. They would use her wharf in going ashore. He admitted to
himself that he had been pleased over being kissed by the "young fry";
but he also admitted that the chief appeal to him had been made by the
elderly woman who had looked on so disapprovingly from her place in the
Doctor's launch.

Van Dusen was anxious to call first upon the Collector of the Port. That
office here had become, of late years, rather unimportant, since the
action of the tides had filled the Inlet with sand, to such an extent
that very few vessels of the ocean-going steamer type could get over the
bar. The Collector's business was confined to seeing that yachts and
other vessels of small draft had their proper papers. There was no
United States Marshal located in the town, and the case of _The Isabel_
was plainly one to be handled by the Treasury Department.

It was unnecessary for Ichabod to guide the detective further than the
wharf, for the Custom House, with its identifying flag, stood near the
landing. So, the Captain felt himself at liberty to visit the hotel,
where he reclined at ease in a rocking chair on the porch, and enjoyed
an intermittent conversation with the hostess of the inn. Roy remained
on board the yacht, at his friend's bidding, in order to recover from
the shock he had suffered on hearing Ichabod's story.

Van Dusen found the Collector anxious to be of service in every possible
way. He suggested that the services of the Sheriff should be enlisted,
and that a warrant for the arrest of Doctor Garnet should be secured
from the Justice of the Peace, for robbery, to be sworn to by Ichabod,
since that offense had been committed within the jurisdiction of the
state courts.

The Sheriff, when called up over the telephone, agreed to supply three
deputies, each equipped with a copy of the warrant. Finally, two small
launches, each carrying one of the Sheriff's men, were chartered to
voyage in different directions for the search, while the third would go
aboard _The Hialdo_. Other business prevented the Sheriff from giving
his personal aid in the quest. Ichabod was interrupted during his
pleasuring on the porch by a telephone call, which requested him to
report at once to Squire Chadwick's office in order to swear to the
necessary papers.

But the fisherman forgot the imperative summons as his hostess came out
on the porch to bid him farewell.

"Do ye realize, Sarah Porter, that this is the very fust time in over
twenty year that