It was half question, half accusation. Sam answered curtly:
“We certainly thought you were.”
“Huh!” The Shark’s tone was scornful.
“If you had to wander off, why didn’t you go back to the Grants’ house?”
“Had something better to do.”
“Here?”
The Shark hesitated. “Why—why, not exactly here. We were looking for something. We found it. Then we happened to see this house. It was raining pitchforks, and we decided to come in out of the wet, and wait for a break. And being here, we made ourselves as comfortable as we could. You’d have done the same thing, wouldn’t you?”
“What did you suppose we’d think when you didn’t turn up?”
“You ought to have known we could take care of ourselves.”
Sam checked the hot retort that was on his lips. After all, “Safety First” was a sound rule in the case of words as well as acts. A quarrel would benefit nobody.