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As we were separated from our boat, clothes, and all our belongings, Sprague fitted me out with some money, and I left Lanesport on the horse-car. At Squid Cove I looked anxiously to see if the car-driver would remember me, and I was glad to see a boy, about my own age, driving the old horse. "Gran'father's gone over to Bailey's Harbor," said he, "to see if the burglars have come back. Gee!
He's been in Lanesport lately, hasn't he?" "Oh, yes. That's where he lost the 'Hoppergrass." "That's the man!" said he, "that's the man. Now, I tell you what. He isn't here now, but I expect he will be here tomorrow. You've heard about the excursion, of course?" "Yes, I read the hand-bills." "Well, I understand he is coming here tomorrow. Now, have you got to go back to Lanesport tonight?"
At the end were some men from the steamboat with armfuls of camp-stools. Captain Bannister was not there. I had watched all the men as they came ashore, and I asked one of the crew of the "May Queen" about him. He had never heard of such a man, he said. So I decided to go up to the house, hear what was going to happen, and then go back to Lanesport on the steamboat.
The tall man kept his hand on the Professor's shoulder and seemed very earnest in what he was saying. Then they came back to me. "Were you going back to Lanesport tonight?" asked the Professor. "Yes," I replied, "if I didn't find Captain Bannister." "I don't believe you can now," said he, looking at his watch. "It's half past four, and the last car leaves the Cove at four.
"Sam-er-er-Jim-er-James B-B-Brown," I said at last. "Sam Jim James Brown!" he said, in his buttery tones, "well, Sam Jim James Brown, what is it you want here?" I told him again about the boat, and how they told us at Lanesport that Captain Bannister was coming to Rogers's Island to look for her. "What kind of a boat is it?" said the other man.
Besides, your surest way to find this Captain Bannister is to stay right here. He'll be here tomorrow, sure. Then you can go back on the steamboat at noon, if you want to. We'll fix you up for tonight, and make you comfortable. What do you say?" There didn't seem to be any way out of it. If it had been the tall man alone I would have walked all the way back to Lanesport rather than stay.
"What are you doing here, Sam?" "Where'd you find the 'Hoppergrass'?" "Why aren't you at Rogers's Island?" "Why didn't you come back to Lanesport?" "Why did you try to run away from us?" "Who are those fellows in the dory?" The last question struck me as the one to be answered.
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