Somehow, this seemed to amuse Mr. Granger greatly, for he continued to laugh as he made his way toward his canoe. Piper glared at the young man’s back and muttered; unlike the others, he did not go down to the shore to see the visitor off. “Queer chap, that chum of yours, boys,” said Granger, ere getting into the canoe. “Anything wrong with him in his garret?” “Nothing except the sus-stuff he reads,” answered Springer. “Some folks might think Sleuthy a bit queer, but he’s no fool, as he’s demonstrated more than once.” “I should say not,” agreed Stone. “I surely have reasons to feel mighty grateful toward Piper. Naturally, people laugh at him on account of his poses in imitation of the great detectives of fiction; but less than a year ago, when I was arrested on a false charge, he turned the laugh and materially aided in clearing me through some genuine detective work that was really clever.” “I can hardly believe such a thing possible,” murmured Granger. “It’s a fact,” asserted Ben. “And I’ll swear to it,” supported Phil, “for I was in the courtroom when he told his sus-story that upset the case against you and astonished everybody who heard it. Sleuth may be queer, but it’s a fact that he’s no fuf-fool.” “Well, so long, boys,” said Granger, pushing off and dipping his paddle into the water. They watched until he was some distance away, heading for the further shore to the south of the hotel. “A right agreeable chap,” commented Grant, “though he didn’t seem inclined to tell a heap about himself.” “He was too busy telling us about Lovers’ Leap and the old hermit,” said Stone, as they made their way toward the shade in the vicinity of the tent. “Those yarns were very interesting and very well told.” “That’s a fact,” agreed Piper, “and that’s the reason why the brand of fiction was so plain upon them.” “Naow yeou look here, Sleuthy,” cried Crane. “Mebbe there ain’t no proofs to back up the Injun story, but everybody knows the principal features of the other yarn are true. The old hermit did live on Spirit Island, and after he was faound dead folks said there was evidence to show that he was an escaped convict.” “That much may possibly be true,” admitted Piper, with evident reluctance; “but think of claiming that the spirits of the Indian lovers appear on the cliff once a year and leap off clasped in each other’s arms! Piffle! And all that stuff about the ticking of an unseen clock in the hermit’s hut, and mysterious rappings, and ghostly lights, and the howling of a dog, and white figures seen vaguely on the island! Bah! Rot!” With those final explosive ejaculations he burned the brand of condemnation upon such preposterous moonshine. “Oh, of course we didn’t really believe them things,” protested Crane, although his manner seemed to indicate that he would have found a certain amount of satisfaction in believing them.