“Well, I declare,” exclaimed Tuckerman, “here’s Tom and Larry! And that fellow in doublet and hose—why, I do believe that’s Benjamin Sully!”
XV—VARIOUS CLUES
John Tuckerman and David and Mr. Perkins went up on the porch, where Ben introduced them to Roderick Fitzhugh. Fitzhugh, after shaking hands cordially with each of them, bowed toward his house-guests. “My friends,” said he, “we have the pleasure of welcoming the worthy Chief Counsellor of Camp Amoussock, and Mr. Tuckerman, who is the owner of famous Cotterell Hall on Cotterell’s Island in the harbor of Barmouth, and Mr. David Norton—, er, Ben, what is the best way to describe your good-looking friend?”
“The best batter in New England,” piped up Lanky Larry. “I ought to know. He knocked me out of the box.”
“Thank you,” said Fitzhugh in his amusingly formal manner. “Mr. David Norton, the famous Yankee slugger.” He turned to the three new arrivals. “Gentlemen, let me present you to my friends,” and he called out the names, beginning with Maid Rosalind and the other ladies and ending with Sir Marmaduke Midchester.
Tuckerman laughed. “I’d no idea Ben mixed in such high-sounding company. What is he?—Sir Marmaduke’s squire?”
“He’s the apprentice to an armorer,” said Fitzhugh. “Incidentally he was mistaken this evening for a robber.”
Then Fitzhugh told the story of the robbery, including the adventure of Tom and Larry with the men from the cove.
“Those men must be the three that belonged to the fishing-smack,” said David. “I thought there was something crooked going on. That’s it—they’re a gang of thieves.”
David related his adventure, and then Mr. Perkins told how he and Tuckerman and the boys from the camp hunted for the three missing fellows. “We drove in here on the chance that you might know something about them,” he said to Fitzhugh. “We came straight up the road from the cove, but we didn’t see any men answering the description of the thieves.”