Jean left the colonel at the dock, whither Shag had already made his way, coming in a more prosaic trolley car from The Haven, and soon they were ready to row down the inlet in a boat.
"Shall I call for you?" asked Jean, as he prepared to drive back.
"No," answered the colonel, "I can't tell what luck I'll have.We'll come home when it suits us.""Very good, monsieur."
And so the colonel went fishing, and his thoughts were rather more on the telephone talk he had overheard than on his rod and line.
Contrary to the poor luck that had held all week, so the dockman said, the colonel's good luck was exceptional.Shag had a goodly string of snappers of large size to carry back with him.
"How'd you do it?" asked the boatman, as he made fast the skiff.
"Oh, they just bit and I hauled `em in," said he colonel."By the way," he went on, "is there a place around here called Allawanda?""Yes, there's a little village named that, about ten miles back in the country," said the boatman.
"Nothing there, though, but a few houses and one store." "Oh, I thought it might be quite a place.""No, and nobody'd know it was there if there wasn't a boat around here named after it.""Is there a boat called that?" asked the colonel, and he tried to keep the eagerness out of his voice.
"Yes.The ferryboat that runs from Lakeside to Loch Elarbor is named that.Seems that one of the men in the company that owns it used to live at Allawanda when he was a boy, and he called the boat that.It's an old tub of a ferry, though, about like the town itself, I guess.Well, you sure did have good luck!""Yes, indeed," agreed the colonel, and his luck was better than the boatman guessed, and of a different kind.
It was in pursuance of this same luck that caused the colonel, later that day, when the shadows of evening were falling, to take his limp satcheland slip out of the house.He went afoot to the ferry dock, and when the Allawanda floundered in like a porpoise he went on board.It was his first visit to this part of the inlet that separated Lakeside from Loch Harbor, and this means of getting to the yachting center was seldom used by any guests of The Haven.They went around by the highway in automobiles.
"Well," mused the colonel, as he went to the men's cabin with his limp valise, "I hope Mr.Blossom keeps his promise and comes here to-night.I shall be interested in noting to whom he pays the money."Then, seeing that the little cabin of the ramshackle boat was deserted at that hour, the colonel went to a dark corner, and from it emerged, a little later, with a beard on that would have done credit to the most orthodox inhabitant of New York's Ghetto.
Still the colonel did not look like a Jew, and he was not going to attempt that character.He made his way to the stern of the craft, where he could watch all who came aboard, and finding a deck hand who was sweeping, said:
"I'm not feeling very well.Thought maybe a ride back and forth across the inlet would do me good if I stayed out in the air.So if you see me here don't think I'm trying to beat my fare.Here's a dollar, you may keep the change.""Thanks - ride all you like," said the man.At five cents a trip, with the boat stopping at midnight, there would still be a good tip in it for him.The colonel ensconced himself in a dark corner and waited.
The first two trips over and back were fruitless as far as his object was concerned.But just as the Allawanda was about to pull out for her third voyage across the inlet, there came on board a woman, with a shawl so closely wrapped about her that her features were completely hidden.There were only a few oil lamps on the old-fashioned craft, and the illumination was poor.
