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Title:  Cap'n Eri

Author:  Joseph Lincoln

Release Date:  April, 2002  [Etext #3240]
[Date first released: 02/25/01]
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CAP'N ERI

by Joseph Lincoln




CONTENTS


I.  A LAMB FOR THE SACRIFICE

II.  THE TRAIN COMES IN

III.  THE "COME-OUTERS'" MEETING

IV.  A PICTURE SENT AND A CABLE TESTED

V.  THE WOMAN FROM NANTUCKET

VI.  THE SCHOOLHOUSE BELL RINGS

VII.  CAPTAIN ERI FINDS A NURSE

VIII.  HOUSEKEEPER AND BOOK AGENT

IX.  ELSIE PRESTON

X.  MATCHMAKING AND LIFE-SAVING

XI.  HEROES AND A MYSTERY

XII.  A LITTLE POLITICS

XIII.  CAPTAIN JERRY MAKES A MESS OF IT

XIV.  THE VOYAGE OF AN "ABLE SEAMAN"

XV.  IN JOHN BAXTER'S ROOM

XVI.  A BUSINESS CALL

XVII.  THROUGH FIRE AND WATER

XVIII.  THE SINS OF CAPTAIN JERRY

XIX.  A "NO'THEASTER" BLOWS

XX.  ERI GOES BACK ON A FRIEND

XXI.  "DIME-SHOW BUS'NESS"



CAP'N ERI


CHAPTER I

A LAMB FOR THE SACRIFICE


"Perez," observed Captain Eri cheerfully, "I'm tryin' to average up
with the mistakes of Providence."

The Captain was seated by the open door of the dining room, in the
rocker with the patched cane seat.  He was apparently very busy
doing something with a piece of fishline and a pair of long-legged
rubber boots.  Captain Perez, swinging back and forth in the parlor
rocker with the patch-work cushion, was puffing deliberately at a
wooden pipe, the bowl of which was carved into the likeness of a
very rakish damsel with a sailor's cap set upon the side of her
once flaxen head.  In response to his companion's remark he lazily
turned his sunburned face toward the cane-seated rocker and
inquired:

"What on airth are you doin' with them boots?"

Captain Eri tied a knot with his fingers and teeth and then held
the boots out at arm's length.

"Why, Perez," he said, "I'm averagin' up, same as I told you.
Providence made me a two-legged critter, and a two-legged critter
needs two boots.  I've always been able to find one of these boots
right off whenever I wanted it, but it's took me so plaguey long to
find the other one that whatever wet there was dried up afore I got
out of the house.  Yesterday when I wanted to go clammin' I found
the left one on the mantelpiece, no trouble at all, but it was
pretty nigh high water before I dug the other one out of the
washb'iler.  That's why I'm splicin' 'em together this way.  I
don't want to promise nothin' rash, but I'm in hopes that even
Jerry can't lose 'em now."

"Humph!" grunted Captain Perez.  "I don't think much of that plan.
'Stead of losin' one you'll lose both of 'em."

"Yes, but then I shan't care.  If there ain't NO boots in sight;
I'll go barefoot or stay at home.  It's the kind of responsibleness
that goes with havin' one boot that's wearin' me out.  Where IS
Jerry?"

"He went out to feed Lorenzo.  I heard him callin' a minute ago.
That cat ain't been home sence noon, and Jerry's worried."

A stentorian shout of "Puss! puss!  Come, kitty, kitty, kitty!"
came from somewhere outside.  Captain Eri smiled.

"I'm 'fraid Lorenzo's gittin' dissipated in his old age," he
observed.  Then, as a fat gray cat shot past the door, "There he
is!  Reg'lar prodigal son.  Comes home when the fatted ca'f's
ready."

A moment later Captain Jerry appeared, milk pitcher in hand.  He
entered the dining room and, putting the pitcher down on the table,
pulled forward the armchair with the painted sunset on the back,
produced his own pipe, and proceeded to hunt through one pocket
after the other with a troubled expression of countenance.

"Where in tunket is my terbacker?" he asked, after finishing the
round of pockets and preparing to begin all over again.

"I see it on the top of the clock a spell ago," said Captain Perez.

"Was that yours, Jerry?" exclaimed Captain Eri.  "Well, that's too
bad!  I see it there and thought 'twas mine.  Here 'tis, or what's
left of it."

Captain Jerry took the remnant of a plug from his friend and said
in an aggrieved tone:

"That's jest like you, Eri!  Never have a place for nothin' and
help yourself to anything you happen to want, don't make no odds
whose 'tis.  Why don't you take care of your terbacker, same's I do
of mine?"

"Now see here, Jerry!  I ain't so sure that is yours.  Let me see
it.  Humph!  I thought so!  This is 'Navy Plug' and you always
smoke 'Sailor's Sweetheart.'  Talk about havin' a place for
things!"

"That's MY terbacker, if you want to know," observed Captain Perez.
"I've got yours, Eri.  Here 'tis."

"Well, then, where IS mine?" said Captain Jerry somewhat snappishly.

"Bet a dollar you've got it in your pocket," said Captain Eri.

"Bet ten dollars I ain't!  I ain't quite a fool yit, Eri Hedge.  I
guess I know--well, I snum!  I forgot that upper vest pocket!" and
from the pocket mentioned Captain Jerry produced the missing
tobacco.

There was a general laugh, in which Captain Jerry was obliged to
join, and the trio smoked in silence for a time, while the expanse
of water to the eastward darkened, and the outer beach became but a
dusky streak separating the ocean from the inner bay.  At length
Captain Perez rose and, knocking the ashes from his pipe, announced
that he was going to "show a glim."

"Yes, go ahead, Jerry!" said Captain Eri, "it's gittin' dark."

"It's darker in the grave," observed Captain Perez with lugubrious
philosophy.

"Then for the land's sake let's have it light while we can!  Here,
Jerry! them matches is burnt ones.  Try this, 'twon't be so
damagin' to the morals."

Captain Jerry took the proffered match and lit the two bracket
lamps, fastened to the walls of the dining room.  The room, seen by
the lamplight, was shiplike, but as decidedly not shipshape.  The
chronometer on the mantel was obscured by a thick layer of dust.
The three gorgeous oil paintings--from the brush of the local sign
painter--respectively representing the coasting packet Hannah M.,
Eri Hedge, Master, and the fishing schooners, Georgie Baker,
Jeremiah Burgess, Master, and the Flying Duck, Perez Ryder, Master,
were shrouded in a very realistic fog of the same dust.  Even the
imposing gilt-lettered set of "Lives of Great Naval Commanders,"
purchased by Captain Perez some months before, and being slowly
paid for on an apparently never-ending installment plan, was
cloaked with it.  The heap of newspapers, shoved under the couch to
get them out of the way, peeped forth in a tell-tale manner.  The
windows were not too clean and the floor needed sweeping.
Incidentally the supper table had not been cleared.  Each one of
the three noted these things and each sighed.  Then Captain Eri
said, as if to change the subject, though no one had spoken:

"What started you talkin' about the grave, Perez?  Was it them clam
fritters of Jerry's?"

"No," answered the ex-skipper of the Flying Duck, pulling at his
grizzled scrap of throat whisker and looking rather shamefaced.
"You see, M'lissy Busteed dropped in a few minutes this mornin'
while you fellers was out and--"

Both Captain Eri and Captain Jerry set up a hilarious shout.

"Haw! haw!" roared the former, slapping his knee.  "I wouldn't be
so fascinatin' as you be for no money, Perez.  She'll have you yit;
you can't git away!  But say, I don't wonder you got to thinkin'
'bout the grave.  Ten minutes of M'lissy gits me thinkin' of things
way t'other side of that!"

"Aw, belay there, Eri" protested Captain Perez testily.  "'Twan't
my fault.  I didn't see her comin' or I'd have got out of sight.
She was cruisin' 'round the way she always does with a cargo of
gabble, and, she put in here to unload.  Talk!  I never heard a
woman talk the way she can!  She'd be a good one to have on board
in a calm.  Git her talkin' abaft the mains'l and we'd have a
twenty-knot breeze in a shake."

"What was it this time?" asked Captain Jerry.

"Oh, a little of everything.  She begun about the 'beautiful'
sermon that Mr. Perley preached at the last 'Come-Outers'' meetin'.
That was what started me thinkin' about the grave, I guess.  Then
she pitched into Seth Wingate's wife for havin' a new bunnit this
season when the old one wan't ha'f wore out.  She talked for ten
minutes or so on that, and then she begun about Parker's bein' let
go over at the cable station and about the new feller that's been
signed to take his place.  She's all for Parker.  Says he was a
'perfectly lovely' man and that 'twas outrageous the way he was
treated, and all that sort of thing."

"She ain't the only one that thinks so," observed Captain Jerry.
"There's a heap of folks in this town that think Parker was a
mighty fine feller."

"Yes," said Captain Eri, "and it's worth while noticin' who they
be.  Perez' friend, M'lissy, thinks so, and 'Squealer' Wixon and
his gang think so, and 'Web' Saunders thinks so, and a lot more
like them.  Parker was TOO good a feller, that's what was the
matter with him.  His talk always reminded me of washday at the
poorhouse, lots of soft soap with plenty of lye in it."

"Well, M'lissy says that the men over to the station--all except
Langley, of course--are mad as all git-out because Parker was let
go, and she says somebody told somebody else, and somebody else
told somebody else, and somebody else told HER--she says it come
reel straight--that the men are goin' to make it hot for the new
feller when he comes.  She says his name's Hazeltine, or somethin'
like that, and that he's goin' to get here to-morrer or next day."

"Well," said Captain Eri, "it's a mercy M'lissy found it out.  If
that man should git here and she not know it aforehand 'twould kill
her sure as fate, and think what a blow that would be to you,
Perez."

He took his old-fashioned watch from his pocket and glanced at the
dial.

"I mustn't be settin' round here much longer," he added.  "John
Baxter's goin' to have that little patch of cranberry swamp of his
picked to-morrer, and he's expectin' some barrels down on to-
night's train.  John asked me to git Zoeth Cahoon to cart 'em down
for him, but I ain't got nothin' special to do to-night, so I
thought I'd hitch up and go and git 'em myself.  You and Jerry can
match cents to see who does the dishes.  I did 'em last night, so
it's my watch below."

"Well, _I_ shan't do 'em," declared Captain Perez.  "Blessed if I'd
do the durn things to-night if the President of the United States
asked me to."

"Humph!" sputtered Captain Jerry.  "I s'pose you fellers think I'll
do 'em all the time.  If you do you're mistook, that's all.
'Twan't last night you done 'em, Eri; 'twas the night afore.  I
done 'em last night, and I'm ready to take my chances agin if we
match, but I'm jiggered if I let you shove the whole thing off onto
me.  I didn't ship for cook no more 'n the rest of you."

Neither of the others saw fit to answer this declaration of
independence and there was a pause in the conversation.  Then
Captain Jerry said moodily:

"It ain't no use.  It don't work."

"What don't work?" asked Captain Eri.

"Why, this plan of ours.  I thought when we fellers give up goin'
to sea reg'lar and settled down here to keep house ourselves and
live economical and all that, that 'twas goin' to be fine.  I
thought I wouldn't mind doin' my share of the work a bit, thought
'twould be kind of fun to swab decks and all that.  Well, 'twas for
a spell, but 'tain't now.  I'm so sick of it that I don't know what
to do.  And I'm sick of livin' in a pigpen, too.  Look at them
dead-lights!  They're so dirty that when I turn out in the mornin'
and go to look through 'em, I can't tell whether it's foul weather
or fair."

Captain Eri looked at the windows toward which his friend pointed
and signed assent.

"There's no use talkin'," he observed, "we've got to have a steward
aboard this craft."

"Yes," said Captain Perez emphatically, "a steward or a woman."

"A WOMAN!" exclaimed Captain Eri.  Then he shook his head solemnly
and added, "There, Jerry!  What did I tell you?  M'lissy!"

But Captain Perez did not smile.

"I ain't foolin'," he said; "I mean it."

Captain Jerry thought of the spick-and-span days of his wife, dead
these twenty years, and sighed again.  "I s'pose we might have a
housekeeper," he said.

"Housekeeper!" sneered Captain Eri.  "Who'd you hire?  Perez don't,
seemin'ly, take to M'lissy, and there ain't nobody else in Orham
that you could git, 'less 'twas old A'nt Zuby Higgins, and that
would be actin' like the feller that jumped overboard when his boat
sprung a leak.  No, sir!  If A'nt Zuby ships aboard here I heave up
MY commission."

"Who said anything about A'nt Zuby or housekeepers either?"
inquired Captain Perez.  "I said we'd got to have a woman, and we
have.  One of us 'll have to git married, that's all."

"MARRIED!" roared the two in chorus.

"That's what I said, married, and take the others to board in this
house.  Look here now!  When a shipwrecked crew's starvin' one of
'em has to be sacrificed for the good of the rest, and that's what
we've got to do.  One of us has got to git married for the benefit
of the other two."

Captain Eri shouted hilariously.  "Good boy, Perez!" he cried.
"Goin' to be the first offerin'?"

"Not unless it's my luck, Eri.  We'll all three match for it, same
as we do 'bout washin' the dishes."

"Where are you goin' to find a wife?" asked Captain Jerry.

"Now that's jest what I'm goin' to show you.  I see how things was
goin', and I've been thinkin' this over for a consid'rable spell.
Hold on a minute till I overhaul my kit."

He went into the front bedroom, and through the open door they
could see him turning over the contents of the chest with P. R. in
brass nails on the lid.  He scattered about him fish-lines, hooks,
lead for sinkers, oilcloth jackets, whales' teeth, and various
other articles, and at length came back bearing a much-crumpled
sheet of printed paper.  This he spread out upon the dining table,
first pushing aside the dishes to make room, and, after adjusting
his spectacles, said triumphantly:

"There!  There she is!  The Nup-ti-al Chime.  A Journal of
Matrimony.  I see a piece about it in the Herald the other day, and
sent a dime for a sample copy.  It's chock-full of advertisements
from women that wants husbands."

Captain Eri put on his spectacles and hitched his chair up to the
table.  After giving the pages of the Nuptial Chime a hurried
inspection, he remarked:

"There seems to be a strong runnin' to 'vi-va-ci-ous brunettes' and
'blondes with tender and romantic dispositions.'  Which of them
kinds are you sufferin' for, Perez?  Oh, say! here's a lady that's
willin' to heave herself away on a young and handsome bachelor with
a income of ten thousand a year.  Seems to me you ought to answer
that."

"Oh, hush up, Eri!  'Tain't likely I'd want to write to any of
them in there.  The thing for us to do would be to write out a
advertisement of our own; tell what sort of woman we want, and
then set back and wait for answers.  Now, what do you say?"

Captain Eri looked at the advocate of matrimony for a moment
without speaking.  Then he said:  "Do you really mean it, Perez?"

"Sartin I do."

"What do you think of it, Jerry?"

"Think it's a good idee," said that ancient mariner decisively.
"We've got to do somethin', and this looks like the only sensible
thing."

"Then Eri's GOT to do it!" asserted Captain Perez dogmatically.
"We agreed to stick together, and two to one's a vote.  Come on
now, Eri, we'll match."

Captain Eri hesitated.

"Come on, Eri!" ordered Captain Jerry.  "Ain't goin' to mutiny, are
you?"

"All right!" said Captain Eri, "I'll stick to the ship.  Only," he
added, with a quizzical glance at his companions, "it's got to be
settled that the feller that's stuck can pick his wife, and don't
have to marry unless he finds one that suits him."

The others agreed to this stipulation, and Captain Perez, drawing a
long breath, took a coin from his pocket, flipped it in the air and
covered it, as it fell on the table, with a big hairy hand.
Captain Eri did likewise; so did Captain Jerry.  Then Captain Eri
lifted his hand and showed the coin beneath; it was a head.
Captain Jerry's was a tail.  Under Captain Perez' hand lurked the
hidden fate.  The Captain's lips closed in a grim line.  With a
desperate glance at the others he jerked his hand away.

The penny lay head uppermost.  Captain Jerry was "stuck."

Captain Eri rose, glanced at his watch, and, taking his hat from
the shelf where the dishes should have been, opened the door.
Before he went out, however, he turned and said:

"Perez, you and Jerry can be fixin' up the advertisement while I'm
gone.  You can let me see it when I come back.  I say, Jerry," he
added to the "sacrifice," who sat gazing at the pennies on the
table in a sort of trance, "don't feel bad about it.  Why, when you
come to think of it, it's a providence it turned out that way.  Me
and Perez are bachelors, and we'd be jest green hands.  But you're
a able seaman, you know what it is to manage a wife."

"Yes, I do," groaned Captain Jerry lugubriously.  "Durn it, that's
jest it!"

Captain Eri was chuckling as, lantern in hand, he passed around the
corner of the little white house on the way to the barn.  He
chuckled all through the harnessing of Daniel, the venerable white
horse.  He was still chuckling as, perched on the seat of the
"truck wagon," he rattled and shook out of the yard and turned into
the sandy road that led up to the village.  And an outsider,
hearing these chuckles, and knowing what had gone before, might
have inferred that perhaps Captain Eri did not view the "matching"
and the matrimonial project with quite the deadly seriousness of
the other two occupants of the house by the shore.



CHAPTER II

THE TRAIN COMES IN


There is in Orham a self-appointed committee whose duty it is to
see the train come in.  The committeemen receive no salary for
their services; the sole compensation is the pleasure derived from
the sense of duty done.  Rain, snow, or shine, the committee is on
hand at the station--the natives, of course, call it the "deepo"--
to consume borrowed tobacco and to favor Providence with its advice
concerning the running of the universe.  Also it discusses local
affairs with fluency and more or less point.

Mr. "Squealer" Wixon, a lifelong member of this committee, was the
first to sight Captain Eri as the latter strolled across the tracks
into the circle of light from the station lamps.  The Captain had
moored Daniel to a picket in the fence over by the freight-house.
He had heard the clock in the belfry of the Methodist church strike
eight as he drove by that edifice, but he heard no whistle from the
direction of the West Orham woods, so he knew that the down train
would arrive at its usual time, that is, from fifteen to twenty
minutes behind the schedule.

"Hey!" shouted Mr. Wixon with enthusiasm.  "Here's Cap'n Eri!
Well, Cap, how's she headin'?"

"'Bout no'theast by no'th," was the calm reply.  "Runnin' fair, but
with lookout for wind ahead."

"Hain't got a spare chaw nowheres about you, have you, Cap'n?"
anxiously inquired "Bluey" Batcheldor.  Mr. Batcheldor is called
"Bluey" for the same reason that Mr. Wixon is called "Squealer,"
and that reason has been forgotten for years.

Captain Eri obligingly produced a black plug of smoking tobacco,
and Mr. Batcheldor bit off two-thirds and returned the balance.
After adjusting the morsel so that it might interfere in the least
degree with his vocal machinery, he drawled:

"I cal'late you ain't heard the news, Eri.  Web Saunders has got
his original-package license.  It come on the noon mail."

The Captain turned sharply toward the speaker.  "Is that a fact?"
he asked.  "Who told you?"

"See it myself.  So did Squealer and a whole lot more.  Web was
showin' it round."

"We was wonderin'," said Jabez Smalley, a member of the committee
whose standing was somewhat impaired, inasmuch as he went fishing
occasionally and was, therefore, obliged to miss some of the
meetings, "what kind of a fit John Baxter would have now.  He's
been pretty nigh distracted ever sence Web started his billiard
room, callin' it a 'ha'nt of sin' and a whole lot more names.
There ain't been a 'Come-Outers' meetin' 'sence I don't know when
that he ain't pitched into that saloon.  Now, when he hears that
Web's goin' to sell rum, he'll bust a biler sure."

The committee received this prophecy with an hilarious shout of
approval and each member began to talk.  Captain Eri took advantage
of this simultaneous expression of opinion to walk away.  He looked
in at the window of the ticket-office, exchanged greetings with Sam
Hardy, the stationmaster, and then leaned against the corner of the
building furthest removed from Mr. Wixon and his friends, lit his
pipe and puffed thoughtfully with a troubled expression on his
face.

From the clump of blackness that indicated the beginning of the
West Orham woods came a long-drawn dismal "toot"; then two shorter
ones.  The committee sprang to its feet and looked interested.  Sam
Hardy came out of the ticket office.  The stage-driver, a sharp-
looking boy of about fourteen, with a disagreeable air of cheap
smartness sticking out all over him, left his seat in the shadow of
Mr. Batcheldor's manly form, tossed a cigarette stump away and
loafed over to the vicinity of the "depot wagon," which was backed
up against the platform.  Captain Eri knocked the ashes from his
pipe and put that service-stained veteran in his pocket.  The train
was really "coming in" at last.

If this had been an August evening instead of a September one, both
train and platform would have been crowded.  But the butterfly
summer maiden had flitted and, as is his wont, the summer man had
flitted after her, so the passengers who alighted from the two
coaches that, with the freight car, made up the Orham Branch train,
were few in number and homely in flavor.  There was a very stout
lady with a canvas extension case and an umbrella in one hand and a
bulging shawl-strap and a pasteboard box in the other, who panted
and wheezed like the locomotive itself and who asked the brakeman,
"What on airth DO they have such high steps for?"  There was a
slim, not to say gawky, individual with a chin beard and rubber
boots, whom the committee hailed as "Andy" and welcomed to its
bosom.  There were two young men, drummers, evidently, who nodded
to Hardy, and seemed very much at home.  Also, there was another
young man, smooth-shaven and square-shouldered, who deposited a
suit-case on the platform and looked about him with the air of
being very far from home, indeed.

The drummers and the stout lady got into the stage.  The young man
with the suit-case picked up the latter and walked toward the same
vehicle.  He accosted the sharp boy, who had lighted another
cigarette.

"Can you direct me to the cable station?" he asked.

"Sure thing!" said the youth, and there was no Cape Cod twist to
his accent.  "Git aboard."

"I didn't intend to ride," said the stranger.

"What was you goin' to do?  Walk?"

"Yes, if it's not far."

The boy grinned, and the members of the committee, who had been
staring with all their might, grinned also.  The young man's
mention of the cable station seemed to have caused considerable
excitement.

"Oh, it ain't too FAR!" said the stage-driver.  Then he added:
"Say, you're the new electrician, ain't you?"

The young man hesitated for a moment.  Then he said, "Yes," and
suggested, "I asked the way."

"Two blocks to the right; that's the main road, keep on that for
four blocks, then turn to the left, and if you keep on straight
ahead you'll get to the station."

"Blocks?"  The stranger smiled.  "I think you must be from New
York."

"Do you?" inquired the youthful prodigy, climbing to the wagon
seat.  "Don't forget to keep straight ahead after you turn off the
main road.  Git dap!  So long, fellers!"  He leaned over the wheel,
as the stage turned, and bestowed a wink upon the delighted
"Squealer," who was holding one freckled paw over his mouth; then
the "depot wagon" creaked away.

The square-shouldered young man looked after the equipage with an
odd expression of countenance.  Then he shrugged his shoulders,
picked up the suitcase, and walked off the platform into the
darkness.

Mr. Wixon removed the hand from his mouth and displayed a mammoth
grin, that grew into a shriek of laughter in which every member of
the committee joined.

"Haw! haw!" bellowed "Bluey," "so that's the feller that done
Parker out of his job!  Well, he may be mighty smart, but if that
Joe Bartlett ain't smarter then I'm a skate, that's all!  Smartest
boy ever I see!  'If you keep on straight ahead you'll git to the
station!'  Gosh! he'll have to wear rubbers!"

"Maybe he's web-footed," suggested Smalley, and they laughed again.

A little later Captain Eri, with a dozen new, clean-smelling
cranberry barrels in the wagon behind him, drove slowly down the
"depot road."  It was a clear night, but there was no moon, and
Orham was almost at its darkest, which is very dark, indeed.  The
"depot road"--please bear in mind that there are no streets in
Orham--was full of ruts, and although Daniel knew his way and did
his best to follow it, the cranberry barrels rattled and shook in
lively fashion.  There are few homes near the station, and the
dwellers in them conscientiously refrain from showing lights except
in the ends of the buildings furthest from the front.  Strangers
are inclined to wonder at this, but when they become better
acquainted with the town and its people, they come to know that
front gates and parlors are, by the majority of the inhabitants,
restricted in their use to occasions such as a funeral, or,
possibly, a wedding.  For the average Orham family to sit in the
parlor on a week evening would be an act bordering pretty closely
on sacrilege.

It is from the hill by the Methodist church that the visitor to
Orham gets his best view of the village.  It is all about him, and
for the most part below him.  At night the lights in the houses
show only here and there through the trees, but those on the
beaches and at sea shine out plainly.  The brilliant yellow gleam a
mile away is from the Orham lighthouse on the bluff.  The smaller
white dot marks the light on Baker's Beach.  The tiny red speck in
the distance, that goes and comes again, is the flash-light at
Setuckit Point, and the twinkle on the horizon to the south is the
beacon of the lightship on Sand Hill Shoal.

It is on his arrival at this point, too, that the stranger first
notices the sound of the surf.  Being a newcomer, he notices this
at once; after he has been in the village a few weeks, he ceases to
notice it at all.  It is like the ticking of a clock, so incessant
and regular, that one has to listen intently for a moment or two
before his accustomed ear will single it out and make it definite.
One low, steady, continuous roar, a little deeper in tone when the
wind is easterly, the voice of the old dog Ocean gnawing with
foaming mouth at the bone of the Cape and growling as he gnaws.

It may be that the young man with the square shoulders and the
suit-case had paused at the turn of the road by the church to
listen to this song of the sea; at any rate he was there, and when
Captain Eri steered Daniel and the cranberry barrels around the
corner and into the "main road," he stepped out and hailed.

"I beg your pardon," he said; "I'm afraid I'm mixed in my
directions.  The stage-driver told me the way to the cable station,
but I've forgotten whether he said to turn to the right when I
reached here, or to the left."

Captain Eri took his lantern from the floor of the wagon and held
it up.  He had seen the stranger when the latter left the train,
but he had not heard the dialogue with Josiah Bartlett.

"How was you cal'latin' to go to the station?" he asked.

"Why, I intended to walk."

"Did you tell them fellers at the depot that you wanted to walk?"

"Certainly."

"Well, I swan!  And they give you the direction?"

"Yes," a little impatiently; "why shouldn't they?  So many blocks
till I got to the main street, or road, and so many more, till I
got somewhere else, and then straight on."

"Blocks, hey?  That's Joe Bartlett.  That boy ought to be
mastheaded, and I've told Perez so more'n once.  Well, Mister, I
guess maybe you'd better not try to walk to the cable station to-
night.  You see, there's one thing they forgot to tell you.  The
station's on the outer beach, and there's a ha'f mile of pretty wet
water between here and there."

The young man whistled.  "You don't mean it!" he exclaimed.

"I sartin do, unless there's been an almighty drought since I left
the house.  I tell you what!  If you'll jump in here with me, and
don't mind waitin' till I leave these barrels at the house of the
man that owns 'em, I'll drive you down to the shore and maybe find
somebody to row you over.  That is," with a chuckle, "if you ain't
dead set on walkin'."

The stranger laughed heartily.  "I'm not so stubborn as all that,"
he said.  "It's mighty good of you, all the same."

"Don't say a word," said the Captain.  "Give us your satchel.  Now
your flipper!  There you are!  Git dap, Dan'l!"

