"But if you are a
thief I want to know it. Why did you give me your name as Robert Brown?"
"That's my business." Baxter paused for a moment. "Now you have found
me out, what are you going to do about it?" he went on brazenly. "You
can't arrest me on shipboard."
"No, but we can have you arrested when we land," said Dick. "And in
the meantime we will take charge of what is our own."
"Here are some pawn tickets for the diamonds," said Sam, who was
continuing the search. "They show he got seventy-five dollars on them."
"We will keep the tickets--and the seventy-five dollars, too--if we
can find the money," said Tom.
But the money could not be found, for the greater part had been turned
over to Captain Blossom for Baxter's passage to Australia and the
rest spent before leaving shore. The pocketbook contained only two
hundred and thirty dollars.
"What did he pay you for the passage?" questioned Dick of the captain.
"One hundred dollars."
"Then you ought to turn that amount over to our credit."
"Why, what do you mean?"
"I mean that Dan Baxter has no right to a free passage on your ship,
since he bought that passage with our money. Let him work his way
and place that passage money to our credit."
"That's the way to talk," put in Tom. "Make him work by all means."
"He deserves good, hard labor," came from Sam.
"I don't think you can make me work!" burst out Dan Baxter. "I am a
passenger and I demand that I be treated as such.
Pages:
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68