Page:Harry Castlemon - The Steel Horse.djvu/132

 way, and now he's gone away and left me to bear the brunt of the whole thing alone."

"Well, wasn't that what you expected to do when you got back to the island?" inquired the captain. "His guardian being absent, you will have to take full charge of Rowe until he returns. That's what you did the last time he ran away, and you never made any fuss over it. I know it is disagreeable business, this standing guard over an uneasy fellow who won't stay where he is put, but seeing that we are well paid for it, and know that it is for the boy's best good, where's the harm?"

"But Babcock seems to think that Rowe has slipped through our fingers, and that we have brought back the wrong boy."

The captain made a gesture of impatience but said nothing.

"All right," exclaimed Willis. "Cast off the fasts and get under way as quickly as possible."

"Where's his wheel?" inquired the captain. "I didn't see you bring it aboard."