Hartley, too, was more quiescent now. In fact, he seemed rather depressed by the return to conventional surroundings, and answered only in monosyllables when any one spoke to him. Just before retiring, however, he drew Connorton to one side.
“Any new proposition to make this evening, Connorton?” he asked.
“No-o, I think not,” replied Connorton, feeling that the game was more nearly in his own hands now than at any time since he had set forth in pursuit of the inventor.
“Oh, very well,” returned Hartley, who then went immediately to his room.
Connorton was a bit uneasy, fearing that some new vagary might send Hartley away in the night; but he joined them at breakfast in the morning. Moreover, he still seemed unaccountably depressed and spiritless. He was as tractable now as he had been intractable before, acquiescing indifferently in all suggestions made. On the steamer he sat gloomily apart from the others; at Temagami Station he let Paulson make all the arrangements.
“Tamed at last,” reflected Connorton; “but he’ll bear watching, just the same.”
Still, only twice on the way to Toronto did he occasion his companions any uneasiness. Once was at North Bay, where he betrayed a desire to take the through train west—said he would rather like to see what Winnipeg, Calgary, and Vancouver looked like. However, Connorton and Paulson, each clinging affectionately to an arm, managed to get him back into the car.
The other time was when, just as they were leaving a station, they suddenly discovered that he was missing. Connorton was for pulling the bell-cord and stopping the train; but Paulson feared that might get them into trouble and advised an appeal to the conductor first.
“That elongated bottle of gloom!” exclaimed the conductor. “Why, he swung upon the engine just as we were leaving the last station. I’m thinking of having him arrested at the next stop.”
That would not do, of course. They did not want him on the engine, which they regarded as a dangerous place, but neither did they want him arrested. Connorton squared it with the conductor, explaining that the man was slightly demented, and promising to get him back in the coach and tie him down at the first opportunity. Then, at the next stop, he argued and pleaded with Hartley, but only when the conductor and engineer both ordered him back into the coach did that erratic gentleman consent to return to it. He was resentful then, said everybody was in a conspiracy to make his life miserable, and it was some time before he would even speak to Connorton. But he caused them no further trouble during the trip.