As a matter of course no one suggested such an idea to Benny. He was given to understand that everything depended upon the information procured by Mr. Bradford, and a most anxious time it was to him.
More than once he referred to the matter when alone with Sam Hardy, but the surfman refused to discuss it, and only to Fluff could he pour out all that was in his heart. That he would run away rather than go to this uncle, who had written concerning him as if he was no more than a bale of merchandise, he told Fluff again and again, and in order to be prepared for such a move, Benny questioned the cook concerning the surrounding country, until the latter believed it his duty to inform the keeper.
“The lad is makin’ ready to give us the slip if it turns out that the crew believe he should leave,” the “captain of the kitchen” said to Tom Downey. “From what I’ve seen of him there’s no doubt in my mind but that he’ll do it rather than go to this uncle of whom he never heard before.”
Because of the fear that Benny might be tempted to do something desperate in case the information Mr. Bradford received was of such a nature as warranted a careful consideration of Andrew Foster’s claim, it was decided that the lad be kept in ignorance regarding what the gentleman might succeed in learning until the crew could weigh the matter well in joint discussion.
It so chanced, however, that Benny himself was the first to hear from Mr. Bradford, and the crew were thwarted in their good intentions by that piece of mechanism known as the telephone.
The boy was alone in the station on the fifth day after Andrew Foster’s letter was received, and, hearing the bell ring, answered the call.
“Hello!” he cried, replying as he had often heard Mr. Downey, and then, placing the receiver to his ear, he awaited the message.
“Is this the Life-Saving Station?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Who’s at the ’phone?”