ipwrecks," he went on, as he filled and lighted his
pipe and settled down for an after-dinner smoke, "reminds me of the
fellow you say you picked up yesterday. How did he come there? Go ahead
and spin your yarn."

"It wasn't exactly a shipwreck," explained Lester. "The boat wasn't
smashed, and as a matter of fact we found it for Ross again to-day. It
was a motor boat----"

"A motor boat!" interrupted Mr. Lee, with a sniff. He had the distrust
felt by most deep-water sailors, of what he called "these pesky modern
contraptions."

"Ross was tinkering with some part of the machinery that had gone
wrong," continued Lester, "when a big wave caught him and carried him
overboard. We were near by at the time and we made for him and got him."

"Yanked him in with a boathook, I suppose," said his father.

"We were too late for that," answered Lester. "He had gone down, but
Fred grabbed a rope and dived over after him. It was a close call, but
he got him, and then we dragged them both in."

"A plucky thing to do in a storm like that," commented Mr. Lee, looking
approvingly at Fred.

"Ross came to after a while, and we found that the only hurt he had was
the water he had swallowed," went on Lester. "We couldn't do anything
with the motor boat just then, so we made straight for Sentinel Cove.
This morning, Montgomery was as good as ever."

Mr. Lee started slightly as he heard this name.

"Montgomery, did you say?" he asked. "I thought you called him Ross."

"Yes, Ross Montgomery. Why?"

"Nothing," was the reply. "Go ahead with your story."

"There isn't very much more to tell, as far as we're concerned. We
anchored at the cove for the night, and got away bright and early this
morning. But Ross himself had a story to tell that has got us all worked
up. You'd never guess what it was, Dad, in a thousand years."

"I never was much good at guessing," smiled Mr. Lee, "so let's have it
just as he told it."

Lester started at the beginning and told the story as he had received it
from Ross, with frequent suggestions from the other boys to remind him
of some slight detail he had overlooked.

Mr. Lee listened intently, but he asked no questions, and for some
minutes after Lester had finished he continued to smoke in silence,
while the boys looked at him eagerly, anxious to know what he made of
it.

"Well, Dad," said Lester, a little impatiently, "what do you think of
the story? Is there anything in it?"

"There's a great