The sharp bark of a dog seemed to startle him.
"What is it, Tige?"
The dog darted down to the edge of the water, looked wistfully at the
stream, then with a final bark plunged into the stream.
He seized one end of the plank and dragged it ashore.
A man, with the water running from him in streams, stood up in the
fire-light regarding the dog-owner. "Hello!" exclaimed the man.
"Hello yourself."
"Who are you?"
"A gentleman of the naval service," answered August Bordine with a
gruesome laugh.
He could not feel prepossessed in favor of the man before him, who was
small of stature, with a deformed body, bushy red hair and beard, one eye
alone visible, the other hidden completely under a black patch.
"Wal," remarked the queer looking man, "you have the appearance of being
a water-fowl anyhow. Come up by the fire and wring yourself, and get the
chills out of your system. I havn't got much of a home to offer you, but
it's good enough for me, and what's good enough for me is good enough for
anybody."
Then the queer stranger led the way to the fire, where the light revealed
the features of the saturated man completely.
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