Ralph D. Paine

“ There’s two men come in a sloop to make a fuss and interfere with my business that’s been regular established for several seasons.”
“Yes, I’ve placed four of your charts for you, and now you squeal about a few dollars,” cried the nephew. “What brought this Captain Kempton to the island? I never sawed one of ’em off on him.”
“Somebody else stole your patent,” grinned the old man. “Interestin’, not to say curious. There’s a smooth, fat rascal with the cap’n, and his name is Mannice. He told me their chart was a fake, and he knew all about it.” ”

“ CHAPTER IX. Before undertaking another campaign, it was necessary to pay some attention to the battered sloop which displayed more and more unwillingness to stay afloat. Accordingly they shifted her to the sand bank which lay a little farther out to sea and let the falling tide leave her resting on the gently shelving bottom. As boys, they had built and patched, and tinkered with boats of their own, and they went to work with the handiness of sailors who knew how to make the best of the tools at hand. ”

“ This sailor sweetheart of hers has the signed confession in his pocket. That odious Mannice deliberately deceived her father——”
“I knew his chart was bogus,” shouted Professor James Hyssop Bodge, “but you couldn’t tell him anything. Stubborn as a mule. Now he will clear out and let us alone, Ellen. He ought to have taken my word for it that our information was genuine. Can you imagine me being tricked as easily as that? Ha, ha, the joke is on Kempton, poor soul! He will feel badly cut up. But I mustn’t rub it in.”
Presently Captain Kempton disembarked, and Dan Sloan rowed him to the beach. ”