busted boat and the remains of the fellow Blanco."
"Called himself Blanco, did he?"
"That was the name he gave Hatton. I reckon he picked up that Buffalo Dare alias when he heard that crazy man's name over in Dareville."
"Funny the sheriff hasn't searched the other end of the Sound."
"Maybe he did, but detectives, amateur ones, think they know it all. They see pretty much everything but what's right under their noses."
"That's sure so," agreed Hardy. "But what happened to that rescued sailor? He must have been in the game."
"He was carried off in the yacht, but I understand that Hatton left word he would keep him close till the matter was cleared up."
"It's a blame funny thing," said Hardy, half to himself. "And beating it up to Knott's Island! That's not actually an island, though; it's connected with the mainland, and he could have made off on foot through the wilds. S'pose he had any reason to go to Cape Peril?"
A vague apprehension had seized the speaker
