The Maud went round to the line, and after picking up her tender and moorings, anchored near the Penobscot.

"There is no doubt now which boat has won the race," said Mr. Norwood.

"None whatever, sir," replied Donald. "The day is ours by as fair a race as ever was sailed. The Maud proved what she could do before we got to Turtle Head; and all the conditions were exactly equal up to that time. If I made anything by manœuvring, it was only when we tacked a mile north of the Head. We have beaten her squarely in a heavy wind; but how she would do compared with the Skylark in a light breeze, is yet to be proved."

"I am satisfied, Don John; and I give you the job to build the Alice, for that is to be the name of Frank's yacht."[321]

"Thank you, sir. I suppose you don't expect to get her out this season."

"No; if he has her by the first of June of next year, it will be soon enough.—I hope you are satisfied with the Maud, Sam," added Mr. Norwood, turning to the owner of the winning craft.

"I ought to be, and I am," replied Rodman.

"You have the fastest yacht in the fleet."

"She won't be when I sail her. The commodore will clean me out every time, if Don John is not at the helm."

"Then there is a capital opportunity for you to improve in the art of sailing a yacht."

"Plenty of room for that," laughed Rodman.

Dick Adams brought the tender alongside, and pulled Mr. Norwood, Rodman, and Donald to the Penobscot.

"I congratulate you, Don John," said Mr. Montague, extending his hand to the boat-builder. "You have won the race handsomely."

"Thank you, sir."

"It is a double triumph to you, since you both built your yacht, and sailed her," added Mr. Montague.

"It is worth a good deal to me in a business[322] point of view; for I get a job to build another yacht by it. The firm of Ramsay & Son can't afford to have their boats beaten," laughed Donald. "Here comes Robert."

"I suppose he will not be satisfied with the Skylark, now that she has been so thoroughly whipped," added the commodore's father.

"Perfectly satisfied with her, father. She is as good a boat as she ever was," answered Robert, as he gave his hand to Donald. "You have won the race fairly and handsomely, Don John; and I congratulate you upon your success."

"I thank you, Bob; but I would rather have beaten any other fellow than you," replied Donald.

"I can stand it as well as anybody."

The ladies and gentlemen on board of the Penobscot congratulated the hero of the occasion, and condoled with the commodore, till the last of the fleet arrived. The judges filled out the schedule with the corrected time.

"Captain Rodman, of the Maud," said the chairman; and the owner of the winning yacht stepped forward. "It appears from the schedule that you have made the shortest time, and I have the pleasure of presenting to you the first prize."[323]

"Thank you, sir," replied Rodman, accepting the envelope, which contained the prize of one hundred dollars; "but as it appears that Donald Ramsay sailed the Maud, as well as built her, I shall have the pleasure of presenting it to him."

A round of hearty applause followed this little speech, which ended in three cheers for the captain of the Maud, and three more for her builder.

"I can't take that," said Donald, declining to receive the envelope.

"But you must take it. I will hand you over to Mr. Deputy Sheriff Beardsley, who, I see, is coming up the bay in the Juno."

"It don't belong to me. I am not the owner of the Maud," protested Donald.

"Take it! take it!" shouted one and another of the interested spectators, until nearly all of them had expressed their opinion in this way.

Thus overborne, the boat-builder took the envelope, though his pride revolted.

"Commodore Montague, it appears that the Skylark made the next best time, and I have the pleasure of presenting to you the second prize."

"Which I devote to the club for the building fund."[324]

The members heartily applauded this disposal of the money.

"I will give the other prize to the club for the same purpose," added Donald.

"Impossible!" exclaimed Commodore Montague. "The fund is completed, and the donation cannot be accepted."

"No! No!" shouted the members.

"The fifty dollars I added to the fund just makes up the sum necessary to pay for the club-house on Turtle Head, which is to be only a shanty; so you can't play that game on us, Don John."

Donald was compelled to submit; and he transferred the hundred dollars to his pocket-book.

"I am so glad you won the race, Don John!" said Nellie Patterdale. "Everybody said you sailed the Maud splendidly."

"Thank you, Nellie; your praise is worth more to me than that of all the others," replied Donald, blushing deeply; but I must do him the justice to say that, if he had not been laboring under intense excitement, he would not have made so palpable a speech to her.

Nellie blushed too; but she was not angry,[325] though her father might have been, if he had heard the remark.

"Is Captain Patterdale on board?" shouted Mr. Beardsley, as the Juno ran under the stern of the Penobscot.

