"My soul and body!" murmured the lightkeeper reverently. "A hundred and forty thousand? My! My!"
"The bank"s closed--"
"Course it is this time in the morning. Them bank fellers don"t work the morning tide-never."
"But there"s a sign on the door. "Tisn"t going to be open. Our money"s gone!"
"Say!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Tobias, his brain beginning to function, "a hundred and forty thousand dollars oughtn"t to break the Clinkerport Bank-nor yet Arad Thompson. We"ll get our money--"
""Tain"t likely. Not all of it. We"ll have to stand our sheer of the loss, Tobias. If _"twas_ burglary! Think of it!"
"Oh, sugar!" exclaimed her brother, seating her on a stool. "You needn"t never mind about that. I"m thinking of it all right. I can"t think of nothin" else. Who"d you say told ye?"
"Zeke."
"Cal"late it"s pretty straight then. I give it as my opinion he ain"t no false alarm. Well! Well!"
He started for the stairway.
"What you goin" to do, Tobias?" sobbed Heppy.
"I cal"late to change out o" these ily clo"es and go to town. Zeke will stand by ye. I got to know the wust, as the feller in jail for murder said when they interduced the hangman to him."
Miss Heppy could not follow him at the moment. The promptness of the old seaman soon put Tobias in a presentable suit-though not the funeral garments before described. He got away before his sister was able to descend the stairs.
Zeke appeared. Tobias put a question or two and learned that the disaster was all Heppy had said. A hundred and forty thousand dollars was indeed a great fortune for Clinkerport people. Nor was it a small slice of the bank"s capital.
"They tell me, Tobias," Zeke said, "that Mr. Thompson had called in a lot o" money just lately from small loans and sech, so"t the bank could make an investment that he cal"lated would yield a much bigger return.
Somebody must ha" knowed this for a fac", to have busted the vault door open at jest this time."
"Oh, sugar!" observed the lightkeeper. "They don"t mean to say it"s what them city detectives that you read about call an inside job?"
"Gosh blame it! Of course it was done inside. How"d they git to the vault door otherwise?" demanded Zeke.
Tobias grinned. He asked:
"Did they bust the door with dynamite, or did they open it fair an"
proper by workin" out the combination of the vault?"
"I dunno. They busted it open an" got the money. That"s all I know."
"Wal, you stay here and stand by Heppy. I"m going to town to see about it," Tobias concluded.
"Don"t you want my car?"
"No. I cal"late somebody"ll be along to pick me up."
In fact the lightkeeper"s sharp eye had already descried a bustle about the Nicholet garage. Jackson had the car out.
When he reached the road gate of the Nicholet property, the car was just sliding down into the highway. Lorna waved him a friendly hand from the tonneau.
"Am I lucky enough to catch you going to town, Mr. Ba.s.sett?"
"I cal"late," said Tobias grimly, "the luck ain"t all on one side."
"Do get in," she said as Jackson brought the automobile to a throbbing halt once he was on the highway. "I want to talk to you, anyway. What do you suppose is the matter with Ralph Endicott?"
"Huh? Oh, sugar! Why don"t you ax me to explain this here fourth dimension they talk so much about? I can easy tell how wide, high, and thick Ralph Endicott is," and his eyes twinkled despite his inner trouble. "But I can"t tell you the _why_ of him. That"s beyond all nater."
"Then you do not really know why he has gone away?"
"Oh, sugar! He _has_ gone, has he? I"d disremembered. He did bid me an" Heppy good-bye night b"fore last."
"He went away with his trunk yesterday afternoon. Jerome told me n.o.body knew at the house where Ralph was going. They did not dare tell Professor Endicott, for he was completely submerged in some experiment and had locked the laboratory door. Ralph tucked a note under the door when he left."
"You don"t say?"
"Did he not explain to you, Mr. Ba.s.sett?"
"Not a word."
"Nor to us. He came over and bade us good-bye just before he left, in a very formal way. I did not get a word with him alone. Aunt Ida asked him where he was going, and he said he could not tell just where he would finally bring up. Tobias Ba.s.sett!"
"Yes, ma"am?"
"I believe Ralph has gone away to get a job of work and is ashamed to tell us."
"If it"s honest work he ain"t no call to be ashamed."
"Too proud to tell us, then," flashed the girl.
"That sounds more likely."
"Anyway, he"s gone!" She could not hide something besides vexation in her voice. Disturbed as Tobias was by his own trouble, he marked this fact. He believed his matchmaking scheme, as far as Lorna was concerned, was working!
"Hard work never hurt n.o.body." He firmly believed this fallacy. "And Ralph is rugged and capable."
"But he has not been trained to any kind of work," cried the girl with anxiety.
"Why ain"t he? He can do most anything any other fellow can on a ship.
And he"s got a good idea of navigation into the bargain. He favors the sea, too."
"A sailor!" There was dread more than disapproval in Lorna"s tone. She had never forgotten Miss Heppy"s explanation of her own fear and hatred of the sea. She repeated: "A sailor!"
"No. A mate. Then a skipper. A lad like Ralph can soon work up--"
"And is that all his college training can do for him?"
"College l"arnin" won"t hurt him none for a sea-farin" life," said Tobias complacently. "He can aspire to walkin" the bridge of one o"