"Here we are," said Captain Blastblow, after everything had been put in order on both vessels. "Do you expect to get away from here this summer?"
"This summer! I expect to get away from here in two or three days," I replied, rather startled by the remark of the captain.
"I think not," he added, shaking his head ominously.
"Are you a lawyer, Captain Alick?" demanded Captain Blastblow, with a very comical expression on his face.
"I am no lawyer, not even a sea-lawyer," I answered, wondering what he was driving at.
"Neither am I; but it has occurred to me that we might be kept here longer than we wanted to stay."
"I was thinking just now that if we had let Cornwood and Boomsby escape from the steamer last night it would have saved us a world of trouble," added Captain Blastblow, with a cunning leer and a wink.
"I don't understand you," I replied, satisfied by this time that he had found a mare's nest, or there was some kind of trouble ahead.
"We have two men in the fore-cabin who are charged with robbery."
"One of them is; the other is an accomplice after the fact," I replied.
"That sounds as though you had been a lawyer all your life, or at least since you put on jacket and trousers. An accomplice after the fact! I suppose that he took part in the robbery after it was all done."
"It means that Cornwood took the money, knowing it was stolen, and aided and abetted Boomsby in escaping. In my opinion, he came down to Key West solely to get part of the money. But no matter for that; what is to keep us here all summer?" I asked.
"I presume you mean to hand the robbers over to the police of New Orleans?" queried Captain Blastblow.
"That is the only thing we can do, unless we carry them back to Florida; and I don't care about going back there so soon."
"Just so. I don't know anything about law; but once I brought in a fellow in my vessel who had committed a crime in another State. One of the passengers who knew all about the crime complained of the rascal, and he was hauled up before a court. It so happened that I knew something about the matter, and I was summoned as a witness, and the man was sent to jail. I could identify the man, but no one else could. They had to send south for a requisition from the Governor of Georgia. For one reason and another it took two weeks to get it, and I had to stay home from one trip to Savannah to appear as a witness."