“You mean you seem so strange,” said the doctor, laughing.
“Yes, uncle, I feel so.”
“Well, come along, and let’s make haste aboard. I don’t want to keep the captain waiting. We have lost so much time by missing our way. It’s past nine, I’m sure.”
“Yes, uncle,” said the boy, speaking more like himself; “it must be. But I felt so startled in coming suddenly upon those two officers.”
“Why, there was nothing to startle you, my boy.”
“No, uncle, I suppose not; but somehow I felt that I had been close to that one who nearly ran up against me before, and when he said ‘Pardon’—”
“I didn’t hear him say ‘Pardon,’” said Uncle Paul.
“But he did, uncle, just in a low tone so that I could hardly hear him, and then I felt sure we had met before.”
“Nonsense!” cried Uncle Paul. “Look here, my boy, how much sleep did you have last night?”
“Sleep, uncle!” cried the boy, in a voice full of surprise.