"Then I hope you are satisfied that I had nothing to do with the box."
"Of course we are," interposed Captain Patterdale. "It certainly looked bad for you at one time, Don John."
"But I could not really believe that you would do such a thing," said the captain.
"Laud says he buried the box on Turtle Head, just where you said, and only removed it yesterday, when he put the notes under the sill in your shop," continued Mr. Beardsley.
"What did you do that for, Laud?" asked Donald, turning to the culprit.
"You promised not to tell where I got the money to pay for the Juno. You went back on me," pleaded Laud.
"I told you I wouldn't tell if everything was all right. When it appeared that the mended bill was not all right, I mentioned your name, but not till then."
"That is so," added the nabob. "Now, Laud, did Captain Shivernock pay you any money?"
"No, sir," replied Laud, who had concluded to tell the whole truth, hoping it would go easier with him if he did so.
"Where did you get the mended bill you paid Don John?"
"Why did you say that Captain Shivernock gave you the money you paid for the Juno?"
"I couldn't account for it in any other way. I knew the captain threw his money around very loosely, and I didn't think any one would ask him if he gave me the money. If any one did, he wouldn't answer."
"But he did answer, and said he gave you the money."
"He told me he would say so, when I went to see him a fortnight ago."
Laud glanced at Donald with a faint smile on his haggard face.
"Don John told me Captain Shivernock had a secret he wanted to keep."
"You did; but you thought I knew the secret," answered Laud. "You told me the captain had given me the money not to tell that I had seen him near Saturday Cove on the morning after the Hasbrook affair."
"I remember now," said Donald. "Captain Shivernock gave me sixty dollars, and then gave me the Juno, for which I understood that I was not to say I had seen him that day. I refused to sell the boat to Laud till he told me where he got the money. When he told me the captain had given it to him, and would not say what for, I concluded his case was just the same as my own. After I left the captain, he stood over to the Northport shore, and Laud went over there soon after. I was sure that they met."