pped, and he let Mother hug
him right there in the middle of the path, which is a thing he
generally hates. By that time our man and the chauffeur were lifting
Greg and the mattress out, and Mother let go of Jerry and stood
quite still, with her face all white and hollow-looking. We all
began talking at once, and the Bottle Man managed to tell Mother
more about everything in a few minutes than you would think
possible.

He and the automobile man, who still looked flabbergasted, put Greg
on the big bed in mother's room while she was telephoning to Dr.
Topham. We all felt fidgetty and unsettled until Dr. Topham came,
which was really very soon. I think he must have broken all the
speed rules. Jerry and I, who had put on some other clothes, sat in
the living-room with the Bottle Man while the doctor set Greg's arm,
which was fractured. Mother stayed with Greg. The Bottle Man told us
things about the war and his island, and he played soft, wonderful
music on the piano to make us forget about Greg and the Sea Monster
and all the awful things that had happened.

CHAPTER XII

It was the queerest topsy-turvy morning I ever spent. After Mother
came down and told us that Gregs was fixed and that Doctor Topham
had given him something to make him sleep, we all went in and had
lots of breakfast.--Mother and the Bottle Man, too, for neither of
them had had any. You would never have thought we'd eaten the bread
and potted beef there on the Monster, if you'd seen the way we
devoured the eggs and bacon and honey and toast that Katy and Lena
kept bringing in. They both brought the things, because they were so
glad to see us and so afraid that it had been their fault that we
went to Wecanicut. But we told Mother that it wasn't.

While we ate. Mother told us everything that had happened at home.
She and Father came in on the six o'clock train and found Katy and
Lena quite worried because we hadn't come back yet, but no one got
really frightened until later. Father thought of Wecanicut and went
to the ferry to ask, but Captain Lewis wasn't there, and of course
the cross new captain that we'd seen looking at the book hadn't even
noticed us and wouldn't have known us if he had. Our nice Portuguese
man remembered our going over and was perfectly certain that he'd
seen us come back, too, which of course he hadn't. So, after setting
the policeman and every one else to search town, Father and Captain
Moss went to Wecanicut on the ch