Eight o'clock came before they realized it. The stranger's face suddenly grew somber.
"Boys," said he, "I must be going now. You've given me a mighty pleasant evening and I sha'n't forget it right away. You'll think it a strange thing for me to say, but the best return I can make for your kindness is to tell you something about myself."
"You asked me what my college was. I'm not going to answer that question, but I'll say this: At the end of its catalogue of graduates you'll find a page headed 'Lost Alumni,' and my name--my real name--is there. It's a list of those whose addresses are unknown to the college authorities, men who have dropped out, gone back, disappeared. Nobody knows what's become of 'em, and by and by nobody cares. That's just what I am--a lost alumnus! And it's better for me to stay lost!"
With trembling hands he picked up a worm-eaten stick beside the stove.
"I'm like this stick now--only driftwood! Once I was young and sound and strong as any one of you--just as this wood was once. Now--"
Lifting the stove cover, he flung the stick into the fire; a burst of sparks shot up.
"That's all it's fit for; and it's all I'm fit for, too! Name ... character ... friends ... home ... all gone--all gone!"
He took a step toward the door, then halted.
"I've told you this because it may do some one of you some good while there's time. Don't throw your lives away, as I've thrown away mine!"
The sober, startled faces of his hearers apparently recalled him to himself.
"Sorry I spoke so freely," he apologized. "Forget it, boys, and forget me! Everybody else has. Good night!"
"Won't you stop ashore with us?" invited Spurling. "We can fix you up a bunk."
"No; I must go aboard. My dog and cats would be lonesome; wouldn't sleep a wink without me. They're mighty knowing animals."
He went out and closed the door. The boys looked at one another. Lane was the first to speak.
"What d'you suppose was the matter with him? Must have been something pretty bad to make him feel that way. But, say! Didn't he make that violin talk? Never heard anything like it before!"
That night the boys went to bed feeling unusually serious. Percy, in particular, did not get to sleep until late. The stranger's remarks had given him much food for thought.