"What's the matter with him?" asked Mr. Collingsby, turning to me.
"He was hurt on the head."
"Philip had a hard battle with him, father; but finally struck him down, and he fell senseless."
"I ought to add, Mr. Collingsby, that Marian was the bravest girl I ever saw. I should have lost the battle, and I doubt if you would ever have seen either your partner or your money, if she had not taken part in the struggle," I interposed.
"All this makes a very strange story."
"Perhaps you had better hear the rest of it before you judge," I replied. "I thought it possible, after I left you day before yesterday, that Mr. Whippleton had gone off in his boat, and I hastened to her moorings. My supposition was correct."
"We knew he had gone in his boat, but we supposed he would land at some town on the other side," said Mr. Collingsby. "Officers were sent to Detroit and Toledo to intercept him."
Marian and I told our story as I have already related it, and we had an attentive and interested audience.
"But what has become of Waterford?" asked one of the officers. "If he was left at the creek, he must have gone somewhere."
"He won't go far, for he has not a hundred dollars in the world," said Mr. Whippleton. "Phil defeated all our plans."