“Exactly! I knew it was somewhere. I remember now. I was there attending to some goods that had to be shipped in a hurry. I’m glad you remembered me. To think that I should meet you away out here! It’s a small world, isn’t it?” and he smiled, but there was something in his smile, in his looks and in his manner that the boys did not like. Neither did the girls, for, as Nellie said afterward, he acted as though he wanted to make friends so you would not be suspicious of him.
“Shake hands, won’t you?” asked the man, advancing closer to the boys. “My name is Carson Blowitz, and though it sounds foreign I was born in this country. I travel around so much I can’t give you any particular place as my residence.”
There was no way without being rude of avoiding shaking hands with the man, and, though there was something in his manner that caused the boys to feel a distrust of him, they were not going to be impolite on mere suspicion.
They shook hands with Mr. Blowitz, and Jerry introduced himself, his chums, the young ladies and Professor Snodgrass, and told, briefly, the object of their trip.
“Well isn’t that nice, now,” said Mr. Blowitz, when Jerry had finished. “The professor comes out here to hunt horned toads, and you lads come to hunt adventures, Mr. Seabury comes out here in search of health and I—well, I’m out here on a sort of hunt myself.”
“Are you interested in science?” asked Mr. Snodgrass eagerly. “Perhaps you and I might go off together after horned toads and web-footed lizards. Or, if you care for snakes, or insects, I think I can show you where there are plenty.”
“No, no,” said Mr. Blowitz, with a laugh, which he tried to make sound hearty by the mere noise of it. “No, I’m on a different sort of a search. In fact it’s quite a queer story—perhaps you would like to hear it. In fact, I’m hunting for a lost ship.”
“A lost ship!” exclaimed Bob.
“Well, one that was abandoned just before she sank, and that’s about the same thing. It was abandoned quite a way out, but off this part of the coast. There is a current setting in towards shore, at this point, I’m told, and I thought I might get some news of her, or find some of the wreckage floating in on the beach. That’s why you find me here.”
“What ship is it?” asked Ned, interested in spite of the aversion he and the others felt toward Mr. Blowitz.