"Well, that is sooner than I wish to arrive," added Mr. Sherwood thoughtfully. "I shall have ten thousand dollars in gold with me, which, at the present rate, is worth about twenty-five thousand dollars in currency. It would be a great temptation to any rogues, who might find out the specie was on board. How would it do to start from Port Rock at midnight?" "It will do just as well, sir." "Then I shall reach Whitehall just in time for the train. But, Lawry, I see that you must have another pilot on board." "I think I can get along, sir." "You will wear yourself out. You have run a portion of the last two nights, and this arrangement will make the third." "I can sleep just as well at Port Rock as at Whitehall. To-morrow will be Saturday, and my engagements for Monday and Tuesday are at the upper end of the lake, so that I shall have no more night work at present. I can stand it well enough." "I'm afraid it will be too much for you; but if you have to engage an extra pilot, you must raise your price to sixty dollars a day." "I think we shall need another engineer at the same time. Ethan has just as hard a time of it as I do." "You had better raise your price; people will not object." "I was thinking, sir, that Ben would make a good pilot. He is a good wheelman, and it wouldn't take him long to learn the courses on the lake." Mr. Sherwood shook his head. "Would you be willing to trust him with the boat?--go to sleep yourself, while he is at the helm?" asked he. "I think I would, after he had learned the navigation." "He is your brother, Lawry, and I don't like to say anything to wound you; but I feel that your brother is not a reliable person. You must be very prudent. Even a trifling accident, resulting from mismanagement, might ruin your business; for people will not expose their lives needlessly. If Ben will run the ferry the rest of the year, keep sober, and behave well in every respect, you might make a pilot of him, or even captain, another season." Doubtless this was good advice, and the little captain had so much confidence in his friend and benefactor that he could not help adopting it. Mr. Sherwood went into the cabin again, without any conversation with the subject of his severe but just comments. Lawry was on the point of leaving the hurricane-deck, where he had talked with his adviser, when he noticed that the boat was headed toward the shore, and in a moment more would be aground in the shoal water off Barber's Point. He rushed into the wheel-house, and found that Ben had abandoned the helm. Grasping the wheel, the pilot brought her up to her course, and then turned to his brother. "What do you mean, Ben, by leaving the wheel?" demanded Lawry, filled with indignation at his brother's treachery. "Don't talk to me," growled Ben. "The boat would have been aground in a minute more." "I wish she was." "What's the matter, Ben?" "I thought you were my brother; but you are not."