That was the opinion also of the police representatives who landed upon the white dunes from a motor-boat early the next morning. And when the sharp questioning of one of the officers brought out the fact that the individual who had lurked about the scene of the fire was believed to be a youthful ne'er-do-weel, Dave Baldwin, with a prison record behind him, whose name was known to the two policemen, though his person was not, suspicion fastened upon that vagrant as possibly the malicious author of the fire. "That fellow first got into trouble through a morbid craving for excitement," said one of the officers. "The same craving _may_ have led him on from one thing to another until he hasn't stopped at arson--especially if he had a spiteful motive for it, which is likely with a tramp. That may have been his purpose in trying to enter the house." "I can scarcely imagine Dave's having become such an utter degenerate," answered the scoutmaster sadly. "I went to school with him long ago. And Captain Andy Davis knew his father well; they were shipmates on more than one trawling trip to the Grand Banks. Captain Andy speaks of the elder David Baldwin as a brave man and a big fisherman. Even if the son did start this fire, it may have been accidental in some way." "Well! we must get our hands on him, anyhow," decided the officer. "I wonder if he's skulking round among the dunes still; that's not probable? I'd like to know whether any one of these observant boy scouts of yours saw a boat leave this shore since daybreak?" It transpired that Coombsie had: after a night of unprecedented excitement--like his tossing brother scouts who sought the shelter of their tents about one o'clock in the morning--he had been unable to sleep, had crept out of his tent at daybreak and climbed a white sand-hill, to watch the sun rise over the river. "I saw a rowboat shoot out of a little creek farther up the river, I should say about half a mile from the dunes," said Marcoo. "There was only one person in it; seemed to me he was acting rather queerly; he'd row for a while, then stand up in the stern and scull a bit, then row again." "Could you see for what point he was heading?" "For the salt-marshes high up on the other side of the river, I guess! I think he landed there." "Then, he's probably hiding in the woods beyond the marshes. We must search them. That French-Canadian, Toiney Leduc, who's camping with you, has worked as a lumberman in those woods; he knows them well, and is a good trailer. I'd like to have him for a guide this morning." Here the officer turned to the scoutmaster. "And if you have no objection I think it would be well that those two boys should come with us," he nodded toward Scouts Warren and Chase. "They can identify the man whom they saw trying to enter that bungalow last night."