"And Kitty is the little girl you told us about? She whom you took from the wreck of the Alameda?" asked Louise.
"Yes, she is Kitty Schulkill, but they've nicknamed her Kitty Scuttle, 'count of the way she scuttles about so. But I thought when she was taken over to the Point she might quiet down some, but Kitty is Kitty just the same," he concluded rather gloomily.
"Has she any relatives?" inquired Julia.
"Claims to be, one woman there, a high falootin dame, claims to be her guardeen," he said, using the quaint old way of pronouncing the last word. "But I'm not sure. Don't know as I just like her any too—well." And again the pipe suffered from suppressed emotion.
They were making some progress—all the girls felt keenly interested, and even a little bit excited.
"Does this woman live with her at the Point?" ventured Grace.
"Oh, to be sure—she runs the Point, from all I hear," he replied. "But as I told you first thing, that Point is al'lus a pesky place and a good place to veer from."
Confronted again with this thread-bare opposition to a visit at the Point, the girls looked discouraged.
"But you would like us to be friendly with Kitty. How can we become acquainted with her if we are not to—go—to her home?" Grace blurted out finally.
The Captain shook his head. "I'll tell you," he began. "This fancy dressed woman, from what I hear from Kitty, is a queer case, and for a short time it seems best to humor her. Let her try it, I says when Kitty told me—but I wouldn't say positive I like the scheme."