“Not much.  I didn’t learn anything of consequence by my trip to the East Side last night.  I’m not done there, however.  Now we’ll try the piers, and see what sort of a ‘pull’ you have with the captains of the vessels.”

“We may not find many captains,” Grace said, “unless their ships are about to sail.  Still it is worth trying.  Shall we start?”

“I’m ready any time you are,” Larry answered.  “What did your mother say?”

“She objected a bit at first, but I soon convinced her it was for the best.”

Larry thought it would not have been hard for Grace to have convinced him that almost anything was for the best.  She looked quite trim in her dark dress, with her glossy hair held snugly in place by her veil.

As they went down the steps of the mansion Larry saw a man, who was standing on the other side of the street, move rapidly away, as if he had been watching the house.  The young reporter uttered an exclamation before he was aware of it, and Grace quickly asked: 

“What’s the matter?”

“I—­I saw some one,” Larry replied.

“Any one would think it was a ghost from the way you act,” the girl went on, with a little laugh.  She was in much better spirits than any time since her father had disappeared, for the chance of helping to search for him, and the change, from sitting idly in the house waiting for news, was a welcome relief.

“No, it wasn’t a ghost.  It was a man I’d like to have a chance to talk to,” Larry went on.

“Would he give you—­er—­a ‘story’?  Is that what you call it?”

“That’s right.  Yes, I believe he could give me a story,” and Larry looked in the direction the man had gone.  He was no longer to be seen.  “A very good story,” he added, for the man was the same one he had surprised in the tenement the night before—­the man of the life-raft.

However, he could not leave Grace to go in search of the strange individual, and it was more important, as Mr. Emberg had said, to stick to the Potter case.  The other could wait.

“All the same I’d like to know what he was doing in this neighborhood,” thought Larry.  He puzzled over the matter for several seconds as he and Grace went along.

On the way downtown the two discussed their plans.  There were not many Italian steamship lines to visit, but it might take some time to see the captains of all the boats at present in port.  Some of the commanders would be at their hotels pending the loading of their vessels.

“Have you made up your mind what you want to ask them?” inquired Larry, as they were nearing the station where they intended to get off.

“What I want principally to know is if a person answering my father’s description came over with them lately.  I want to find out, in case he did, how he acted, and if he gave any hint of being in trouble.”

“That may be a good clue to follow,” Larry sad.  “Now we’ll make our first attempt.”