I don't want to rob you of your appetite." "I did not expect to see you down here again so soon, Colonel Ray," I answered gravely.

"I congratulate you upon your nerves." Ray laughed softly to himself.
"You would have me go shuddering past the fatal spot, I suppose, with shaking knees and averted head, eh?
On the contrary, I have been down on the sands for more than an hour this morning, and have returned with an excellent appetite." I looked at him curiously.
"I saw you returning," I said.

"Your boots looked as though you had been wading in the wet sand.

You were not there without a purpose." "I was not," he admitted.

"I seldom do anything without a purpose." For a moment he abandoned the subject.