"Who has mentioned it?"
Thomas mentioned the fisherman he had recently confronted and rebuked. Then he added,--
"I have tried to run the story down to its hole. It don't seem to start with him, for he says somebody told him, and--"
"Who is that?"
"Timothy Waters."
"Indeed!"
"Now, I want to know how to stop the story."
"You let me think it over, Thomas. I am much obliged to you."
"I am real sorry to tell you," replied Thomas, "but I thought you ought to know of it, and I'll stand by you and Toby to--the last."
This conversation was only three days before Dave's visit to Pudding Point. Thomas had said if anything new turned up he would report to Dave. "Nothing," he had said to Dave during that call at the fish-house, looking significantly at him.