Page:Ballinger Price--Us and the Bottle Man.djvu/156

Rh And at the end of all the stories we realized that we did n't know, even now, how he happened to be sailing along just in time to rescue us.

"I sailed all the way from Bluar Boor," he said, "on purpose to see you. To tell the truth, I had designs on the 'Sea Monster' which will not be carried out now. I laid up last night inside the Headland breakwater and made an early start this morning for the last leg of the trip. I recognized the 'Sea Monster' a long way off, but I must say I was surprised when I saw Jerry's shirt signaling so distressfully. Of course I knew who you were at once, when you called the place the 'Sea Monster,' but Christine did stagger me for a minute."

"Stagger you?" I said. "Why?"

"I've been thinking you were 'Christopher' all this time, you see," he said, "but, being a man of infinite resource and 138