That
would have been a stupid scheme of course, but not too stupid to
be human.
"It was just a little piece of sea mystery to which we had no clew.
So we debated it for an hour, and then set about the more important
work of salvaging the stranded derelict. Fortunately she went
ashore near the last of the ebb, and now lay comfortably in the
mud, apparently little damaged except for some long scratches on
her side, and a broken blade in her propeller. We dug away the mud
at bow and stern, made fast a tow-line, and when the tide came in
my small cruiser pulled her off easily. In the morning the mysterious
stranger lay at anchor in the cove round the corner, as quiet as
a China duck.
"Of course we advertised in the coast newspapers, giving a description
of the boat--'came ashore,' etc.
"Three days later a boy about thirteen years old turned up at
Winterport. He came from a village at the northeast corner of the
bay forty miles away. He guessed the boat was his father's, but
couldn't say for sure until he had seen it. So he came down to
the point and identified it beyond a doubt.
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