“Mr. Browning, of New York.”
“Just cruising, or going somewhere?”
“Just cruising.”
“Same here,” says he. “What you doing? Studying navigation?”
“No,” says Catty, “this is just an old chart we picked up on deck this morning. Got some funny marks on it, and we’re trying to figure what they mean. Guess Mr. Topper threw it away.”
“Oh.... Funny marks, eh? I’m quite a navigator, maybe I can help you out.”
“Here you are,” says Catty, and he handed over the map. Mr. House took it, and we watched his face. He bit his lips, and that was the only sign he gave of anything going on inside his head. He studied it over.
“Old chart,” he said. “Out of date. The new surveys and new channel markings aren’t here. Kind of a curiosity.”
“Yes,” says Catty, “but what’s the idea of those marks in Nantucket harbor? Nobody’s been charting a course like that.”
“Looks like somebody had checked a place to dig clams or something,” says Mr. House. He kind of hesitated like he was thinking, and then he says: “Say, if you haven’t any special use for this chart, I’d like to have it. I was arguing with my friend last night about the old harbor markings over at Cuttyhunk. He claimed they had been the way they’re shown now for six years. I was sure they were changed a couple of years ago. This shows I was right. I’d sort of like to show it to him to prove it.”