"But, my dear woman, don't you see how you've been hoodwinked by this
man Johnson? He is shy of a job. He has already swindled you out of
twenty thousand dollars."
"No, he asked for ten only, Captain Kempt, and I voluntarily doubled
the amount."
"Nevertheless, he has worked you up to believe that these young men
are in that rock. He has done this for a very crafty purpose, and his
purpose seems likely to succeed. He knows he will be well paid, and
you have promised him a bonus besides. If he, with his Captain Kidd
crew, gets you on that yacht, you will only step ashore by giving him
every penny you possess. That's his object. He knows you are starting
out to commit a crime-- that's the word, Dorothy, there's no use in
our mincing matters-- you will be perfectly helpless in his hands. Of
course, I could not allow my daughter Kate to go on such an
expedition."
"I am over twenty-one years old," cried Kate, the light of rebellion
in her eyes.
"I do not intend that either of you shall go, Katherine."
"Dorothy, I'll not submit to that," cried Katherine, with a rising
tremor of anger in her voice, "I shall not be set aside like a child.
Who has more at stake than I? And as for capturing the rock, I'll
dynamite it myself, and bring home as large a specimen of it as the
yacht will carry, and set it up on Bedloe's Island beside the Goddess
and say, 'There's your statue of Liberty, and there's your statue of
Tyranny!'"
"Katherine," chided her father, "I never before believed that a child
of mine could talk such driveling nonsense.
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