But I was not listening to all he said. I suddenly put in:
“Your schooner is going right to your headquarters now?”
“Yes, sir!”
“And that is where this Professor stays?”
“When he ain’t up country trapping critters.”
If you have read thus far in my story you will have discovered one thing about me, if nothing else. I was impulsive—ridiculously impulsive. My bump of imagination was big, too. Otherwise the idea that my father was roaming about the world instead of being peacefully asleep somewhere at the bottom of the sea off Bolderhead, would never have gained such a strong hold upon me.
And my impulsiveness urged me to accept the story of this Professor Vose—as related by Captain Tugg—as something of vital importance to myself. Here I was at Buenos Ayres, not many weeks’ sail from the place where the mysterious Professor was to be found. On the other hand, it was plainly my duty to make for home by the quickest route possible.
Duty and inclination were at daggers’ drawn again. I told myself that as long as there was a possibility that the mysterious Professor might be my lost father, I should take up with this offer of Captain Tugg. I might never be able to find this man of mystery if I did not sail on the Sea Spell when she slipped away from Buenos Ayres.
“It’s my chance!” I thought. “I can go home if there proves to be nothing in the venture. Why! I might take a steamship right at the Straits for some United States port. It’s my chance! I’ll do it.”
And so—as I had many times before—I came to a reckless conclusion and went into a venture the end of which was mighty misty! I suddenly turned to the lathlike Yankee and told him that I would take up with his offer, and we shook hands upon the compact.