At any rate, he contented himself with cautioning the new boy against unpunctuality generally, and, by way of punishment, gave him an examination all to himself, which resulted, much to his comfort, in his being placed in the upper third, of which Dick and Heathcote were already shining lights.
While he was thus engaged, Dick and Heathcote were holding a secret, and by no means cheerful, consultation over a recent number of the _Templeton Observer_.
"I made sure it was all blown over," said the latter, dejectedly.
"What a cad the fellow must be!" said the former.
"I think newspapers are a regular nuisance!" said Georgie.
"All I know is, he robbed us of all we had, and if we'd informed he'd have been in Botany Bay or somewhere this minute!" said Dick, working himself up into a passion.
The extract from the _Templeton Observer_ which gave rise to this duet of wrath was as follows, dated some ten days before the close of the holidays:-- *The recent mysterious disappearance of a Templeton boat* .-- Up to the present time nothing has been heard of the _Martha_, which, as our readers will remember, disappeared from the Templeton beach, on the 4th June last.

The supposed clue with which the police professed to be provided has, so far, failed to bring the perpetrators of the outrage to justice; although the hope is by no means abandoned of tracing the missing lad.

The matter is somewhat seriously complicated by the discovery that Thomas White, the reputed owner of the boat, was at no time its actual proprietor.

The _Martha_ was the joint property of White and three other men, one of them skipper of the brig _Julia_, and the other two well-known fishermen, of this town.

It appears that an arrangement was made, whereby White should be the nominal owner of the boat, he undertaking to hand over monthly three quarters of the profits to his partners.