Part 21 (1/2)
replied Peppers. ”But I was satisfied that you didn't take the money as soon as I got the facts from Moody.”
”It was a lucky thing for you, my boy, that I fixed things as I did,”
added Moody.
”How did you fix things?” asked Dory.
”I have just started the business of making tomato-wine for sickness. I sold two hundred dollars' worth of it in Plattsburgh, part of it to go to New York. The merchant gave me a check for the money, and I went to the bank to cash it. I received forty brand-new five-dollar bills,”
Moody explained, producing one of the bills. ”I am trying to advertise my business all I can; and I had a rubber stamp made, which the agent delivered to me the day I got my money. I went to my room, and stamped every one of those new bills with my business card in red ink. That is the way I know the bills when I see them.”
”And that is the reason why you wanted to see all the five-dollar bills I had,” added Dory.
”But we had looked over the bills you paid for the boat before,” said the detective. ”We have been looking for bills with this red stamp upon it since yesterday noon.”
”Have you found any?” inquired Dory with interest.
”I found two of them. We have got to the southward of Stave Island now.
Can't you tell whether that steamer is in sight now?”
”Yes, sir: there she is, just where we left her this morning,” replied the skipper, as he glanced in the direction of the shoal. ”I think Pearl Hawlinshed has had a good time there all day.”
”How far off is she?” asked Peppers.
”About two miles, but we shall reach her in twenty minutes. Where did you find the two bills with the stamp on them?” asked Dory.
”Can they see us on board of that steamer, Dory?” asked the detective, without heeding the question.
”They can see the boat; but of course they can't tell who is in her two miles off,” replied Dory.
”I am afraid I shall have some trouble with Pearl, Dory,” said Peppers anxiously. ”The landlord was to give you ten dollars if you put me in the same boat with Pearl.”
”I think I shall earn the money without any trouble,” replied Dory, laughing with delight at the bright prospect before him.
”But, Dory, it makes some difference to me in what boat I happen to be put with him, though you will earn your money all the same,” added the officer.
”All I can do is to put you on board of the Missisquoi. Of course I can't put Pearl Hawlinshed on board of this boat if he is not willing to come.”
”But I don't want to be put on board of the Missisquoi,” protested Peppers. ”There is where the rub comes. I am an officer in Plattsburgh, but not in the State of Vermont. I can't arrest Pearl over here.”
”Arrest him! Are you going to take him up?” asked Dory, not a little astonished at this revelation.
”I am not going to do it over here; and he may make me no end of trouble when he sees how the land lays,” added Peppers; and at the same time he sat down in the bottom of the standing-room.
”What are you going to arrest him for?”
”For stealing Moody's money!” exclaimed the detective desperately. ”I didn't mean to tell you the whole story just yet, but you have dragged it out of me. Drop down here, Moody.”
The loser of the money obeyed, though he seemed to be as much in the dark as to the object of the movement as the skipper. Dory was worried at the words of the officer; for, if he would not go on board of the little steamer when he went alongside of her, he might not be able to earn the promised reward.