"Well, can you go right after dinner?" asked the stranger.
"Yes, at one o'clock I'll be here," said the lad.
"All right; we'll give you your price. Meantime, where can I get a good dinner?"
Budd gave him directions how to find the leading hotel, and then cast off the fastenings of the sloop and sped away for the island.
Promptly at one o'clock he was at the village, and as he took Mr. Wilson on board he asked if he should run down and take the gentleman's skiff in tow; for, expecting to do this, he had left his own yawl with Judd.
"No, never mind that; it isn't worth taking with us," replied Mr. Wilson.
Budd thought it a little strange, but had not the slightest suspicion that the skiff was not the property of the stranger, and that his story about crossing over in it that morning was a sheer fabrication.
There was another statement in the man's story that would have seemed very strange to Budd had he only thought of it. He had stated that he and his party had been camping out on Patience Island for a week; yet the island was small, and Budd had himself been down by it but five days before, and at that time there was no sign of a camping-party upon it. But utterly unconscious of the man's falsehoods, the lad sailed straight on into what was destined to be the most trying experience through which he had yet passed.
The gentleman chatted away pleasantly as he sat by Budd in the stern of the sloop. He asked questions about the islands and the main-land they were passing. He wanted to know how long before they would reach Patience Island, and how long it would take to run out to Block Island with that breeze. He assured Budd his companions would have everything packed on their arrival, and there would be no unnecessary delay in starting on their long trip.
As they neared the island of their destination he informed the lad that the camp had been on the east side, and on running around the south end, Budd saw, no great distance away, the place of the encampment. It was true the tent was down, and the boxes and bags were piled close by the shore, but this was just as Mr. Wilson had said it would be; and when four men came out from behind a large rock, and walked down to the heap of stuff, Budd said: