Cap'n Cod remarked that if he could only claim all the rewards he had
just seen offered, he could afford to run the _Whatnot_ by steam.
"There is one of a thousand dollars," he said, "for any information
that will lead to the capture of a gang of counterfeiters, supposed to
be operating in this vicinity. Then there is one of a hundred dollars
for the arrest of the fellow who ran off with Sheriff Riley's skiff,
and who is supposed to be a member of the same gang. There is still
another, of an equal amount, for any information as to the whereabouts,
if he is still living, or for the recovery of the body of a boy named
Caspar, the only son of my old friend, Major John Caspar, of Caspar's
Mill, in Wisconsin. He has disappeared most unaccountably, together
with a raft owned by his father. By-the-way, his first name is the
same as your last one, which is a little odd, for Winn is not a common
name. That's what it is, though, 'Winn Caspar.'"
CHAPTER XIX.
A CURIOUS COMPLICATION.
"So that is what I was arrested for, is it?" thought Winn. "I was
supposed to be one of a gang of counterfeiters, and a pretty desperate
sort of a character. That will be a pretty good joke to tell father.
But I wonder who is offering a reward for me as plain every-day Winn
Caspar, besides the one that would be paid for the young counterfeiter
who ran off with the Sheriff's boat?"
This is what Winn thought. What he said was, "My! but that is a lot of
money! Wouldn't it be fine if we could earn those twelve hundred
dollars?"
"Indeed it would," answered the old man. "Even one of the smaller
rewards would buy us a mule."
"Who is offering them?" asked Winn.
"The Government offers the first, Sheriff Riley the second, and the
third is offered by some one named Brickell. 'W. Brickell,' the bills
are signed. I saw them up at the printing-office, but they are being
distributed all over the place."
Sure enough, in that wretched little printing-office the compositor had
made "Brickell" out of Brackett, and as he was his own proof-reader,
the mistake was not discovered.
"Brickell," repeated Winn, slowly. "That is a queer name, and one that
I never heard before."
"Yes, it is one that has puzzled me a good deal," said Cap'n Cod. "I'm
sure I never heard Major Caspar mention any such person."
"You know this Major Caspar, then?"
"Know him! Well, I should say I did. We were in the same regiment all
through the war, and a better officer never commanded men. Know him!
I know him to the extent of a leg, lost when I was standing so close
beside him that if I hadn't been there the ball would have taken his
instead of mine. Know him! Didn't I know him for three months in the
hospital, where he came to see me every day? Indeed I do know Major
Caspar, and I should be mighty glad to know of any way in which I could
help him out of his present trouble."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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