"Well, I have heard something," said the captain impatiently. "Somebody wrote to me about it, but he wasn’t man enough to sign his name. May have been a woman, for all I know."
"Oh, you can come aboard; but I won’t be here long. I must go into the light, and the steamer is going off--at once. Just row over to the lighthouse, and I’ll talk with you there."
Timothy turned away and shrugged his shoulders. He said to himself, "I don’t want to go in there. However, I think I saw Trafton and that Fletcher rowin’ off. I can stand the old man." He turned to the captain and said in a fawning tone, "All right, cap’n. I want you to have your say about it."
When Captain Sinclair and Timothy entered the kitchen of the lighthouse, to the surprise of Timothy he saw Trafton and Dave Fletcher. They had "rowed off," and had also rowed back. Timothy was so unprepared for their appearance that he would have allowed the opportunity for presenting his cause to slip by unimproved. Dave Fletcher, though, was ready to begin at once, and did so.
"Captain Sinclair, be seated, please, and the rest of you. When you were here yesterday I called your attention to certain charges made against Mr. Tolman and myself that--"
"Oh yes, I remember; and here is a letter full of them somebody sent to me, but they were too cowardly to add any name. Let me have the light-book. That will give me some of last year’s records."
Timothy was looking on in apparent unconcern, but really in bewilderment, and wondering when his turn would come. He began to address the inspector.
Thomas was ahead of him, and by this time had said three words to Timothy’s one,--
"Cap’n Sinclair, I--Cap’n Sinclair, I have something to say. I think the author of all this trouble is here. He"--pointing a finger at Timothy--"came to this lighthouse, took a chronometer, carried it to Shipton, left it in my shed--"
[Illustration: "’Cap’n Sinclair, the author of all this trouble sits there.’" _Page 195_]]
This torrent of charges, so unexpected, swept away the statements Timothy had prepared for Captain Sinclair. He attempted to stem the torrent, and cried, "It is easy to say you know, cap’n"--Timothy tried to be very bland, restraining his temper--"easy to say you know--"