"And so get into trouble."
"Perhaps." Haskins shrugged his shoulders. "But trouble is the sole thing which urges us to rise."
Tod groaned. He could not understand his friend's mystical way of looking at the seen world through the unseen. Keeping the conversation on an ordinary level he inquired: "Why was the cylinder set afloat?"
"Why does the sun shine? Why does the fire burn? You ask too many questions, Tod."
"I am not likely to get an answer from you," snapped Macandrew, taking up the impedimenta which they had brought to the river bank.
"You will in this instance, my son. The record, when it talks through the Jekle & Co. machine, will tell us why the cylinder was sent downstream. Shipwrecked people throw bottles overboard with documents to tell of their danger, as you well know."
"H'm! It's the first time I ever heard of a phonograph record being used to convey news," grunted Tod crossly.
"The person who floated the cylinder is evidently up-to-date."
"Perhaps it's a blessed joke."
"Maybe. Anyhow, I'll take it to the inn, and learn as much as is possible. Don't chatter about it though."