hat she was later
injured on the head by a stone, and brought by a young man, John
Hampton by name, to his home. Can you deny that?"

The excitement of Mrs. Tobin and Flo was now intense. They stared in
speechless amazement, first at Randall and then at the captain.

"Why don't ye go an' git her, then, if she's with John Hampton?" the
captain asked. "What are ye doin' here if yer so sartin about the
matter?"

"I'm here because there's nobody home there. I visited Mrs. Hampton on
my way up the road, and she told me that my daughter had never been at
her house. She said a girl had been injured at the quarry, but it was
her own daughter. She suggested that I go to the quarry and make
inquiries, which I did. I learned enough there to satisfy me that Mrs.
Hampton lied to me, and that the girl who came up the river with you
and who was afterwards hurt is my daughter. And then when I come back,
I find the Hampton house closed, and no one at home. That's the
situation, and it's enough to drive a man crazy."

"It sartinly is most puzzlin'," the captain agreed. "Strange, Martha,
isn't it?" and he turned to his wife. "But, then, perhaps they've all
gone fer a car ride. It's a fine night fer a spin."

"But Mrs. Hampton told me that her son would most likely be home when I
came back from the quarry," Randall explained. "It seems to me that I
am being deceived and checked on all sides. I wonder what is the
reason?"

"The reason, sir, is very clear," Mrs. Tobin replied. "The sympathy of
all is with your daughter because of the way you have treated her. I
admire her for what she did."

"Madame, madame, I am astonished at you," Randall declared.

"You needn't be astonished at all, sir. I have listened to this
conversation, and see things in a new light. I could not understand my
husband's actions a few days ago, but now it is nearly all explained.
Sam'l," and she turned to her husband, "did you have this man's
daughter on board the 'Eb and Flo' the day you sailed by here without
stopping?"

"No, Martha, I did not," was the emphatic reply.

Mrs. Tobin looked at the captain for a few seconds in silence. Then
she detected a peculiar expression in his eyes, and at once surmised
its meaning.

"But, Sam'l, did you have a girl on board?"

"Yes, Martha, I did."

"Then you have been lying."

"No, I haven't. This man asked me if I had his daughter on board, an'
I told him I didn't. That gal might have been