“Sure thing. We can ask him why he keeps such a tough-looking watchman on Cabin Island.”
“A watchman?” exclaimed Fenton Hardy.
“Yes. We landed there this afternoon and a man told us to clear out. Said we were trespassing.”
“That doesn’t sound like Elroy Jefferson,” said Mr. Hardy. “I’m sure he wouldn’t give any such orders. As far as I remember him, he has always been a rather kindly old chap.”
“We thought perhaps he had sold the island.”
“I haven’t heard of its changing hands. I can’t imagine why he would have a watchman there in the winter, anyway. Ask him about it when you see him to-morrow.”
The next morning, although the boys had discussed the note from Mr. Jefferson many times, they had still failed to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion as to the reason why he should want them to call on him; so they were awaiting the interview with curiosity and expectation.
That morning, while on an errand downtown for their mother, the brothers met Callie Shaw and Iola Morton. Both girls attended the Bayport high school and were in the same grade as the Hardy boys. Callie, a brown-eyed, brown-haired girl, was Frank’s particular favorite among the girls at school, while Iola, plump and dark, Chet Morton’s sister, was the only girl who had ever won even a reluctant admiration from the bashful Joe, who had even gone so far as to admit that she was “all right—as a girl.” Which, from Joe, was high praise.
“Well, it’s good to see you alive!” exclaimed Callie. “From what we’ve been hearing, it’s lucky you’re able to come downtown at all to-day.”
“Yes,” chimed in Iola, “Chet has been telling me all about it. I should think you’d have been patting yourself on the back ever since.”