"Here," replied the captain.

"I want to see you and Don John," added the officer.

The business of the race was finished, and the Maud conveyed Captain Patterdale, his daughter, and Donald to the shore. Laud Cavendish was in the Juno, and so was Hasbrook; but none of the party knew what had transpired at Saturday Cove during the forenoon.

"I will be at your house in half an hour, Captain Patterdale," said Donald, as they landed. "I am wet to the skin, and I want to put on dry clothes."

Mr. Beardsley had proposed the place of meeting; and the boat-builder hastened home. In a few minutes he had put himself inside a dry suit of clothes. Then he went to the shop, and wrote a brief note to Captain Shivernock, in which he enclosed sixty dollars, explaining that as he had been unable to "keep still with his tongue," he[326] could not keep the money. He also added, that he should send him the amount received for the Juno when he obtained the bills from Captain Patterdale, who had a part of them. Sealing this note in an envelope, he called at the house of the strange man, on his way to the place of meeting. Mrs. Sykes said that Captain Shivernock was in his library.

"Please to give him this; and if he wishes to see me, I shall be at Captain Patterdale's house for an hour or two," continued Donald; and without giving the housekeeper time to reply, he hastened off, confident there would be a storm as soon as the eccentric opened the note.

In the library of the elegant mansion, he found the party who had been in the Juno, with Captain Patterdale and Nellie. On the desk was the tin box, the paint on the outside stained with yellow loam. Laud Cavendish looked as though life was a burden to him, and Donald readily comprehended the situation.

"We have found the tin box," said Mr. Beardsley, with a smile, as the boat-builder was admitted.

"Where did you find it?"[327]

"Laud had it in his hand down at Saturday Cove. While I was looking up the Hasbrook affair, our friend here landed from the Juno, and was walking towards the woods, when he walked into me. He owns up to everything."

"Then I hope you are satisfied that I had nothing to do with the box."

"Of course we are," interposed Captain Patterdale. "It certainly looked bad for you at one time, Don John."

"I know it did, sir," added Donald.

"But I could not really believe that you would do such a thing," said the captain.

"I knew he wouldn't," exclaimed Nellie.

"Laud says he buried the box on Turtle Head, just where you said, and only removed it yesterday, when he put the notes under the sill in your shop," continued Mr. Beardsley.

"What did you do that for, Laud?" asked Donald, turning to the culprit.

"You promised not to tell where I got the money to pay for the Juno. You went back on me," pleaded Laud.

"I told you I wouldn't tell if everything was all right. When it appeared that the mended bill[328] was not all right, I mentioned your name, but not till then."

"That is so," added the nabob. "Now, Laud, did Captain Shivernock pay you any money?"

"No, sir," replied Laud, who had concluded to tell the whole truth, hoping it would go easier with him if he did so.

"Where did you get the mended bill you paid Don John?"

"From the tin trunk."

"Why did you say that Captain Shivernock gave you the money you paid for the Juno?"

"I couldn't account for it in any other way. I knew the captain threw his money around very loosely, and I didn't think any one would ask him if he gave me the money. If any one did, he wouldn't answer."

"But he did answer, and said he gave you the money."

"He told me he would say so, when I went to see him a fortnight ago."

"Why did you go to see him?"

Laud glanced at Donald with a faint smile on his haggard face.[329]

"Don John told me Captain Shivernock had a secret he wanted to keep."

"I told you so!" exclaimed Donald.

"You did; but you thought I knew the secret," answered Laud. "You told me the captain had given me the money not to tell that I had seen him near Saturday Cove on the morning after the Hasbrook affair."

"I remember now," said Donald. "Captain Shivernock gave me sixty dollars, and then gave me the Juno, for which I understood that I was not to say I had seen him that day. I refused to sell the boat to Laud till he told me where he got the money. When he told me the captain had given it to him, and would not say what for, I concluded his case was just the same as my own. After I left the captain, he stood over to the Northport shore, and Laud went over there soon after. I was sure that they met."

"We didn't meet; and I did not see Captain Shivernock that day," Laud explained.

"I supposed he had; I spoke to Laud just as though he had, and he didn't deny that he had seen him."

"Of course I didn't. Don John made my story good, and I was willing to stick to it."[330]

"But you did not stick to it," added the nabob. "You said you had paid no money to Don John."

"I will tell you how that was. When I got the secret out of Don John, I went to the captain with it. He asked me if I wanted to black-mail him. I told him no. Then I spoke to him about the tin trunk you had lost, and said one............