For several seconds the boys and the man stared at one another. The stranger did not seem to be the least bit embarrassed but, on the contrary, was smiling in a genial manner.
“Is he a friend of yours?” asked Nellie, of Jerry.
“Well, not exactly what you could call a friend,” was the answer. “We don’t even know his name,” and he spoke in a low voice. “We saw him back in Cresville, just before we started out west, and he was acting in a strange manner. We thought—”
“Excuse me,” suddenly interrupted the strange man, advancing toward the group of boys and girls, “but haven’t I seen you lads before? Your faces are very familiar.”
“We saw you in the Cresville freight office,” declared Ned boldly.
“Exactly! I knew it was somewhere. I remember now. I was there attending to some goods that had to be shipped in a hurry. I’m glad you remembered me. To think that I should meet you away out here! It’s a small world, isn’t it?” and he smiled, but there was something in his smile, in his looks and in his manner that the boys did not like. Neither did the girls, for, as Nellie said afterward, he acted as though he wanted to make friends so you would not be suspicious of him.
“Shake hands, won’t you?” asked the man, advancing closer to the boys. “My name is Carson Blowitz, and though it sounds foreign I was born in this country. I travel around so much I can’t give you any particular place as my residence.”
There was no way without being rude of avoiding shaking hands with the man, and, though there was something in his manner that caused the boys to feel a distrust of him, they were not going to be impolite on mere suspicion.
They shook hands with Mr. Blowitz, and Jerry introduced himself, his chums, the young ladies and Professor Snodgrass, and told, briefly, the object of their trip.
“Well isn’t that nice, now,” said Mr. Blowitz, when Jerry had finished. “The professor comes out here to hunt horned toads, and you lads come to hunt adventures, Mr. Seabury comes out here in search of health and I—well, I’m out here on a sort of hunt myself.”
“Are you interested in science?” asked Mr. Snodgrass eagerly. “Perhaps you and I might go off together after horned toads and web-footed lizards. Or, if you care for snakes, or insects, I think I can show you where there are plenty.”
“No, no,” said Mr. Blowitz, with a laugh, which he tried to make sound hearty by the mere noise of it. “No, I’m on a different sort of a search. In fact it’s quite a queer story—perhaps you would like to hear it. In fact, I’m hunting for a lost ship.”
“A lost ship!” exclaimed Bob.
“Well, one that was abandoned just before she sank, and that’s about the same thing. It was abandoned quite a way out, but off this part of the coast. There is a current setting in towards shore, at this point, I’m told, and I thought I might get some news of her, or find some of the wreckage floating in on the beach. That’s why you find me here.”
“What ship is it?” asked Ned, interested in spite of the aversion he and the others felt toward Mr. Blowitz.
“It is a brig, Rockhaven by name. But suppose we go inside’? It is rather warm out here in the sun, and I’m not quite used to this climate yet. Won’t you come in and have some chocolate with me? They have a very nice drink in here, and I—”
“It’s my treat,” interrupted Bob.
“No; if I may be so bold as to insist, you must be my guests this time,” went on Mr. Blowitz. “It is not often that I see lads away off east and meet them a little later, in California, so I must have the pleasure of their company for a little while. The young ladies too—I’m very fond of young ladies,” and Mr. Blowitz smiled in a manner that Rose characterized later as “ugly,” though just why she thought so she couldn’t explain.
There was no way of getting gracefully out of the invitation, and so the crowd of young people and the professor accompanied Mr. Blowitz into the refreshment booth.
They went out into the shaded courtyard, where a fountain of splashing water at least gave the effect of coolness, if it did not really make it so. They sat at small tables, and were served with cold chocolate and sweet cakes, by a pretty Mexican girl. Bob wanted to pay for the treat but Mr. Blowitz would not hear of it. In fact he played the host in such a genial way, and seemed so anxious to make every one have a good time, that the boys were rather ashamed of their first opinion of him.
Even Rose whispered to Bob that “he was not so bad, when you got acquainted with him.”
“Now I suppose you would like to hear the story of the abandoning of the brig Rockhaven,” said Mr. Blowitz, and the boys nodded.
“I hope no one was drowned,” exclaimed Olivia.
“Not as far as we know,” replied Mr. Blowitz. “The whole affair is rather mysterious, and I am seeking information about the fate of the ship as much as anything else.”