Daniel accepted the Captain's command in a tolerant spirit.  He
paddled along at a jog-trot for perhaps a hundred yards, and then,
evidently feeling that he had done all that could be expected,
settled back into a walk.  The Captain turned towards his companion
on the seat:

"I don't know as I mentioned it," he observed, "but my name is
Hedge."

"Glad to meet you, Mr. Hedge," said the stranger.  "My name is
Hazeltine."

"I kind of jedged it might be when you said you wanted to git to
the cable station.  We heard you was expected."

"Did you?  From Mr. Langley, I presume."

"No-o, not d'rectly.  Of course, we knew Parker had been let go,
and that somebody would have to take his place.  I guess likely it
was one of the operators that told it fust that you was the man,
but anyhow it got as fur as M'lissy Busteed, and after that 'twas
plain sailin'.  You come from New York, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Well, you know how 'tis when a thing gits into the papers.  Orham
ain't big enough to have a paper of its own, so the Almighty give
us M'lissy, I jedge, as a sort of substitute.  She can spread a
little news over more country than anybody I know.  If she spreads
butter the same way, she could make money keepin' boarders.  Is
this your fust visit to the Cape?"

"Yes.  I hardly know why I'm here now.  I have been with the Cable
Company at their New York experimental station for some years, and
the other day the General Manager called me into his office and
told me I was expected to take the position of electrician here.  I
thought it might add to my experience, so I accepted."

"Humph!  Did he say anything about the general liveliness of things
around the station?"

Mr. Hazeltine laughed.  "Why," he answered, "now that you speak of
it, I remember that he began by asking me if I had any marked
objection to premature burial."

The Captain chuckled.  "The outer beach in winter ain't exactly a
camp-meeting for sociableness," he said.  "And the idea of that
Bartlett boy tellin' you how to walk there!"

"Is he a specimen of your Cape Cod youngsters?"

"Not exactly.  He's a new shipment from New York.  Grand-nephew of
a messmate of mine, Cap'n Perez Ryder.  Perez, he's a bachelor, but
his sister's daughter married a feller named Bartlett.  Maybe you
knew him; he used to run a tugboat in the Sound."

Mr. Hazeltine, much amused, denied the acquaintance.

"Well, I s'pose you wouldn't, nat'rally," continued the Captain.
"Anyhow, Perez's niece's husband died, and the boy sort of run
loose, as yer might say.  Went to school when he had to, and raised
Ned when he didn't, near's I can find out.  'Lizabeth, that's his
ma, died last spring, and she made Perez promise--he being the only
relation the youngster had--to fetch the boy down here and sort of
bring him up.  Perez knows as much about bringing up a boy as a hen
does about the Ten Commandments, and 'Lizabeth made him promise not
to lick the youngster and a whole lot more foolishness.  School
don't commence here till October, so we got him a job with Lem
Mullett at the liv'ry stable.  He's boardin' with Lem till school
opens.  He ain't a reel bad boy, but he knows too much 'bout some
things and not ha'f enough 'bout others.  You've seen fellers like
that, maybe?"

Hazeltine nodded.  "There are a good many of that kind in New York,
I'm afraid," he said.

Captain Eri smiled.  "I shouldn't wonder," he observed.  "The boys
down here think Josiah's the whole crew, and the girls ain't fur
behind.  There's been more deviltry in this village sence he landed
than there ever was afore.  He needs somethin', and needs it bad,
but I ain't decided jest what it is yit.  Are you a married man?"

"No."

"Same here.  Never had the disease.  Perez, he's had symptoms every
once in a while, but nothin' lastin'.  Jerry's the only one of us
three that's been through the mill.  His wife died twenty year ago.
I don't know as I told you, but Jerry and Perez and me are keepin'
house down by the shore.  That is, we call it keepin' house, but--"

Here the Captain broke off and seemed to meditate.

Ralph Hazeltine forbore to interrupt, and occupied himself by
scrutinizing the buildings that they were passing.  They were
nearing the center of the town now, and the houses were closer
together than they had been on the "depot road," but never so close
as to be in the least crowded.  Each house had its ample front
yard, and the new arrival could smell the box hedges and see, now
and then, the whiteness of the kalsomined stones that bordered a
driveway.  It was too dark for the big seashells at the front steps
to be visible, but they were there, all the same; every third house
of respectability in Orham has them.  There was an occasional shop,
too, with signs like "Cape Cod Variety Store," or "The Boston Dry
Goods Emporium," over their doors.  On the platform of one a small
crowd was gathered, and from the interior came shouts of laughter
and the sound of a tin-panny piano.

"That's the billiard saloon," volunteered Captain Eri, suddenly
waking from his trance.  "Play pool, Mr. Hazeltine?"

"Sometimes."

"What d'ye play it with?"

"Why, with a cue, generally speaking."

"That so!  Most of the fellers in there play it with their mouths.
Miss a shot and then spend the rest of the evenin' tellin' how it
happened."

"I don't think I should care to play it that way," said Ralph,
laughing.

"Well, it has its good p'ints.  Kind of all-round exercise;
develops the lungs and strengthens the muscles, as the patent-
medicine almanac says.  Parker played it considerable."

"I judge that your opinion of my predecessor isn't a high one."

"Who?  Oh, Parker!  He was all right in his way.  Good many folks
in this town swore by him.  I understand the fellers over at the
station thought he was about the ticket."

"Mr. Langley included?"

"Oh, Mr. Langley, bein' manager, had his own ideas, I s'pose!
Langley don't play pool much; not at Web Saunders' place, anyhow.
We turn in here."

They rolled up a long driveway, very dark and overgrown with trees,
and drew up at the back door of a good-sized two-story house.
There was a light in the kitchen window.

"Whoa, Dan'l!" commanded the Captain.  Then he began to shout,
"Ship ahoy!" at the top of his lungs.

The kitchen door opened and a man came out, carrying a lamp, its
light shining full upon his face.  It was an old face, a stern
face, with white eyebrows and a thin-lipped mouth.  Just such a
face as looked on with approval when the executioner held up the
head of Charles I., at Whitehall.  There was, however, a tremble
about the chin that told of infirm health.

"Hello, John!" said Captain Eri heartily.  "John, let me make you
acquainted with Mr. Hazeltine, the new man at the cable station.
Mr. Hazeltine, this is my friend, Cap'n John Baxter."

The two shook hands, and then Captain Eri said:

"John, I brought down them barrels for you.  Hawkins got 'em here,
same as he always does, by the skin of his teeth.  Stand by now,
'cause I've got to deliver Mr. Hazeltine at the station, and it's
gittin' late."

John Baxter said nothing, beyond thanking his friend for the good
turn, but he "stood by," as directed, and the barrels were quickly
unloaded.  As they were about to drive out of the yard, Captain Eri
turned in his seat and said:

"John, guess I'll be up some time to-morrow.  I want to talk with
you about that billiard-room business."

The lamp in Baxter's hand shook.

"God A'mighty's got his eye on that place, Eri Hedge," he shouted,
"and on them that's runnin' it!"

"That's all right," said the Captain.  "Then the job's in good
hands, and we ain't got to worry.  Good-night."

But, in spite of this assurance, Hazeltine noticed that his driver
was silent and preoccupied until they reached the end of the road
by the shore, when he brought the willing Daniel to a stand still
and announced that it was time to "change cars."

It is a fifteen-minute row from the mainland to the outer beach,
and Captain Eri made it on schedule time.  Hazeltine protested that
he was used to a boat, and could go alone and return the dory in
the morning, but the Captain wouldn't hear of it.  The dory slid up
on the sand and the passenger climbed out.  The sound of the surf
on the ocean side of the beach was no longer a steady roar, it was
broken into splashing plunges and hisses with, running through it,
a series of blows like those of a muffled hammer.  The wind was wet
and smelt salty.

"There's the station," said the Captain, pointing to a row of
lighted windows a quarter of a mile away.  "It IS straight ahead
this time, and the walkin's better'n it has been for the last few
minutes.  Good-night!"

The electrician put his hand in his pocket, hesitated, and then
withdrew it, empty.

"I'm very much obliged to you for all this," he said.  "I'm glad to
have made your acquaintance, and I hope we shall see each other
often."

"Same here!" said the Captain heartily.  "We're likely to git
together once in a while, seein' as we're next-door neighbors,
right across the road, as you might say.  That's my berth over
yonder, where you see them lights.  It's jest 'round the corner
from the road we drove down last.  Good-night!  Good luck to you!"

And he settled himself for the row home.



CHAPTER III

THE "COME-OUTERS'" MEETING


The house where the three Captains lived was as near salt water as
it could be and remain out of reach of the highest tides.  When
Captain Eri, after beaching and anchoring his dory and stabling
Daniel for the night, entered the dining room he found his two
messmates deep in consultation, and with evidences of strenuous
mental struggle written upon their faces.  Captain Perez's right
hand was smeared with ink and there were several spatters of the
same fluid on Captain Jerry's perspiring nose.  Crumpled sheets
of note paper were on the table and floor, and Lorenzo, who was
purring restfully upon the discarded jackets of the two mariners,
alone seemed to be enjoying himself.

"Well, you fellers look as if you'd had a rough v'yage," commented
Captain Eri, slipping out of his own jacket and pulling his chair
up beside those of his friends.  "What's the trouble?"

"Gosh, Eri, I'm glad to see you!" exclaimed Captain Perez, drawing
the hand, just referred to, across his forehead and thereby putting
that portion of his countenance into mourning.  "How do you spell
conscientious?"

"I don't, unless it's owner's orders," was the answer.  "What do
you want to spell it for?"

"We've writ much as four hundred advertisements, I do believe!"
said Captain Jerry, "and there ain't one of them fit to feed to a
pig.  Perez here, he's got such hifalutin' notions, that nothin'
less than a circus bill 'll do him.  _I_ don't see why somethin'
plain and sensible like 'Woman wanted to do dishes and clean house
for three men,' wouldn't be all right; but no, it's got to have
more fancy trimmin's than a Sunday bunnit.  Foolishness, I call
it."

"You'd have a whole lot of women answerin' that advertisement, now
wouldn't you?" snorted Captain Perez hotly.  "'To do dishes for
three men!'  That's a healthy bait to catch a wife with, ain't it?
I can see 'em comin'.  I cal'late you'd stay single till Jedgment,
and then you wouldn't git one.  No, sir!  The thing to do is to be
sort of soft-soapy and high-toned.  Let 'em think they're goin' to
git a bargain when they git you.  Make believe it's goin' to be a
privilege to git sech a husband."

"Well, 'tis," declared the sacrifice indignantly.  "They might git
a dum-sight worse one."

"I cal'late that's so, Jerry," said Captain Eri.  "Still, Perez
ain't altogether wrong.  Guess you'd better keep the dishwashin'
out of it.  I know dishwashin' would never git ME; I've got so I
hate the sight of soap and hot water as bad as if I was a Portugee.
Pass me that pen."

Captain Perez gladly relinquished the writing materials, and
Captain Eri, after two or three trials, by which he added to the
paper decorations of the floor, produced the following:

"Wife Wanted--By an ex-seafaring man of steady habbits.  Must be
willing to Work and Keep House shipshape and aboveboard.  No sea-
lawyers need apply.  Address--Skipper, care the Nuptial Chime,
Boston, Mass."

The line relating to sea-lawyers was insisted upon by Captain
Jerry.  "That'll shut out the tonguey kind," he explained.  The
advertisement, with this addition, being duly approved, the
required fifty cents was inclosed, as was a letter to the editor of
the matrimonial journal requesting all answers to be forwarded to
Captain Jeremiah Burgess, Orham, Mass.  Then the envelope was
directed and the stamp affixed.

"There," said Captain Eri, "that's done.  All you've got to do now,
Jerry, is to pick out your wife and let us know what you want for a
weddin' present.  You're a lucky man."

"Aw, let's talk about somethin' else," said the lucky one rather
gloomily.  "What's the news up at the depot, Eri?"

They received the tidings of the coming of Hazeltine with the
interest due to such an event.  Captain Eri gave them a detailed
account of his meeting with the new electrician, omitting, however,
in consideration for the feelings of Captain Perez, to mention the
fact that it was the Bartlett boy who started that gentleman upon
his walk to the cable station.

"Well, what did you think of him?" asked Captain Perez, when the
recital was finished.

"Seemed to me like a pretty good feller," answered Captain Eri
deliberately.  "He didn't git mad at the joke the gang played on
him, for one thing.  He ain't so smooth-tongued as Parker used to
be and he didn't treat Baxter and me as if Cape Codders was a kind
of animals, the way some of the summer folks do.  He had the sense
not to offer to pay me for takin' him over to the station, and I
liked that.  Take it altogether, he seemed like a pretty decent
chap--for a New Yorker," he added, as an after thought.

"But say," he said a moment later, "I've got some more news and it
ain't good news, either.  Web Saunders has got his liquor license."

"I want to know!" exclaimed Captain Perez.

"You don't tell me!" said Captain Jerry.

Then they both said, "What will John Baxter do now?"  And Captain
Eri shook his head dubiously.

The cod bit well next morning and Captain Eri did not get in from
the Windward Ledge until afternoon.  By the way, it may be well to
explain that Captain Jerry's remarks concerning "settlin' down" and
"restin'," which we chronicled in the first chapter must not be
accepted too literally.  While it is true that each of the trio had
given up long voyages, it is equally true that none had given up
work entirely.  Some people might not consider it restful to rise
at four every weekday morning and sail in a catboat twelve miles
out to sea and haul a wet cod line for hours, not to mention the
sail home and the cleaning and barreling of the catch.  Captain Eri
did that.  Captain Perez was what he called "stevedore"--that is,
general caretaker during the owner's absence, at Mr. Delancy
Barry's summer estate on the "cliff road."  As for Captain Jerry,
he was janitor at the schoolhouse.

The catch was heavy the next morning, as has been said, and by the
time the last fish was split and iced and the last barrel sent to
the railway station it was almost supper time.  Captain Eri had
intended calling on Baxter early in the day, but now he determined
to wait until after supper.

The Captain had bad luck in the "matching" that followed the meal,
and it was nearly eight o'clock before he finished washing dishes.
This distasteful task being completed, he set out for the Baxter
homestead.

The Captain's views on the liquor question were broader than those
of many Orham citizens.  He was an abstainer, generally speaking,
but his scruples were not as pronounced as those of Miss Abigail
Mullett, whose proudest boast was that she had refused brandy when
the doctor prescribed it as the stimulant needed to save her life.
Over and over again has Miss Abigail told it in prayer-meeting; how
she "riz up" in her bed, "expectin' every breath to be the last"
and said, "Dr. Palmer, if it's got to be liquor or death, then
death referred to!"--meaning, it is fair to presume, that death was
preferred rather than the brandy.  With much more concerning her
miraculous recovery through the aid of a "terbacker and onion
poultice."

On general principles the Captain objected to the granting of a
license to a fellow like "Web" Saunders, but it was the effect that
this action of the State authorities might have upon his friend
John Baxter that troubled him most.

For forty-five years John Baxter was called by Cape Cod people "as
smart a skipper as ever trod a plank."  He saved money, built an
attractive home for his wife and daughter, and would, in the
ordinary course of events, have retired to enjoy a comfortable old
age.  But his wife died shortly after the daughter's marriage to a
Boston man, and on a voyage to Manila, Baxter himself suffered from
a sunstroke and a subsequent fever, that left him a physical wreck
and for a time threatened to unsettle his reason.  He recovered a
portion of his health and the threatened insanity disappeared,
except for a religious fanaticism that caused him to accept the
Bible literally and to interpret it accordingly.  When his daughter
and her husband were drowned in the terrible City of Belfast
disaster, it is an Orham tradition that John Baxter, dressed in
gunny-bags and sitting on an ash-heap, was found by his friends
mourning in what he believed to be the Biblical "sackcloth and
ashes."  His little baby granddaughter had been looked out for by
some kind friends in Boston.  Only Captain Eri knew that John
Baxter's yearly trip to Boston was made for the purpose of visiting
the girl who was his sole reminder of the things that might have
been, but even the Captain did not know that the money that paid
her board and, as she grew older, for her gowns and schooling, came
from the bigoted, stern old hermit, living alone in the old house
at Orham.

In Orham, and in other sections of the Cape as well, there is
a sect called by the ungodly, "The Come-Outers."  They were
originally seceders from the Methodist churches who disapproved of
modern innovations.  They "come out" once a week to meet at the
houses of the members, and theirs are lively meetings.  John Baxter
was a "Come-Outer," and ever since the enterprising Mr. Saunders
opened his billiard room, the old man's tirades of righteous wrath
had been directed against this den of iniquity.  Since it became
known that "Web" had made application for the license, it was a
regular amusement for the unregenerate to attend the gatherings of
the "Come-Outers" and hear John Baxter call down fire from Heaven
upon the billiard room, its proprietor, and its patrons.  Orham
people had begun to say that John Baxter was "billiard-saloon
crazy."

And John Baxter was Captain Eri's friend, a friendship that had
begun in school when the declaimer of Patrick Henry's "Liberty or
Death" speech on Examination Day took a fancy to and refused to
laugh at the little chap who tremblingly ventured to assert that he
loved "little Pussy, her coat is so warm."  The two had changed
places until now it was Captain Eri who protected and advised.

When the Captain rapped at John Baxter's kitchen door no one
answered, and, after yelling "Ship ahoy!" through the keyhole a
number of times, he was forced to the conclusion that his friend
was not at home.

"You lookin' fer Cap'n Baxter?" queried Mrs. Sarah Taylor, who
lived just across the road.  "He's gone to Come-Outers' meetin', I
guess.  There's one up to Barzilla Small's to-night."

Mr. Barzilla Small lived in that part of the village called "down
to the neck," and when the Captain arrived there, he found the
parlor filled with the devout, who were somewhat surprised to see
him.

"Why, how do you do?" said Mrs. Small, resplendent in black
"alpaca" and wearing her jet earrings.  "I snum if you ain't a
stranger!  We'll have a reel movin' meetin' to-night because Mr.
Perley's here, and he says he feels the sperrit a-workin'.  Set
right down there by the what-not.  Luther," to her oldest but
three, "give Cap'n Hedge your chair.  You can set on the cricket.
Yes, you can!  Don't answer back!"

"Aw, ma!" burst out the indignant Luther, "how d'yer think I'm
goin' to set on that cricket?  My laigs 'll be way up under my
chin.  Make Hart set on it; he's shorter'n me."

"Shan't nuther, Lute Small!" declared Hartwell, a freckle-faced
youngster, who was the next step downward in the family stair of
children.  "Set on it yourself.  Make him, ma, now!  You said he'd
have to."

"Now, ma, I--"

"Be still, both of you!  I sh'd think you'd be ashamed, with
everybody here so!  Oh, my soul and body!" turning to the company,
"if it ain't enough to try a saint!  Sometimes seems's if I SHOULD
give up.  You be thankful, Abigail," to Miss Mullett, who sat by
the door, "that you ain't got nine in a family and nobody to help
teach 'em manners.  If Barzilla was like most men, he'd have some
dis-CIP-line in the house; but no, I have to do it all, and--"

Mr. Small, thus publicly rebuked, rose from his seat in the corner
by the melodeon and proclaimed in a voice that he tried hard not to
make apologetic:

"Now, Luther, if I was you I'd be a good boy and mind ma."

Even this awe-inspiring command had little effect upon the
reluctant Luther, but Captain Eri, who, smiling and bowing right
and left, had been working his passage to the other side of the
room, announced that he was all right and would "squeeze in on the
sofy 'side of Cap'n Baxter."  So there was peace once more, that
is, as much peace as half a dozen feminine tongues, all busy with
different subjects, would allow.

"Why, Eri" whispered John Baxter, "I didn't expect to see you here.
I'm glad, though; Lord knows every God-fearin' man in this town has
need to be on his knees this night.  Have you heard about it?"

"Cap'n John means about the rum-sellin' license that Web Saunders
has got," volunteered Miss Melissa Busteed, leaning over from her
seat in the patent rocker that had been the premium earned by Mrs.
Small for selling one hundred and fifty pounds of tea for a much-
advertised house.  "Ain't it awful?  I says to Prissy Baker this
mornin', soon 's I heard of it, 'Prissy,' s' I, 'there 'll be a
jedgment on this town sure's you're a livin' woman,' s' I.  Says
she, 'That's so, M'lissy,' s' she, and I says--"

Well, when Miss Busteed talks, interruptions are futile, so Captain
Eri sat silent, as the comments of at least one-tenth of the
population of Orham were poured into his ears.  The recitation was
cut short by Mrs. Small's vigorous pounding on the center table.

"We're blessed this evenin'," said the hostess with emotion, "in
havin' Mr. Perley with us.  He's goin' to lead the meetin'."

The Reverend Mr. Perley--Reverend by courtesy; he had never been
ordained--stood up, cleared his throat with vigor, rose an inch or
two on the toes of a very squeaky pair of boots, sank to heel level
again and announced that everyone would join in singing, "Hymn
number one hundred and ten, omitting the second and fourth stanzas:
hymn number one hundred and ten, second and fourth stanzas
omitted."  The melodeon, tormented by Mrs. Lurania Bassett,
shrieked and groaned, and the hymn was sung.  So was another, and
yet another.  Then Mr. Perley squeaked to his tiptoes again,
subsided, and began a lengthy and fervent discourse.

Mr. Perley had been a blacksmith in Ostable before he "got
religion," and now spent the major portion of his time in "boardin'
'round" with "Come-Outers" up and down the Cape and taking part in
their meetings.  His services at such gatherings paid for his food
and lodging.  He had been a vigorous horseshoer in the old days;
now he preached just as vigorously.

He spoke of the faithful few here gathered together.  He spoke
of the scoffing of those outside the pale and hinted at the
uncomfortable future that awaited them.  He ran over the various
denominations one by one, and one by one showed them to be
worshipers of idols and followers after strange gods.  He sank
hoarsely into the bass and quavered up into falsetto and a chorus
of "Amens!" and "Hallelujahs!" followed him.

"Oh, brothers and sisters!" he shouted, "here we are a-kneelin' at
the altar's foot and what's goin' on outside?  Why, the Devil's got
his clutches in our midst.  The horn of the wicked is exalted.
They're sellin' rum--RUM--in this town!  They're a-sellin' rum and
drinkin' of it and gloryin' in their shame.  But the Lord ain't
asleep!  He's got his eye on 'em!  He's watchin' 'em!  And some of
these fine days he'll send down fire out of Heaven and wipe 'em off
the face of the earth!"  ("Amen!  Glory!  Glory!  Glory!")

John Baxter was on his feet, his lean face working, the perspiration
shining on his forehead, his eyes gleaming like lamps under his
rough white eyebrows, and his clenched fists pounding the back of
the chair in front of him.  His hallelujahs were the last to cease.
Captain Eri had to use some little force to pull him down on the
sofa again.

Then Mrs. Small struck up, "Oh, brother, have you heard?" and they
sang it with enthusiasm.  Next, Miss Mullett told her story of the
brandy and the defiance of the doctor.  Nobody seemed much
interested except a nervous young man with sandy hair and a
celluloid collar, who had come with Mr. Tobias Wixon and was
evidently a stranger.  He had not heard it before and seemed
somewhat puzzled when Miss Abigail repeated the "Death referred to"
passage.

There was more singing.  Mrs. Small "testified."  So did Barzilla,
with many hesitations and false starts and an air of relief when it
was over.  Then another hymn and more testimony, each speaker
denouncing the billiard saloon.  Then John Baxter arose and spoke.

He began by saying that the people of Orham had been slothful in
the Lord's vineyard.  They had allowed weeds to spring up and wax
strong.  They had been tried and found wanting.

"I tell you, brothers and sisters," he declaimed, leaning over the
chair back and shaking a thin forefinger in Mr. Perley's face, "God
has given us a task to do and how have we done it?  We've set still
and let the Devil have his way.  We've talked and talked, but what
have we done?  Nothin'!  Nothin' at all; and now the grip of Satan
is tighter on the town than it ever has been afore.  The Lord set
us a watch to keep and we've slept on watch.  And now there's a
trap set for every young man in this c'munity.  Do you think that
that hell-hole down yonder is goin' to shut up because we talk
about it in meetin'?  Do you think Web Saunders is goin' to quit
sellin' rum because we say he ought to?  Do you think God's goin'
to walk up to that door and nail it up himself?  No, sir!  He don't
work that way!  We've talked and talked, and now it's time to DO.
Ain't there anybody here that feels a call?  Ain't there axes to
chop with and fire to burn?  I tell you, brothers, we've waited
long enough!  I--old as I am--am ready.  Lord, here I am!  Here I
am--"

He swayed, broke into a fit of coughing, and sank back upon the
sofa, trembling all over and still muttering that he was ready.
There was a hushed silence for a moment or two, and then a storm of
hallelujahs and shouts.  Mr. Perley started another hymn, and it
was sung with tremendous enthusiasm.

Just behind the nervous young man with the celluloid collar sat a
stout individual with a bald head.  This was Abijah Thompson, known
by the irreverent as "Barking" Thompson, a nickname bestowed
because of his peculiar habit of gradually puffing up, like a frog,
under religious excitement, and then bursting forth in an
inarticulate shout, disconcerting to the uninitiated.  During
Baxter's speech and the singing of the hymn his expansive red
cheeks had been distended like balloons, and his breath came
shorter and shorter.  Mr. Perley had arisen and was holding up his
hand for silence, when with one terrific "Boo!" "Barking"
Thompson's spiritual exaltation exploded directly in the ear of the
nervous stranger.

The young man shot out of his chair as if Mr. Thompson had fired a
dynamite charge beneath him.  "Oh, the Devil!" he shrieked, and
then subsided, blushing to the back of his neck.

Somehow this interruption took the spirit out of the meeting.
Giggles from Luther and the younger element interfered with the
solemnity of Mr. Perley's closing remarks, and no one else was
brave enough to "testify" under the circumstances.  They sang
again, and the meeting broke up.  The nervous young man was the
first one to leave.

Captain Eri got his friend out of the clutches of the "Come-Outers"
as quickly as possible, and piloted him down the road toward his
home.  John Baxter was silent and absent-minded, and most of the
Captain's cheerful remarks concerning Orham affairs in general went
unanswered.  As they turned in at the gate the elder man said:

"Eri, do you believe that man's law ought to be allowed to
interfere with God's law?"

"Well, John, in most cases it's my jedgment that it pays to steer
pretty close to both of 'em."

"S'pose God called you to break man's law and keep His; what would
you do?"

"Guess the fust thing would be to make sure 'twas the Almighty that
was callin'.  I don't want to say nothin' to hurt your feelin's,
but I should advise the feller that thought that he had that kind
of a call to 'beware of imitations,' as the soap folks advertise."

"Eri, I've got a call."

"Now, John Baxter, you listen.  You and me have been sailin'
together, as you might say, for forty odd years.  I ain't a
religious man 'cordin' to your way of thinkin', but I've generally
found that the Lord runs things most as well as us folks could run
'em.  When there's a leak at one end of the schooner it don't pay
to bore a hole at the other end to let the water out.  Don't you
worry no more about Web Saunders and that billiard saloon.  The
s'lectmen 'll attend to them afore very long.  Why don't you go up
to Boston for a couple of weeks?  'Twill do you good."

"Do you think so, Eri?  Well, maybe 'twould--maybe 'twould.
Sometimes I feel as if my head was kind of wearin' out.  I'll think
about it."

