"What's the matter with you, Dave?"
"Why, nothing, Jerry——"
"Then what you talking about going on home when I'm running down a clew like that?"
"It's almost morning, Jerry, and you've had a hard day and been up all night—and the lonesome chase through the dark——"
"Now look here, Davie! If you think I'm getting soft in the head, just forget it. I never was more in earnest in my life. Don't you understand? I think Tod's alive—back there on Lost Island!"
"But we don't know he was in the boat——"
"Look here, Dave, if you were falling, what'd be the first thing you'd do? You'd grab at the nearest thing to you, wouldn't you! And if you got hold of that boat-seat, for instance, you'd pretty near hang on, wouldn't you? I saw something in the bottom of the boat when she came up."
"Yes, but we don't know the boat touched Lost Island——"
"No, of course not. But most always when I see a sign that says 'No fishing allowed,' I know there's fish there."
"You certainly talk as if you were out of your head. What's fishing got to do with it?"