the burned coat, pushed aside the drenched boughs with their fading
leaves and reached down for the tell-tale garment.

And then he made an unpleasant discovery. The coat was gone.

He spent an agitated quarter of an hour hunting through every clump of
bushes in the immediate vicinity, but there was no doubt of it. Someone
had been there before him and had taken the coat away.



CHAPTER VIII

HOUSEKEEPER AND BOOK AGENT


There was a knock on the door of Captain Perez's sleeping apartment.

"Cap'n Hedge," said Mrs. Snow, "Cap'n Hedge! I'm sorry to wake you up,
but it's 'most ten o'clock and--"

"What? Ten o'clock! Godfrey scissors! Of all the lazy--I'll be out in a
jiffy. Perez, turn out there! Turn out, I tell you!"

Captain Eri had fallen asleep in the rocker where he had seated himself
upon his return from the fruitless search for the coat. He had had no
intention of sleeping, but he was tired after his strenuous work at the
fire, and had dropped off in the midst of his worry. He sprang to his
feet, and tried to separate dreams from realities.