"Better not think any more; better go right ahead."

"Well, I'll see.  Good-night."

"Good-night, John."


"Perez," said Captain Eri, next day, "seems to me some kinds of
religion is like whisky, mighty bad for a weak head.  I wish
somebody 'd invent a gold cure for Come-Outers."



CHAPTER IV

A PICTURE SENT AND A CABLE TESTED


Something over a fortnight went by and the three captains had
received no answers from the advertisement in the Nuptial Chime.
The suspense affected each of them in a different manner.  Captain
Jerry was nervous and apprehensive.  He said nothing, and asked no
questions, but it was noticeable that he was the first to greet the
carrier of the "mail box" when that individual came down the road,
and, as the days passed and nothing more important than the Cape
Cod Item and a patent-medicine circular came to hand, a look that a
suspicious person might have deemed expressive of hope began to
appear in his face.

Captain Perez, on the contrary, grew more and more disgusted with
the delay.  He spent a good deal of time wondering why there were
no replies, and he even went so far as to suggest writing to the
editor of the Chime.  He was disposed to lay the blame upon Captain
Eri's advertisement, and hinted that the latter was not "catchy"
enough.

Captain Eri, alone of the trio, got any amusement out of the
situation.  He pretended to see in Captain Jerry an impatient
bridegroom and administered comfort in large doses by suggesting
that, in all probability, there had been so many replies that it
had been found necessary to charter a freight-car to bring them
down.

"Cheer up, Jerry!" he said.  "It's tough on you, I know, but think
of all them poor sufferin' females that's settin' up nights and
worryin' for fear they won't be picked out.  Why, say, when you
make your ch'ice you'll have to let the rest know right off;
'twould be cruelty to animals not to.  You ought to put 'em out of
their misery quick's possible."

Captain Jerry's laugh was almost dismal.

The first batch of answers from the Chime came by an evening mail.
Captain Eri happened to beat the post-office that night and brought
them home himself.  They filled three of his pockets to overflowing,
and he dumped them by handfuls on the dining table, under the nose
of the pallid Jerry.

"What did I tell you, Jerry?" he crowed.  "I knew they was on the
way.  What have you got to say about my advertisement now, Perez?"

There were twenty-six letters altogether.  It was surprising how
many women were willing, even anxious, to ally themselves with "an
ex-seafaring man of steady habbits."  But most of the applicants
were of unsatisfactory types.  As Captain Perez expressed it,
"There's too many of them everlastin' 'blondes' and things."

There was one note, however, that even Captain Eri was disposed to
consider seriously.  It was postmarked Nantucket, was written on
half a sheet of blue-lined paper, and read as follows:


"MR. SKIPPER:

"Sir:  I saw your advertisements in the paper and think perhaps you
might suit me.  Please answer these questions by return mail.  What
is your religious belief?  Do you drink liquor?  Are you a profane
man?  If you want to, you might send me your real name and a
photograph.  If I think you will suit maybe we might sign articles.

Yours truly,

"MARTHA B. SNOW.

"NANTUCKET, MASS."


"What I like about that is the shipshape way she puts it,"
commented Captain Perez.  "She don't say that she 'jest adores the
ocean.'"

"She's mighty handy about takin' hold and bossin' things; there
ain't no doubt of that," said Captain Eri.  "Notice it's us that's
got to suit her, not her us.  I kind of like that 'signin'
articles,' too.  You bet she's been brought up in a seagoin'
family."

"I used to know a Jubal Snow that hailed from Nantucket," suggested
Perez; "maybe she's some of his folks."

'Tain't likely," sniffed Captain Jerry.  "There's more Snows in
Nantucket than you can shake a stick at.  You can't heave a rock
without hittin' one."

"I b'lieve she's jest the kind we want," said Captain Perez with
conviction.

"What do you say, Jerry?" asked Captain Eri.  "You're goin' to be
the lucky man, you know."

"Oh, I don't know.  What's the use of hurryin'?  More 'n likely the
next lot of letters 'll have somethin' better yit."

"Now, that's jest like you, Jerry Burgess!" exclaimed Perez
disgustedly.  "Want to put off and put off and put off.  And the
house gittin' more like the fo'castle on a cattleboat every day."

"I don't b'lieve myself you'd do much better, Jerry," said Captain
Eri seriously.  "I like that letter somehow.  Seems to me it's
worth a try."

"Oh, all right!  Have it your own way.  Of course, _I_ ain't got
nothin' to say.  I'm only the divilish fool that's got to git
married and keep boarders; that's all _I_ am!"

"Be careful!  She asked if you was a profane man."

"Aw, shut up!  You fellers are enough to make a minister swear.
_I_ don't care what you do.  Go ahead and write to her if you want
to, only I give you fair warnin', I ain't goin' to have her if she
don't suit.  I ain't goin' to marry no scarecrow."

Between them, and with much diplomacy, they soothed the indignant
candidate for matrimony until he agreed to sign his name to a
letter to the Nantucket lady.  Then Captain Perez said:

"But, I say, Jerry; she wants your picture.  Have you got one to
send her?"

"I've got that daguerreotype I had took when I was married afore."

He rummaged it out of his chest and displayed it rather proudly.
It showed him as a short, sandy-haired youth, whose sunburned face
beamed from the depths of an enormous choker, and whose head was
crowned with a tall, flat-brimmed silk hat of a forgotten style.

"I s'pose that might do," said Cap'n Perez hesitatingly.

"Do!  'Twill HAVE to do, seein' it's all he's got," said Captain
Eri.  "Good land!" he chuckled; "look at that hat!  Say, Jerry,
she'll think you done your seafarin' in Noah's ark."

But Captain Jerry was oblivious to sarcasm just then.  He was
gazing at the daguerreotype in a sentimental sort of way, blowing
the dust from the glass, and tilting it up and down so as to bring
it to the most effective light.

"I swan!" he mused, "I don't know when I've looked at that afore.
I remember when I bought that hat, jest as well.  Took care of it
and brushed it--my! my!  I don't know but it's somewheres around
now.  I thought I was jest about the ticket then, and--and I wa'n't
BAD lookin', that's a fact!"

This last with a burst of enthusiasm.

"Ho, ho! Perez," roared Captain Eri; "Jerry's fallin' in love with
his own picture.  Awful thing for one so young, ain't it?"

"I ain't such a turrible sight older 'n you be, Eri Hedge,"
sputtered the prospective bridegroom with righteous indignation.
Then he added in a rather crestfallen tone, "But I am a heap older
'n I was when I had that daguerreotype took.  See here; if I send
that Nantucket woman this picture won't she notice the difference
when she sees me?"

"What if she does?" broke in Captain Perez.  "You can tell her how
'twas.  Talk her over.  A feller that's been married, like you,
ought to be able to talk ANY woman over."

Captain Jerry didn't appear sanguine concerning his ability to
"talk her over," but his fellow-conspirators made light of his
feeble objections, and the daguerreotype, carefully wrapped, was
mailed the next morning, accompanied by a brief biographical sketch
of the original and his avowed adherence to the Baptist creed and
the Good Templar's abstinence.

"I hope she'll hurry up and answer," said the impatient Captain
Perez.  "I want to get this thing settled one way or another.
Don't you, Jerry?"

"Yes," was the hesitating reply.  "One way or another."

Captain Eri had seen John Baxter several times since the evening of
the "Come-Outers'" meeting.  The old man was calmer apparently, and
was disposed to take the billiard-saloon matter less seriously,
particularly as it was reported that the town selectmen were to
hold a special meeting to consider the question of allowing Mr.
Saunders to continue in business.  The last-named gentleman had
given what he was pleased to call a "blow-out" to his regular
patrons in celebration of the granting of the license, and
"Squealer" Wixon and one or two more spent a dreary day and night
in the town lock-up in consequence.  Baxter told the Captain that
he had not yet made up his mind concerning the proposed Boston
trip, but he thought "more 'n likely" he should go.

Captain Eri was obliged to be content with this assurance, but he
determined to keep a close watch on his friend just the same.

He had met Ralph Hazeltine once or twice since the latter's arrival
in Orham, and, in response to questions as to how he was getting on
at the station, the new electrician invariably responded, "First-
rate."  Gossip, however, in the person of Miss Busteed, reported
that the operators were doing their best to keep Mr. Hazeltine's
lot from being altogether a bed of roses, and there were dark hints
of something more to come.

On the morning following the receipt of the letter from the
Nantucket lady, Captain Eri was busy at his fish shanty, putting
his lines in order and sewing a patch on the mainsail of his
catboat.  These necessary repairs had prevented his taking the
usual trip to the fishing grounds.  Looking up from his work, he
saw, through the open door, Ralph Hazeltine just stepping out of
the cable-station skiff.  He tucked his sail needle into the canvas
and hailed the young man with a shouted "Good-morning!"

"How do you do, Cap'n Hedge?" said Hazeltine, walking toward the
shanty.  "Good weather, isn't it?"

"Tip-top.  Long 's the wind stays westerly and there ain't no
Sunday-school picnics on, we don't squabble with the weather folks.
The only thing that 'll fetch a squall with a westerly wind is a
Sunday-school picnic.  That 'll do it, sure as death.  Busy over
across?"

"Pretty busy just now.  The cable parted day before yesterday, and
I've been getting things ready for the repair ship.  She was due
this morning, and we're likely to hear from her at any time."

"You don't say!  Cable broke, hey?  Now it's a queer thing, but
I've never been inside that station since 'twas built.  Too handy,
I guess.  I've got a second cousin up in Charlestown, lived there
all his life, and he's never been up in Bunker Hill monument yit.
Fust time I landed in Boston I dug for that monument, and I can
tell you how many steps there is in it to this day.  If that cable
station was fifty mile off I'd have been through it two weeks after
it started up, but bein' jest over there, I ain't ever done it.
Queer, ain't it?"

"Perhaps you'd like to go over with me.  I'm going up to the post-
office, and when I come back I should be glad of your company."

"Well, now, that's kind of you.  I cal'late I will.  You might sing
out as you go past.  I've got a ha'f-hour job on this sail and then
it's my watch below."

The cable station at Orham is a low whitewashed building with many
windows.  The vegetation about it is limited exclusively to "beach
grass" and an occasional wild-plum bush.  The nearest building
which may be reached without a boat is the life-saving station, two
miles below.  The outer beach changes its shape every winter.  The
gales tear great holes in its sides, and then, as if in recompense,
throw up new shoals and build new promontories.  From the cable-
station doorway in fair weather may be counted the sails of over
one hundred vessels going and coming between Boston and New York.
They come and go, and, alas! sometimes stop by the way.  Then the
life-saving crews are busy and the Boston newspapers report another
wreck.  All up and down the outer beach are the sun-whitened bones
of schooners and ships; and all about them, and partially covering
them, is sand, sand, sand, as white and much coarser than
granulated sugar.

Hazeltine's post-office trip and other errands had taken much more
time than he anticipated, and more than two hours had gone by
before he called for Captain Eri.  During the row to the beach the
electrician explained to the Captain the processes by which a break
in the cable is located and repaired.

"You see," he said, "as soon as the line breaks we set about
finding where it is broken.  To do this we use an instrument called
the Wheatstone bridge.  In this case the break is about six hundred
miles from the American shore.  The next thing is to get at the
company's repair ship.  She lies, usually, at Halifax when she
isn't busy, and that is where she was this time.  We wired her and
she left for the spot immediately.  It was up to me to get ready
the testing apparatus--we generally set up special instruments for
testing.  Judging by the distance, the ship should have been over
the break early this morning.  She will grapple for the broken
cable ends, and as soon as she catches our end she'll send us a
message.  It's simple enough."

"Like takin' wormwood tea--easy enough if you've been brought up
that way.  I think I'd make more money catchin' codfish, myself,"
commented the Captain dryly.

Ralph laughed.  "Well, it really is a very simple matter," he said.
"The only thing we have to be sure of is that our end of the line
is ready by the time the ship reaches the break.  If the weather is
bad the ship can't work, and so, when she does work, she works
quick.  I had my instruments in condition yesterday, so we're all
right this time."

They landed at the little wharf and plodded through the heavy sand.

"Dismal-looking place, isn't it?" said Hazeltine, as he opened the
back door of the station.

"Well, I don't know; it has its good p'ints," replied his
companion.  "Your neighbors' hens don't scratch up your garden, for
one thing.  What do you do in here?"

"This is the room where we receive and send.  This is the receiver."

The captain noticed with interest the recorder, with its two brass
supports and the little glass tube, half filled with ink, that,
when the cable was working, wrote the messages upon the paper tape
traveling beneath it.

"Pretty nigh as finicky as a watch, ain't it?" he observed.

"Fully as delicate in its way.  Do you see this little screw on the
centerpiece?  Turn that a little, one way or the other, and the
operator on the other side might send until doomsday, we wouldn't
know it.  I'll show you the living rooms and the laboratory now."

Just then the door at the other end of the room opened, and a man,
whom Captain Eri recognized as one of the operators, came in.  He
started when he saw Hazeltine and turned to go out again.  Ralph
spoke to him:

"Peters," he said, "where is Mr. Langley?"

"Don't know," answered the fellow gruffly.

"Wait a minute.  Tell me where Mr. Langley is."

"I don't know where he is.  He went over to the village a while
ago."

"Where are the rest of the men?"

"Don't know."

The impudence and thinly veiled hostility in the man's tone were
unmistakable.  Hazeltine hesitated, seemed about to speak, and then
silently led the way to the hall.

"I'll show you the laboratory later on," he said.  "We'll go up to
the testing room now."  Then he added, apparently as much to
himself as to his visitor, "I told those fellows that I wouldn't be
back until noon."

There was a door at the top of the stairs.  Ralph opened this
quietly.  As they passed through, Captain Eri noticed that Peters
had followed them into the hall and stood there, looking up.

The upper hall had a straw matting on the floor.  There was another
door at the end of the passage, and this was ajar.  Toward it the
electrician walked rapidly.  From the room behind the door came a
shout of laughter; then someone said:

"Better give it another turn, hadn't I, to make sure?  If two turns
fixes it so we don't hear for a couple of hours, another one ought
to shut it up for a week.  That's arithmetic, ain't it?"

The laugh that followed this was cut short by Hazeltine's throwing
the door wide open.

Captain Eri, close at the electrician's heels, saw a long room,
empty save for a few chairs and a table in the center.  Upon this
table stood the testing instruments, exactly like those in the
receiving room downstairs.  Three men lounged in the chairs, and
standing beside the table, with his fingers upon the regulating
screw at the centerpiece of the recorder, was another, a big
fellow, with a round, smooth-shaven face.

The men in the chairs sprang to their feet as Hazeltine came in.
The face of the individual by the table turned white and his
fingers fell from the regulating screw, as though the latter were
red hot.  The Captain recognized the men; they were day operators
whom he had met in the village many times.  Incidentally, they were
avowed friends of the former electrician, Parker.  The name of the
taller one was McLoughlin.

No one spoke.  Ralph strode quickly to the table, pushed McLoughlin
to one side and stooped over the instruments.  When he straightened
up, Captain Eri noticed that his face also was white, but evidently
not from fear.  He turned sharply and looked at the four operators,
who were doing their best to appear at ease and not succeeding.
The electrician looked them over, one by one.  Then he gave a short
laugh.

"You damned sneaks!" he said, and turned again to the testing
apparatus.

He began slowly to turn the regulating screw on the recorder.  He
had given it but a few revolutions when the point of the little
glass siphon, that had been tracing a straight black line on the
sliding tape, moved up and down in curving zigzags.  Hazeltine
turned to the operator.

"Palmer," he said curtly, "answer that call."

The man addressed seated himself at the table, turned a switch, and
clicked off a message.  After a moment the line on the moving tape
zigzagged again.  Ralph glanced at the zigzags and bit his lip.

"Apologize to them," he said to Palmer.  "Tell them we regret
exceedingly that the ship should have been kept waiting.  Tell them
our recorder was out of adjustment."

The operator cabled the message.  The three men at the end of the
room glanced at each other; this evidently was not what they
expected.

Steps sounded on the stairs and Peters hurriedly entered.

"The old man's comin'," he said.

Mr. Langley, the superintendent of the station, had been in the
company's employ for years.  He had been in charge of the Cape Cod
station since it was built, and he liked the job.  He knew cable
work, too, from A to Z, and, though he was a strict disciplinarian,
would forgive a man's getting drunk occasionally, sooner than
condone carelessness.  He was eccentric, but even those who did not
like him acknowledged that he was "square."

He came into the room, tossed a cigar stump out of the window, and
nodded to Captain Eri.

"How are you, Captain Hedge?" he said.  Then, stepping to the
table, he picked up the tape.

"Everything all right, Mr. Hazeltine?" he asked.  "Hello!  What
does this mean?  They say they have been calling for two hours
without getting an answer.  How do you explain that?"

It was very quiet in the room when the electrician answered.

"The recorder here was out of adjustment, sir," he said simply.

"Out of adjustment!  I thought you told me everything was in
perfect order before you left this morning."

"I thought so, sir, but I find the screw was too loose.  That would
account for the call not reaching us."

"Too loose!  Humph!"  The superintendent looked steadfastly at
Hazeltine, then at the operators, and then at the electrician once
more.

"Mr. Hazeltine," he said at length, "I will hear what explanations
you may have to make in my office later on.  I will attend to the
testing myself.  That will do."

Captain Eri silently followed his young friend to the back door of
the station.  Hazeltine had seen fit to make no comment on the
scene just described, and the captain did not feel like offering
any.  They were standing on the steps when the big operator,
McLoughlin, came out of the building behind them.

"Well," he said gruffly to the electrician.  "Shall I quit now or
wait until Saturday?"

"What?"

"Shall I git out now or wait till Saturday night?  I suppose you'll
have me fired."

Then Hazeltine's pent-up rage boiled over.

"If you mean that I'll tell Mr. Langley of your cowardly trick and
have you discharged--No!  I don't pay my debts that way.  But I'll
tell you this,--you and your sneaking friends.  If you try another
game like that,--yes, or if you so much as speak to me, other than
on business while I'm here, I WILL fire you--out of the window.
Clear out!"

"Mr. Hazeltine," said Captain Eri a few moments later, "I hope you
don't mind my sayin' that I like you fust-rate.  Me and Perez and
Jerry ain't the biggest bugs in town, but we like to have our
friends come and see us.  I wish you'd drop in once 'n a while."

"I certainly will," said the young man, and the two shook hands.
That vigorous handshake was enough of itself to convince Ralph
Hazeltine that he had made, at any rate, one friend in Orham.

And we may as well add here that he had made two.  For that evening
Jack McLoughlin said to his fellow conspirators:

"He said he'd fire me out of the window,--ME, mind you!  And, by
thunder! I believe he'd have DONE it too.  Boys, there ain't any
more 'con' games played on that kid while I'm around--Parker or no
Parker.  He's white, that's what HE is!"



CHAPTER V

THE WOMAN FROM NANTUCKET


Conversation among the captains was, for the next two days,
confined to two topics, speculation as to how soon they might
expect a reply from the Nantucket female and whether or not Mr.
Langley would discharge Hazeltine.  On the latter point Captain Eri
was decided.

"He won't be bounced," said the Captain; "now you just put that
down in your log.  Langley ain't a fool, and he can put two and two
together as well as the next feller.  If I thought there was any
need of it, I'd just drop him a hint myself, but there ain't, so I
shan't put my oar in.  But I wish you two could have heard that
youngster talk to that McLoughlin critter; 'twould have done you
good.  That boy's all right."

Captain Jerry was alone when the expected letter came.  He glanced
at the postmark, saw that it was Nantucket, and stuck the note
behind the clock.  He did his best to forget it, but he looked so
guilty when Captain Perez returned at supper time that that
individual suspected something, made his friend confess, and, a
little later when Captain Eri came in, the envelope, bearing many
thumb-prints, was propped up against the sugar bowl in the middle
of the table.

"We didn't open it, Eri," said Perez proudly.  "We did want to, but
we thought all hands ought to be on deck when anything as important
as this was goin' to be done."

"He's been holdin' it up to the light for the last ha'f hour,"
sneered Captain Jerry.  "Anybody 'd think it had a million dollars
in it.  For the land's sake, open it, Eri, 'fore he has a fit!"

Captain Eri picked up the letter, looked it over very deliberately,
and then tore off the end of the envelope.  The inclosure was
another sheet of note paper like the first epistle.  The Captain
took out his spectacles, wiped them, and read the following aloud:


"CAPTAIN JEREMIAH BURGESS.

"Sir:  I like your looks well enough, though it don't pay to put too
much dependence in looks, as nobody knows better than me.  Besides,
I judge that picture was took quite a spell ago.  Anyway, you look
honest, and I am willing to risk money enough to carry me to Orham
and back, though the dear land knows I ain't got none to throw away.
If we don't agree to sign articles, I suppose likely you will be
willing to stand half the fare.  That ain't any more than right, the
way I look at it.  I shall come to Orham on the afternoon train,
Thursday.  Meet me at the depot.

"Yours truly,

"MARTHA B. SNOW.

"P. S.--I should have liked it better if you was a Methodist, but
we can't have everything just as we want it in this world."


Nobody spoke for a moment after the reading of this intensely
practical note.  Captain Eri whistled softly, scratched his head,
and then read the letter over again to himself.  At length Captain
Perez broke the spell.

"Jerusalem!" he exclaimed.  "She don't lose no time, does she?"

"She's pretty prompt, that's a fact," assented Captain Eri.

Captain Jerry burst forth in indignation:

"Is THAT all you've got to say?" he inquired with sarcasm, "after
gittin' me into a scrape like this?  Well now, I tell you one
thing, I--"

"Don't go on your beam ends, Jerry," interrupted Captain Eri.
"There ain't no harm done yit."

"Ain't no harm done?  Why how you talk, Eri Hedge!  Here's a woman
that I ain't never seen, and might be a hundred years old, for all
I know, comin' down here to-morrow night to marry me by main force,
as you might say, and you set here and talk about--"

"Now, hold on, hold on, Jerry!  She ain't goin' to marry you unless
you want her to, 'tain't likely.  More I think of it, the more I
like the woman's way of doin' things.  She's got sense, there's no
doubt of that.  You can't sell HER a cat in a bag.  She's comin'
down here to see you and talk the thing over, and I glory in her
spunk."

"Wants me to pay her fare!  I see myself doin' it!  I've got ways
enough to spend my money without paying fares for Nantucket folks."

"If you and she sign articles, as she calls it, you'll have to pay
more than fares," said Captain Perez, in a matter-of-fact tone.  "I
think same as Eri does; she's a smart woman.  We'll have to meet
her at the depot, of course."

"Well _I_ won't!  Cheeky thing!  Let her find out where I am!  I
cal'late she'll have to do some huntin'."

"Now, see here, Jerry," said Captain Eri, "you was jest as anxious
to have one of us get married as anybody else.  You haven't got to
marry the woman unless you want to, but you have got to help us see
the thing through.  I wish myself that we hadn't been quite so
pesky anxious to give her the latitude and longitude, and had took
some sort of an observation ourselves; but we didn't, and now we've
got to treat her decent.  You'll be at that depot along with Perez
and me."

When Captain Eri spoke in that tone his two cronies usually obeyed
orders.  Even the rebellious Jerry, who had a profound respect for
his younger friend, gave in after some grumbling.

They sat up until late, speculating concerning the probable age and
appearance of the expected visitor.  Captain Perez announced that
he didn't know why it was, but he had a notion that she was about
forty and slim.  Captain Jerry, who was in a frame of mind where
agreement with anyone was out of the question, gave it as his
opinion that she was thirty odd and rather plump.  Captain Eri
didn't hazard a guess, but suggested that they wait and see.

But even Captain Eri's calmness was more or less assumed, for he
did not go fishing the next morning, but stayed about the house,
whittling at the model of a clipper ship and tormenting Captain
Jerry.  The model was one that he had been at work upon at odd
times ever since he gave up sea-going.  It had never been completed
for the very good reason that when one part was finished the
Captain tore another part to pieces, and began over again.  It was
a sort of barometer of his feelings, and when his companions saw
him take down the clipper and go to work, they knew he was either
thinking deeply upon a perplexing problem or was troubled in his
mind.

Captain Perez sang a good deal, principally confining his musical
efforts to a ballad with a chorus of,


          "Storm along, John;
           John, storm along;
     Ain't I glad my day's work's done!"


Also, he glanced at his watch every few minutes and then went to
consult the chronometer to make sure of the time.

Captain Jerry went up to the schoolhouse and gave its vacant rooms
a thorough sweeping for no particular reason except to be doing
something.  His appetite was poor, and he actually forgot to feed
Lorenzo, a hitherto unheard-of slight, and one that brought down
upon him a long lecture from Captain Eri, who vowed that loss of
memory was a sure sign of lovesickness.

They started for the railway station immediately after supper.  As
they passed John Baxter's house they noticed a light in an upper
chamber, and wondered if the old man was ill.  Captain Eri would
have stopped to find out, but Captain Perez insisted that it could
be done just as well when they came back, and expressed a fear that
they might miss the train.  Captain Jerry hadn't spoken since they
left home, and walked gloomily ahead with his hands in his pockets.

Mr. "Web" Saunders, fat and in his pink-striped shirtsleeves, sat
upon the steps of his saloon as they went by.  He wished them an
unctuous good-evening.  The oily smoothness of Mr. Saunders' voice
cannot be described with plain pen and ink; it gurgled with
sweetness, like molasses poured from a jug.  This was not a special
tone put on for the occasion; no one except his wife ever heard him
speak otherwise.

The response from the three captains was not enthusiastic, but Mr.
Saunders continued to talk of the weather, the fishing, and the
cranberry crop until a customer came and gave them a chance to get
away.

"Slick! slick! slick!" commented Captain Eri, as they hurried
along.  "Blessed if he don't pretty nigh purr.  I like a cat fust-
rate, but I'm always suspicious of a cat-man.  You know he's got
claws, but you can't tell where he's goin' to use 'em.  When a
feller like that comes slidin' around and rubbin' his head against
my shin, I always feel like keepin' t'other foot ready for a kick.
You're pretty sartin to need it one time or another."

The train was nearly an hour late this evening, owing to a hot box,
and the "ex-seafaring man" and his two friends peered anxiously out
at it from around the corner of the station.  The one coach stopped
directly under the lights, and they could see the passengers as
they came down the steps.  Two or three got out, but these were
men.  Then came an apparition that caused Captain Jerry to gasp and
clutch at Perez for support.

Down the steps of the car came a tall, coal-black negress, and in
her hand was a canvas extension case, on the side of which was
blazoned in two-inch letters the fateful name, "M. B. Snow,
Nantucket."

Captain Eri gazed at this astounding spectacle for a full thirty
seconds.  Then he woke up.

"Godfrey domino!" he ejaculated.  "BLACK!  BLACK!  Run!  Run for
your lives, 'fore she sees us!"

This order was superfluous.  Captain Jerry was already half-way to
the fence, and going at a rate which bid fair to establish a record
for his age.  The others fell into his wake, and the procession
moved across country like a steeplechase.

They climbed over stone walls and splashed into meadows.  They took
every short cut between the station and their home.  As they came
in sight of the latter, Captain Perez' breath gave out almost
entirely.

"Heave to!" he gasped.  "Heave to, or I'll founder.  I wouldn't run
another step for all the darkies in the West Indies."

Captain Eri paused, but it was only after a struggle that Captain
Jerry was persuaded to halt.

