"You tell him, Whyn," Rod suggested. "He ought to know, but if I say
anything it will seem like boasting. It was only our good turn, and we
are not supposed to say anything about what we do."

Whyn had no scruples, however, and that very afternoon she spoke to the
captain. She told him all that Rod had said, how that he was sure that
Jimmy was the very man who had been attacked and robbed. The captain
said very little, but later he had a long talk with his son, who, up to
the present, had been very reticent about the past few years of his
life. Jimmy was sitting on a log near the shore when the captain spoke
to him about the matter. For a few moments the younger man remained
very silent, as he whittled a piece of cedar wood with his sharp knife.

"What's wrong with ye, lad?" the captain asked. "Why can't ye answer a
straight question?"

"Sit down, dad, and don't get excited," was the reply. "There, that's
better. There's something I want to tell you, and it's been on my mind
for weeks past, so it might as well be now as any other time. When I
left home I wrote to you quite often. But when I got away north, and
mixed up with a rough crowd, I somehow got out of the way of writing.
I was a long way from the post-office, and mails were very irregular,
which perhaps had something to do with my neglect. I struck it rich
there, dad, and made my pile, which, thank God, is now safe in the
bank. When I came 'outside,' it was to have, as I thought, a good
time. I did several of the big cities on the Pacific coast, and then
drifted to New York. I need not tell you of my life there, as it
wouldn't do any good. I had the money, and so there was no trouble
about seeing the seamy side of life. But one night, I don't know yet
how it happened, I drifted into a place to hear a famous singer. She