te
essential to a successful defense."

"Did your father tell you all that?"

"Oh, we talked quite a lot by wireless."

Tommy considered the situation for a moment and then said:

"I wish you'd tell me all you know about it."

In as few words as possible, Frank related the story practically as told
to George and Sandy by Will.

"Does Bert know all about this?" asked Tommy when the recital was
finished. "Did you talk the matter over with him?"

"I certainly did."

"I hope," Tommy mused, "that he wasn't forced to tell anything about the
thumb marks when the man robbed him."

"I don't think he would do that," suggested Frank. "He would be apt to
plead ignorance."

The boys came, about nine in the evening, to the little station of
Katalla, which is just a mite of a town sitting perched high above the
Gulf of Alaska. The first thing they did was to make inquiries at the
water front regarding transportation to Cordova.

As they passed swiftly from point to point, consulting a half-breed
here, an Esquimaux there, and an American trader at another point, they
noticed that they were being followed. Finally Tommy drew back and
waited until the man who seemed to be pursuing them came up.

"Are you looking for me?" he asked.

"I would like to speak with you," was the reply.

"Well, then, why didn't you come up like a man and say so?" demanded
Tommy. "You needn't have skulked along in the dark!"

"Fact is," the man answered, "that I heard you making inquiries
regarding the possibility of getting to Cordova tonight."

"Yes, that's where we want to go."

"Have you secured transportation yet?"

"We have not!" Tommy answered.

"Well, I was going to let you inquire at one more place," said the
other, "and then tender you the use of my boat."

"Why were you going to wait?"

"Because I wanted you to exhaust your last chance so that I could get my
own price for the service."

"You must be a Yankee!" laughed Tommy.

"Right!" was the reply. "I'm a Yankee direct from Boston. I don't have
many opportunities of acquiring wealth out here, and I smelt real money
as soon as I saw you boys come to town a couple of days ago."

"What kind of a boat have you?" asked Tommy.

"A swift little motor boat."

"Can you get us to Cordova and back by seven or eight in the morning?"

"I don't think I can do the job as soon as that, but I'll do the best I
can! Why are you in such a hurry?"

"There's a boy sick at the camp!" wa