“I would like to ask you one question,” said Professor Snodgrass, who had been more interested in the antics of a small bug, walking on the table, than he was in his chocolate.
“What is it?” inquired Mr. Blowitz.
“Did you, or any of your men notice whether, just before the ship sank, that all the rats on board deserted it?” asked the scientist. “I have often heard that rats will desert a sinking ship, and I would like to know whether it is true. If you made any observations to that effect I wish you would tell me about them, and I can put them into a book I am writing about rats and mice.”
“I thought you were writing about horned toads,” said Bob.
“So I am, but this is another book. This will be in seventeen volumes, with colored plates. I want to get all the information I can, about rats.”
“I’m sorry that I can’t help you,” replied Mr. Blowitz. “In fact I know little about the abandoning of the brig, except what I heard. I was not aboard, and I don’t know whether the rats left it or not. All I know is that the vessel is lost, and with a fortune aboard.”
“A fortune aboard?” inquired Ned.
“Yes, worth about a quarter of a million.”
“Is it gold or diamonds?” asked Rose, who was very fond of jewelry and precious stones.
“Neither one, my dear young lady,” said Mr. Blowitz, with as happy a smile as he could assume. “It is valuable merchandise. Of course there was some money, and some valuable papers, but the main part of the cargo was costly merchandise. I’ll tell you how it happened. But first, let us have some more chocolate,” and he called to the Mexican girl waiter.
When the cups had been filled Mr. Blowitz resumed his story.
“I am interested in many enterprises,” he said, “and I and some other men went into a venture to ship some valuable goods to the Santa Barbara islands, which are not far off this coast. I was the principal owner, having bought out my partner, and it looked as if I would make a large sum.
“The vessel sailed from San Francisco, and as the weather was fine, we looked for a quick trip. I was attending to some of my other business affairs, having just arrived on this coast from Boston, when I received a telegram from the captain of the brig, telling me that she had been abandoned with everything on board. Of course there must have been an accident. Probably there was a collision, or fire on board, so that the brig was in a sinking condition. At any rate the captain, and, I suppose the crew, also, left her. That’s why I can’t tell whether they were all saved, though I assume so, as nothing was said about any one being lost.
“The captain, it appears, was picked up By another vessel, and landed at a small coast town. He sent me the telegram from there, and I forwarded him money to come to San Francisco, to meet me. But, for some reason, he did not arrive, and so I decided to come down here, and see if I could get any news of the ship and the valuable cargo. Of course, if the ship sank at once that is the end of her, but, if she broke up, there is a chance of some parts of her, and perhaps some of the cargo, being washed ashore. At any rate I would like to get some news of her, that I might collect the insurance, if nothing else.
“So that’s why I’m here. I arrived yesterday, but, so far, I have been unable to obtain any news of the brig. I left word for the captain to join me here, and he may arrive at any time. I am glad to have met you, for it will not be so lonesome now.”
“I hope you have good luck,” said Nellie, as she arose to leave the place. “I think we must be going now,” she added to her sisters. “Papa might worry about us.”
“Give Mr. Seabury my regards,” said Carson Blowitz, “and tell him I shall do myself the honor of calling on him soon, to pay my respects. As for you young people, I shall see you again, I hope. I am going to hire a boat and cruise about in search of my brig—if I don’t get some news soon—and perhaps you might like to go along.”
“Perhaps,” replied Jerry, as he and his chums followed the girls out of the place.
Mr. Blowitz remained in the courtyard, drinking chocolate, and, as the little party was leaving Ned looked back. He saw their recent host pull a bundle of papers from his pocket, and, spreading them on the table in front of him, closely scan them.
“I don’t like that man,” declared Nellie, when they were out of hearing. She was very frank in her statements.
“Neither do I,” said Jerry, “though he was nice enough to us.”
“He has a strange manner,” commented Olivia.
“And that was a queer story he told of the abandoning of the brig,” went on Bob. “I wonder if he made it up, or if it’s true? It seems strange that the captain would leave his ship, and not give a reason for it.”
“There’s some mystery back of it, I think,” was the opinion of Rose. “The less we have to do with Mr. Carson Blowitz, the better it will be, I think.”
“Well, we’re not likely to see much of him,” said Jerry. But in this opinion he was mistaken. They were to see and hear much of him, as later events proved.