r a small steamer, and explore all the inlets
and bays below the city till you find her."

"She may escape before you get there," suggested Mr. Gayles.

"No; she will wait till she hears from Dock."

"It may get into the newspapers."

"We will see that it does not."

Various objections to Levi's plan were considered; but it was adopted
without material alteration. Mr. Watson thought it would be better to
charter a steamer in New York for Levi's use; but he preferred the
yacht. She would be under his control, and at the critical moment would
not be out of coal, or her machinery out of order.

Levi determined to sail as soon as the examination of Dock Vincent was
finished. He engaged three extra hands, and put provisions and water
enough on board to meet any emergency, in case the cruise should be
unexpectedly prolonged. He was confident that his plan could not fail;
and if Constable Cooke had not been unfit for a place of trust,
probably it would not have failed, either in whole or in part.

Mr. Fairfield was arrested, and at ten o'clock both he and Dock were
arraigned for examination. The old man was dreadfully alarmed. With the
arrest of Dock his fondest hopes had gone out in darkness. Not only was
the rich reward he had been promised forever lost, but his neighbor's
note for ten thousand dollars was not worth the paper on which it was
written. Though the conspirator did not yet believe that his plan had
failed, the old man did.

Dock was held on a complaint of kidnapping Bessie Watson, and an
attempt to extort money from her father. The evidence, including Dock's
letter and the absence of Bessie, was more than enough to hold him, and
he was committed for trial. The testimony was strong enough to hold Mr.
Fairfield, and he also was committed; but Mr. Watson, out of
consideration for the poor old man, procured bail for him. It was in
vain he protested that he had nothing to do with the affair, and knew
nothing about it. His midnight meeting with Dock Vincent condemned him.

The deputy sheriff bore Dock to the jail; for Mr. Gayles suggested that
Constable Cooke's fingers were slippery, though he did not know that
they had already been soiled by a bribe. Levi hastened on board of the
yacht as soon as the case had been disposed of, where his crew had made
every preparation for the intended cruise--how long it was to be they
knew not then. The wind was blowing a smashing breeze when she sailed,
and in forty hours