By this time they were on the car and in about thirty minutes they reached Skowhegan. As they passed down the street toward the station, they were stopped many times by friends, asking anxiously after Bob and by the time they reached the depot the train was whistling. As it drew in and came to a stop, a small man with a smooth face was the first to alight. There were not many passengers, and Mr. Golden knew most of them. The man who first got off, however, was a stranger, and he seemed to be looking for some one; Mr. Golden stepped up to him and asked if he was Mr. Sharp.
"Right first time," was the reply, "and you must be Mr. Golden."
Jack was then introduced, but he was much disappointed, for Mr. Sharp did not at all answer his idea of a detective. In common with most boys, he had always imagined a detective to be a very mysterious-looking person, while Mr. Sharp was indeed very ordinary in appearance.
The trolley car was waiting only a couple of squares away for its return trip to the lake, and as soon as they obtained his suitcase from the baggage room, they started.
"We'll be up in time for supper," said Mr. Golden, as they boarded the car.
On the way up, Mr. Golden gave the detective an account of Bob's disappearance, including the events which preceded it. As there were but few people on the car, they could talk in low tones with no danger of being overheard. The detective said but little, except to ask a question now and then, but when they were in the Sprite, on their way across the lake, he said:
"Mr. Golden, I want you to give me a careful description of those two men."
"I guess Jack can do that better than I, as I only saw them once, and then took no particular notice of them."
So Jack described them as well as he could, but the detective shook his head.
"Can't place 'em. Your description of Reed would fit a dozen men I know, and while the other one puts me in mind of a fellow I once arrested for counterfeiting, I'm not sure. You didn't notice a scar on his upper lip, did you?"