"I shan't do it, Eri!" he vowed wildly.  "I shan't do it!  There
ain't no use askin' me; I won't marry that black woman!  I won't,
by thunder!"

"There! there! Jerry!" said Captain Eri soothingly.  "Nobody wants
you to.  There ain't no danger now.  She didn't see us."

"Ain't no danger!  There you go again, Eri Hedge!  She'll ask where
I live and come right down in the depot wagon.  Oh! Lordy! Lordy!"

The frantic sacrifice was about to bound away again, when Captain
Eri caught him by the arm.

"I'll tell you what," he said, "we'll scoot for Eldredge's shanty
and hide there till she gits tired and goes away.  P'raps she won't
come, anyhow."

The deserted fish shanty, property of the heirs of the late
Nathaniel Eldredge, was situated in a hollow close to the house.
In a few moments the three were inside, with a sawhorse against the
door.  Then Captain Eri pantingly sat down on an overturned bucket
and laughed until the tears came into his eyes.

"That's it, laff!" almost sobbed Captain Jerry.  "Set there and
tee-hee like a Bedlamite.  It's what you might expect.  Wait till
the rest of the town finds out about this; they'll do the laffin'
then, and you won't feel so funny.  We'll never hear the last of it
in this world.  If that darky comes down here, I'll--I'll drown
her; I will--"

"I don't blame Jerry," said Perez indignantly.  "I don't see much
to laff at.  Oh, my soul and body there she comes now."

They heard the rattle of a heavy carriage, and, crowding together
at the cobwebbed window, saw the black shape of the "depot wagon"
rock past.  They waited, breathless, until they saw it go back
again up the road.

"Did you lock the dining-room door, Perez?" asked Captain Eri.

"Course I didn't.  Why should I?"

It was a rather senseless question.  Nobody locks doors in Orham
except at bedtime.

"Humph!" grunted Captain Eri.  "She'll see the light in the dining
room, and go inside and wait, more 'n likely.  Well, there's
nothin' for us to do but to stay here for a while, and then, if she
ain't gone, one of us 'll have to go up and tell her she won't suit
and pay her fare home, that's all.  I think Jerry ought to be the
one," he added mischievously.  "He bein' the bridegroom, as you
might say."

"Me!" almost shouted the frantic Captain Jerry.  "You go to grass!
You fellers got me into this scrape, and now let's see you git me
out of it.  I don't stir one step."

They sat there in darkness, the silence unbroken, save for an
occasional chuckle from the provoking Eri.  Perez, however, was
meditating, and observed, after a while:

"Snow!  That's a queer name for a darky, ain't it?"

"That colored man up at Barry's place was named White," said
Captain Jerry, "and he was black as your hat.  Names don't count."

"They say colored folks make good cooks, Jerry," slyly remarked
Eri.  "Maybe you'd better think it over."

The unlucky victim of chance did not deign an answer, and the
minutes crept slowly by.  After a long while they heard someone
whistling.  Perez went to the window to take an observation.

"It's a man," he said disappointedly.  "He's been to our house,
too.  My land!  I hope he didn't go in.  It's that feller
Hazeltine; that's who 'tis."

"Is it?" exclaimed Eri eagerly.  "That's so! so 'tis.  Let's give
him a hail."

Before he could be stopped he had pulled the saw-horse from the
door, had opened the latter a little way, and, with his face at the
opening, was whistling shrilly.

The electrician looked up and down the dark road in a puzzled sort
of way, but evidently could not make up his mind from what quarter
the whistles came.

"Mr. Hazeltine!" hailed the Captain, in what might be called a
whispered yell or a shouted whisper.  "Mr. Hazeltine!  Here, on
your lee bow.  In the shanty."

The word "shanty" was the only part of the speech that brought
light to Ralph's mind, but that was sufficient; he came down the
hill, left the road, and plunged through the blackberry vines to
the door.

"Who is it?" he asked.  "Why, hello, Captain!  What on earth--"

Captain Eri signaled him to silence, and then, catching his arm,
pulled him into the shanty and shut the door.  Captain Jerry
hastened to set the saw-horse in place again.

"Mr. Hazeltine," said Captain Eri, "let me make you acquainted with
Cap'n Perez and Cap'n Jerry, shipmates of mine.  You've heard me
speak of 'em."

Ralph, in the darkness, shook two big hands and heard whispered
voices express themselves as glad to know him.

"You see," continued Eri in a somewhat embarrassed fashion, "we're
sort of layin' to, as yer might say, waitin' to git our bearin's.
We ain't out of our heads; I tell you that, 'cause I know that's
what it looks like."

The bewildered Hazeltine laughed and said he was glad to hear it.
To tell the truth, he had begun to think that something or other
had suddenly driven his nearest neighbors crazy.

"I--I--I don't know how to explain it to you," the Captain stumbled
on.  "Fact is, I guess I won't jest yit, if you don't mind.  It
does sound so pesky ridic'lous, although it ain't, when you
understand it.  What we want to know is, have you been to our house
and is there anybody there?"

"Why, yes, I've been there.  I rowed over and dropped in for a
minute, as you suggested the other day.  The housekeeper--I suppose
it was the housekeeper--that opened the door, said you were out,
and I--"

He was interrupted by a hopeless groan.

"I knew it!" wailed Captain Jerry.  "I knew it!  And you said there
wa'n't no danger, Eri!"

"Hush up, Jerry, a minute, for the love of goodness!  What was she
doin', Mr. Hazeltine, this woman you thought was the housekeeper?
Did she look as if she was gettin' ready to go out?  Did she have
her bunnit on?"

"No.  She seemed to be very much at home.  That's why I thought--"

But again Captain Jerry broke in, "Well, by mighty!" he ejaculated.
"That's nice, now, ain't it!  SHE goin' away!  You bet she ain't!
She's goin' to stay there and wait, if it's forever.  She's got too
good a thing.  Jest as like 's not, M'lissy Busteed, or some other
gab machine like her, 'll be the next one to call, and if they see
that great black critter!  Oh! my soul!"

"Black!" said Ralph amazedly.  "Why, the woman at your house isn't
black.  She's as white as I am, and not bad-looking for a woman of
her age."

"WHAT?"  This was the trio in chorus.  Then Captain Eri said:

"Mr. Hazeltine, now, honest and true, is that a fact?"

"Of course it's a fact."

The Captain wiped his forehead.  "Mr. Hazeltine," he said, "if
anybody had told me a fortn't ago that I was one of the three
biggest fools in Orham, I'd have prob'ly rared up some.  As 'tis
now, I cal'late I'd thank him for lettin' me off so easy.  You'll
have to excuse us to-night, I'm afraid.  We're in a ridic'lous
scrape that we've got to git out of all alone.  I'll tell you 'bout
it some day.  Jest now wish you'd keep this kind of quiet to oblige
me."

Hazeltine saw that this was meant as a gentle hint for his
immediate departure, and although he had a fair share of curiosity,
felt there was nothing else to do.  He promised secrecy, promised
faithfully to call again later in the week, and then, the sawhorse
having been removed by Captain Perez,--Captain Jerry was apparently
suffering from a sort of dazed paralysis,--he went away.  As soon
as he had gone, Captain Eri began to lay down the law.

"Now then," he said, "there's been some sort of a mistake; that's
plain enough.  More 'n likely, the darky took the wrong satchel
when she got up to come out of the car.  That woman at the house is
the real Marthy Snow all right, and we've got to go right up there
and see her.  Come on!"

But Captain Jerry mutinied outright.  He declared that the sight of
that darky had sickened him of marrying forever, and that he would
not see the candidate from Nantucket, nor any other candidate.  No
persuasion could budge him.  He simply would not stir from that
shanty until the house had been cleared of female visitors.

"Go and see her yourself, if you're so set on it," he declared.  "I
shan't!"

"All right," said Captain Eri calmly.  "I will.  I'll tell her
you're bashful, but jest dyin' to be married, and that she can have
you if she only waits long enough."

With this he turned on his heel and walked out.

"Hold on, Eri!" shouted the frantic Jerry.  "Don't you do it!
Don't you tell her that!  Land of love, Perez, do you s'pose he
will?"

"I don't know," was the answer in a disgusted tone.  "You hadn't
ought to have been so pig-headed, Jerry."

Captain Eri, with set teeth and determination written on his face,
walked straight to the dining-room door.  Drawing a long breath, he
opened it and stepped inside.  A woman, who had been sitting in
Captain Perez' rocker, rose as he entered.

The woman looked at the Captain and the Captain looked at her.  She
was of middle age, inclined to stoutness, with a pair of keen eyes
behind brass-rimmed spectacles, and was dressed in a black "alpaca"
gown that was faded a little in places and had been neatly mended
in others.  She spoke first.

"You're not Cap'n Burgess?" she said.

"No, ma'am," said the Captain uneasily.  "My name is Hedge.  I'm a
sort of messmate of his.  You're Miss Snow?"

"Mrs. Snow.  I'm a widow."

They shook hands.  Mrs. Snow calmly expectant; the Captain very
nervous and not knowing how to begin.

"I feel as if I knew you, Cap'n Hedge," said the widow, as the
Captain slid into his own rocker.  "The boy on the depot wagon told
me a lot about you and Cap'n Ryder and Cap'n Burgess."

"Did, hey?"  The Captain inwardly vowed vengeance on his chum's
grandnephew.  "Hope he gave us a clean bill."

"Well, he didn't say nothin' against you, if that's what you mean.
If he had, I don't think it would have made much diff'rence.  I've
lived long enough to want to find out things for myself, and not
take folks' say-so."

The lady seeming to expect some sort of answer to this statement,
Captain Eri expressed his opinion that the plan of finding out
things for one's self was a good "idee."  Then, after another
fidgety silence, he observed that it was a fine evening.  There
being no dispute on this point, he endeavored to think of something
else to say.  Mrs. Snow, however, saved him the trouble.

"Cap'n Hedge," she said, "as I'm here on what you might call a
bus'ness errand, and as I've been waitin' pretty nigh two hours
already, p'raps we'd better talk about somethin' besides fine
evenin's.  I've got to be lookin' up a hotel or boardin' house or
somewheres to stay to-night, and I can't wait much longer.  I jedge
you got my letter and was expectin' me.  Now, if it ain't askin'
too much, I'd like to know where Cap'n Burgess is, and why he
wa'n't at the depot to meet me."

This was a leading question, and the Captain was more embarrassed
than ever.  However, he felt that something had to be done and that
it was wisest to get it over with as soon as possible.

"Well, ma'am," he said, "we--we got your letter all right, and, to
tell you the truth, we was at the depot--Perez and me and Jerry."

"You WAS!  Well, then, for the land of goodness, why didn't you let
me know it?  Such a time as I had tryin' to find out where you
lived and all!"

The Captain saw but one plausible explanation, and that was the
plain truth.  Slowly he told the story of the colored woman and the
extension case.  The widow laughed until her spectacles fell off.

"Well, there!" she exclaimed.  "If that don't beat all!  I don't
blame Cap'n Burgess a mite.  Poor thing!  I guess I'd have run,
too, if I'd have seen that darky.  She was settin' right in the
next seat to me, and she had a shut-over bag consid'rable like
mine, and when she got up to git out, she took mine by mistake.  I
was a good deal put out about it, and I expect I talked to her like
a Dutch uncle when I caught up with her.  Dear! dear!  Where is
Cap'n Burgess?"

"He's shut up in a fish shanty down the road, and he's so upsot
that I dunno's he'll stir from there tonight.  Jerry ain't
prejudiced, but that darky was too much for him."

And then they both laughed, the widow because of the ludicrous
nature of the affair and the Captain because of the relief that the
lady's acceptance of it afforded his mind.

Mrs. Snow was the first to become grave.  "Cap'n Hedge," she said,
"there's one or two things I must say right here.  In the first
place, I ain't in the habit of answerin' advertisements from folks
that wants to git married; I ain't so hard up for a man as all that
comes to.  Next thing, I didn't come down here with my mind made up
to marry Cap'n Burgess, not by no means.  I wanted to see him and
talk with him, and tell him jest all about how things was with me
and find out about him and then--why, if everything was shipshape,
I might, p'raps, think about--"

"Jest so, ma'am, jest so," broke in her companion.  "That's about
the way we felt.  You see, there's prob'ly a long story on both
sides, and if you'll excuse me I'll go down to the shanty and see
if I can't git Jerry up here.  It'll be a job, I'm 'fraid, but--"

"No, you shan't either.  I'll tell you what we'll do.  It's awful
late now and I must be gittin' up to the tavern.  S'pose, if
'tain't too much trouble, you walk up there with me and I'll stay
there to-night and to-morrer I'll come down here, and we'll all
have a common-sense talk.  P'raps by that time your friend 'll have
the darky woman some off his mind, too."

Needless to say Captain Eri agreed to this plan with alacrity.  The
widow carefully tied on a black, old-fashioned bonnet, picked up a
fat, wooden-handled umbrella and the extension case, and said that
she was ready.

They walked up the road together, the Captain carrying the
extension case.  They talked, but not of matrimonial prospects.
Mrs. Snow knew almost as much about the sea and the goings and
comings thereon as did her escort, and the conversation was salty
in the extreme.  It developed that the Nantucket lady had a distant
relative who was in the life-saving service at Cuttyhunk station,
and as the Captain knew every station man for twenty miles up and
down the coast, wrecks and maritime disasters of all kinds were
discussed in detail.

At the Traveler's Rest Mrs. Snow was introduced by the unblushing
Eri as a cousin from Provincetown, and, after some controversy
concerning the price of board and lodging, she was shown up to her
room.  Captain Eri walked home, absorbed in meditation.  Whatever
his thoughts were they were not disagreeable, for he smiled and
shook his head more than once, as if with satisfaction.  As he
passed John Baxter's house he noticed that the light in the upper
window was still burning.

Captain Perez was half asleep when Eri opened the door of the
shanty.  Captain Jerry, however, was very much awake and demanded
to be told things right away.  His friend briefly explained the
situation.

"I don't care if she stays here till doomsday," emphatically
declared the disgruntled one, "I shan't marry her.  What's she
like, anyhow?"

He was surprised at the enthusiasm of Captain Eri's answer.

"She's a mighty good woman; that's what I think she is, and she'd
make a fust-class wife for any man.  I hope you'll say so, too,
when you see her.  There ain't nothin' hity-tity about her, but
she's got more common-sense than any woman I ever saw.  But there!
I shan't talk another bit about her to-night.  Come on home and
turn in."

And go home and turn in they did, but not without protestation from
the pair who had yet to meet the woman from Nantucket.



CHAPTER VI

THE SCHOOLHOUSE BELL RINGS


"All hands on deck!  Turn out there!  Turnout!"

Captain Eri grunted and rolled over in his bed; for a moment or two
he fancied himself back in the fo'castle of the Sea Mist, the bark
in which he had made his first voyage.  Then, as he grew wider
awake, he heard, somewhere in the distance, a bell ringing
furiously.

"Turn out, all hands!  Turn out!"

Captain Eri sat up.  That voice was no part of a dream.  It
belonged to Captain Jerry, and the tone of it meant business.  The
bell continued to ring.

"Aye, aye, Jerry!  What's the matter?" he shouted.

"Fire!  There's a big fire up in the village.  Look out of the
window, and you can see.  They're ringing the schoolhouse bell;
don't you hear it?"

The Captain, wide awake enough by this time, jumped out of bed,
carrying the blankets with him, and ran to the window.  Opening it,
he thrust out his head.  The wind had changed to the eastward, and
a thick fog had come in with it.  The house was surrounded by a
wet, black wall, but off to the west a red glow shone through it,
now brighter and now fainter.  The schoolhouse bell was turning
somersaults in its excitement.

Only once, since Captain Jerry had been janitor, had the
schoolhouse bell been rung except in the performance of its regular
duties.  That once was on a night before the Fourth of July, when
some mischievous youngsters climbed in at a window and proclaimed
to sleeping Orham that Young America was celebrating the
anniversary of its birth.  Since then, on nights before the Fourth,
Captain Jerry had slept in the schoolhouse, armed with a horsewhip
and an ancient navy revolver.  The revolver was strictly for show,
and the horsewhip for use, but neither was called into service, for
even if some dare-devil spirits did venture near the building, the
Captain's snores, as he slumbered by the front door, were danger
signals that could not be disregarded.

But there was no flavor of the Fourth in the bell's note this
night.  Whoever the ringer might be, he was ringing as though it
was his only hope for life, and the bell swung back and forth
without a pause.  The red glow in the fog brightened again as the
Captain gazed at it.

Captain Jerry came tumbling up the stairs, breathless and half
dressed.

"Where do you make it out to be?" he panted.

"Somewhere's nigh the post-office.  Looks 's if it might be Weeks's
store.  Where's Perez?"

Captain Eri had lighted a lamp and was pulling on his boots, as he
spoke.

"Here I be!" shouted the missing member of the trio from the dining
room below.  "I'm all ready.  Hurry up, Eri!"

Captain Eri jumped into his trousers, slipped into a faded pea-
jacket and clattered downstairs, followed by the wildly excited
Jerry.

"Good land, Perez!" he cried, as he came into the dining room, "I
thought you said you was all ready!"

Captain Perez paused in the vain attempt to make Captain Jerry's
hat cover his own cranium and replied indignantly, "Well, I am,
ain't I?"

"Seems to me I'd put somethin' on my feet besides them socks, if I
was you.  You might catch cold."

Perez glanced down at his blue-yarn extremities in blank
astonishment.  "Well, now," he exclaimed, "if I hain't forgot my
boots!"

"Well, git 'em on, and be quick.  There's your hat.  Give Jerry
his."

The excited Perez vanished through the door of his chamber, and
Captain Eri glanced at the chronometer; the time was a quarter
after two.

They hurried out of the door and through the yard.  The wind, as
has been said, was from the east, but there was little of it and,
except for the clanging of the bell, the night was very still.  The
fog was heavy and wet, and the trees and bushes dripped as if from
a shower.  There was the salt smell of the marshes in the air, and
the hissing and splashing of the surf on the outer beach were
plainly to be heard.  Also there was the clicking sound of oars in
row-locks.

"Somebody is comin' over from the station," gasped Captain Jerry.
"Don't run so, Eri.  It's too dark.  I've pretty nigh broke my neck
already."

They passed the lily pond, where the frogs had long since adjourned
their concert and gone to bed, dodged through the yard of the
tightly shuttered summer hotel, and came out at the corner of the
road, having saved some distance by the "short-cut."

"That ain't Weeks's store," declared Captain Perez, who was in the
lead.  "It's Web Saunders's place; that's what it is."

Captain Eri paused and looked over to the left in the direction of
the Baxter homestead.  The light in the window was still burning.

They turned into the "main road" at a dog trot and became part of a
crowd of oddly dressed people, all running in the same direction.

"Web's place, ain't it?" asked Eri of Seth Wingate, who was
lumbering along with a wooden bucket in one hand and the pitcher of
his wife's best washstand set in the other.

"Yes," breathlessly answered Mr. Wingate, "and it's a goner, they
tell me.  Every man's got to do his part if they're going to save
it.  I allers said we ought to have a fire department in this
town."

Considering that Seth had, for the past eight years, persistently
opposed in town-meeting any attempt to purchase a hand engine, this
was a rather surprising speech, but no one paid any attention to it
then.

The fire was in the billiard saloon sure enough, and the back
portion of the building was in a blaze when they reached it.
Ladders were placed against the eaves, and a line of men with
buckets were pouring water on the roof.  The line extended to the
town pump, where two energetic youths in their shirtsleeves were
working the handle with might and main.  The houses near at hand
were brilliantly illuminated, and men and women were bringing water
from them in buckets, tin pails, washboilers, and even coalscuttles.

Inside the saloon another hustling crowd was busily working to
"save" Mr. Saunders' property.  A dozen of the members had turned
the biggest pool table over on its back and were unscrewing the
legs, heedless of the fact that to attempt to get the table through
the front door was an impossibility and that, as the back door was
in the thickest of the fire, it, too, was out of the question.  A
man appeared at the open front window of the second story with his
arms filled with bottles of various liquids, "original packages"
and others.  These, with feverish energy, he threw one by one into
the street, endangering the lives of everyone in range and, of
course, breaking every bottle thrown.  Some one of the cooler heads
calling his attention to these facts, he retired and carefully
packed all the empty bottles, the only ones remaining, into a peach
basket and tugged the latter downstairs and to a safe place on a
neighboring piazza.  Then he rested from his labors as one who had
done all that might reasonably be expected.

Mr. Saunders himself, lightly attired in a nightshirt tucked into a
pair of trousers, was rushing here and there, now loudly demanding
more water, and then stopping to swear at the bottle-thrower or
some other enthusiast.  "Web's" smoothness was all gone, and the
language he used was, as Abigail Mullett said afterward, "enough to
bring down a jedgment on anybody."

Captain Eri caught him by the sleeve as he was running past and
inquired, "How'd it start, Web?"

"How'd it START?  I know mighty well HOW it started, and 'fore I
git through I'll know WHO started it.  Somebody 'll pay for this,
now you hear me!  Hurry up with the water, you--"

He tore frantically away to the pump and the three captains joined
the crowd of volunteer firemen.  Captain Eri, running round to the
back of the building, took in the situation at once.  Back of the
main portion of the saloon was an ell, and it was in this ell that
the fire had started.  The ell, itself, was in a bright blaze, but
the larger building in front was only just beginning to burn.  The
Captain climbed one of the ladders to the roof and called to the
men at work there.

"That shed's gone, Ben," he said.  "Chuck your water on the main
part here.  Maybe, if we had some ropes we might be able to pull
the shed clear, and then we could save the rest."

"How'd you fasten the ropes?" was the panted reply.  "She's all
ablaze, and a rope would burn through in a minute if you tied it
anywheres."

"Git some grapples and anchors out of Rogers' shop.  He's got a
whole lot of 'em.  Keep on with the water bus'ness.  I'll git the
other stuff."

He descended the ladder and explained his idea to the crowd below.
There was a great shout and twenty men and boys started on a run
after ropes, while as many more stormed at the door of Nathaniel
Rogers' blacksmith shop.  Rogers was the local dealer in anchors
and other marine ironwork.  The door of the shop was locked and
there was a yell for axes to burst it open.

Then arose an agonized shriek of "Don't chop! don't chop!" and Mr.
Rogers himself came struggling to the defense of his property.  In
concert the instant need was explained to him, but he remained
unconvinced.

"We can't stay here arguin' all night!" roared one of the leaders.
"He's got to let us in.  Go ahead and chop!  I'll hold him."

"I give you fair warnin', Squealer Wixon!  If you chop that door,
I'll have the law onto you.  I just had that door painted, and--
STOP!  I've got the key in my pocket!"

It was plain that the majority were still in favor of chopping, as
affording a better outlet for surplus energy, but they waited while
Mr. Rogers, still protesting, produced the key and unlocked the
door.  In another minute the greater portion of the ironwork in the
establishment was on its way to the fire.

The rope-seekers were just returning, laden with everything from
clothes-lines to cables.  Half a dozen boat anchors and a grapnel
were fastened to as many ropes, and the crowd pranced gayly about
the burning ell, looking for a chance to make them fast.  Captain
Eri found a party with axes endeavoring to cut a hole through the
side of the saloon in order to get out the pool table.  After some
endeavor he persuaded them to desist and they came around to the
rear and, taking turns, ran in close to the shed and chopped at it
until the fire drove them away.  At last they made a hole close to
where it joined the main building, large enough to attach the
grapnel.  Then, with a "Yo heave ho!" everyone took hold of the
rope and pulled.  Of course the grapnel pulled out with only a
board or two, but they tried again, and, this time getting it
around a beam, pulled a large portion of the shed to the ground.

Meanwhile, another ax party had attached an anchor to the opposite
side, and were making good progress.  In due time the shed yawned
away from the saloon, tottered, and collapsed in a shower of
sparks.  A deluge of water soon extinguished these.  Then everyone
turned to the main building, and, as the fire had not yet taken a
firm hold of this, they soon had it under control.

Captain Eri worked with the rest until he saw that the worst was
over.  Then he began the search that had been in his mind since he
first saw the blaze.  He found Captain Jerry and Captain Perez
perspiringly passing buckets of water from hand to hand in the
line, and, calling them to one side, asked anxiously:

"Have either of you fellers seen John Baxter tonight?"

Captain Perez looked surprised, and then some of the trouble
discernible in Eri's face was apparent in his own.

"Why, no," he replied slowly, "I ain't seen him, now you speak of
it.  Everybody in town's here, too.  Queer, ain't it?

"Haven't you seen him, either, Jerry?"

Captain Jerry answered with a shake of the head.  "But then," he
said, "Perez and me have been right here by the pump ever sence we
come.  He might be 'most anywheres else, and we wouldn't see him.
Want me to ask some of the other fellers?"

"No!" exclaimed his friend, almost fiercely.  "Don't you mention
his name to a soul, nor let 'em know you've thought of him.  If
anybody should ask, tell 'em you guess he's right around
somewheres.  You two git to work ag'in.  I'll let you know if I
want you."

The pair took up their buckets, and the Captain walked on from
group to group, looking carefully at each person.  The Reverend
Perley and some of his flock were standing by themselves on a
neighboring stoop, and to them the searcher turned eagerly.

"Why, Cap'n Eri!" exclaimed Miss Busteed, the first to identify
him, "how you've worked!  You must be tired pretty nigh to death.
Ain't it awful!  But it's the Lord's doin's; I'm jest as sure of
that as I can be, and I says so to Mr. Perley.  Didn't I, Mr.
Perley?  I says--"

"Lookin' for anybody, Cap'n?" interrupted the reverend gentleman.

"No," lied the Captain calmly, "jest walkin' around to git cooled
off a little.  Good-night."

There was the most likely place, and John Baxter was not there.
Certainly every citizen in Orham, who was able to crawl, would be
out this night, and if the old puritan hermit of the big house was
not present to exult over the downfall of the wicked, it would be
because he was ill or because--  The Captain didn't like to think
of the other reason.

Mrs. "Web" Saunders, quietly weeping, was seated on a knoll near
the pump.  Three of the Saunders' hopefuls, also weeping, but not
quietly, were seated beside her.  Another, the youngest of the
family, was being rocked soothingly in the arms of a stout female,
who was singing to it as placidly as though fires were an every
day, or night, occurrence.  The Captain peered down, and the stout
woman looked up.

"Why, Mrs. Snow!" exclaimed Captain Eri.

The lady from Nantucket made no immediate reply.  She rose,
however, shook down the black "alpaca" skirt, which had been folded
up to keep it out of the dew, and, still humming softly to the
child, walked off a little way, motioning with her head for the
Captain to follow.  When she had reached a spot sufficiently remote
from Mrs. Saunders, she whispered:

"How d'ye do, Cap'n Hedge?  I guess the wust is over now, isn't it?
I saw you workin' with them ropes; you must be awful tired."

"How long have you been here?" asked the Captain somewhat
astonished at her calmness.

"Oh, I come right down as soon as I heard the bell.  I'm kind of
used to fires.  My husband's schooner got afire twice while I was
with him.  He used to run a coal vessel, you know.  I got right up
and packed my bag, 'cause I didn't know how the fire might spread.
You never can tell in a town like this.  Ssh'h, dearie," to the
baby, "there, there, it's all right.  Lay still."

"How'd you git acquainted with her?" nodding toward the wife of the
proprietor of the scorched saloon.

