"If you don't stand by me," threatened the prisoner, "I'll make things
warm for you--and you know I can do it!"

Don paled, visibly, under that threat.

"Ho, ho!" laughed Jacob Farnum. "When thieves fall out--"

"Mr. Farnum, sir," thundered the elder Melville, stalking over to where
the boatbuilder stood, "do you realize you're talking about my son?"

"Well, why not?" asked Mr. Farnum, coolly. "It's becoming pretty
evident that he isn't a bit too good to be talked about."

"What does all this hubbub and outrage mean, anyway?" cried George
Melville.

"It looks to me," rejoined Farnum, coolly, "as though your son would
have the extensive task of informing us."

"Come on, father; let's be getting away from these people," proposed
Don. "But what are you going to do with that young man?"

"In the name of the Commonwealth," replied the boatbuilder, "I've placed
this young man under arrest, and I'm going to deliver him up to the
authorities. He has been engaged in a conspiracy, and must suffer for
his full share in the affair. If he confesses, and implicates others,
they'll have to stand the consequences."

Again Don lost color, though now he was careful not to betray himself