“I wasn’t sent by any one. I just came.”

“How?”

“With Mr. Parks—in his airship.”

“Are you going to stay here?”

“He has hired me at ten dollars a week and board,” proudly announced Andy.

“He’s a good man,” said Morse. “I don’t think he’d pick you out if you were a bad boy. What time is it?”

This question was so significant that it flustered Andy. He drew out his watch in a blundering sort of a way, fancying that he detected the faint shadow of a smile on the face of his interlocutor.

“It’s half-past seven,” he reported.

“Watch keep good time?”

“Yes, sir. The man who gave it to me was the man whom I took you for.”