The Slipper Point Mystery
"Can't you guess? The name of this vessel that the lumber came from,—and the date. Whatever happened that cave couldn't have been made before 1843, anyhow, and that isn't so terribly long ago. There might even be persons alive here today who could remember as far back as that date, if not further. And if this Anne Arundel was wrecked somewhere about here, perhaps there's some one who will remember that, and—"

But here Sally interrupted her with an excited cry. "My grandfather!—He surely would know. He was born in 1830, 'cause he's eighty-seven now, and he ought to remember if there was a wreck on this beach when he was thirteen years old or older. He remembers lots about wrecks. I'll ask him."

Doris recalled the hearty old sea-captain, Sally's grandfather, whom she had often seen[Pg 79] sitting on Sally's own front porch, or down at the Landing. That he could remember many tales of wrecks and storms she did not doubt, and her spirits rose with Sally's.

[Pg 79]

"But you must go about it carefully," she warned. "Don't let him know, at first, that you know much about the Anne Arundel, or he'll begin to suspect something and ask questions. I don't see quite how you are going to find out about it without asking him anyway."

"You leave that to me!" declared Sally. "Grandfather's great on spinning yarns when he gets going. And he grows so interested about it generally that he doesn't realize afterward whether he's told you a thing or you've asked him about it, 'cause he has so much to tell and gets so excited about it. Oh, I'll find out about the Anne Arundel, all right—if there's anything to find out!"

They parted that morning filled anew with the spirit of adventure and mystery, stopping no longer to consider the dashed hopes of the earlier day.

[Pg 80]

[Pg 80]

"I probably shan't get a chance to talk to Grandfather alone before evening," said Sally in parting, "though I'm going to be around most of the afternoon where he is. But I'll surely talk to him tonight when he's smoking on our porch and Mother and Dad are away at the Landing. Then I'll find out what he knows, and let you know tomorrow morning."

It was a breathless and excited Sally that rowed up to the hotel at an early hour next day.

"Did he say anything?" demanded Doris breathlessly, 
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