“It has run down, I suppose,” said the owner, adding with grim sarcasm, “I hoped the thief would know enough to wind it! Boy!” he cried, tightening his grip on Perce’s arm, “you’ve no business to steal watches, if you can’t keep ’em wound!” CHAPTER XVIII. PERCIVAL AND THE OWNER OF THE WATCH. Perce stood aghast and trembling, trying to speak. The jeweler spoke for him. “This boy didn’t steal it, did he? I know his father. He’s one of the selectmen of the town. You are Mr. Bucklin’s boy, aren’t you?” “I am Percival Bucklin,” said Perce, endeavoring to assume the proverbial boldness of innocence, but nevertheless appearing far more guilty than if he had been a hardened rogue. “I didn’t steal it. I found it.” “Yes, and I know just where you found it!” said Hatville. “I know, too, just where _you’ll_ be found, in about ten minutes, if Mr. Middleton will have the kindness to step out and call a policeman.” “Give the boy a chance,” said the jeweler. “He belongs to one of the best families in town. I believe he’s honest. Tell just how you came by the watch, Percival.” “That’s what I was going to do when this man rushed in and grabbed me,” said Perce. He was once more beginning his story, when Mr. Hatville broke out again excitedly: “Where’s the rest of the chain?” “It’s just as I found it,” said Perce. “And what’s the matter with the watch?” said Hatville. He had loosed his hold of the boy’s arm, and taken the timepiece in both hands. “It hasn’t run down!” “Worse than that,” Mr. Middleton replied. “It has been in the water.” “Boy!” cried the angry owner, “did you have it with you when you went out to the Old Cow for Oily Burdeen this morning?” “Yes,” said Perce, “but——” “And did you get wet?” Hatville reached down and felt the boy’s clothes, which were still damp. “A wave dashed over me,” Perce admitted, “but——” [Illustration: “MR. HATVILLE STOOD A MOMENT AT THE OPEN DOOR, WATCHING THE JEWELER AND THE BOY.”] “Now did you ever hear of anything so exasperating?” said Hatville, turning to Mr. Middleton with a grim and very unpleasant expression. “It wasn’t enough for this young rascal to take a man’s timepiece, that had been regulated down to a second and a half a month; but he must also go and jump into the sea with it!” “I didn’t jump into the sea with it!” Perce spoke up impatiently. “Can’t you hear what I have to say? I found that watch in the seaweed, on the beach, early this morning, just as the tide had left it a little while before. If it hadn’t been for getting Olly off the rocks, I should have thought to bring it here earlier. I meant to have it cleaned and oiled, and then to advertise for the owner, if he wasn’t heard from in the meanwhile.” “That seems a straightforward story,” said the jeweler. “What made him so sly with you, then?” Mr. Hatville demanded. “Wasn’t he asking you to say nothing about it, or something of the kind, when I came in?”