The youth regarded him with a stony stare and answered no word.
“Maybe you’ll tell us a little later,” Mr. Hatfield said kindly.
Deciding to leave the boy alone for awhile, he retired to a far corner of the Cave to talk over the matter with Mr. Suell and Midge’s father. Neither the Cubs nor their fathers ever had seen the boy before.
“It’s queer how he came to be in the river,” Mr. Hatfield remarked in an undertone. “Plainly, he’s trying to hide something.”
“Think we should turn him over to the police for investigation?” Mr. Holloway asked, looking troubled.
“He seems like a good sort,” the Cub leader replied. “My judgment would be to wait and see what develops. He may be suffering from shock, though I think his refusal to talk is deliberate.”
Brad and Dan, who had taken charge of the boy’s wet garments, now approached Mr. Hatfield.
“What is it, boys?” he inquired, aware by their manner that they had an important disclosure to make.
Brad asked the Cub leader if he would step outside to a platform from which the wooden steps descended.
Surprised by the request, Mr. Hatfield followed the two Cubs.