"Oh, we talked quite a lot by wireless."
Tommy considered the situation for a moment and then said:
"I wish you'd tell me all you know about it."
In as few words as possible, Frank related the story practically as told to George and Sandy by Will.
"Does Bert know all about this?" asked Tommy when the recital was finished. "Did you talk the matter over with him?"
"I certainly did."
"I hope," Tommy mused, "that he wasn't forced to tell anything about the thumb marks when the man robbed him."
"I don't think he would do that," suggested Frank. "He would be apt to plead ignorance."
The boys came, about nine in the evening, to the little station of Katalla, which is just a mite of a town sitting perched high above the Gulf of Alaska. The first thing they did was to make inquiries at the water front regarding transportation to Cordova.
As they passed swiftly from point to point, consulting a half-breed here, an Esquimaux there, and an American trader at another point, they noticed that they were being followed. Finally Tommy drew back and waited until the man who seemed to be pursuing them came up.