I heard from
Prince Rupert that you had recently been kidnapped and taken to
Holland. He gave me no particulars, nor did I ask them, being
desirous of hurrying off at once to express my gratitude to you. How
was it that such an adventure befell you--for it would hardly seem
likely that you could have provoked the enmity of persons capable of
such an outrage?"
"It was the result of his services to me, my Lord," Captain Dave
said. "Having been a sea-captain, I am but a poor hand at accounts;
but, having fallen into this business at the death of my father, it
seemed simple enough for me to get on without much book-learning. I
made but a bad shape at it; and when Master Shenstone, as he then
called himself, offered to keep my books for me, it seemed to me an
excellent mode of saving myself worry and trouble. However, when he
set himself to making up the accounts of my stock, he found that I
was nigh eight hundred pounds short; and, setting himself to watch,
discovered that my apprentices were in alliance with a band of
thieves, and were nightly robbing me. We caught them and two of the
thieves in the act. One of the latter was the receiver, and on his
premises the proceeds of a great number of robberies were found, and
there was no doubt that he was the chief of a notorious gang, called
the 'Black Gang,' which had for a long time infested the City and the
surrounding country. It was to prevent Sir Cyril from giving evidence
at the trial that he was kidnapped and sent away.
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