"Thank you, but I think I have enough now."
"Yes, you have a nice bouquet," went on the ragged man, still smiling.
He was dressed like a tramp, that was certain. But, somehow or other, Janet did not feel as afraid as she expected she would be when she thought of meeting a tramp.
"Do you live around here?" the man continued.
"Yes, we're camping in a tent," Jan replied. "My grandfather owns part of this island and we're with him—my mother and my brothers. We like it here."
"Yes, it's fine," said the ragged man, who Janet thought must be a tramp, even if he did not talk like most of them. "So you live in a tent? Does the professor stay here all the while?"
"The professor?" repeated Janet, and she wondered what the long word meant. She was sure she had heard it before. Pretty soon she remembered. At school she had heard some of the teachers speak of the principal as "Professor."
"My grandpa isn't a professor," explained Janet with a smile. "He's a farmer."
"Well, some farmers are scientists. Maybe he is a scientist," went on the tramp. "I was wondering if some one else was on this island looking for the same thing I'm looking for. Can you tell me, little girl—-?"
But just then, from somewhere back in the woods, a voice called. The ragged man listened a moment, and then he cried: "All right! I'm coming!"