In the mean time May Matthews was delightedly winning Nel-te's baby affections, while Phil and Serge were still plying the Captain with questions.
"Were you saying, sir, that you feared you couldn't take us to Sitka?" inquired Serge, anxiously.
"Not at all, my lad," replied the Captain. "I was about to remark that I feared you would not care to go there now, seeing that there is hardly any one in Sitka whom you want to see, unless it is your mother and sisters and Phil Ryder's father and Aunt Ruth."
"What!" cried Phil, "my Aunt Ruth! Are you certain, sir?"
"Certain I am," replied Captain Matthews, "that if both the individuals I have just mentioned aren't already in Sitka, they will be there very shortly, for I left them in San Francisco preparing to start at once. Moreover, I have orders to carry your father to St. Michaels, where he expects to find you. So now you see in what a complication your turning up in this outlandish fashion involves me."
"But how did my Aunt Ruth ever happen to come out here?" inquired Phil.
"Came out to nurse your father while his leg was mending, and incidentally to find out what had become of an undutiful nephew whom she seems to fancy has an aptitude for getting into scrapes," laughed the Captain.
"Has my father recovered from his accident?"
"So entirely that he fancies his leg is sounder and better than ever it was."
"And are you bound for Sitka now, sir?"