“Going after her?” repeated Mr. Crane, in slow astonishment. “Why, I was under the impression that your present task related to carrying me over to Mr. Dunstan’s home.”
“That comes next,” replied Tom. “Mr. Crane, hardly twenty minutes ago I was aboard yonder boat, and was talking with Master Ted Dunstan.”
The lawyer gasped, then rejoined, slowly:
“That’s a most remarkable statement, to say the least.”
But Joe Dawson and Jed Prentiss, who knew Halstead better, were staring at him with eyes wide open and mouths almost agape.
“I saw Ted Dunstan,” repeated Tom, firmly. “Moreover, he gave me the jolt of my life.”
“Did he incidentally throw you overboard?” asked the lawyer, eyeing Tom’s wet garments. The sun and wind had dried the first great surplus of water out of them, but they were still undeniably more than damp.
“That was all part of the experience,” Halstead answered, annoyed by the impression that the lawyer thought him trying to spin a mere sailor’s yarn. “Do you care to hear what happened, sir?”
“Why, yes, assuredly, captain.”
Tom reeled the story off rapidly. The lawyer gasped once or twice, but certainly the young skipper’s wet clothing gave much of an appearance of truth to the “yarn.”