Page:Harry Castlemon - The Steel Horse.djvu/93

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ROWE SHELLY, THE RUNAWAY.
85

(it is my money, mind you, and not my guardian's) I would as soon think you took it as to accuse anybody else.

"If you haven't sent that boy back already, do it as soon as you read this, if you don't want to have some papers served on you."


"Is that satisfactory?" inquired Rowe, as Joe passed the letter to Arthur.

"Perfectly. If Willis fails to understand it, it will not be your fault. But why don't you get another guardian and put it out of this man's power to harass you with detectives every time you leave the island?"

"I wish to goodness I could; but I can't. The law put him where he is."

"And the law can take him out. When he was appointed your guardian he must have perjured himself if he swore that he was your next of kin. But here's a question: Do you know that your parents are still alive?"

"No; I don't know it, but I think so. I do know, however, that my father was not lost at sea, as my guardian reported. Since that time people who know him have seen and talked