"Oh, I see the poor thing settin' there with all them children and
nobody paying much attention to her, so I went over and asked if I
couldn't help out.  I haven't got any children of my own, but I was
number three in a fam'ly of fourteen, so I know how it's done.  Oh!
that husband of hers!  He's a nice one, he is!  Would you b'lieve
it, he come along and she spoke to him, and he swore at her
somethin' dreadful.  That's why she's cryin'.  Poor critter, I
guess by the looks she's used to it.  Well, I give HIM a piece of
my mind.  He went away with a flea in his ear.  I do despise a
profane man above all things.  Yes, the baby's all right, Mrs.
Saunders.  I'm a-comin'.  Good-night, Cap'n Hedge.  I s'pose I
shall see you all in the mornin'.  You ought to be careful and not
stand still much this damp night.  It's bad when you're het up so."

She went back, still singing to the baby, to where Mrs. Saunders
sat, and the Captain looked after her in a kind of amazed fashion.

"By mighty!" he muttered, and then repeated it.  Then he resumed
his search.

He remembered that there had been a number of people on the side of
the burning shed opposite that on which he had been employed, and
he determined to have one look there before going to the Baxter
homestead.  Almost the first man he saw as he approached the dying
fire was Ralph Hazeltine.  The electrician's hands and face were
blackened by soot, and the perspiration sparkled on his forehead.

"Hello, Captain!" he said, holding out his hand.  "Lively for a
while, wasn't it?  They tell me you were the man who suggested
pulling down the shed.  It saved the day, all right enough."

"You look as if you'd been workin' some yourself.  Was you one of
the fellers that got that anchor in on this side?"

"He was THE one," broke in Mr. Wingate, who was standing at
Hazeltine's elbow.  "He waded in with an ax and stayed there till I
thought he'd burn the hair off his head.  Web ought to pay you and
him salvage, Eri.  The whole craft would have gone up if it hadn't
been for you two."

"I wonder if they got that pool table out," laughed Ralph.  "They
did everything but saw it into chunks."

"I never saw Bluey Bacheldor work so afore," commented the Captain.
"I wish somebody'd took a photograph of him.  I'll bet you could
sell 'em round town for curiosities.  Well, I can't be standin'
here."

"If you're going home I'll go along with you.  I may as well be
getting down toward the station.  The excitement is about over."

"I ain't goin' right home, Mr. Hazeltine.  I've got an errand to
do.  Prob'ly I'll be goin' pretty soon, though."

"Oh, all right!  I'll wait here a while longer then.  See you later
perhaps."

The fog had lifted somewhat and as the Captain, running silently,
turned into the "shore road," he saw that the light in the Baxter
homestead had not been extinguished.  The schoolhouse bell had
ceased to ring, and the shouts of the crowd at the fire sounded
faintly.  There were no other sounds.

Up the driveway Captain Eri hurried.  There were no lights in the
lower part of the house and the dining-room door was locked.  The
kitchen door, however, was not fastened and the Captain opened it
and entered.  Shutting it carefully behind him, he groped along to
the entrance of the next room.

"John!" he called softly.  There was no answer, and the house was
perfectly still save for the ticking of the big clock.  Captain Eri
scratched a match and by its light climbed the stairs.  His
friend's room was empty.  The lamp was burning on the bureau and a
Bible was open beside it.  The bed had not been slept in.

Thoroughly alarmed now, the Captain, lamp in hand, went through one
room after the other.  John Baxter was not at home, and he was not
with the crowd at the fire.  Where was he?  There was, of course, a
chance that his friend had passed him on the way or that he had
been at the fire, after all, but this did not seem possible.
However, there was nothing to do but go back, and this time the
Captain took the path across the fields.

The Baxter house was on the "shore road," and the billiard room and
post-office were on the "main road."  People in a hurry sometimes
avoided the corner by climbing the fence opposite the Baxter gate,
going through the Dawes' pasture and over the little hill back of
the livery stable, and coming out in the rear of the post-office
and close to the saloon.

Captain Eri, worried, afraid to think of the fire and its cause,
and only anxious to ascertain where his friend was and what he had
been doing that night, trotted through the pasture and over the
hill.  Just as he came to the bayberry bushes on the other side he
stumbled and fell flat.

He knew what it was that he had stumbled over the moment that he
fell across it, and his fingers trembled, so that he could scarcely
scratch the match that he took from his pocket.  But it was lighted
at last and, as its tiny blaze grew brighter, the Captain saw John
Baxter lying face downward in the path, his head pointed toward his
home and his feet toward the billiard saloon.



CHAPTER VII

CAPTAIN ERI FINDS A NURSE


For a second, only, Captain Eri stood there motionless, stooping
over the body of his friend.  Then he sprang into vigorous action.
He dropped upon his knees and, seizing the shoulder of the
prostrate figure, shook it gently, whispering, "John!  John!"
There was no answer and no responsive movement, and the Captain
bent his head and listened.  Breath was there and life; but, oh, so
little of either!  The next thought was, of course, to run for help
and for a doctor, but he took but a few steps when a new idea
struck him and he came back.

Lighting another match he examined the fallen man hurriedly.  The
old "Come-Outer" lay in the path with his arms outstretched, as if
he had fallen while running.  He was bare-headed, and there was no
sign of a wound upon him.  One coat-sleeve was badly scorched, and
from a pocket in the coat protruded the neck of a bottle.  The
bottle was empty, but its odor was strong; it had contained
kerosene.  The evidence was clear, and the Captain knew that what
he had feared was the truth.

For a moment he stood erect and pondered as to what was best to do.
Whatever it was, it must be done quickly, but if the doctor and
those that might come with him should find the burned coat and the
tell-tale bottle, it were better for John Baxter that consciousness
and life never were his again.  There might, and probably would, be
suspicion; but here was proof absolute that meant prison and
disgrace for a man whom all the community had honored and respected.

Captain Eri weighed the chances, speculated on the result, and then
did what seemed to him right.  He threw the bottle as far away from
the path as he could and then stripped off the coat, and, folding
it into a small bundle, hid it in the bushes near by.  Then he
lifted the limp body, and turned it so that the gray head was
toward the billiard saloon instead of from it.

Perez and Jerry were still busy with the water buckets when their
friend came panting up the knoll to the pump.

"Hello, Eri!" said the former, wiping his forehead with his arm.
"It's 'bout out, ain't it?  Why, what's the matter?"

"Nothin'; nothin' to speak of.  Put down them buckets, and you and
Jerry come with me.  I've got somethin' that I want you to do."

Nodding and exchanging congratulations with acquaintances in the
crowd on the success of the fire-fighting, Captain Eri led his
messmates to a dark corner under a clump of trees.  Then he took
each of them by the arm and whispered sharply:

"Dr. Palmer's somewheres in this crowd.  I want each of you fellers
to go diff'rent ways and look for him.  Whichever one finds him
fust can bring him up to the corner by the post-office.  Whistle
when you git there and the rest of us 'll come.  Don't stop to ask
questions.  I ain't hurt, but John Baxter's had a stroke or
somethin'.  I can't tell you no more now.  Hurry!  And say, don't
you mention to a soul what the matter is."

A sea-faring life has its advantages.  It teaches prompt obedience,
for one thing.  The two mariners did not hesitate an instant, but
bolted in opposite directions.  Captain Eri watched them go, and
then set off in another.  He was stopped every few moments and all
sorts of questions and comments concerning the fire and its cause
were fired at him, but he put off some inquiries with a curt "Don't
know" and others with nods or negatives, and threaded his way from
one clump of townspeople to another.  As he came close to the
blackened and smoking billiard saloon, Ralph Hazeltine caught him
by the arm.

"Hello!" said the electrician.  "Haven't you gone home yet?"

"No, not yit.  Say, I'll ask you, 'cause I cal'late you can keep
your mouth shut if it's necessary:  Have you seen the Doctor
anywheres 'round lately?  He was here, 'cause I saw him when I fust
come."

"Who, Dr. Palmer?  No; I haven't seen him.  Is anyone hurt?  Can I
help?"

"I guess not.  John Baxter's sick, but--oh, Lord!  Here comes
Wingate.  He'll talk for a week."

Seth, panting and excited, was pushing his way toward them,
shouting the Captain's name at the top of his voice.

"Hey, Eri!" he hailed.  "I want to know if you'll sign a petition
to git the town a fire ingyne?  I've been talkin' to a couple of
the s'lectmen and they--"

"Oh, Mr. Wingate," interrupted Ralph, "Mr. Mullett's been looking
for you.  He's over there by the pump, I think."

"Who, Lem Mullett?  Is that so!  He's jest the feller I want to
see.  See you later, Eri."

The Captain grinned appreciatively as the convert to the hand-
engine proposal disappeared.

"That wasn't so bad," he said.  "I'm much obliged.  Hey!  There's
the whistle.  Come on, Mr. Hazeltine, if you ain't in a special
hurry.  Maybe we WILL need you."

They reached the corner by the post-office to find Dr. Palmer, who
had practiced medicine in Orham since he received his diploma,
waiting for them.  Captain Perez, who had discovered the physician
on the Nickerson piazza, was standing close by with his fingers in
his mouth, whistling with the regularity of a foghorn.

"Cut it short, Perez!" commanded Eri.  "We're here now."

"Yes, but Jerry ain't."  And the whistling began again.

"Dry up, for the land's sake!  D'you want to fetch the whole tribe
here?  There's Jerry, now.  Come on, Doctor."

John Baxter was lying just as the Captain had left him, and the
others watched anxiously as the doctor listened at the parted lips,
and thrust his hand inside the faded blue waistcoat.

"He's alive," he said after a moment, "but unconscious.  We must
get him home at once."

"He heard the bell and was runnin' to the fire when he was took,"
said Captain Jerry.  "Run out in his shirt sleeves, and was took
when he got as fur as here."

"That's the way I figger it," said Eri unblushingly.  "Lift him
carefully, you fellers.  Now then!"

"I warned him against over-exertion or excitement months ago," said
the Doctor, as they bore the senseless burden toward the big house,
now as black as the grave that was so near its owner.  "We must
find someone to take care of him at once.  I don't believe the old
man has a relation within a hundred miles."

"Why don't we take him to our house?" suggested Captain Jerry.
"'Twouldn't seem so plaguey lonesome, anyhow."

"By mighty!" ejaculated Captain Eri in astonishment.  "Well, Jerry,
I'll be switched if you ain't right down brilliant once in a while.
Of course we will.  He can have the spare room.  Why didn't I think
of that, I wonder?"

And so John Baxter, who had not paid a visit in his native village
since his wife died, came at last to his friend's home to pay what
seemed likely to be a final one.  They carried him up the stairs to
the spare room, as dismal and cheerless as spare rooms in the
country generally are, undressed him as tenderly as their rough
hands would allow, robed him in one of Captain Jerry's nightshirts--
the buttons that fastened it had been sewed on by the Captain
himself, and were all sizes and colors--and laid him in the big
corded bedstead.  The Doctor hastened away to procure his medicine
case.  Ralph Hazeltine, having been profusely thanked for his
services and promising to call the next day, went back to the
station, and the three captains sat down by the bedside to watch
and wait.

Captain Eri was too much perturbed to talk, but the other two,
although sympathetically sorry for the sufferer, were bursting with
excitement and curiosity.

"Well, if THIS ain't been a night!" exclaimed Captain Jerry.
"Seem's if everything happened at once.  Fust that darky and then
the fire and then this.  Don't it beat all?

"Eri," said Captain Perez anxiously, "was John layin' jest the same
way when you found him as he was when we come?"

"Right in the same place," was the answer.

"I didn't say in the same place.  I asked if he was layin' the same
way."

"He hadn't moved a muscle.  Laid jest as if he was dead."

It will be noticed that Captain Eri was adhering strictly to the
truth.  Luckily, Perez seemed to be satisfied, for he asked no
further questions, but observed, "It's a good thing we've got a
crowd to swear how we found him.  There's a heap of folks in this
town would be sayin' he set that fire if 'twa'n't for that."

"Some of 'em will be sayin' it anyhow," remarked Jerry.

"Some folks 'll say anything but their prayers," snapped Eri
savagely.  "They won't say it while I'm around.  And look here! if
you hear anybody sayin' it, you tell 'em it's a lie.  If that don't
keep 'em quiet, let me know."

"Oh, all right.  WE know he didn't set it.  I was jest sayin'--"

"Well, don't say it."

"My, you're techy!  Guess fires and colored folks don't agree with
you.  What are we goin' to do now?  If John don't die, and the Lord
knows I hope he won't, he's likely to be sick here a long spell.
Who are we goin' to git to take care of him?  That's what I want to
know.  Somebody's got to do it and we ain't fit.  If Jerry 'd only
give in and git married now--"

But Captain Jerry's protest against matrimony was as obstinate as
ever.  Even Perez gave up urging after a while and conversation
lagged again.  In a few minutes the Doctor came back, and his
examination of the patient and demands for glasses of water,
teaspoons, and the like, kept Perez and Jerry busy.  It was some
time before they noticed that Captain Eri had disappeared.  Even
then they did not pay much attention to the circumstance, but
watched the physician at work and questioned him concerning the
nature of their guest's illness.

"D'you think he'll die, Doctor?" inquired Jerry in a hushed voice,
as they came out of the sick room into the connecting chamber.

"Can't say.  He has had a stroke of paralysis, and there seem to be
other complications.  If he regains consciousness I shall think he
has a chance, but not a very good one.  His pulse is a little
stronger.  I don't think he'll die to-night, but if he lives he
will need a good nurse, and I don't know of one in town."

"Nor me neither," said Captain Perez.

"Well, A'nt Zuby might come," suggested Jerry, "but I should hate
to have her nuss me, and as for bein' WELL in a house where she
was--whew!"

"A'nt Zuby!" sneered his messmate.  "If Lorenzo had a fit and they
called A'nt Zuby he'd have another one and die.  A'nt Zuby!  I'd
'bout as soon have M'lissy and be done with it."

"Yes, I don't doubt YOU WOULD," was the anything but gentle retort.

What Perez would have said to this thrust must be surmised, for
just then the dining-room door opened and closed again.

"There's Eri," said Captain Jerry.  Then he added in an alarmed
whisper, "Who on airth has he got with him?"

They heard their friend's voice warning someone to be careful of
the top step, and then the chamber door opened and Captain Eri
appeared.  There were beads of perspiration on his forehead, and he
was carrying a shabby canvas extension-case.  Captain Jerry gazed
at the extension-case with bulging eyes.

Captain Eri put down the extension-case and opened the door wide.
A woman came in; a stout woman dressed in black "alpaca" and
wearing brass-rimmed spectacles.  Captain Jerry gasped audibly.

"Dr. Palmer," said Captain Eri, "let me make you acquainted with
Mrs. Snow of Nantucket.  Mrs. Snow, this is Dr. Palmer."

The Doctor and the lady from Nantucket shook hands, the former with
a puzzled expression on his face.

"Perez," continued the Captain, "let me make you known to Mrs.
Snow--Mrs. Marthy B. Snow,"--this with especial emphasis,--"of
Nantucket.  Mrs. Snow, this is Cap'n Perez Ryder."

They shook hands; Captain Perez managed to say that he was glad to
meet Mrs. Snow.  Captain Jerry said nothing, but he looked like a
criminal awaiting the fall of the drop.

"Doctor," continued the Captain, paying no attention to the signals
of distress displayed by his friend, "I heard you say a spell ago
that John here needed somebody to take care of him.  Well, Mrs.
Snow--she's a--a--sort of relation of Jerry's"--just a suspicion of
a smile accompanied this assertion--"and she's done consid'rable
nussin' in her time.  I've been talkin' the thing over with her and
she's willin' to look out for John till he gits better."

The physician adjusted his eyeglasses and looked the volunteer
nurse over keenly.  The lady paid no attention to the scrutiny, but
calmly removed her bonnet and placed it on the bureau.  The room
was Captain Eri's, and the general disarrangement of everything
movable was only a little less marked than in those of his
companions.  Mrs. Snow glanced over the heap of odds and ends on
the bureau and picked up a comb.  There were some teeth in it, but
they were distant neighbors.

"I don't use that comb very much," said Captain Eri rather
apologetically.  "I gin'rally use the one downstairs."

The new-found relative of Captain Jerry said nothing, but, laying
down the ruin, marched over to the extension-case, opened it, and
took out another comb--a whole one.  With this she arranged the
hair on her forehead.  It, the hair, was parted in the middle and
drawn back smoothly at the sides, and Captain Eri noticed that it
was brown with a little gray in it.  When the last stray wisp was
in place, she turned calmly to the Doctor and said:

"Cap'n Baxter's in here, I s'pose.  Shall I walk right in?"

The man of medicine seemed a little surprised at the lady's command
of the situation, but he said:

"Why, yes, ma'am; I guess you may.  You have nursed before, I think
the Captain said."

"Five years with my husband.  He had slow consumption.  Before that
with my mother, and most of my brothers and sisters at one time or
another.  I've seen consid'rable sickness all my life.  More of
that than anything else, I guess.  Now, if you'll come in with me,
so's to tell me about the medicine and so on."

With a short "Humph!" the physician followed her into the sick
room, while the three mariners gazed wide-eyed in at the door.
They watched, as Doctor Palmer explained medicines and gave
directions.  It did not need an expert to see that the new nurse
understood her business.

When the Doctor came out his face shone with gratification.

"She'll do," he said emphatically.  "If all your relatives are like
that, Cap'n Burgess, I'd like to know 'em; 'twould help me in my
business."  Then he added in response to a question, "He seems to
be a little better just now.  I think there will be no change for a
while; if there should be, send for me.  I'll call in the morning.
Gracious! it's almost daylight now."

They saw him to the door and then came back upstairs.  Mrs. Snow
was busy, arranging the pillows, setting the room in something like
order, and caring for her patient's garments, that had been tossed
helter-skelter on the floor in the hurry of undressing.  She came
to the door as they entered Captain Eri's chamber.

"Mrs. Snow," said the Captain, "you'd better sleep in my room here
long's you stay.  I'll bunk in with Perez downstairs.  I'll git my
dunnage out of here right off.  I think likely you'll want to clean
up some."

The lady from Nantucket glanced at the bureau top and seemed about
to say something, but checked herself.  What she did say was:

"P'raps you'd better introduce me to Cap'n Burgess.  I don't think
we've ever met, if we ARE relations."

Captain Eri actually blushed a little.  "Why, of course," he said.
"Excuse me, ma'am.  Jerry, this is Mrs. Snow.  I don't know what's
got into me, bein' so careless."

The sacrifice shook the nurse's hand and said something, nobody
knew exactly what.  Mrs. Snow went on to say, "Now, I want you men
to go right on to bed, for I know you're all tuckered out.  We can
talk to-morrow--I mean to-day, of course: I forgot 'twas next-door
to daylight now.  I shall set up with Cap'n Baxter, and if I need
you I'll call you.  I'll call you anyway when I think it's time.
Good-night."

They protested, of course, but the lady would not listen.  She
calmly seated herself in the rocker by the bed and waved to them to
go, which two of them reluctantly did after a while.  The other one
had gone already.  It would be superfluous to mention his name.

Downstairs again and in Perez' room Captain Eri came in for a
questioning that bade fair to keep up forever.  He shut off all
inquiries, however, with the announcement that he wouldn't tell
them a word about it till he'd had some sleep.  Then he would
explain the whole thing, and they could decide whether he had done
right or not.  There were all sorts of things to be considered, he
said, and they had better take a nap now while they could.

"Well, I'd jest like to ask you this, Eri Hedge," demanded Captain
Jerry.  "What in time did you tell the Doctor that she was a
relation of mine for?  That was a nice thing to do, wa'n't it?
I'll have to answer more fool questions 'bout that than a little.
What sort of a relation shall I tell folks she is?  Jest tell me
that, will you?"

"Oh, tell 'em she's a relation by marriage," was the answer,
muffled by the bed clothes.  "Maybe that 'll be true by the time
they ask you."

"I'll BET it won't!" snorted the rebel.

Captain Perez fell asleep almost immediately.  Captain Jerry, tired
out, did the same, but Captain Eri's eyes did not close.  The surf
pounded and grumbled.  A rooster, early astir, crowed somewhere in
the distance.  Daniel thumped the side of his stall and then
subsided for another nap.  The gray morning light brightened the
window of the little house.

Then Captain Eri slid silently out of bed, dressed with elaborate
precautions against noise, put on his cap, and tiptoed out of the
house.  He walked through the dripping grass, climbed the back
fence and hurried to the hill where John Baxter had fallen.  Once
there, he looked carefully around to be sure that no one was
watching.  Orham, as a rule, is an early riser, but this morning
most of the inhabitants, having been up for the greater part of the
night, were making up lost sleep and the Captain was absolutely
alone.

Assured of this, he turned to the bush underneath which he had
hidden the burned coat, pushed aside the drenched boughs with their
fading leaves and reached down for the tell-tale garment.

And then he made an unpleasant discovery.  The coat was gone.

He spent an agitated quarter of an hour hunting through every clump
of bushes in the immediate vicinity, but there was no doubt of it.
Someone had been there before him and had taken the coat away.



CHAPTER VIII

HOUSEKEEPER AND BOOK AGENT


There was a knock on the door of Captain Perez's sleeping apartment.

"Cap'n Hedge," said Mrs. Snow, "Cap'n Hedge!  I'm sorry to wake you
up, but it's 'most ten o'clock and--"

"What?  Ten o'clock!  Godfrey scissors!  Of all the lazy--I'll be
out in a jiffy.  Perez, turn out there!  Turn out, I tell you!"

Captain Eri had fallen asleep in the rocker where he had seated
himself upon his return from the fruitless search for the coat.
He had had no intention of sleeping, but he was tired after his
strenuous work at the fire, and had dropped off in the midst of
his worry.  He sprang to his feet, and tried to separate dreams
from realities.

"Land of love, Perez!" he ejaculated.  "Here you and me have been
sleepin' ha'f the forenoon.  We'd ought to be ashamed of ourselves.
Let's git dressed quicker 'n chain lightnin'."

"Dressed?" queried Perez, sitting up in bed.  "I should think you
was dressed now, boots and all.  What are you talkin' 'bout?"

The Captain glanced down at his clothes and seemed as much
surprised as his friend.  He managed to pull himself together,
however, and stammered:

"Dressed?  Oh, I'm dressed, of course.  It's you I'm tryin' to git
some life into."

"Well, why didn't you call a feller, 'stead of gittin' up and
dressin' all by yourself.  I never see such a critter.  Where's my
socks?"

To avoid further perplexing questions Captain Eri went into the
dining room.  The table was set, really set, with a clean cloth and
dishes that shone.  The knives and forks were arranged by the
plates, not piled in a heap for each man to help himself.  The
Captain gasped.

"Well, I swan to man!" he said.  "Has Jerry had a fit or what's
struck him?  I ain't seen him do anything like this for I don't
know when."

"Oh, Cap'n Burgess didn't fix the table, if that's what you mean,"
said the new nurse.  "Cap'n Baxter seemed to be sleepin' or in a
stupor like, and the Doctor, when he come, said I might leave him
long enough to run downstairs for a few minutes, so--"

"The Doctor?  Has the Doctor been here this mornin'?"

"Yes, he come 'bout an hour ago.  Now, if you wouldn't mind goin'
up and stayin' with Cap'n Baxter for a few minutes while I finish
gettin' breakfast.  I've been up and down so many times in the last
ha'f hour, I don't know's I'm sartin whether I'm on my head or my
heels."

The Captain went upstairs in a dazed state.  As he passed through
what had been his room he vaguely noticed that the bureau top was
clean, and that most of the rubbish that had ornamented it had
disappeared.

The sick man lay just as he had left him, his white face as
colorless as the clean pillow case against which it rested.
Captain Eri remembered that the pillow cases in the spare room had
looked a little yellow the night before, possibly owing to the fact
that, as the room had not been occupied for months, they had not
been changed.  He reasoned that the improvement was another one of
the reforms instituted by the lady from Nantucket.

He sat down in the rocker by the bed and thought, with a shiver, of
the missing coat.  There were nine chances out of ten that whoever
found it would recognize it as belonging to the old "Come-Outer."
The contents of the pocket would be almost certain to reveal the
secret if the coat itself did not.  It remained to be seen who the
finder was and what he would do.  Meanwhile there was no use
worrying.  Having come to this conclusion the Captain, with
customary philosophy, resolved to think of something else.

Mrs. Snow entered and announced that breakfast was ready and that
he must go down at once and eat it while it was hot.  She, having
breakfasted some time before, would stay with the patient until the
meal was over.  Captain Eri at first flatly declined to listen to
any such arrangement, but the calm insistence of the Nantucket
visitor prevailed as usual.  The Captain realized that the capacity
for "bossin' things," that he had discerned in the letter, was even
more apparent in the lady herself.  One thing he did insist upon,
however, and this was that Mrs. Snow should "turn in" as soon as
breakfast was over.  One of the three would take the watch in the
sick room while the other two washed the dishes.  The nurse was
inclined to balk on the dishwashing proposition, saying that she
could do it herself after she had had a wink or two, but this the
Captain wouldn't hear of.  He went away, however, with an unsettled
conviction that, although he and his partners might wash the
dishes, Mrs. Snow would wash them again as soon as she had an
opportunity.  "She didn't say so, but she sort of looked it," he
explained afterward.

He found his friends seated at the table and feasting on hot
biscuits, eggs, and clear, appetizing coffee.  They greeted him
joyously.

"Hey, Eri!" hailed Captain Perez.  "Ain't this gay?  Look at them
eggs; b'iled jest to a T.  Ain't much like Jerry's h'af raw kind."

"Humph!  You needn't say nothin', Perez," observed Captain Jerry,
his mouth full of biscuit.  "When you was cook, you allers b'iled
'em so hard they'd dent the barn if you'd fired 'em at it.  How's
John, Eri?"

Captain Eri gave his and the Doctor's opinion of his friend's
condition and then said, "Now, we've got to have some kind of a
settlement on this marryin' question.  Last night, when I was up in
the room there, it come acrost me all of a sudden that, from what
I'd seen of this Nantucket woman, she'd be jest the sort of nurse
that John needed.  So I skipped out while you fellers was busy with
the Doctor, found her at the hotel, explained things to her, and
got her to come down.  That's all there is to that.  I ain't made
no arrangement with her, and somethin's got to be done.  What do
you think of her, jedgin' by what you've seen?"

Captain Perez gave it as his opinion that she was "all right," and
added, "If Jerry here wa'n't so pigheaded all at once, he'd marry
her without waitin' another minute."

Eri nodded.  "That's my idee," he said emphatically.

But Captain Jerry was as obstinate as ever.  He simply would not
consider immediate marriage.  In vain his comrades reminded him of
the original compact, and the fact that the vote was two to one
against him; he announced that he had changed his mind, and that
that was all there was about it.

At length Captain Eri lost patience.

"Jerry," he exclaimed, "you remind me of that old white hen we used
to have.  When we didn't want her to set she'd set on anything from
a doorknob to a rock, couldn't keep her off; but when we give in
finally and got a settin' of eggs for her, she wouldn't come nigher
to 'em than the other end of the hen-yard.  Now you might as well
make up your mind that somethin's got to be done.  This Mrs. Snow
ain't nobody's fool.  We put out a bait that anybody with sense
would say couldn't catch nothin' but sculpin, and, by mighty, we
hooked a halibut!  If the woman was anything like what you'd think
she'd be, answerin' an advertisement like that, I'd be the fust to
say let her go, but she ain't; she's all right, and we need her to
nuss John besides."

