e
it fitted up for you in as good style as this cabin; and it is twice as
large as this room."

"No, I thank you, Alick. I shall be very comfortable in one of these
berths. Let me hear no more objections. Now bring the gentleman and his
daughter down into the cabin, and assure them they are as welcome as
they would be in their own house."

It was useless to say anything more to Owen; for when he insisted on
having his own way, he had it. I went forward and invited the strangers
below. Ben brought their trunks and other baggage after them, and they
were soon installed in their new quarters.

"What a lovely little room!" exclaimed Miss Margie, as I showed the
state-room. "It is ever so much nicer than the one I had in the steamer
I came across the ocean in!"

"I am sorry I have not another state-room for you, sir," I said to her
father, as I came out of the daughter's room. "But we will do the best
we can for you."

I pulled out the slide to which the curtains were attached, in front of
one of the berths.

"Nothing could be better than that," replied the gentleman, with
enthusiasm. "We are better lodged than we were in that boarding-house.
The only fear is that we are intruding."

"Not at all, sir. The gentleman that charters the yacht wished me to
say to you that you are as welcome as you could be in your own house."

"I will soon pay my respects to him. I dare say he is the owner of this
delightful little craft."

"No, sir; he only charters her."

"And who is the owner of her?"

"I am the owner, sir."

"Bless me! You are quite a young man to be the owner of such a fine
little vessel," said the new passenger. "Will you favor me with your
name?"

"Alexander Garningham," I replied, not supposing my name could be of
any particular consequence to him.

"Garningham! I half suspected it!" ejaculated the gentleman. "I have a
letter for you."

"A letter for me, sir!" I exclaimed, wondering who could have given him
such a missive.

"It is very strange that I should stumble on you in this manner, when I
have been looking for you all over the country," continued the
gentleman, fumbling his pockets for the letter.

I almost came to the conclusion that he was a "fraud," trying to play
some trick upon me, in the interest of Captain Boomsby, or some other
designing person, when he produced the letter. He handed it to me. I
instantly recognized the peculiar handwriting of my father. It thrilled
me to my very sou