“Not so fast, young man,” replied the sergeant, pompously. “Let me get this thing right, and then I’ll decide what action is necessary. First of all, you were in here the other day complaining of some one walking across your deck, weren’t you?”
“He came into the cabin that time while my chum and I were asleep.”
“Well, that’s all there is to that. He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
“No, but he tried to strangle me, to-night. That’s something, isn’t it?”
The officer elevated his eyebrows and puffed out his cheeks. Without a doubt he was incredulous.
“But just now you said he attacked you with this bar, didn’t you?”
“No, I said he evidently meant to attack me with it,” replied the boy, impatiently. “He must have dropped it when he fell over the string. And then when Cap’n Crumbie heard me shouting, and answered, the man ran off without it.”
“Then some one besides you saw the fellow, eh? That might make a difference, if it’s true.”
“It was too dark for Cap’n Crumbie to see the man. He only heard me yelling.”
“Well, what happened then?”