He also telegraphed to
Mrs. Caspar that he should be at home the next day but one, bringing
strangers with him.
She, of course, thought he meant the "raftmates," as she had called
Winn and Billy Brackett from the first, and was amazed to see an old
man and a young girl seated in the carriage with her husband as it
drove up to the house. At first she was greatly disappointed, but
within a few days she became reconciled to the new arrangement, for she
could not help loving the gentle old man who was so fond of her boy,
nor rejoicing in the warm friendship that almost immediately sprang up
between Elta and Sabella.
In the mean time Billy Brackett and Winn reached Cairo early in the
morning, and after breakfast at a hotel, they called on the City
Marshal, who had sent the despatch relating to the raft. To their
surprise, he received them coldly, and informed them that Mr. Caspar
had already been there, had expressed his willingness to pay a hundred
dollars reward for the recovery of his raft, and had just gone down to
take possession of it.
This was an astounding bit of information, and Winn was about to let
his rapidly rising indignation break forth, when Billy Brackett
restrained him, and asked, mildly, if the Marshal had any objections to
their looking at the raft in question simply to gratify their curiosity.
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