"Won't you come over and visit us?" was their invitation.
"Thanks, I'll be glad to do so," was the reply.
"I was just a bit lonesome in there, to tell the truth. I'm better now."
"What shall we call you other than Bob White?" asked Harry.
"My name is Charley Burnett," answered their new friend. "I belong to
the Bob White patrol of Boy Scouts in St. Louis."
"And you came down the Mississippi in a launch called the 'Spray,' and
were set upon by a gang of thugs and pirates!" cried Arnold. "How am I
for a mind reader or clairvoyant?"
"You're just fine," declared Charley following the lads into the front
room. "I wish I were half as good. I certainly do."
"What would you do if you were?" inquired Harry.
"I'd go into a trance and see if I could locate my chum."
"You don't have to do that," declared Arnold. "Just cross my palm with a
piece of silver and I'll locate him for you," he added with a laugh.
Then pretending to take an imaginary piece of money from Charley, he
went on, "Your chum is on a boat called the 'Fortuna.' He is in the
hands of friends who wish him well. He has been seeking diligently for
you but cannot find you. Where have you been?"
"Well," laughed Charley, amused at the joke, "I've been sailing around
and around and around. Most of the time I have been on a shrimping
schooner on the Gulf. This morning the men aboard of her said that I was
dangerous, so they were going to put me out of the way. They brought me
here and tied me up.
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