"Tell you what we might do," said Perez slowly; "we might explain
to her that Jerry don't feel that 'twould be right to think of
marryin' with Cap'n Baxter so sick in the house and that, if she's
willin', we'll put it off till he dies or gets better.  Meantime,
we'll pay her so much to stay here and nuss.  Seems to me that's
about the only way out of it."

So they agreed to lay this proposal before the Nantucket lady,
Captain Jerry reluctantly consenting.  Then Captain Eri took up
another subject.

John Baxter, as has been said, had one relative, a granddaughter,
living somewhere near Boston.  Captain Eri felt that this
granddaughter should be notified of the old man's illness at once.
The difficulty was that none of them knew the young lady's address.

"Her fust name's Elizabeth, same as her mothers was," said Eri,
"and her dad's name was Preston.  They called her Elsie.  John used
to write to her every once in a while.  P'raps Sam would know where
she lived."

"Jest' cause Sam's postmaster," observed Perez, "it don't foller
that he reads the name on every letter that goes out and remembers
'em besides."

"Well, if he don't," said Captain Jerry decidedly, "Mary Emma does.
She reads everything, postals and all."

Miss Mary Emma Cahoon was the assistant at the post-office, and was
possessed of a well-developed curiosity concerning other people's
correspondence.

"Humph!" exclaimed Captain Eri, "that's so.  We'll write the
letter, and I'll ask Mary Emma for the address when I go up to mail
it."

So Captain Perez went upstairs to take Mrs Snow's place as nurse,
while that lady "turned in."  Captain Jerry went into the kitchen
to wash the dishes, and Captain Eri sat down to write the note that
should inform Elizabeth Preston of her grandfather's illness.  It
was a very short note, and merely stated the fact without further
information.  Having had some experience in that line, the Captain
placed very little reliance upon the help to be expected from
relatives.

Dr. Palmer had spread the news as he went upon his round of visits
that morning, and callers began to drop in to inquire after the
sick man.  Miss Busteed was one of the first arrivals, and, as
Captain Eri had seen her through the window, he went upstairs and
took Perez' place as temporary nurse.  To Perez, therefore, fell
the delightful task of entertaining the voluble female for
something like an hour, while she talked fire, paralysis, and
general gossip at express speed.

Ralph Hazeltine came in a little later, and was introduced to Mrs.
Snow, that lady's nap having been but a short one.  Ralph was
favorably impressed with the capable appearance of the new nurse,
and so expressed himself to Captain Eri as they walked together
toward the post-office.

"I like her," he said emphatically.  "She's quiet and sensible and
cheerful besides.  She looks as if trouble didn't trouble her very
much."

"I jedge she's seen enough of it in her time, too," observed the
Captain reflectively.  "Queer thing how trouble acts different on
folks.  Kind of like hot weather, sours milk, but sweetens apples.
She's one of the sweetened kind.  And yet, I cal'late she can be
pretty sharp, too, if you try to tread on her toes.  Sort of a
sweet pickle, hey?" and he laughed.

Miss Cahoon remembered the Preston girl's address.  It was
Cambridge, Kirkland Street, but the number, she did declare, had
skipped her mind.  The Captain said he would chance it without the
number, so the letter was posted.  Then, with the electrician, he
strolled over to inspect the remains of the billiard saloon.

There was a small crowd gathered about the building, prominent
among its members being the "train committee," who were evidently
holding a special session on this momentous occasion.  The busy
"Squealer," a trifle enlivened by some of Mr. Saunders' wet goods
that had escaped the efforts of the volunteer salvage corps, hailed
the new arrivals as brother heroes.

"Well now, Cap'n Eri!" he exclaimed, shaking hands vigorously.
"And Mr. Hazeltine, too!  How're you feelin' after last night?  I
says to Web, I says, 'There's folks in this town besides me that
kept you from losin' the whole thing and you ought to thank 'em,' I
says.  'One of 'em 's Cap'n Eri and t'other one's Mr. Hazeltine.
If we three didn't work, then _I_ don't know,' I says."

"Web found out how the fire started yit?" inquired the Captain with
apparent unconcern.

"No, he hain't for sure.  There was a lot of us thought old Baxter
might have set it, but they tell me it couldn't have been him,
cause he was took down runnin' to the fire.  Web, he's sort of
changed his tune, and don't seem to think anybody set it; thinks it
catched itself."

Mr. Saunders, his smooth self again, with all traces of mental
disturbance gone from his face and all roughness from his tongue,
came briskly up, smiling as if the burning of his place of business
was but a trifling incident, a little annoying, of course, but not
worth fretting about.  He thanked the Captain and Hazeltine
effusively for their service of the previous night, and piled the
weight of his obligations upon them until, as Captain Eri said
afterwards, "the syrup fairly dripped off his chin."  The Captain
broke in upon the sugary flow as soon as he could.

"How d'you think it started, Web?" he asked.

"Well," replied Mr. Saunders slowly, "I kind of cal'late she
started herself.  There was some of the boys in here most of the
evenin', and, jest like's not, a cigar butt, or a match, or
somethin' dropped somewheres and got to smolderin', and smoldered
along till bime-by--puff!"  An expressive wave of a fat hand
finished the sentence.

"Humph!" grunted the Captain.  "Changed your mind sence last night.
Seems to me I heard you then swearin' you knew 'twas set and who
set it."

"Well, ye-es.  I was considerable shook up last night and maybe I
said things I hadn't ought to.  You see there's been a good deal of
hard feelin's towards me in town and for a spell I thought some
feller'd tried to burn me out.  But I guess not; I guess not.  More
I think of it, more I think it catched itself.  Seems to me I
remember smellin' sort of a scorchin' smell when I was lockin' up.
Oh, say!  I was mighty sorry to hear 'bout Cap'n Baxter bein' took
sick.  The old man was dreadful down on liquor, but I laid that to
his religion and never had no hard feelin's against him.  How's he
gittin' along?"

Captain Eri brusquely replied that his friend was "'bout the same,"
and asked if Mr. Saunders intended to rebuild.  "Web" didn't know
just yet.  He was a poor man, didn't carry much insurance, and so
on.  Thought likely he should fix up again if it didn't cost too
much.  Did the Doctor say whether Captain Baxter would pull through
or not?

Captain Eri gave an evasive answer and turned away.  He was silent
for some little time, and when Ralph commented on "Web's" overnight
change of manner, his rejoinder was to the effect that "ile was
bound to rise, but that didn't mean there wa'n't dirty water
underneath."  On the way home he asked Hazeltine concerning the
trouble at the cable station, and how Mr. Langley had treated the
matter.

Ralph replied that Mr. Langley had said nothing to him about it.
It was his opinion that the old gentleman understood the affair
pretty well, and was not disposed to blame him.  As for the men,
they had been as docile as lambs, and he thought the feeling toward
himself was not as bitter as it had been.  All of which his
companion said he was glad to hear.

They separated at the gate, and the Captain entered the house to
find Mrs. Snow wielding a broom and surrounded by a cloud of dust.
Perez was upstairs with the patient, and Captain Jerry, whose
habits had been considerably upset by the sweeping, was out in the
barn.

That evening the situation was explained to Mrs. Snow by Captain
Eri, in accordance with the talk at the breakfast table.  The
lady from Nantucket understood and respected Captain Jerry's
unwillingness to discuss the marriage question while John Baxter's
condition continued critical, and she agreed to act as nurse and
housekeeper for a while, at least, for the sum of six dollars a
week.  This price was fixed only after considerable discussion by
the three mariners, for Captain Eri was inclined to offer eight,
and Captain Jerry but four.

When Ralph Hazeltine called late in the afternoon of the following
day, the dining room was so transformed that he scarcely knew it.
The dust had disappeared; the chronometer was polished till it
shone; the table was covered with a cloth that was snow-white, and
everything movable had the appearance of being in its place.
Altogether, there was an evidence of order that was almost
startling.

Captain Eri came to the door in response to his knock, and grinned
appreciatively at his caller's look of wonder.

"I don't wonder you're s'prised," he said, with a chuckle.  "I
ain't begun to git over it yit, myself, and Lorenzo's so shook up
he ain't been in the house sence breakfast time.  He's out in the
barn, keepin' Dan'l comp'ny and waitin' for the end of the world to
strike, I cal'late."

Ralph laughed.  "Mrs. Snow?" he inquired.

"Mrs. Snow," answered the Captain.  "It beats all what a woman can
do when she's that kind of a woman.  She's done more swabbin' decks
and overhaulin' runnin' riggin' than a new mate on a clipper.  The
place is so all-fired clean that I feel like brushin' myself every
time I go to set down."

"How's Captain Baxter?" asked Hazeltine.

"Seems to be some better.  He come to a little this mornin', and
seemed to know some of us, but he ain't sensed where he is yit, nor
I don't b'lieve he will fur a spell.  Set down and keep me comp'ny.
It's my watch jest now.  Perez, he's over to Barry's; Jerry's up to
the schoolhouse, and Mrs. Snow's run up to the post-office to mail
a letter.  John's asleep, so I can stay downstairs a little while,
long's the door's open.  What's the news uptown?  Web changed his
mind ag'in 'bout the fire?"

It appeared that Mr. Saunders had not changed his mind, at least
so current gossip reported.  And it may be remarked here that,
curiously enough, the opinion that the fire "caught itself" came at
last to be generally accepted in the village.  For some weeks
Captain Eri was troubled with thoughts concerning the missing coat,
but, as time passed, and the accusing garment did not turn up, he
came to believe that some boy must have found it and that it had,
in all probability, been destroyed.  There were, of course, some
persons who still suspected John Baxter as the incendiary, but the
old man's serious illness and respect for his former standing in
the community kept these few silent.  The Baxter house had been
locked up and the Captain had the key.

Hazeltine and his host chatted for a few minutes on various topics.
The gilt titles on the imposing "Lives of Great Naval Commanders,"
having received their share of the general dusting, now shone
forth resplendent, and the Captain noticed Ralph's eye as it
involuntarily turned toward them.

"Noticin' our library?" he chuckled.  "Perez' property, that is.
'Gusty Black talked him into buyin' 'em.  Never met 'Gusty, did
you?  No, I guess likely not.  She lives over to the Neck, and
don't git down to the village much.  'Gusty's what you call a
business woman.  She' always up to somethin' to make a dollar, and
she's as slick a talker as ever was, I guess.  She never give Perez
no rest till he signed the deed for them books.  Told him they'd
give liter'ry tone to the shebang.  Perez started to read 'em out
loud when they fust come, but he had to stop so often to spell out
the furrin names that me and Jerry used to go to sleep.  That made
him mad, and he said, liter'ry tone be durned; he wa'n't goin' to
waste his breath readin' us to sleep; so they've been on the shelf
ever sence."

Ralph laughed.  "So you have book agents, too?" he said.

"Well, we've got 'Gusty," was the reply, "and she's enough to keep
us goin'.  Gits round reg'lar as clockwork once a month to collect
the two dollars from Perez.  It's her day now, and I told Perez
that that was why he sneaked off to Barry's.  You see, 'Gusty's
after him to buy the history of Methuselah, or some old critter,
and he don't like to see her.  She's after me, too, but I'm 'fraid
she don't git much encouragement."

After they had talked a little longer, the Captain seemed to
remember something, for he glanced at his watch and said, "Mr.
Hazeltine, I wonder if I could git you to do me a favor.  I really
ought to go down and see to my shanty.  Ain't been there sence day
afore yesterday, and there's so many boys 'round, I'm 'fraid to
leave it unlocked much longer.  I thought some of the folks would
be back 'fore this, but if you could stay here long enough for me
to run down there a minute or two, I'd be ever so much obliged.
I'll step up and see how John is."

He went upstairs and returned to report that the patient was quiet
and seemed to be asleep.

"If you hear him groan, or anything," he said, "jest come to the
door and whistle.  Whistle anyway, if you want me.  Ain't nobody
likely to come, 'less it's 'Gusty or the Reverend Perley come to
ask 'bout John.  If it's a middlin' good-lookin' young woman with a
satchel, that's 'Gusty.  Don't whistle; tell her I'm out.  I'll be
back in a jiffy, but you needn't tell either of them so unless your
conscience hurts you TOO much."

After the Captain had gone Ralph took down a volume of the "Great
Commanders" and sat down in a chair by the table to look it over.
He was smiling over the gaudy illustrations and flamboyant
descriptions of battles, when there was a step on the walk outside
and knock at the door.  "Which is it," he thought, "'Gusty or the
Reverend?"

Obviously it was Miss Black.  She stood on the mica slab that
formed the step and looked up at him as he swung the door open.
She had a small leather bag in her hand, just as the Captain had
said she would have, but it flashed across Mr. Hazeltine's mind
that the rest of the description was not a fair one; she was
certainly much more than "middlin' good-lookin'!"

"Is Captain Hedge in?" she asked.

Now, from his friend's hints, Ralph had expected to hear a rather
sharp and unpleasant voice,--certain disagreeable remembrances of
former encounters with female book agents had helped to form the
impression perhaps,--but Miss Black's voice was mellow, quiet, and
rather pleasing than otherwise.

"No," said Mr. Hazeltine, obeying orders with exactitude.  "Captain
Hedge is out just now."

"'Gusty"--somehow the name didn't seem to fit--was manifestly
disappointed.

"Oh, dear!" she said, and then added, "Will he be back soon?"

Now this was a question unprovided for.  Ralph stammered, and then
miserably equivocated.  He really couldn't say just when the
Captain would return.

"Oh, dear!" said the young lady again.  Then she seemed to be
waiting for some further observation on the part of the gentleman
at the door.  None being forthcoming, she seemed to make up her
mind to act on her own initiative.

"I think I will come in and wait," she said with decision.  And
come in she did, Mr. Hazeltine not knowing exactly what to do,
under the circumstances.

Now this was much more in keeping with the electrician's
preconceived ideas of a book agent's behavior; nevertheless, when
he turned and found the young lady standing in the middle of the
floor, he felt obliged to be at least decently polite.

"Won't you take a chair?" he asked.

"Thank you," said the caller, and took one.

The situation was extremely awkward, but Ralph felt that loyalty to
Captain Eri forbade his doing anything that might urge the self-
possessed Miss Black to prolong her visit, so for a time he said
nothing.  The young lady looked out of the window and Mr. Hazeltine
looked at her.  He was more than ever of the opinion that the
"middlin'" term should be cut out of her description.  He rather
liked her appearance, so he decided.  He liked the way she wore her
hair; so simple an arrangement, but so effective.  Also he liked
her dress.  It was the first tailor-made walking suit he had seen
since his arrival in Orham.  And worn by a country book agent, of
all people.

Just then Miss Black turned and caught him intently gazing at her.
She colored, apparently with displeasure, and looked out of the
window again.  Mr. Hazeltine colored also and fidgeted with the
book on the table.  The situation was confoundedly embarrassing.
He felt that he must say something now, so he made the original
observation that it had been a pleasant day.

To this the young lady agreed, but there was no enthusiasm in her
tone.  Then Ralph, nervously fishing for another topic, thought of
the book in his hand.

"I was just reading this," he said.  "I found it quite interesting."

The next moment he realized that he had said what, of all things,
was the most impolitic.  It was nothing less than a bid for a
"canvass," and he fully expected to be confronted with the
necessary order blanks without delay.  But, strangely enough, the
book lady made no such move.  She looked at him, it is true, but
with an expression of surprise and what seemed to be amusement on
her face.  He was certain that her lips twitched as she said
calmly:

"Did you?  I am glad to hear it."

This dispassionate remark was entirely unexpected, and the
electrician, as Captain Eri would have said, "lost his bearings"
completely.

"Yes--er, yes," he stammered.  "Very interesting indeed.  I--I
suppose you must take a good many orders in the course of a week."

"A good many ORDERS?"

"Why, yes.  Orders for the books, I mean.  The books--the 'Great
Naval Lives'--er--these books here."

"I beg your pardon, but who do you think I am?"

And it was then that the perception of some tremendous blunder
began to seize upon Mr. Hazeltine.  He had been red before; now, he
felt the redness creeping over his scalp under his hair.

"Why, why, Miss Black, I suppose; that is, I--"

Just here the door opened and Captain Eri came in.  He took off his
cap and then, seeing the visitor, remained standing, apparently
waiting for an introduction.  But the young lady did not keep him
waiting long.

"Are you Captain Eri Hedge?" she asked.

"Yes'm," answered the Captain.

"Oh, I'm SO glad.  Your letter came this morning, and I hurried
down on the first train.  I'm Elizabeth Preston."



CHAPTER IX

ELSIE PRESTON


Perhaps, on the whole, it is not surprising that Captain Eri didn't
grasp the situation.  Neither his two partners nor himself had
given much thought to the granddaughter of the sick man in the
upper room.  The Captain knew that there was a granddaughter, hence
his letter; but he had heard John Baxter speak of her as being in
school somewhere in Boston, and had all along conceived of her as a
miss of sixteen or thereabouts.  No wonder that at first he looked
at the stylishly gowned young woman, who stood before him with one
gloved hand extended, in a puzzled, uncomprehending way.

"Excuse me, ma'am," he said slowly, mechanically swallowing up the
proffered hand in his own mammoth fist, "but I don't know's I jest
caught the name.  Would you mind sayin' it ag'in?"

"Elizabeth Preston," repeated the visitor.  "Captain Baxter's
granddaughter.  You wrote me that he was ill, you know, and I--"

"What!" roared the Captain, delighted amazement lighting up his
face like a sunrise.  "You don't mean to tell me you're 'Liz'beth
Baxter's gal Elsie!  Well!  Well!  I want to know!  If this don't
beat all!  Set down!  Take your things right off.  I'm mighty glad
to see you."

Captain Eri's hand, with Miss Preston's hidden in it, was moving up
and down as if it worked by a clock-work arrangement.  The young
lady withdrew her fingers from the trap as soon as she conveniently
could, but it might have been noticed that she glanced at them when
she had done so, as if to make sure that the original shape
remained.

"Thank you, Captain Hedge," she said.  "And now, please tell me
about grandfather.  How is he?  May I see him?"

The Captain's expression changed to one of concern.

"Why, now, Miss Preston," he said, "your grandpa is pretty sick.
Oh, I don't mean he's goin' to die right off or anything like
that," he added hastily.  "I mean he's had a stroke of palsy, or
somethin', and he ain't got so yit that he senses much of what goes
on.  Now I don't want to frighten you, you know, but really there's
a chance--a leetle mite of a chance--that he won't know you.  Don't
feel bad if he don't, now will you?"

"I knew he must be very ill from your letter," said the girl
simply.  "I was afraid that he might not be living when I reached
here.  They told me at the station that he was at your house and so
I came.  He has been very good to me and I--"

Her voice broke a little and she hesitated.  Captain Eri was a
picture of nervous distress.

"Yes, yes, I know," he said hastily.  "Don't you worry now.  He's
better; the Doctor said he was consid'rably better to-day; didn't
he, Mr. Hazeltine?  Why, what am I thinkin' of?  Let me make you
known to Mr. Hazeltine; next-door neighbor of ours; right acrost
the road," and he waved toward the bay.

Ralph and Miss Preston shook hands.  The electrician managed to
utter some sort of formality, but he couldn't have told what it
was.  He was glad when the Captain announced that, if Mr. Hazeltine
would excuse them, he guessed Miss Preston and he would step
upstairs and see John.  The young lady took off her hat and jacket,
and Captain Eri lighted a lamp, for it was almost dark by this
time.  As its light shone upon the visitor's face and hair the
crimson flush before mentioned circumnavigated the electrician's
head once more, and his bump of self-esteem received a finishing
blow.  That any man supposed to possess two fairly good eyes and a
workable brain could have mistaken her for an Orham Neck book agent
by the name of "'Gusty--'Gusty Black!"  Heavens!

"I'll be down in a few minutes, Mr. Hazeltine," said the Captain.
"Set still, won't you?"

But Mr. Hazeltine wouldn't sit still.  He announced that it was
late and he must be going.  And go he did, in spite of his host's
protestations.

"Look out for the stairs," cautioned the Captain, leading the way
with the lamp.  "The feller that built 'em must have b'lieved that
savin' distance lengthens out life.  Come to think of it, I
wouldn't wonder if them stairs was the reason why me and Jerry and
Perez took this house.  They reminded us so of the shrouds on a
three-master."

Elsie Preston did her best to smile as her companion rattled on in
this fashion, but both the smile and the Captain's cheerfulness
were too plainly assumed to be convincing, and they passed down the
hall in silence.  At the open door of the sick room Captain Eri
paused.

"He's asleep," he whispered, "and, remember, if he wakes up and
doesn't know you, you needn't feel bad."

Elsie slipped by him and knelt by the bed, looking into the white,
old face on the pillow.  Somehow the harsh lines had faded out of
it, and it looked only old and pitiful.

The Captain watched the tableau for a moment or two, and then
tiptoed into the room and placed the lamp on the bureau.

"Now, I think likely," he said in a rather husky whisper, "that
you'd like to stay with your grandpa for a little while, so I'll go
downstairs and see about supper.  No, no, no!" he added, holding up
his hand as the girl spoke some words of protest, "you ain't goin'
nowheres to supper.  You're goin' to stay right here.  If you want
me, jest speak."

And he hurried downstairs and into the kitchen, clearing his throat
with vigor and making a great to-do over the scratching of a match.

Mrs. Snow returned a few minutes later and to her the news of the
arrival was told, as it was also to Perez and Jerry when they came.
Mrs. Snow took charge of the supper arrangements.  When the meal
was ready, she said to Captain Eri:

"Now, I'll go upstairs and tell her to come down.  I'll stay with
Cap'n Baxter till you're through, and then p'raps, if one of you'll
take my place, I'll eat my supper and wash the dishes.  You needn't
come up now.  I'll introduce myself."

Some few minutes passed before Miss Preston came down.  When she
did so her eyes were wet, but her manner was cheerful, and the
unaffected way in which she greeted Captain Perez and Captain
Jerry, when these two rather bashful mariners were introduced by
Eri, won them at once.

The supper was a great success.  It was Saturday night, and a
Saturday night supper to the average New Englander means baked
beans.  The captains had long ago given up this beloved dish,
because, although each had tried his hand at preparing it, none had
wholly succeeded, and the caustic criticisms of the other two had
prevented further trials.  But Mrs. Snow's baked beans were a
triumph.  So, also, was the brown bread.

"I snum," exclaimed Captain Perez, "if I don't b'lieve I'd sooner
have these beans than turkey.  What do you say, Jerry?"

"I don't know but I had," assented the sacrifice, upon whose
countenance sat a placidity that had not been there since the night
of the "matching."  "'Specially if the turkey was like the one we
tried to cook last Thanksgivin'.  'Member that, Eri?"

Captain Eri, his mouth full, grunted an emphatic assent.

"Tell me," said Miss Preston, who had eaten but little, but was
apparently getting more satisfaction from watching her companions,
"did you three men try to keep house here alone?"

"Yes," answered Eri dryly.  "We tried.  First we thought 'twas
goin' to be fine; then we thought we'd like it better after we got
used to it; finally we decided that by the time we got used to it
we'd die, like the horse that was fed on sawdust."

"And so you hired Mrs. Snow to keep house for you?  Well, I don't
see how you could have made a better choice; she's a dear, good
woman; I'm sure of it.  And now I want to thank you all for what
you've done for grandfather.  Mrs. Snow told me all about it;
you've been so kind that I--"

"That's all right! that's all right!" hastily interrupted Captain
Eri.  "Pity if we couldn't help out a shipmate we've sailed with
for years and years.  But you'd ought to have tried some of OUR
cookin'.  Tell her about the sugar cake you made, Perez.  The one
that killed the yaller chicken."

So Captain Perez told it, and then their visitor set them all
laughing by relating some queer housekeeping experiences that she
and a school friend had had while camping at Chautauqua.  Somehow
each one felt at home with her.  As Captain Eri said afterwards,
"She didn't giggle, and then ag'in she didn't talk down at you."

As they rose from the table the young lady asked a question
concerning the location of the hotel.  The Captain made no answer
at the time, but after a short consultation with the remainder of
the triumvirate, he came to her as she stood by the window and,
laying his hand on her shoulder, said:

"Now, Elsie--I hope you don't mind my callin' you Elsie, but I've
been chums with your grandpa so long seems's if you must be a sort
of relation of mine--Elsie, you ain't goin' to no hotel, that is,
unless you're real set on it.  Your grandpa's here and we're here,
and there's room enough.  I don't want to say too much, but I'd
like to have you b'lieve that me and Perez and Jerry want you to
stay right in this house jest as long's you stop in Orham.  Now you
will, won't you?"

And so it was settled, and Captain Perez harnessed Daniel and went
to the station for the trunk.

That evening, just before going to bed, the captains stood by the
door of the sick room watching Elsie and the lady from Nantucket as
they sat beside John Baxter's bed.  Mrs. Snow was knitting, and
Elsie was reading.  Later, as Captain Eri peered out of the dining-
room window to take a final look at the sky in order to get a line
on the weather, he said slowly:

"Fellers, do you know what I was thinkin' when I see them two women
in there with John?  I was thinkin' that it must be a mighty
pleasant thing to know that if you're took sick somebody like that
'll take care of you."

Perez nodded.  "I think so, too," he said.

But if this was meant to influence the betrothed one, it didn't
succeed, apparently, for all Captain Jerry said was:

"Humph!  'Twould take more than that to make me hanker after a
stroke of palsy."



And with the coming of Elsie Preston and Mrs. Snow life in the
little house by the shore took on a decided change.  The Nantucket
lady having satisfied herself that John Baxter's illness was likely
to be a long one, wrote several letters to persons in her native
town, which letters, although she did not say so, were supposed by
the captains to deal with the care of her property while she was
away.  Having apparently relieved her mind by this method, and
evidently considering the marriage question postponed for the
present, she settled down to nurse the sick man and to keep house
as, in her opinion, a house should be kept.  The captains knew
nothing of her past history beyond what they had gathered from
stray bits of her conversation.  She evidently did not consider it
necessary to tell anything further, and, on the other hand, asked
no questions.

In her care of Baxter she was more like a sister than a hired
nurse.  No wife could have been more tender in her ministrations or
more devotedly anxious for the patient's welfare.

In her care of the house, she was neatness itself.  She scoured and
swept and washed until the rooms were literally spotless.  Order
was Heaven's first law, in her opinion, and she expected everyone
else to keep up to the standard.  Captain Perez and Captain Eri
soon got used to the change and gloried in it, but to Captain Jerry
it was not altogether welcome.

"Oh, cat's foot!" he exclaimed one day, after hunting everywhere
for his Sunday tie, and at length finding it in his bureau drawer.
"I can't git used to this everlastin' spruced-up bus'ness.  Way it
used to be, this necktie was likely to be 'most anywheres 'round,
and if I looked out in the kitchen or under the sofy, I was jest as
likely to find it.  But now everything's got a place and is in it."

"Well, that's the way it ought to be, ain't it?" said Eri.  "Then
all you've got to do is look in the place."

"Yes, and that's jest it, I'm always forgittin' the place.  My
shoes is sech a place; my hankerchers is sech a place; my pipe is
sech a place; my terbacker is another place.  When I want my pipe I
look where my shoes is, and when I want my shoes I go and look
where I found my pipe.  How a feller's goin' to keep run of 'em is
what _I_ can't see."

