CHAPTER XX
PENNILESS
At once advancing toward the man whom they discovered walking about the room Fred said quietly, “My friend and I are in trouble. We were out in a skiff yesterday and the little boat got to leaking so badly that we both of us had to stay in the water. We were there a half-day, and then we were picked up by a boat which did not stop at Mackinac Island and brought us straight through to Sault Ste. Marie.”
“Where were you?” inquired the man suspiciously as he glanced keenly at Fred.
“We were staying at Mackinac Island, but had gone over across to one of the islands on the Canadian shore.”
“What were you doing there?”
“Looking for our friends.”
“Where were they?”
“That’s what we were trying to find out,” said Fred ruefully. “There were two other fellows with us and they got lost.”
“And you want me to give you some breakfast, is that it?” said the proprietor abruptly.
“No, we don’t want you to ‘give’ us anything,” retorted Fred. “I have got my watch here and I thought perhaps if I left it as security you would let us have some breakfast. We’ll send you the money just as soon as we can go back to Mackinac. These clothes we have on,” he added as he perceived that the man was closely regarding their outfit, “were given us by the sailors that rescued us. We have got some different clothes down at the dock, but they were soaked through and so some of the crew fixed us up as well as they could.”