“Don’t you remember that he said ‘by jing’ now and then?”
Joe looked up, startled.
“Now I remember! Yes, he did say that. And ‘by jing’ is the very expression—”
“The very expression Evangeline Todd said her missing brother used so often!”
“That’s a fact!” exclaimed Joe. “And now that I come to think of it, I remember his shoelaces.”
“They were untied.”
“And Todham Todd had a habit of going about with his shoelaces untied too!”
XVII
The Man on the Shore
The Hardy boys looked at one another solemnly in the glow of the campfire.
“Do you think Captain Royal and Todham Todd are one and the same man?” asked Joe.
“What do you think of it yourself?”
“It certainly looks strange. But how could this queer old chap be Todham Todd? How would the college professor get away down among these caves, and what would be his idea in passing himself off as a sea captain?”
Frank was thoughtful.
“Stranger things have happened. You remember that Evangeline Todd suggested that her brother might have lost his memory. He was always more or less eccentric, no doubt, and if he was suffering from amnesia there is no telling where he might go or what he might do.”
“It’s mighty strange if we have run across him in this place. Perhaps it’s just a coincidence that Captain Royal says ‘by jing’ once in a while. As for having his shoelaces untied, he seems pretty sloppy anyway, and that would be only natural.”
“Oh, yes, there’s every chance in the world that Captain Royal is simply an eccentric old tar. I agree with you there. Just the same, we can’t afford to overlook the chance that he might be Todham Todd.”
“How are we going to find out?”
“If we asked him, he would deny it, certainly. But perhaps if we could talk to him and ask a few questions he might give himself away.”
“If he has lost his memory he would not remember anything to give away.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” admitted Frank. “Still, my plan is worth trying, don’t you think?”
“It certainly is. But do you think he’ll talk to us at all, after what happened today?”
“Perhaps he’s forgotten all about it by now. He might be as nice as pie if we went back.”
“Yes, he seems a rather changeable old boy,” laughed Joe. “And perhaps if he isn’t around we might find some clue in that cave of his.”
“Good idea. We’ll make a try at it tomorrow.”
“Do you think we should tell Chet and Biff?” asked Joe.
“I don’t think so. Not just yet. After all, they don’t know about the Todd affair, and if we find out that our suspicions are all wrong there’ll be no harm done and they’ll be none the wiser.”
“But how can we question him if they’re with us?”
“We’ll make some excuse to get away by ourselves. Of course, we may be disappointed. The more I think of it the more impossible it seems that Todham Todd should actually be living here. But it is strange that he hasn’t been found before this if he is living in any town or city where people would meet him and talk about him.”
“Dad said he was traced as far as Claymore and there the trail vanished. Claymore isn’t very far from this coast.”
“That’s right. He may have wandered down to these caves.”
“How about the shooting and the mysterious lights we were warned about?”
Frank laughed.
“Oh, as to that,” he said, “I think Captain Royal has just been having a little fun at the expense of the people around here. Perhaps he is trying to keep people from finding out too much about him.”
“Well, we’ll find out all we can, anyway. He can’t scare us.”
Having decided to investigate the eccentric old gentleman further, the Hardy boys rolled themselves up in their blankets and went to sleep. Frank hardly dared hope that his surmise was correct and that in Captain Royal they had discovered the missing college professor, but he was convinced that the old man was not a sailor, in spite of his claims, and the circumstances of the exclamation “by jing” and the untied shoelaces, slender as the clues were, led him to believe that they were at least on a trail worth following.
When the boys awakened next morning they found the sea hidden by a dense fog. It was damp and cold and the weather put all idea of further exploration of the coast out of their heads.
“I’m not going to wander among the rocks in this fog,” declared Chet emphatically. “If it got worse we’d have a fine time finding our way back here.”
“Looks to me like a good morning for fishing,” said Biff.
Chet greeted this suggestion with enthusiasm.
“That’s the brightest idea you’ve had in years. We brought lots of tackle with us, thank goodness, and there’s a high rock over there that hangs over deep water. Perhaps we could catch a whale or so for lunch.”
Frank and Joe saw their opportunity. They encouraged their two chums to go fishing. As for themselves, they said they would go down to Captain Royal’s cave and see if the old gentleman was in a better humor than he had been the previous day.
“You’re welcome,” said Chet. “I’ve had enough of that old lad’s society to last me the rest of my life. He’ll probably set his dog on you, if he has one.”
“I didn’t see any dog there yesterday,” grinned Joe.
“Well, he’ll likely have a dogfish then. You want to be careful. Better come fishing with us.”
But the Hardy boys persisted in their determination to beard the lion in his den again, as Frank put it, so Biff and Chet unpacked the fishing tackle and made their plans for a morning’s sport.
After breakfast they set out for the high rock, Chet ironically asking the Hardy boys to give his love to Captain Royal, and Frank and Joe started off down the beach, delighted that they had escaped so easily.
They proceeded