"You was the one that did most of the growlin' when things was the
old way."

"Yes, but jest 'cause a man don't want to live in a pigpen it ain't
no sign he wants to be put under a glass case."

Elsie's influence upon the house and its inmates had become almost
as marked as Mrs. Snow's.  The young lady was of an artistic bent,
and the stiff ornaments in the shut-up parlor and the wonderful
oil-paintings jarred upon her.  Strange to say, even the wax-dipped
wreath that hung in its circular black frame over the whatnot did
not appeal to her.  The captains considered that wreath--it had
been the principal floral offering at the funeral of Captain
Perez's sister, and there was a lock of her hair framed with it--
the gem of the establishment.  They could understand, to a certain
degree, why Miss Preston objected to the prominence given the
spatter-work "God bless our Home" motto, but her failure to enthuse
over the wreath was inexplicable.

But by degrees they became used to seeing the blinds open at the
parlor windows the week through, and innovations like muslin
curtains and vases filled with late wild flowers came to be at
first tolerated and then liked.  "Elsie's notions," the captains
called them.

There were some great discussions on art, over the teacups after
supper.  Miss Preston painted very prettily in water-colors, and
her sketches were received with enthusiastic praise by the captains
and Mrs. Snow.  But one day she painted a little picture of a
fishing boat and, to her surprise, it came in for some rather sharp
criticism.

"That's a pretty picture, Elsie," said Captain Eri, holding the
sketch at arm's length and squinting at it with his head on one
side, "but if that's Caleb Titcomb's boat, and I jedge 'tis, it
seems to me she's carryin' too much sail.  What do you think,
Jerry?"

Captain Jerry took the painting from his friend and critically
examined it, also at arm's length.

"Caleb's boat ain't got no sech sail as that," was his deliberate
comment.  "She couldn't carry it and stand up that way.  Besides,
the way I look at it, she's down by the head more 'n she'd ought to
be."

"But I didn't try to get it EXACTLY right," said the bewildered
artist.  "The boat's sails were so white, and the water was so
blue, and the sand so yellow that I thought it made a pretty
picture.  I didn't think of the size of the sail."

"Well, I s'pose you wouldn't, nat'rally," observed Captain Perez,
who was looking over Jerry's shoulder.  "But you have to be awful
careful paintin' vessels.  Now you jest look at that picture,"
pointing to the glaring likeness of the Flying Duck, that hung on
the wall.  "Jest look at them sails, every one of 'em drawin' fine;
and them ropes, every one in JEST the right place.  That's what I
call paintin'."

"But don't you think, Captain Perez, that the waves in that picture
would be better if they weren't so all in a row, like a picket
fence?"

"Well, now, that ain't it.  That's a picture of the A1 two-masted
schooner Flyin' Duck, and the waves is only thrown in, as you might
say.  The reel thing is the schooner, rigged jest right, trimmed
jest right, and colored jest the way the Flyin' Duck was colored.
You understand them waves was put there jest 'cause there had to be
some to set the schooner in, that's all."

"But you needn't feel bad, Elsie," said Captain Jerry soothingly.
"'Tain't to be expected that you could paint vessels like Eben
Lothrop can.  Eben he used to work in a shipyard up to East Boston
once, and when he was there he had to paint schooners and things,
reely put the paint onto 'em I mean, so, of course, when it come to
paintin' pictures of 'em, why--"

And Captain Jerry waved his hand.

So, as there was no answer to an argument like this, Miss Preston
gave up marine painting for the time and began a water-color of the
house and its inmates.  This was an elaborate affair, and as the
captains insisted that each member of the family, Daniel and
Lorenzo included, should pose, it seemed unlikely to be finished
for some months, at least.

Ralph Hazeltine called on the afternoon following Elsie's arrival,
and Captain Eri insisted on his staying to tea.  It might have been
noticed that the electrician seemed a trifle embarrassed when Miss
Preston came into the room, but as the young lady was not
embarrassed in the least, and had apparently forgotten the
mistaken-identity incident, his nervousness soon wore off.

But it came back again when Captain Eri said:

"Oh, I say, Mr. Hazeltine, I forgot to ask you, did 'Gusty come
yesterday?"

Ralph answered, rather hurriedly, that she did not.  He endeavored
to change the subject, but the Captain wouldn't let him.

"Well, there!" he exclaimed amazedly; "if 'Gusty ain't broke her
record!  Fust time sence Perez was took with the 'Naval Commander'
disease that she ain't been on hand when the month was up, to git
her two dollars.  Got so we sort of reckoned by her like an
almanac.  Kind of thought she was sure, like death and taxes.  And
now she has gone back on us.  Blessed if I ain't disapp'inted in
'Gusty!"

"Who is she?" inquired Mrs. Snow.  "One of those book-agent
critters?"

"Well, if you called her that to her face, I expect there'd be
squalls, but I cal'late she couldn't prove a alibi in court."

Now it may have been Mr. Hazeltine's fancy, but he could have sworn
that there was just the suspicion of a twinkle in Miss Preston's
eye as she asked, innocently enough:

"Is she a young lady, Captain Eri?"

"Well, she hopes she is," was the deliberate answer.  "Why?"

"Does she look like me?"

"Like YOU?  Oh, my soul and body!  Wait till you see her.  What
made you ask that?"

"Oh, nothing!  I was a little curious, that's all.  Have you seen
her, Mr. Hazeltine?"

Ralph stammered, somewhat confusedly, that he hadn't had the
pleasure.  The Captain glanced from the electrician to Miss Preston
and back again.  Then he suddenly realized the situation.

"Ho! ho!" he roared, slapping his knee and rocking back and forth
in his chair.  "Don't for the land's sake tell me you took Elsie
here for 'Gusty Black!  Don't now!  Don't!"

"He asked me if I had taken many orders," remarked the young lady
demurely.

When the general hilarity had abated a little Ralph penitently
explained that it was dark, that Captain Eri had said Miss Black
was young, and that she carried a bag.

"So I did, so I did," chuckled the Captain.  "I s'pose 'twas
nat'ral enough, but, oh dear, it's awful funny!  Now, Elsie, you'd
ought to feel flattered.  Wait till you see 'Gusty's hat, the one
she got up to Boston."

"Am I forgiven, Miss Preston?" asked Hazeltine, as he said good-
night.

"Well, I don't know," was the rather non-committal answer.  "I
think I shall have to wait until I see 'Gusty."

But Mr. Hazeltine apparently took his forgiveness for granted, for
his calls became more and more frequent, until his dropping in
after supper came to be a regular occurrence.  Young people of the
better class are scarce in Orham during the fall and winter months,
and Ralph found few congenial companions.  He liked the captains
and Mrs. Snow, and Elsie's society was a relief after a day with
the operators at the station.  Mr. Langley was entirely absorbed in
his business, and spent his evenings in his room, reading and
smoking.

So September and October passed and November came.  School opened
in October and the captains had another boarder, for Josiah
Bartlett, against his wishes, gave up his position as stage-driver,
and was sent to school again.  As the boy was no longer employed at
the livery stable, Captain Perez felt the necessity of having him
under his eye, and so Josiah lived at the house by the shore, a cot
being set up in the parlor for his use.  His coming made more work
for Mrs. Snow, but that energetic lady did not seem to mind, and
even succeeded in getting the youngster to do a few "chores" about
the place, an achievement that won the everlasting admiration of
Captain Perez, who had no governing power whatever over the boy,
and condoned the most of his faults or scolded him feebly for the
others.

John Baxter continued to waver between this world and the next.  He
had intervals of consciousness in which he recognized the captains
and Elsie, but these rational moments were few and, although he
talked a little, he never mentioned recent events nor alluded to
the fire.

The fire itself became an old story and gossip took up other
subjects.  The "Come-Outers" held a jubilee service because of the
destruction of the saloon, but, as "Web" soon began to rebuild and
repair, their jollification was short-lived.  As for Mr. Saunders,
he was the same unctuous, smiling personage that he had formerly
been.  It was a curious fact, and one that Captain Eri noted, that
he never ceased to inquire after John Baxter's health, and seemed
honestly glad to hear of the old man's improvement.  He asked a
good many questions about Elsie, too, but received little
satisfaction from the Captain on this subject.



CHAPTER X

MATCHMAKING AND LIFE-SAVING


Captain Jerry sat behind the woodshed, in the sunshine, smoking and
thinking.  He had done a good deal of the first ever since he was
sixteen years old; the second was, in a measure, a more recent
acquirement.  The Captain had things on his mind.

It was one of those perfect, springlike mornings that sometimes
come in early November.  The sky was clear blue, and the air was so
free from haze that the houses at Cranberry Point could be seen in
every detail.  The flag on the cable station across the bay stood
out stiff in the steady breeze, and one might almost count the
stripes.  The pines on Signal Hill were a bright green patch
against the yellow grass.  The sea was a dark sapphire, with
slashes of silver to mark the shoals, and the horizon was notched
with sails.  The boats at anchor in front of the shanties swung
with the outgoing tide.

Then came Captain Eri, also smoking.

"Hello!" said Captain Jerry.  "How is it you ain't off fishin' a
mornin' like this?"

"Somethin' else on the docket," was the answer.  "How's matchmakin'
these days?"

Now this question touched vitally the subject of Captain Jerry's
thoughts.  From a placid, easygoing retired mariner, recent events
had transformed the Captain into a plotter, a man with a "deep-laid
scheme," as the gentlemanly, cigarette-smoking villain of the
melodrama used to love to call it.  To tell the truth, petticoat
government was wearing on him.  The marriage agreement, to which
his partners considered him bound, and which he saw no way to
evade, hung over him always, but he had put this threat of the
future from his mind so far as possible.  He had not found orderly
housekeeping the joy that he once thought it would be, but even
this he could bear.  Elsie Preston was the drop too much.

He liked Mrs. Snow, except in a marrying sense.  He liked Elsie
better than any young lady he had ever seen.  The trouble was, that
between the two, he, as he would have expressed it, "didn't have
the peace of a dog."

Before Elsie came, a game of checkers between Perez and himself had
been the regular after-supper amusement.  Now they played whist,
Captain Eri and Elsie against him and his former opponent.  As
Elsie and her partner almost invariably won, and as Perez usually
found fault with him because they lost, this was not an agreeable
change.  But it was but one.  He didn't like muslin curtains in his
bedroom, because they were a nuisance when he wanted to sit up in
bed and look out of the window; but the curtains were put there,
and everybody else seemed to think them beautiful, so he could not
protest.  Captain Perez and Captain Eri had taken to "dressing up"
for supper, to the extent of putting on neckties and clean collars.
Also they shaved every day.  He stuck to the old "twice-a-week"
plan for a while, but looked so scrubby by contrast that out of
mere self-respect he had to follow suit.  Obviously two females in
the house were one too many.  Something had to be done.

Ralph Hazeltine's frequent calls gave him the inspiration he was
looking for.  This was to bring about a marriage between Ralph and
Miss Preston.  After deliberation he decided that if this could be
done the pair would live somewhere else, even though John Baxter
was still too ill to be moved.  Elsie could come in every day, but
she would be too busy with her own establishment to bother with the
"improvement" of theirs.  It wasn't a very brilliant plan and had
some vital objections, but Captain Jerry considered it a wonder.

He broached it to his partners, keeping his real object strictly in
the background and enlarging upon his great regard for Ralph and
Elsie, and their obvious fitness for each other.  Captain Perez
liked the scheme well enough, provided it could be carried out.
Captain Eri seemed to think it better to let events take their own
course.  However, they both agreed to help if the chance offered.

So, when Mr. Hazeltine called to spend the evening, Captain Jerry
would rise from his chair and, with an elaborate cough and several
surreptitious winks to his messmates, would announce that he
guessed he would "take a little walk," or "go out to the barn," or
something similar.  Captain Perez would, more than likely, go also.
As for Captain Eri, he usually "cal'lated" he would step upstairs,
and see how John was getting along.

But in spite of this loyal support, the results obtained from
Captain Jerry's wonderful plan had not been so startlingly
successful as to warrant his feeling much elated.  Ralph and Elsie
were good friends and seemed to enjoy each other's society, but
that was all that might be truthfully said, so far.

Captain Jerry, therefore, was a little discouraged as he sat in the
sunshine and smoked and pondered.  He hid his discouragement,
however, and in response to Captain Eri's question concerning the
progress of the matchmaking, said cheerfully:

"Oh, it's comin' along, comin' along.  Kind of slow, of course, but
you can't expect nothin' diff'rent.  I s'pose you noticed he was
here four times last week?"

"Why, no," said Captain Eri, "I don't know's I did."

"Well, he was, and week a fore that 'twas only three.  So that's a
gain, ain't it?"

"Sartin."

"I didn't count the time he stopped after a drink of water neither.
That wasn't a real call, but--"

"Oh, it ought to count for somethin'!  Call it a ha'f a time.  That
would make four times and a ha'f he was here."

Captain Jerry looked suspiciously at his friend's face, but its
soberness was irreproachable, so he said:

"Well, it's kind of slow work, but, as I said afore, it's comin'
along, and I have the satisfaction of knowin' it's all for their
good."

"Yes, like the feller that ate all the apple-dumplin's so's his
children wouldn't have the stomach-ache.  But say, Jerry, I come
out to ask if you'd mind bein' housekeeper to-day.  Luther Davis
has been after me sence I don't know when to come down to the life-
savin' station and stay to dinner.  His sister Pashy--the old maid
one--is down there, and it's such a fine day I thought I'd take
Perez and Elsie and Mrs. Snow and, maybe, Hazeltine along.
Somebody's got to stay with John, and I thought p'raps you would.
I'd stay myself only Luther asked me so particular, and you was
down there two or three months ago.  When Josiah comes back from
school he'll help you some, if you need him."

Captain Jerry didn't mind staying at home, and so Eri went into the
house to make arrangements for the proposed excursion.  He had some
difficulty in persuading Mrs. Snow and Elsie to leave the sick man,
but both were tired and needed a rest, and there was a telephone at
the station, so that news of a change in the patient's condition
could be sent almost immediately.  Under these conditions, and as
Captain Jerry was certain to take good care of their charge, the
two were persuaded to go.  Perez took the dory and rowed over to
the cable station to see if Mr. Hazeltine cared to make one of the
party.  When he returned, bringing the electrician with him,
Daniel, harnessed to the carryall, was standing at the side door,
and Captain Eri, Mrs. Snow, and Elsie were waiting.

Ralph glanced at the carryall, and then at those who were expected
to occupy it.

"I think I'd better row down, Captain," he said.  "I don't see how
five of us are going to find room in there."

"What, in a carryall?" exclaimed the Captain.  "Why, that's what a
carryall's for.  I've carried six in a carryall 'fore now.  'Twas a
good while ago, though," he added with a chuckle, "when I was
consid'rable younger 'n I am now.  Squeezin' didn't count in them
days, 'specially if the girls wanted to go to camp-meetin'.  I
cal'late we can fix it.  You and me'll set on the front seat, and
the rest in back.  Elsie ain't a very big package, and Perez, he's
sort of injy-rubber; he'll fit in 'most anywheres.  Let's try it
anyhow."

And try it they did.  While it was true that Elsie was rather
small, Mrs. Snow was distinctly large, and how Captain Perez, in
spite of his alleged elasticity, managed to find room between them
is a mystery.  He, however, announced that he was all right,
adding, as a caution:

"Don't jolt none, Eri, 'cause I'm kind of hangin' on the little
aidge of nothin'."

"I'll look out for you," answered his friend, picking up the reins.
"All ashore that's goin' ashore.  So long, Jerry.  Git dap,
Thousand Dollars!"

Daniel complacently accepted this testimony to his monetary worth
and jogged out of the yard.  Fortunately appearances do not count
for much in Orham, except in the summer, and the spectacle of five
in a carryall is nothing out of the ordinary.  They turned into the
"cliff road," the finest thoroughfare in town, kept in good
condition for the benefit of the cottagers and the boarders at the
big hotel.  The ocean was on the left, and from the hill by the
Barry estate--Captain Perez' charge--they saw twenty miles of
horizon line with craft of all descriptions scattered along it.

Schooners there were of all sizes, from little mackerel seiners to
big four- and five-masters.  A tug with a string of coal barges
behind it was so close in that they could make out the connecting
hawsers.  A black freight steamer was pushing along, leaving a
thick line of smoke like a charcoal mark on the sky.  One square-
rigger was in sight, but far out.

"What do you make of that bark, Perez?" inquired Captain Eri,
pointing to the distant vessel.  British, ain't she?"

Captain Perez leaned forward and peered from under his hand.
"French, looks to me," he said.

"Don't think so.  Way she's rigged for'ard looks like Johnny Bull.
Look at that fo'tops'l."

"Guess you're right, Eri, now I come to notice it.  Can you make
out her flag?  Wish I'd brought my glass."

"Great Scott, man!" exclaimed Ralph.  "What sort of eyes have you
got?  I couldn't tell whether she had a flag or not at this
distance.  How do you do it?"

"'Cordin' to how you're brought up, as the goat said 'bout eatin'
shingle-nails," replied Captain Eri.  "When you're at sea you've
jest got to git used to seein' things a good ways off and knowin'
'em when you see 'em, too."

"I remember, one time," remarked Mrs. Snow, "that my brother
Nathan--he's dead now--was bound home from Hong Kong fust mate on
the bark Di'mond King.  'Twas the time of the war and the Alabama
was cruisin' 'round, lookin' out for our ships.  Nate and the
skipper--a Bangor man he was--was on deck, and they sighted a
steamer a good ways off.  The skipper spied her and see she was
flyin' the United States flag.  But when Nate got the glass he took
one look and says, 'That Yankee buntin' don't b'long over that
English hull,' he says.  You see he knew she was English build
right away.  So the skipper pulled down his own flag and h'isted
British colors, but 'twa'n't no use; the steamer was the Alabama
sure enough, and the Di'mond King was burned, and all hands took
pris'ners.  Nate didn't git home for ever so long, and everybody
thought he was lost."

This set the captains going, and they told sea-stories until they
came to the road that led down to the beach beneath the lighthouse
bluff.  The lifesaving station was in plain sight now, but on the
outer beach, and that was separated from them by a two-hundred-yard
stretch of water.

"Well," observed Captain Eri, "here's where we take Adam's bridge."

"Adam's bridge?" queried Elsie, puzzled.

"Yes; the only kind he had, I cal'late.  Git dap, Daniel!  What are
you waitin' for?  Left your bathin' suit to home?"

Then, as Daniel stepped rather gingerly into the clear water, he
explained that, at a time ranging from three hours before low tide
to three hours after, one may reach the outer beach at this point
by driving over in an ordinary vehicle.  The life-savers add to
this time-limit by using a specially built wagon, with large wheels
and a body considerably elevated.

"Well, there now!" exclaimed the lady from Nantucket, as Daniel
splashingly emerged on the other side.  "I thought I'd done about
everything a body could do with salt water, but I never went ridin'
in it afore."

The remainder of the way to the station was covered by Daniel at a
walk, for the wheels of the heavy carryall sank two inches or more
in the coarse sand as they turned.  The road wound between sand
dunes, riven and heaped in all sorts of queer shapes by the wind,
and with clumps of the persevering beach grass clinging to their
tops like the last treasured tufts of hair on partially bald heads.
Here and there, half buried, sand-scoured planks and fragments of
spars showed, relics of wrecks that had come ashore in past
winters.

"Five years ago," remarked Captain Eri, "there was six foot of
water where we are now.  This beach changes every winter.  One good
no'theaster jest rips things loose over here; tears out a big chunk
of beach and makes a cut-through one season, and fills in a deep
hole and builds a new shoal the next.  I've heard my father tell
'bout pickin' huckleberries when he was a boy off where them
breakers are now.  Good dry land it was then.  Hey! there's Luther.
Ship ahoy, Lute!"

The little brown life-saving station was huddled between two sand-
hills.  There was a small stable and a henhouse and yard just
behind it.  Captain Davis, rawboned and brown-faced, waved a
welcome to them from the side door.

"Spied you comin', Eri," he said in a curiously mild voice, that
sounded odd coming from such a deep chest.  "I'm mighty glad to see
you, too?  Jump down and come right in.  Pashy 'll be out in a
minute.  Here she is now."

Miss Patience Davis was as plump as her brother was tall.  She
impressed one as a comfortable sort of person.  Captain Eri did the
honors and everyone shook hands.  Then they went into the living
room of the station.

What particularly struck Mrs. Snow was the neatness of everything.
The brass on the pump in the sink shone like fire as the sunlight
from the window struck it.  The floor was white from scouring.
There were shelves on the walls and on these, arranged in orderly
piles, were canned goods of all descriptions.  The table was
covered with a figured oilcloth.

Two or three men, members of the crew, were seated in the wooden
chairs along the wall, but rose as the party came in.  Captain
Davis introduced them, one after the other.  Perhaps the most
striking characteristic of these men was the quiet, almost bashful,
way in which they spoke; they seemed like big boys, as much as
anything, and yet the oldest was nearly fifty.

"Ever been in a life-saving station afore?" asked Captain Eri.

Elsie had not.  Ralph had and so had Mrs. Snow, but not for years.

"This is where we keep the boat and the rest of the gear," said
Captain Davis, opening a door and leading the way into a large,
low-studded room.  "Them's the spare oars on the wall.  The reg'lar
ones are in the boat."

The boat itself was on its carriage in the middle of the room.
Along the walls on hooks hung the men's suits of oilskins and their
sou'westers.  The Captain pointed out one thing after another, the
cork jackets and life-preservers, the gun for shooting the life
line across a stranded vessel, the life car hanging from the roof,
and the "breeches buoy."

"I don't b'lieve you'd ever git me into that thing," said the
Nantucket lady decidedly, referring to the buoy.  "I don't know but
I'd 'bout as liefs be drownded as make sech a show of myself."

"Took off a bigger woman than you one time," said Captain Davis.
"Wife of a Portland skipper, she was, and he was on his fust v'yage
in a brand-new schooner jest off the stocks.  Struck on the Hog's
Back off here and then drifted close in and struck again.  We got
'em all, the woman fust.  That was the only time we've used the
buoy sence I've been at the station.  Most of the wrecks are too
fur off shore and we have to git out the boat."

He took them upstairs to the men's sleeping rooms and then up to
the little cupola on the roof.

"Why do you have ground-glass windows on this side of the house?"
asked Elsie, as they passed the window on the landing.

Captain Davis laughed.

"Well, it is pretty nigh ground-glass now," he answered, "but it
wa'n't when it was put in.  The sand did that.  It blows like all
possessed when there's a gale on."

"Do you mean that those windows were ground that way by the beach
sand blowing against them?" asked Ralph, astonished.

"Sartin.  Git a good no'therly wind comin' up the beach and it
fetches the sand with it.  Mighty mean stuff to face, sand blowin'
like that is; makes you think you're fightin' a nest of yaller-
jackets."

With the telescope in the cupola they could see for miles up and
down the beach and out to sea.  An ocean tug bound toward Boston
was passing, and Elsie, looking through the glass, saw the cook
come out of the galley, empty a pan over the side, and go back
again.

"Let me look through that a minute," said Captain Eri, when the
rest had had their turn.  He swung the glass around until it
pointed toward their home away up the shore.

"Perez," he called anxiously, "look here quick!"

Captain Perez hastily put his eye to the glass, and his friend went
on:

"You see our house?" he said.  "Yes; well, you see the dinin'-room
door.  Notice that chair by the side of it?"

"Yes, what of it?"

"Well, that's the rocker that Elsie made the velvet cushion for.  I
want you to look at the upper southeast corner of that cushion, and
see if there ain't a cat's hair there.  Lorenzo's possessed to
sleep in that chair, and--"

"Oh, you git out!" indignantly exclaimed Captain Perez,
straightening up.

"Well, it was a pretty important thing, and I wanted to make sure.
I left that chair out there, and I knew what I'd catch if any cat's
hairs got on that cushion while I was gone.  Ain't that so, Mrs.
Snow?"

The housekeeper expressed her opinion that Captain Eri was a
"case," whatever that may be.

They had clam chowder for dinner--a New England clam chowder, made
with milk and crackers, and clams with shells as white as snow.
They were what the New Yorker calls "soft-shell" clams, for a
Fulton Market chowder is a "quahaug soup" to the native of the
Cape.

Now that chowder was good; everybody said so, and if the proof of
the chowder, like that of the pudding, is in the eating of it, this
one had a clear case.  Also, there were boiled striped bass, which
is good enough for anybody, hot biscuits, pumpkin pie, and beach-
plum preserves.  There was a running fire of apologies from Miss
Patience and answering volleys of compliments from Mrs. Snow.

"I don't see how you make sech beach-plum preserves, Miss Davis,"
exclaimed the lady from Nantucket.  "I declare!  I'm goin' to ask
you for another sasserful.  I b'lieve they're the best I ever ate."

"Well, now!  Do you think so?  I kind of suspected that the plums
was a little mite too ripe.  You know how 'tis with beach-plums,
they've got to be put up when they're jest so, else they ain't good
for much.  I was at Luther for I don't know how long 'fore I could
git him to go over to the P'int and pick 'em, and I was 'fraid he'd
let it go too long.  I only put up twenty-two jars of 'em on that
account.  How much sugar do you use?"

There was material here for the discussion that country housewives
love, and the two ladies took advantage of it.  When it was over
the female portion of the company washed the dishes, while the men
walked up and down the beach and smoked.  Here they were joined
after a while by the ladies, for even by the ocean it was as mild
as early May, and the wind was merely bracing and had no sting in
it.

The big blue waves shouldered themselves up from the bosom of the
sea, marched toward the beach, and tumbled to pieces in a roaring
tumult of white and green.  The gulls skimmed along their tops or
dropped like falling stones into the water after sand eels,
emerging again, screaming, to repeat the performance.

The conversation naturally turned to wrecks, and Captain Davis, his
reserve vanishing before the tactful inquiries of the captains and
Ralph, talked shop and talked it well.



CHAPTER XI

HEROES AND A MYSTERY


Luther Davis had been commandant at the life-saving station for
years and "Number One Man" before that, so his experience with
wrecks and disabled craft of all kinds had been long and varied.
He told them of disasters the details of which had been telegraphed
all over the country, and of rescues of half-frozen crews from ice-
crested schooners whose signals of distress had been seen from the
observatory on the roof of the station.  He told of long rows in
midwinter through seas the spray of which turned to ice as they
struck, and froze the men's mittens to the oar-handles.  He told of
picking up draggled corpses in the surf at midnight, when, as he
said, "You couldn't tell whether 'twas a man or a roll of seaweed,
and the only way to make sure was to reach down and feel."

Captain Eri left them after a while, as he had some acquaintances
among the men at the station, and wished to talk with them.  Miss
Davis remembered that she had not fed the chickens, and hurried
away to perform that humane duty, gallantly escorted by Captain
Perez.  The Captain, by the way, was apparently much taken with the
plump spinster and, although usually rather bashful where ladies
were concerned, had managed to keep up a sort of side conversation
with Miss Patience while the storytelling was going on.  But Ralph
and Elsie and Mrs. Snow were hungry for more tales, and Captain
Davis obligingly told them.

