"He's a West Point man and an army officer.

Therefore, he's a specialist in some kinds of explosives." Evarts's face turned somewhat paler at this information of having an army officer on hand as a witness.
"Do you call me a prisoner, too ?" asked the man at the tiller uneasily.
"Something like it, I guess," nodded Dick.
"Say, but that's a pretty rank deal against an honest man," protested the skipper hoarsely.

"I hired this boat out to that man, the one you call Evarts, but I didn't know what he was up to." "You didn't know that torpedoes are used for wicked work either, eh ?" pressed Lieutenant Dick.
"I'll swear that I didn't know what it was that he brought on board," cried the skipper.

"Evarts said it was a new device for killing fish at wholesale." "You may be telling the truth," Tom broke in.
"I am," declared the skipper eagerly.
"Then explain it to the court," Reade continued.

"If you can prove to a judge and a jury that you're an honest man, and always have been one, you may get off on the charge that will be made against you." "Then you don't believe me ?" asked the skipper anxiously.
"It isn't for me to say," Tom replied crisply.