Entering the tugboat office, the girls sought Captain Dolphin. The genial old fellow had been interviewed so many times that he knew the story of his life almost by heart and recited it with great gusto. Penny took a few notes and arose to leave.
“What do you think of the weather, captain?” she inquired casually.
His answer surprised her. “We don’t like the look of ’er here,” he said, frowning. “Barometer’s been falling all day. I’m callin’ in all my tugs off the river.”
“Then you believe the storm actually may strike here?”
“We’re not takin’ any chances,” replied the captain. “Once when I was a young twirp shippin’ on a freighter, a hurricane struck us off the Florida Keys. We made port, but it was by the skin of a shark’s tooth! Never want to see another storm like that one!”
Penny pocketed her notebook, and the girls went outside into the rising wind. More conscious now of its icy bite, they huddled for a moment in the shelter of the office doorway.
Only a few doors away stood the Hartmann Steamship Company offices, whose large river boats plied up the Coast and on to distant world ports.
Through the plate glass window of the ticket office, Penny’s attention was attracted to a slightly stooped man in rumpled clothing who was talking to the man in charge. He turned slightly, and as she saw his profile, she was struck by his remarkable resemblance to the newspaper photograph of Hamilton Rhett.
“Lou, see that man in the ticket office!” she exclaimed. “Doesn’t he look like the missing banker?”
Louise studied the stranger a moment and replied: “How should I know? I’ve never seen him.”