"Hiding in that shed. He refused Mr. Stanhope's offer of a rig-out on board. In his present disguise he passes as a stoker, and everybody wants to see the man who saved all of you."
"Have you a closed carriage here?"
"Yes."
"Let us go. Charlie can come with us."
Again he was conscious of a barrier between them, but he attributed her mood to the strain she had undergone.
In the shed they found Pyne; with him were the orphaned children; there was none to meet them. Kind offers were made to care for them until their relations should be forthcoming, but the man to whom they clung would not listen to any such proposal.
"I guess they're happy with me," he said. "I will see them through their present trouble."
Childlike, they had eyes and ears only for the prevalent excitement. At last Elsie asked him:
"Where's mamma? You said she was sick. But the men haven't carried her off the ship, an' she wasn't in the boat."
"Don't you worry, Elsie," he said. "I'm going to take you to a big house where you will find everything fixed just right."