaster over to Parkville
would, for he sent them to look out for some boys who had run away."

"Did they?" I replied, glancing significantly at Bob Hale, for this
acknowledgment implied that Mr. Parasyte had sent the deserters to do
the work they had accomplished. "But I don't see that we have anything
to do with the matter. If I were you, I would hold the other boats
till they paid me for my trouble."

"I'll do that."

"How much do they owe you?" asked Bob.

"Well, I don't know; they ought to give me a couple of dollars, I
think," replied the man.

We passed a few words among ourselves, and Tom handed the man two
dollars.

"That's to pay for saving this boat," said Tom. "We ought not to pay
it, for our boat was stolen from us; but you must collect as much
more before you let the other boats go."

"Thank ye," replied the man, with a broad grin, indicative of his
satisfaction, as he took the money. "I spoke rather sharp to you at
first, because I thought you were going to take the boats without
paying for the job I did. I didn't mean nothing by it, and I hope
you'll excuse it."

"It is all right."

"You can take the other boats too, if you