Captain, and say it slow like."

Alvin's face being turned away, he was not forced to maintain his gravity
while he repeated in his most serious tones the remark quoted.

"All I have to say to that is not to say anything, as Teddy Geoghan
observed whin they found a stolen pig in the bag he was carrying over his
shoulder which the same he insisted was filled with clothes for Widow
Mulligan."

CHAPTER VIII

THE LONE GUEST

The _Deerfoot_ glided through the smooth waters, and while the afternoon
was still young rounded to at the wharf, below the long wooden bridge
which spans the stream at Wiscasset, and made fast where a score of other
boats of all sizes and models were moored. Several large vessels were
anchored farther out and Captain Alvin Landon had to slow down to thread
his way among them. There was plenty of room, and the launch was tied up
opposite a small excursion steamer which was to start southward an hour
later. A tip to the old man who was looking after a number of yachts
assured the safety of the last arrival from molestation.

The possibility that the _Water Witch_ had preceded them to Wiscasset
caused a scrutiny of the various craft in sight by the Captain and his
crew, including Detective Calvert, but nothing was seen of the boat.

"She is miles off down stream," was the remark of the officer, "and for
the present is out of the running."

The four walked up the easy slope to the main street, along which they
passed to the leading hotel for dinner. They were a little late and when
they went into the spacious dining room found a table by themselves. The
only other occupant was a tall, angular man of about the same age as
Calvert, similarly attired and apparently giving his sole attention to
the meal before him. He nodded to the group in a neighborly way, but did
not speak.

When the four took their places at the small table, Calvert faced this
person a short distance away; Chester Haynes sat with his back to him,
thus confronting the detective, while Mike and Alvin occupied the
respective ends of the board. These details sound trifling, but they had
a meaning. Calvert thus distributed his companions apparently off-hand,
but the seating of himself as mentioned was done with a purpose. Chester
then, from the position he occupied, was the only one of the other three
who observed anything significant in that action and in what followed.

In the first place, the officer raised his glass of wa