Page:Fairview Boys at Lighthouse Cove.djvu/81

Rh cause Nate's dog dug up the garden. And the funny thing of it was that the professor didn't have anything planted in that garden, as far as any of us could find out. He just got provoked because Nate's dog dug some holes, and he sued Nate. He won his case, too, and got six cents damage."

"Six cents! Is that all?" asked Sammy, in surprise.

"Oh, he didn't want the money," explained the light-keeper. "He just wanted the courts to say that Nate's dog had no right in the garden, and it hadn't, I s'pose. Anyhow, Nate had to build his fence over.

"But the professor, as we call him, is sure a queer character. I don't know what he's after, but whatever it is he hasn't found it. We folks leave him alone, and I guess you boys had better, too."

"Did you see him around here that night, when the light went out?" asked Sammy.

"No, I didn't," answered Mr. Floyd, and Sammy did not say why he had asked.

The boys' clothing was nearly dry now, and, the water having been emptied from the boat, which was pulled up on the beach, the lads started for Barnacle Cottage.

They took with them some of the crabs Mr. Floyd gave them, so their accident did not prevent Mr. Bouncer from having a fine supper that night. The boys built a fire out of doors, and boiled the crabs, afterward picking the meat out of the shells.

Talk as they did over the queer encounter with Professor Watson they could not come to any understanding of what object he might have in digging in various places. Sammy still stuck to his idea about the buried gold, but his chums did not agree with him.

Vacation days at Lighthouse Cove were slipping by. Already about half the Summer was gone, and the boys were