The members of the party had not said a word to Dory, and had hardly noticed him since they finished binding his arms behind him. He was left to himself, and he had abundant opportunity for reflection. He was not a little humiliated because he had allowed himself to be captured so easily, but he could not see how it would have been possible for him to help himself.
It was useless to consider the past, for it was all gone; and he could not undo any thing that had been done. He had been captured, and he was in the hands of the enemy. Mack reported the advance of a party from Beech Hill, but they were too late to be of any service to him. The future was a blank to him, and he could only wait for events as they occurred. But he was satisfied that the boat could not get out of the bay while the present storm raged.
"We are all right now," said Angy, as the boat receded from the shore in the gloom of the morning. "We lost all this time on your account, Chuck; and I shall fine you for it when we divide."
"I don't think I am to blame for it," replied Chuck, who was pulling the bow-oar, next to Dory.
"You don't think you were to blame!" exclaimed Angy angrily. "Didn't you speak out loud when we were within a few rods of this chap we have picked up? Didn't you make it necessary to capture this fellow, so that he should not see us?"
"Perhaps I made a little noise when I saw the flash of light, but I didn't say any thing," pleaded Chuck.
"You made noise enough for him to hear you, and to let him know where we were; and I shall fine you fifty dollars out of your share," added the chief, as though he were talking to a delinquent schoolboy.
"Perhaps you will: if you do, you will wish you hadn't done it," replied the culprit, who did not seem to be in a submissive mood.
"Didn't you agree to obey orders, Chuck?" demanded Angy savagely.
"That is just what I have done; and if I was surprised into making a little sound when that fellow struck a light close to us, I am not going to be robbed for it," protested the delinquent.
"What are you going to do about it?" growled Angy.
"I can only tell you what I'm not going to do yet: I shall not submit to being robbed," said Chuck.
It looked a little like a quarrel among the marauders, and Dory hoped he might be able to derive some advantage from the disagreement. But they had said enough to enable him to explain why he had been made a prisoner. The burglars had evidently kept the run of him since he came into the road, and they were not willing that any one should know they had departed by water.