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Rh "Where is the proof?" asked the captain, and now his voice was not as steady as it had been.

"Well, for one thing, there is a sailor on the tug who saw the lady on your vessel," said Dick. "In the second place I've got a letter, written by one of those rascals, and naming your boat"

"What! Did any of those lunkheads write it down in a letter?" roared the captain. "If they did" he stopped, in great confusion.

"Ah, so you admit the crime, do you?" said Dick, quickly.

"No, I don't admit no crime!" growled the captain of the schooner. "I promised to do a little job for two gentleman, that's all—and I did it—and got paid for it."

"What was the job to be?"

"If I tell you, you won't try to drag me into it, will you?" was the anxious question.

"If you don't tell us, you'll surely go to jail."

"I didn't know there was anything wrong, honest I didn't leastwise at the start, although I had some suspicions later. That feller Sobber and the old gent, Crabtree, along with a Mrs. Sobber, said they had an aunt who was a bit insane, and they wanted to take her to an island up here in Casco Bay, for rest and medical treatment. They hired me to do the job, and paid me well for it."

"And you took them to the island?"