He learned that the old fellow suffered terribly from insomnia. "Why I often come down here and go in alone at midnight," he said, "and sometimes in the early morning hours. I was here this morning at a quarter to one." "Is the place deserted then?" Harry asked. "I don't believe the North Beach baths are ever deserted," replied the old man. "There are always a few old cranks like myself paddling about; sometimes we see strange sights." "I suppose so. Suicides for instance?" "Yes, I have seen more than I like to think of. I have personally prevented three. Last night I saw something which interested me, but, of course, I didn't butt in. I never do. I learned long ago to mind my own business in my nightly wanderings." "What was that?" inquired Harry carelessly, for he was not paying very close attention to the old man's talk. "See those old shacks away down there where the pavilion used to be," pointing to the very place which interested Young King Brady most. "Why, yes. What about them?" "Last night, just as I came here and before I had undressed--it was about a quarter to one, I should say--I saw an old-fashioned hack drive up on the top of the bank and stop. A man got out and then lifted out what I took to be a little girl, and the hack drove away. Next thing I knew he was coming down the long steps carrying the girl in his arms." "Going to drown her!" cried Harry. "I thought so," replied the old man. "There was nobody here but me. I determined to prevent it if I could so I sneaked along under the bank making as good time as possible and managed to get where I could see what was going on, just as the fellow reached the bottom of the steps. You can judge of my surprise when I tell you that I saw that he was a Chinaman, and that what I had taken to be a little girl was actually a very small Chinese woman, one of the kind with little feet. I hid under the bank ready to jump on him if he attempted any funny business, but I now saw that he had no notions of drowning the woman. He wandered about among the old shacks talking to her in Chinese. They seemed to be trying to find something." "And did they succeed?" asked Harry quickly. "They did not as far as I could judge," replied the swimmer. "They hung around for half an hour. The Chinawoman apparently could not walk; he had to carry her all the time. At last they seemed to give it up. He carried her up the steps again and they got into the hack and were driven away." "Garshaski and the princess," thought Harry. "It could have been no one else. What can it mean? Has he given up the treasure hunt then?" He asked the old fellow his name and was told that it was Abner Dawson. They went out of the water now after that and while they were dressing an idea suddenly occurred to Young King Brady. "Mr. Dawson," he asked, "is there any other place around San Francisco which goes by the name of North Beach?"