"You," said the captain, turning to the
younger brother, "are a little in love; ain't
you?"

"Not a little, Captain Jorgan."

"Much or little, you're sort preoccupied;
ain't you?"

It was impossible to be denied.

"And a sort preoccupied man, ain't good at
quick business; is he? said the captain.

Equally clear on all sides.

"Now," said the captain, "I ain't in love
myself, and I've made many a smart run across
the ocean, and I should like to carry on and go
ahead with this affair of yours and make a run
slick through it. Shall I try? Will you hand
it over to me?"

They were both delighted to do so, and
thanked him heartily.

"Good," said the captain, taking out his
watch. "This is half-past eight A.M., Friday
morning. I'll jot that down, and we'll compute
how many hours we've been out, when we run
into your mother's post-office. There! The
entry's made, and now we go ahead."

They went ahead so well, that before the
Barnstaple lawyer's office was open next morning,
the captain was sitting whistling on the step
of the door, waiting for the clerk to come down
the street with his key and open it. But, instead
of the clerk, there came the master: with whom
the captain fraternised on the spot, to an extent
that utterly confounded him.

As he personally knew both Hugh and Alfred,
there was no difficulty in obtaining immediate
access to such of the father's papers as were in
his keeping. These were chiefly old letters and
cash accounts: from which the captain, with a
shrewdness and despatch that left the lawyer
far behind, established with perfect clearness,
by noon, the following particulars.

That, one Lawrence Clissold had borrowed of
the deceased, at a time when he was a thriving
young tradesman in the town of Barnstaple, the
sum of five hundred pounds. That, he had
borrowed it, on the written statement that it was to
be laid out in furtherance of a speculation,
which he expected would raise him to independence:
he being, at the time of writing that
letter, no more than a clerk in the house of
Dringworth Brothers, America-square, London.
That, the money was borrowed for a stipulated
period; but that when the term was out, the
aforesaid speculation had failed, and Clissold
was without means of repayment. That, hereupon,
he had written to his creditor, in no
very persuasive terms, vaguely requesting
further time. That, the creditor had refused this
concession, declaring that he could not afford
delay. That, Clissold then paid the debt,
accompanying the remittance of the money, with an
angry letter, describing it as having been
advanced by a relative to save him from ruin.
That, in acknowledging the receipt, Raybrock
had cautioned Clissold to seek to borrow money
of him no more, as he would never so risk
money again.

Before the lawyer, the captain said never a
word in reference to these discoveries. But when
the papers had been put back in their box, and
he and his two companions were well out of the
office, his right leg suffered for it, and he said:

"So far, this run's begun with a fair wind
and a prosperous—for don't you see that all this
agrees with that dutiful trust in his father,
maintained by the slow member of the Raybrock
family?"

Whether the brothers had seen it before or
no, they saw it now. Not that the captain gave
them much time to contemplate the state of
things at their ease, for he instantly whipped
them into a chaise again, and bore them off to
Steepways. Although the afternoon was but
just beginning to decline when they reached it,
and it was broad daylight, still they had no
difficulty, by dint of muffling the returned sailor
up, and ascending the village rather than
descending it, in reaching Tregarthen's cottage
unobserved. Kitty was not visible, and they
surprised Tregarthen sitting writing in the
small bay-window of his little room.

"Sir, said the captain, instantly shaking
hands with him, pen and all, "I'm glad to
see you, sir. How do you do, sir? I told you
you'd think better of me by-and-by, and I
congratulate you on going to do it."

Here, the captain's eye fell on Tom Pettifer
Ho, engaged in preparing some cookery at the
fire.

"That crittur," said the captain, smiting his
leg, "is a born steward, and never ought to have
been in any other way of life. Stop where you
are, Tom, and make yourself useful. Now,
Tregarthen, I'm agoing to try a chair."

Accordingly, the captain drew one close to
him, and went on:

"This loving member of the Raybrock
family you know, sir. This slow member of the
same family, you don't know, sir. Wa'al, these
two are brothers—fact! Hugh's come to life
again, and here he stands. Now, see here, my
friend! You don't want to be told that he was
cast away, but you do want to be told (for
there's a purpose in it) that he was cast away
with another man. That man, by name, was
Lawrence Clissold."

At the mention of this name, Tregarthen
started and changed colour. "What's the
matter?" said the captain.

"He was a fellow-clerk of mine, thirty—
five-and-thirty—years ago."

"True," said the captain, immediately catching
at the clue: "Dringworth Brothers,
America-square, London City."

The other started again, nodded, and said,
That was the House."

"Now," pursued the captain, "between those
two men cast away, there arose a mystery
concerning the round sum of five hundred pound."

Again Tregarthen started and changed colour.
Again the captain said, " What's the matter?"

As Tregarthen only answered, "Please to go
on," the captain recounted, very tersely and
plainly, the nature of Clissold's wanderings on
the barren island, as he had condensed them