“No,” was Florence’s quick reply, “we have wondered about him ever since we brought him to the island and he seemed ready to put us in chains because we insisted on helping to save the camp at Siskowit.”
“He’s threatened to have our license revoked,” Dave put in. “It all seems a bit fantastic. We really never did anything to him.”
“No, probably not,” the colonel agreed. “But your grandfather did and it is his boat you are operating, I am told.”
“Grandfather! Grandfather?” they exclaimed. “He never wronged anyone.”
“He never did,” the colonel agreed, “but he got in bad by doing right. This man who has chosen you for an enemy was once running a boat contrary to regulations, carrying many more passengers than the law allows, endangering people’s lives. The authorities asked your grandfather about it. Being the sort of man who hates lies, he told the truth.”
“Good for Granddad!” Florence exclaimed.
“Right,” the gray-haired man agreed. “For all that, he made himself a lifetime enemy. But,” he added, “you need not worry further about him. I shall see that he is properly taken care of.
“Look!” he exclaimed springing to the window, “we are at Snug Harbor—our night of storm is over. I shall arrange at once for your accommodations at the Lodge.”
“We are to have a hot bath and sleep between clean, white sheets,” Florence whispered to Jeanne. “How perfectly grand!”
Scarcely had their boat touched the dock when Katie began talking in her own tongue to a fisherman whose small boat was tied up to the dock.