"Now," Madge said, "what's the matter with you all?"
"I don't know," said Elsie. "I don't feel very gay; but you didn't cheer us much. I'm sorry your head aches."
"The trip was pretty bad. But I had a little adventure."
"When we stopped at Dumfries, I got out to get a paper, and as I ran along the platform I bumped into a man who'd come from the cars across the track. He had his hands full of things and said a kind of swear in German, when he dropped them all about."
"Sure. Well, I didn't want him to miss the train, so I picked up the nearest thing. It was a nice little box that flew open, and I thought it had a clock in it. He got into my car and began to apologize in very good English, and then I asked him what was in the box. I thought he hesitated, but he showed me that it was a compass, with a brass thing that turned around its top and had two little slits for looking through."
"An azimuth; Andrew has one. They're used when you want to be accurate in taking bearings. But go on."
"There's not much more. He was rather a charming man and had been in America. We talked all the way to Annan, where he got out."
"Tall and big with a sunburned face, very light blue eyes, hair between red and brown. He looked like a sailor--a captain or something of the kind, though he was dressed plainly in thick, blue clothes and had a bundle of oil slickers."
"He had none at all, but I guess it would be red if he let it grow. Do you know him?"
"No," Elsie said quietly; "at least, I'm not sure."
"You make me curious; I went into detail because you are more interested than you want to show. Of course, I thought it strange that a man who spoke good English should relieve his feelings in German when he felt annoyed, and afterward try to convince me that he wasn't a foreigner. I think he did try and that was the reason he talked so much."
"I was thinking about the compass; you said it was in a nice little box. They use things like that on small yachts and boats."
"This one was about as long as your hand. Where does the other track that runs into Dumfries come from?"
"Oh!" said Madge. "You build warships there, don't you?"
She opened her traveling bag and took out a time-table which contained a map of Scotland.