"He wouldn't let me in till I told him what I wanted; he said you were busy."
At this moment the door opened and a man in uniform entered.
"Ah," he said, glancing at the boy, "he's told you, then. Had we better put any confidence in the tale? I've been speaking to the Captain of the Madrona about it. He is in the outer office now. He seems to think there is something in it."
"You may go now," said the Chief, with a preoccupied look, to the boy; "you had better go right home, and next time carry a light yourself. Good-evening."
"I am sorry you let the boy go," the deputy began, as the door closed; "we may need him for evidence. But here's the Captain."
A tall gentleman, in the uniform of the United States navy, entered the room at this moment. "I've been having a word with your salmon-fisher," he said, "and I think he's telling the truth. I'll catch them to-night when they're getting back north, and give them more light in Puget Sound than they will find altogether convenient. Where was it he saw them now?"
"I don't think the boy said," the deputy answered. "Did he tell you?" and he turned to his superior.
"Yes, he did, now I recollect."
"Was it in the main channel, or below the slough to the inside of the island?"
"In the outer channel; it was too large a boat to get through the slough."