“What?” inquired Fenn.
“You can ask Captain Wiggs who owned that grain in the burned elevator. He’ll know, as he was going to get a load there.”
“Good idea,” responded Fenn. “I will.”
The boys were soon aboard the ship again. They found that the men in the rowboat had returned, as the side of the elevator nearest the lake had all burned away, and their hose was no longer effective. The fire was under control now, but was still blazing well. Enough engines had arrived to prevent it spreading.
“Well, this knocks my plans all askew,” remarked the commander of the Modoc, when the boys came on deck. “I don’t know where to get my grain, now.”
“Did you say the same company that owned this steamer owned that grain?” asked Fenn, seeing a good chance to obtain the information he wanted.
“No, I said they owned the elevator,” replied the captain. “The grain is a separate matter. I don’t know whose that was. Whoever it belonged to won’t get much good from it.”
“Is there any way of telling who owned it?” asked Fenn, for he thought, even though the men had mentioned the name “Hayward,” that it might be some other man than the one injured in the auto accident—some one else than the father of Ruth.
“Why, I can tell by looking at my order slips,” replied Mr. Wiggs. “Why are you so interested?”
“I was wondering if it was any one I knew,” answered Fenn, a little evasively, as he did not want to explain what had happened.