“Why, he tried to do it once before,” said Henry Burns.
“He did?” queried Harvey, in amazement. “You never said anything to me about it.”
“No; because I didn’t think so, myself, at the time,” replied Henry Burns. “You see, it was over there that night at Springton. Do you remember the man on the beach next morning?”
“Go ahead,” said Harvey. “Perhaps I’ll see it when you tell it.”
“Well,” continued Henry Burns, “I mean the old fisherman that spoke to Mr. Carleton just as we were pushing off. Don’t you remember, he spoke about Mr. Carleton’s borrowing his skiff to go out to his yacht the night before? Now you just think how Mr. Carleton looks—tall and nicely dressed—and that big blond moustache—and then that heavy, deep voice of his. That fisherman wasn’t mistaken. He remembered him. It was only the night before, too, mind you.
“And, besides, the fisherman asked him if he had found his own boat all right in the morning. Now, don’t you see, whoever it was that borrowed the fisherman’s boat had gone down to the place where we had left our tender, expecting to find a boat at that very spot. You put the two things together, and it looks like Mr. Carleton. I didn’t think of it then, but I’ve been thinking of it since.”
Harry gave a whistle of astonishment.
“And he hadn’t lost that pin at that time, either,” said Henry Burns. “Nor had he lost the pin he told about, the night after, when he was looking about the cabin with a light, while we were asleep. Then, I don’t believe he had lost any pin at all when he broke into our cabin; and if he had, why didn’t he wait till we came up? He knew we would be back in an hour or two. No, sir, he was after something in that cabin.”
“Well, if you don’t think of queer things!” exclaimed Harvey. “Anything else?”
“Nothing of itself,” replied Henry Burns, thoughtfully. “But isn’t it kind of queer that he should have tried to buy the Viking when he had seen her only once? I’m sure Harry Brackett was making an offer for him. He had just come from Bellport, you know; and that’s where Mr. Carleton was staying. Now a man doesn’t usually buy a boat offhand that way.”