CHAPTER 5
AN OLD SEA CAPTAIN
THOUGH Vevi and Connie called after the boy several times, he did not return.
“Do you think he was real?” Vevi asked anxiously. “We didn’t imagine we saw him?”
“Of course not,” replied Connie. “He was real enough.”
“But why did he run away?”
“We must have frightened him, Vevi. Maybe he had no right to be inside this little house. So when we came in, he waited for a chance to sneak away without being seen.”
“Whoever he was, I wish he’d waited, Connie. Maybe he could have told us how to get to Starfish Cottage.”
Feeling that they had no more right to be in the little ship cottage than the runaway boy, the girls decided to leave. Connie took care to close the front door firmly behind them.
“I wish we knew who owns this cute little place,” she remarked. “Perhaps the owner doesn’t know that the door is unlocked.”
The fog horn was tooting again as the two girls picked their way down the path. Vevi shivered, for the damp air had chilled her through.