“Never mind the guns. Tell the sheriff that I’m powerful anxious to see the color of them twenty-five hundred.” Joe paid no sort of attention to him, and finally Silas became so very much in earnest in his endeavors to attract the boy’s notice, that the officer saw it; and when there was a little pause in the conversation, he said, carelessly: “Oh, about the reward, Silas--” “That’s the idee,” replied the ferry-man, who thought sure that he was going to get it now. “That’s what I’m here for. You have got the bugglars in your own hands now, and I don’t reckon you would mind passing it over, would you?” “I?” exclaimed the sheriff. “I haven’t got it. I have never had a cent of it in my possession.” “Then who’s going to give it to me?” demanded Silas, who wondered if the officer was going to cheat him out of his money. “Well, you see, Silas,” said the sheriff, “the reward is conditioned upon the arrest and conviction of the burglars. They have been arrested, and their conviction is only a matter of time; but you can’t get your money until they are sentenced.” “And how long will that be?” “The court will sit again in about six weeks. As some of the money was offered by the county, and the rest by the men who lost the jewelry and things that were found in that valise, you will get your reward from different parties, unless they hand it over to me to be paid to you in a lump.” “That’s the way I want it,” said Silas, who was very much disappointed. “I’m going into business.” “What sort of business?” inquired Mr. Warren. “I am going to keep a boat-house down to the Beach.” “Well now, Silas, that’s the most sensible thing I have heard from you in a long time,” said Mr. Warren. “I’ll rent you a piece of ground big enough for a garden, and you can set yourself up in business in good shape, build a nice house, and have money left in the bank. If you manage the thing rightly, you and Dan ought to make a good living of it.” “Who said anything about Dan?” exclaimed Silas. “I did. Of course you can’t ignore him because you are wealthy. He wants a chance to earn an honest living, and he needs it, too. He’s a strong boy, a first-rate hand with a boat, knows all the best fishing-grounds on the lake, and would be just the fellow to send out with a party who wanted a guide and boatman. You can easily afford to pay him a dollar a day for such work as that.” “Well, I won’t do it,” said Silas, promptly. “He’s a lazy, good-for-nothing scamp, Dan is, and I won’t take him into business along of me.” “But you will hire him, and give him a chance to quit breaking the game law and make an honest living,” said the sheriff. “By-the-way, Silas, I guess you had better bring up those setters, and save me the trouble of going after them.” “What setters?” exclaimed Silas, who acted as if he were on the point of taking to his heels. “I ain’t got none. I took ’em down to the hotel and give ’em up.”