Bright and early the next morning, the Curlytops were awake and up. They hurried through their breakfast—that is, they hurried as much as their mother would let them—and then they hastened down to the beach, eager to take up the search again for the lost keys and the ring.
As they ran down to the beach, Ted and Janet holding hands, Ted held back for a moment.
“What’s the matter?” asked his sister.
“Look,” he replied in a low voice. “There comes Mr. Narr now, and I guess he’s going up to our house.”
He pointed to the figure of the rich old gentleman, walking along and swinging his gold-headed cane.
“Why’s he going to our house, do you s’pose?” asked Janet.
“’Cause, I guess, maybe Peter, the colored man, brought him over in the motor boat and landed him at the Harris dock,” explained Ted. “And Mr. Narr is going up to our house—we showed Peter where it was—don’t you ’member?”
“Yes, we showed him,” said Janet, nodding her head with such vigor that her curls fell over her forehead and she had to push them out of her eyes.
“And Mr. Narr’s going up to our house to ask where Mr. Keller lives.”
“Yes,” assented Janet. “And when he finds out he’ll go and ask Mr. Keller for the keys. And Mr. Keller won’t have ’em and—and——”