172“Thanks.”

“And as soon as we get to the cottage I shall–” She pressed his arm, stopped suddenly, and listened. “Why, what was that?”

“What was what?”

“Out on the water, off the point there. I heard a noise like a steamboat.”

Both listened.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“I certainly thought so.”

Again they listened. Nothing was heard, however, except the lapping of the waves along the beach.

At last, in a low tone, Pats muttered:

“A whole fleet might be within a mile on a day like this and nobody know it. Are you sure it wasn’t Solomon? He is a heavy breather sometimes.”