He'd let Tophet, if he owned it, and a fool come along who wanted to hire it and could pay for the rent and heat.
"So Nate and this Harmon feller rowed over to the Bar--to Ozone Island, I mean--and the desolation and loneliness of it seemed to suit him to perfection.

So did the old house and big barn and all the tumbledown buildin's stuck there in the beach-grass and sand.

Afore they'd left they made a dicker.

He wa'n't the principal in it.

He was the private secretary and fust mate of Mr.Professor Ansel Hobart Dixland, the scientist--perhaps Scudder'd heard of him?
"Perhaps he had, but if so, Nate forgot it, though he didn't tell him that.