"You've run in hard luck, boy," he said in a low voice, after he had
made certain that nobody else was within hearing. "I am sorry for you."
"Really?" queried Dan Baxter, giving the mate a sharp look.
"Yes, I am, and if I can do anything to make it easy for you, count
on me," went on Jack Lesher.
"Thank you."
"I suppose taking that money and the other things was more of boy's
sport than anything, eh?"
"That's the truth. I wanted to get square with those Rover boys. They
are my bitter enemies. I didn't want the money."
Just then old Jerry came in and the conversation came to an end. But
Baxter felt that he had a friend on board and this eased him a little.
He did not know that the reason Jack Lesher liked him was because
the first mate was a criminal himself and had once served a term in
a Michigan jail for knocking down a passenger on a boat and robbing
him of his pocketbook. As the old saying goes, "Birds of a feather
flock together."
When the girls came on deck they found Baxter doing some of the work
which Dick and Tom had been doing the morning before. At first they
were inclined to laugh, but Dora stopped herself and her cousins.
"Don't let us laugh at him," she whispered. "It is hard enough for
the poor fellow as it is."
"I am not going to notice him after this," said Nellie. "To me he
shall be an entire stranger." And the others agreed to treat Dan
Baxter in the same manner.
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