"One of the wust wrecks we ever had off here," he said, "was the
Bluebell, British ship, she was: from Singapore, bound to Boston,
and loaded with hemp.  We see her about off that p'int there, jest
at dusk, and she was makin' heavy weather then.  It come on to snow
soon as it got dark, and blow--don't talk!  Seems to me 'twas one
of the meanest nights I ever saw.  'Tween the snow flyin' and the
dark you couldn't see two feet ahead of you.  We was kind of
worried about the vessel all evenin'--for one thing she was too
close in shore when we see her last--but there wa'n't nothin' to be
done except to keep a weather eye out for signs of trouble.

"Fust thing we knew of the wreck was when the man on patrol up the
beach--Philander Vose 'twas--telephoned from the shanty that a
ship's long-boat had come ashore at Knowles' Cove, two mile above
the station.  That was about one o'clock in the mornin'.  'Bout
h'af-past two Sim Gould--he was drownded the next summer, fishin'
on the Banks--telephoned from the shanty BELOW the station--the one
a mile or so 'tother side of the cable house, Mr. Hazeltine--that
wreckage was washin' up abreast of where he was; that was six miles
from where the longboat come ashore.  So there we was.  There
wa'n't any way of tellin' whereabouts she was layin'; she might
have been anywheres along them six miles, and you couldn't hear
nothin' nor see nothin'.  But anyhow, the wreckage kept comin' in
below the cable station, so I jedged she was somewheres in that
neighborhood and we got the boat out--on the cart, of course--and
hauled it down there.

"'Twas a tremendous job, too, that haulin' was.  We had the horse
and the whole of us helpin' him, but I swan! I begun to think we'd
never git anywheres.  'Tween the wind and the sand and the snow I
thought we'd flap to pieces, like a passel of shirts on a clothes
line.  But we got there after a spell, and then there was nothin'
to do but wait for daylight.

"'Bout seven o'clock the snow let up a little bit, and then we see
her.  There was a bar jest about opposite the cable station--it's
been washed away sence--and she'd struck on that, and the sea was
makin' a clean breach over her.  There was a ha'f a dozen of her
crew lashed in the riggin', but I didn't see 'em move, so I presume
likely they was froze stiff then, for 'twas perishin' cold.  But we
wrastled the boat down to the water and was jest goin' to launch
her when the whole three masts went by the 'board, men and all.  We
put off to her, but she was in a reg'lar soapsuds of a sea and
awash from stem to stern, so we knew there was nothin' livin'
aboard.

"Yes, siree," continued the Captain meditatively, "that was a mean
night.  I had this ear frost-bit, and it's been tender ever sence.
One of the fellers had a rib broke; he was a little light chap, and
the wind jest slammed him up against the cart like as if he was a
chip.  And jest to show you," he added, "how the tide runs around
this place, the bodies of that crew was picked up from Wellmouth to
Setuckit P'int--twenty-mile stretch that is.  The skipper's body
never come ashore.  He had a son, nice young feller, that was goin'
to meet him in Boston, and that boy spent a month down here,
waitin' for his father's body to be washed up.  He'd walk up and
down this beach, and walk up and down.  Pitiful sight as ever I
see."

"And they were all lost?" asked Elsie with a shiver.

"Every man Jack.  But 'twas cu'rus about that hemp.  The Bluebell
was loaded with it, as I told you, and when she went to pieces the
tide took that hemp and strung it from here to glory.  They picked
it up all 'longshore, and for much as a month afterwards you'd go
along the 'main road' over in the village, and see it hung over
fences or spread out in the sun to dry.  Looked like all the blonde
girls in creation had had a hair-cut."

"Captain Davis," said Ralph, "you must have seen some plucky things
in your life.  What was the bravest thing you ever saw done?"

The life saver took the cigar that Hazeltine had given him from his
mouth, and blew the smoke into the air over his head.

"Well," he said slowly, "I don't know exactly.  I've seen some
pretty gritty things done 'long-shore here, in the service.  When
there's somebody drowndin', and you know there's a chance to save
'em, you'll take chances, and think nothin' of 'em, that you
wouldn't take if you had time to set down and cal'late a little.  I
see somethin' done once that may not strike you as bein' anything
out of the usual run, but that has always seemed to me clear grit
and nothin' else.  'Twa'n't savin' life neither; 'twas jest a
matter of bus'ness.

"It happened up off the coast of Maine 'long in the seventies.  I
was actin' as sort of second mate on a lumber schooner.  'Twas a
pitch-black night, or mornin' rather, 'bout six o'clock, blowin'
like all possessed and colder 'n Greenland.  We struck a rock that
wa'n't even down on an Eldredge chart and punched a hole in the
schooner's side, jest above what ought to have been the water line,
only she was heeled over so that 'twas consider'ble below it most
of the time.  We had a mean crew aboard, Portugees mainly, and poor
ones at that.  The skipper was below, asleep, and when he come on
deck things was in a bad way.  We'd got the canvas off her, but she
was takin' in water every time she rolled, and there was a sea
goin' that was tearin' things loose in great shape.  We shipped one
old grayback that ripped off a strip of the lee rail jest the same
as you'd rip the edge off the cover of a pasteboard box--never made
no more fuss about it, either.

"I didn't see nothin' to do but get out the boats, but the skipper
he wa'n't that kind.  He sized things up in a hurry, I tell you.
He drove the crew--ha'f of 'em was prayin' to the Virgin and
t'other ha'f swearin' a blue streak--to the pumps, and set me over
'em with a revolver to keep 'em workin'.  Then him and the fust
mate and one or two of the best hands rousted out a spare sail,
weighted one edge of it to keep it down, and got it over the side,
made fast, of course.

"Then him and the mate stripped to their underclothes, rigged a
sort of bos'n's chair over where the hole in the side was, took
hammers and a pocketful of nails apiece, and started in to nail
that canvas over the hole.

"'Twas freezin' cold, and the old schooner was rollin' like a
washtub.  One minute I'd see the skipper and the mate h'isted up in
the air, hammerin' for dear life, and then, swash! under they'd go,
clear under, and stay there, seemed to me, forever.  Every dip I
thought would be the end, and I'd shet my eyes, expectin' to see
'em gone when she lifted; but no, up they'd come, fetch a breath,
shake the salt water out of their eyes, and go to work again.

"Four hours and a quarter they was at it, four hours, mind you, and
under water a good ha'f of the time; but they got that sail nailed
fast fin'lly.  We got 'em on deck when 'twas done, and we had to
carry the fust mate to the cabin.  But the skipper jest sent the
cook for a pail of bilin' hot coffee, drunk the whole of it, put on
dry clothes over his wet flannels, and stayed on deck and worked
that schooner into Portland harbor, the men pumpin' clear green
water out of the hold every minute of the way.

"Now, that always seemed to me to be the reel thing.  'Twa'n't a
question of savin' life--we could have took to the boats and, nine
chances out of ten, got ashore all right, for 'twa'n't very fur.
But no, the skipper said he'd never lost a vessel for an owner yit
and he wa'n't goin' to lose this one.  And he didn't either, by
Judas!  No, sir!"

"That was splendid!" exclaimed Elsie.  "I should like to have known
that captain.  Who was he, Captain Davis?"

"Well, the fust mate was Obed Simmons--he's dead now--but he used
to live over on the road towards East Harniss.  The skipper--well,
he was a feller you know."

"'Twas Cap'n Eri," said Mrs. Snow with conviction.

"That's right, ma'am.  Perez told you, I s'pose."

"No, nobody told me.  I jest guessed it.  I've seen a good many
folks in my time, and I cal'late I've got so I can tell what kind a
man is after I've known him a little while.  I jedged Cap'n Eri was
that kind, and, when you said we knew that skipper, I was almost
sartin 'twas him."

"Well!" exclaimed Ralph, "I don't believe I should have guessed it.
I've always liked the Captain, but he has seemed so full of fun and
so easy-going that I never thought of his doing anything quite so
strenuous."

Captain Davis laughed.  "I've seen fo'mast hands try to take
advantage of that easy-goin' way 'fore now," he said, "but they
never did it but once.  Cap'n Eri is one of the finest fellers that
ever stepped, but you can't stomp on his toes much, and he's clear
grit inside.  And say," he added, "don't you tell anybody I told
that story, for he'd skin me alive if he knew it."

As they walked back toward the station Ralph and Elsie lingered a
little behind the others, and then stopped to watch a big four-
master that, under full sail, was spinning along a mile or two from
the beach.  They watched it for a moment or two without speaking.
Elsie's cheeks were brown from the sun, stray wisps of her hair
fluttered in the wind, and her trim, healthy figure stood out
against the white sandhill behind them as if cut from cardboard.
The electrician looked at her, and again the thought of that
disgraceful "'Gusty" Black episode was forced into his mind.  They
had had many a good laugh over it since, and Elsie had apparently
forgotten it, but he had not, by a good deal.

She was the first to speak, and then as much to herself as to him.

"I think they are the best people I ever knew," she said.

"Who?" he asked.

"Oh, all of them!  The captains and Mrs. Snow, and Captain Davis
and his sister.  They are so simple and kind and generous.  And the
best of it is, they don't seem to know it, and wouldn't believe it
if you told them."

Ralph nodded emphatically.

"I imagine it would take a good deal to convince Davis or any of
these station men that there was anything heroic in their lives,"
he said.  "As for Captain Eri, I have known him only a month or
two, but I don't know of anyone to whom I would rather go if I were
in trouble."

"He has been so kind to grandfather and me," said Elsie, "that I
feel as though we were under an obligation we never could repay.
When I came down here I knew no one in Orham, and he and Captain
Jerry and Captain Perez have made me feel more at home than I have
ever felt before.  You know," she added, "grandfather is the only
relative I have."

"I suppose you will go back to your studies when your grandfather
recovers."

"I don't know.  If grandfather is well enough I think I shall try
to persuade him to come up to Boston and live with me.  Then I
might perhaps teach.  This was to have been my last year at
Radcliffe, so my giving it up will not make so much difference.  Do
you intend to stay here long?  I suppose you do.  Your profession,
I know, means so much to you, and your work at the station must be
very interesting."

"It would be more so if I had someone who was interested with me.
Mr. Langley is kind, but he is so wrapped up in his own work that I
see very little of him.  I took the place because I thought it
would give me a good deal of spare time that I might use in
furthering some experiments of my own.  Electricity is my hobby,
and I have one or two ideas that I am foolish enough to hope may be
worth developing.  I have had time enough, goodness knows, but it's
a lonesome sort of life.  If it had not been for the captains--and
you--I think I should have given it up before this."

"Oh, I hope you won't."

"Why?"

"Why--why, because it seems like running away, almost, doesn't it?
If a thing is hard to do, but is worth doing, I think the
satisfaction IN doing it is ever so much greater, don't you?  I
know it must be lonely for you; but, then, it is lonely for Mr.
Langley and the other men, too."

"I doubt if Mr. Langley would be happy anywhere else, and the other
men are married, most of them, and live over in the village."

Now, there isn't any real reason why this simple remark should have
caused a halt in the conversation, but it did.  Miss Preston said,
"Oh, indeed!" rather hurriedly, and her next speech was concerning
the height of a particularly big wave.  Mr. Hazeltine answered this
commonplace somewhat absent-mindedly.  He acted like a man to whom
a startling idea had suddenly occurred.  Just then they heard
Captain Eri calling them.

The Captain was standing on a sand dune near the station, shouting
their names through a speaking trumpet formed by placing his hands
about his mouth.  As the pair came strolling toward him, he shifted
his hands to his trousers pockets and stood watching the young
couple with a sort of half smile.

"I s'pose if Jerry was here now," he mused, "he'd think his scheme
was workin'.  Well, maybe 'tis, maybe 'tis.  You can't never tell.
Well, I swan!"

The exclamation was called forth by the sight of Captain Perez and
Miss Patience, who suddenly came into view around the corner of the
station.  The Captain was gallantly assisting his companion over
the rough places in the path, and she was leaning upon his arm in a
manner that implied implicit confidence.  Captain Eri glanced from
one couple to the other, and then grinned broadly.  The grin had
not entirely disappeared when Captain Perez came up, and the latter
rather crisply asked what the joke was.

"Oh, nothin'!" was the reply.  "I was jest thinkin' we must be
playin' some kind of a game, and I was It."

"It?" queried Miss Patience, puzzled.

"Why, yes.  I'm kinder like 'Rastus Bailey used to be at the dances
when you and me was younger, Perez.  Old man Alexander--he was the
fiddler--used to sing out 'Choose partners for Hull's Vict'ry,' or
somethin' like that, and it always took 'Ras so long to make up his
mind what girl to choose that he gin'rally got left altogether.
Then he'd set on the settee all through the dance and say he never
cared much for Hull's Vict'ry, anyway.  Seems to me, I'm the only
one that ain't choosed partners.  How 'bout it, Perez?"

"More fool you, that's all I've got to say," replied Captain Perez
stoutly.

Miss Patience laughed so heartily at this rejoinder that Perez
began to think he had said a very good thing indeed, and so
repeated it for greater effect.

"You want to look out for him, Miss Davis," said Captain Eri.
"He's the most fascinatin' youngster of his age I ever see.  Me and
Jerry's been thinkin' we'd have to build a fence 'round the house
to keep the girls away when he's home.  Why, M'lissy Busteed
fairly--"

"Oh, give us a rest, Eri!" exclaimed Perez, with even more
indignation than was necessary.  "M'lissy Busteed!"

Just then Ralph and Elsie came up, and Captain Eri explained that
he had hailed them because it was time to be going if they wanted
to get across to the mainland without swimming.  They walked around
to the back door of the station and there found Mrs. Snow and
Captain Davis by the hen-yard.  The lady from Nantucket had
discovered a sick chicken in the collection, and she was holding it
in her lap and at the same time discoursing learnedly on the
relative value of Plymouth Rocks and Rhode Island Reds, as layers.

"See there!" exclaimed Captain Eri delightedly, pointing to the
suffering pullet, "what did I tell you?  D'you wonder we picked her
out for nuss for John, Luther?  Even a sick hen knows enough to go
to her."

They harnessed Daniel to the carryall, and stowed the living
freight aboard somehow, although Captain Perez protested that he
had eaten so much dinner he didn't know's he'd be able to hang on
the way he did coming down.  Then they said farewell to Captain
Davis and his sister and started for home.  The members of the
crew, such of them as were about the station, waved good-by to them
as they passed.

"Things kind of average up in this world, don't they?" said Captain
Eri reflectively, as he steered Daniel along the soft beach toward
the ford.  "We're all the time readin' 'bout fellers that work for
the Gov'ment gittin' high sal'ries and doin' next to nothin'.  Now
there's a gang--the life-savin' crew, I mean--that does what you
and me would call almighty hard work and git next to nothin' for
it.  Uncle Sam gits square there, it seems to me.  A few dollars a
month and find yourself ain't gilt-edged wages for bein' froze and
drownded and blown to pieces ten months out of the year, is it?"

The tide was higher when they came to the crossing than it had been
when they drove over before, but they made the passage all right,
although there was some nervousness displayed by the feminine
portion of the party.  When they reached home they found Captain
Jerry contentedly smoking his pipe, the sick man was asleep, and
everything was serene.  Josiah appeared from behind the barn, where
he had been smoking a cigarette.

They pressed Mr. Hazeltine to stay to supper, but he declined,
alleging that he had been away from business too long already.  He
had been remarkably silent during the homeward ride, and Elsie,
too, had seemed busy with her thoughts.  She was full of fun at the
supper table, however, and the meal was a jolly one.  Just as it
was finished Captain Jerry struck the table a bang with his palm
that made the knives and forks jump, and so startled Captain Perez
as to cause him to spill half a cup of tea over his shirt bosom.

"Land of love!" ejaculated the victim, mopping his chin and his tie
with his napkin.  "It's bad enough to scare a feller to death, let
alone drowndin' and scaldin' him at the same time.  What did you do
that for?"

"I jest thought of somethin'," exclaimed Captain Jerry, going
through one pocket after the other.

"Well, I wish you'd have your thinkin' fits in the barn or
somewheres else next time.  I put this shirt on clean this mornin'
and now look at it!"

His friend was too busy to pay any attention to this advice.  The
pocket search apparently being unsatisfactory, he rose from the
table and hurriedly made a round of the room, looking on the
mantelpiece and under chairs.

"I had it when I come in," he soliloquized.  "I know I did, 'cause
I was wearin' it when I went out to see to the hens.  I don't see
where--"

"If it's your hat you're looking for," observed Josiah, "I saw Mrs.
Snow hang it up on the nail behind the door.  There it is now."

The reply to this was merely a grunt, which may, or may not have
expressed approval.  At any rate, the hat was apparently the object
of his search, for he took it from the nail, looked inside, and
with a sigh of relief took out a crumpled envelope.

"I knew I put it somewheres," he said.  "It's a letter for you,
Elsie.  Josiah, here, he brought it down from the post-office when
he come from school this afternoon.  I meant to give it to you
afore."

Captain Eri, who sat next to the young lady, noticed that the
envelope was addressed in an irregular, sprawling hand to "Miss
Elizabeth Preston, Orham, Mass."  Elsie looked it over in the
absent way in which so many of us examine the outside of a letter
which comes unexpectedly.

"I wonder who it is from," she said.

She did not open it at once, but, tucking it into her waist,
announced that she must run upstairs, in order that Mrs. Snow might
come down to supper.  The housekeeper did come down a few minutes
later, and, as she was interested to know more about Luther Davis
and his sister, the talk became animated and general.

It was after eight o'clock when Mrs. Snow, having finished washing
the dishes--she allowed no one to assist her in this operation
since the time when she caught Captain Jerry absent-mindedly using
the dust rag instead of the dishcloth--went upstairs to her
patient.  Shortly afterward Elsie came down, wearing her hat and
jacket.

"I'm going out for a little while," she said.  "No, I don't want
anyone to go with me.  I'll be back soon."

Her back was turned to the three captains as she spoke, but, as she
opened the door, the lamplight shone for an instant on her face,
and Captain Eri noticed, or fancied that he did, that she was paler
than usual.  He rose, and again offered to accompany her, but met
with such a firm refusal that he could not insist further.

"Now, that's kind of funny, ain't it?" remarked Perez.  "I don't
b'lieve she's been out alone afore after dark sence she's been
here."

"Where did you git that letter, Josiah?" asked Captain Eri.

It may as well be explained here that Captain Perez' grand-nephew
was a thorn in the flesh to everyone, including his indulgent
relative.  He was a little afraid of Mrs. Snow, and obeyed her
better than he did anyone else, but that is not saying a great
deal.  He was in mischief in school two-thirds of the time, and his
reports, made out by the teacher, were anything but complimentary.
He was a good-looking boy, the image of his mother, who had been
her uncle's favorite, and he was popular with a certain class of
youngsters.  Also, and this was worse, his work at the livery
stable had thrown him in contact with a crowd of men like
"Squealer" Wixon, "Web" Saunders, and others of their class, and
they appreciated his New York street training and made much of him.
Captain Perez, mindful of his promise to the boy's mother, did not
use the necessary measures to control him, and Captain Eri and
Captain Jerry did not like to interfere.

Just now he was seated in the corner, and he looked up with a
start, hurriedly folded up the tattered paper book he was reading,
stuffed it into his pocket, and said, "What?"

"Who give you that letter that come for Elsie?"

"Miss Cahoon up at the office.  It was in our box," said the boy.

"Humph!  What are you readin' that's so interestin'?"

"Oh, nothin'.  A book, that's all."

"Let me look at it."

Josiah hesitated, looked as if he would like to refuse, and then
sullenly took the ragged volume from his pocket and handed it to
the Captain, who deliberately unfolded it, and looked at the cover.

"'Fightin' Fred Starlight, the Boy Rover of the Pacific,'" he read
aloud.  "Humph!  Is it good?"

"Bet your life!  It's a red-hot story."

"I want to know!  Who was Mr. Moonshine--what's his name--Starlight?"

"He was a sailor," was the sulky answer.  Josiah was no fool, and
knew when he was being made fun of.

The Captain opened the book, and read a page or two to himself.
Then he said, "I see he knocked the skipper down 'cause he insulted
him.  Nice, spunky chap; I'd like to have had him aboard a vessel
of mine.  And he called the old man a 'caitiff hound'?  Awful thing
to call a feller, that is.  I'll bet that skipper felt ashamed.
Looks like a good book.  I'll borrow it to-night to read while
you're doin' your lessons."

"I ain't got any lessons to do."

"Oh, ain't you?  I thought that was a 'rithmetic over there."

"Well, I know 'em now.  Besides, you ain't got any right to order
me around.  You ain't my uncle.  Can't I read that book, Uncle
Perez?"

Poor Perez!  He hesitated, swallowed once or twice, and answered,
"You can read it after you've studied a spell.  You'll let him have
it then, won't you, Eri?  Now study, like a good boy."

Captain Eri looked as if he would like to say something further,
but he evidently thought better of it, and tossed the paper novel
across to Captain Perez, who put it on the table, saying, rather
feebly:

"There now, it's right there, where you can have it soon's you've
l'arned your examples.  Now pitch in, so's the teacher can see how
smart you are."

His nephew grumblingly got his paper and pencil, took the
arithmetic and went to work.  No one spoke for a while, Captain
Perez twirling his thumbs and looking, as he felt, uncomfortable.
Soon Josiah, announcing that his studies were completed, grabbed
the novel from the table, took a lamp from the kitchen and went off
to bed.  When he had gone Captain Jerry said, "Perez, you're
sp'ilin' that boy."

"I s'pose I am, I s'pose I am, but I can't bear to be cross to him,
somehow.  Poor Lizzie, she made me promise I wouldn't be, and I
jest can't; that's all.  You understand how 'tis, don't you, Eri?"

The Captain nodded.  "I understand," he said.  "I'm sorry I said
anything.  I hadn't ought to be givin' orders 'bout what's none of
my affairs.  What time is it gittin' to be?"

Captain Jerry announced that it was bedtime, and that he was going
to turn in.  Perez, still looking worried and anxious, said that he
also was going to bed.  Captain Eri thought that he would sit up
for a while.

Another hour and still another went by, and the Captain sat there
in his rocker.  His two friends were sound asleep.  Mrs. Snow
called twice from the head of the stairs to know if Elsie had come
back, and where on earth she could be.  Captain Eri's answers were
cheery and to the effect that the young lady had an errand up town,
and would be home pretty soon, he guessed.  Nevertheless, it might
have been noticed that he glanced at the clock every few minutes,
and grew more and more fidgety.

It was after eleven when Elsie came in.  She hurriedly and with
some confusion apologized for being so late, and thanked the
Captain for sitting up for her.  She made no offer to explain her
long absence and, as she went upstairs, Captain Eri noticed that
her face was, if anything, paler than when she went out, and her
eyes looked as if she had been crying.  He wanted to ask her some
questions, but didn't, because she evidently did not wish to talk.
He pondered over the matter while undressing, and for a long time
after that lay awake thinking.  That the girl was in trouble of
some sort was plain, but he could not understand why she said
nothing about it, or what its cause might be.  She had been her
bright, happy self all day and a part of the evening.  Then she had
suddenly changed.  The Captain wondered what was in that letter.



CHAPTER XII

A LITTLE POLITICS


Elsie, when she came down to breakfast next morning, was quieter
than usual, and to the joking questions of Captain Jerry and
Captain Perez, who were curious concerning her "errand" of the
previous evening, and who pretended to believe that she had gone to
a dance or "time" with some "feller" unknown, she gave evasive, but
good-humored replies.  Captain Eri was on his usual fishing trip,
and after breakfast was over Perez departed to the Barry place, and
Jerry to his beloved schoolhouse.  The sacrifice, whose impending
matrimonial doom had not been mentioned for some time by the trio
interested, was gradually becoming his own garrulous self, and his
principal topic of conversation recently had been the coming
marriage of the "upstairs teacher"--that is, the lady who presided
over the grammar grade of the school--and the question of her
probable successor.  In fact, this question of who the new teacher
was to be was the prevailing subject of surmise and conjecture in
the village just then.

When Captain Jerry came back to the house he went out to the barn
to feed Lorenzo and the hens, and attend to Daniel's toilet.  He
was busy with the curry-comb when Elsie came in.  She seated
herself on a box, and watched the performance for a while without
speaking.  The Captain, who took this part of his duties very
seriously, was too intent on crimping Daniel's rather scraggy
forelock to talk much.  At length Miss Preston broke the silence.

"Captain Jerry," she said, "you have never told me just where you
found grandfather that night when he was taken sick.  On the hill
back of the post-office, wasn't it?"

"Yes, jest on the top.  You see, he'd fell down when he was runnin'
to the fire."

"Captain Eri found him, didn't he?"

"Yep.  Whoa there, Dan'l; stand still, can't you?  Yes, Eri found
him."

"How was he dressed?"

"Who?  John?  Oh, he was bareheaded and in his shirtsleeves, jest
as he run outdoors when he heard the bell.  Queer, he didn't put on
that old white hat of his.  I never knew him to be without it
afore; but a feller's li'ble to forgit 'most anything a night like
that was.  Did Eri tell you how Perez forgot his shoes?  Funniest
thing I ever see, that was."

He began the story of his friend's absent-mindedness, but his
companion did not seem to pay much attention to it.  In fact, it
was evident that her thoughts were somewhere else, for when the
Captain asked her a question that plainly called for a negative,
she replied "Yes," very calmly, and didn't seem to know that she
had said it.  She went into the house soon after and Captain Jerry,
after considering the matter, decided that she was probably
thinking of Hazeltine.  He derived much comfort from the idea.

When he, too, entered the dining room, Elsie said to him:

"Oh, Captain Jerry!  Please don't tell the others that I asked
about grandfather.  They would think that I was worrying, and I'm
not, a bit.  You won't mention it, will you?  Just promise, to
please me."

So the Captain promised, although he did not understand why it was
asked of him.

When Captain Eri came home that afternoon, and was cleaning his
catch at the shanty, he was surprised to receive a call from Miss
Preston.

"Hello!" he exclaimed.  "Come to l'arn the trade?"

Elsie smiled, and disclaimed any intention of apprenticeship.

"Captain Eri," she said, "I want to have a talk with you, a
business talk."

The Captain looked at her keenly.  All he said, however, was, "You
don't tell me!"

"Yes, I want to talk with you about getting me a position."

"A position?"

"Yes, I've been thinking a great deal lately, and, now that
grandfather seems to be a little better, and I'm not needed to help
take care of him, I want to do something to earn my living."

"Earn your livin'?  Why, child alive, you don't need to do that.
You ain't a mite of trouble at the house; fact is, I don't know how
we'd get along without you, and, as for money, why I cal'late your
grandpa ain't so poor but what, if I let you have a little change
once in a while, he'd be able to pay me back, when he got better."

"But I don't want to use your money or his either.  Captain Eri,
you don't know what he has done for me ever since I was a little
girl.  He has clothed me and given me an education, and been so
kind and good that, now that he is ill and helpless, I simply can't
go on using his money.  I can't, and I won't."

The tears stood in the girl's eyes, as she spoke, and the Captain,
noticing her emotion, thought it better to treat the matter
seriously, for the present at any rate.

"All right," he said.  "'Independence shows a proper sperit and
saves grocery bills,' as old man Scudder said when his wife run off
with the tin-peddler.  What kind of a place was you thinkin' of
takin'?"

"I want to get the appointment to teach in the grammar school here.
Miss Nixon is going to be married, and when she leaves I want her
place--and I want you to help me get it."

Captain Eri whistled.  "I want to know!" he exclaimed.  Then he
said, "Look here, Elsie, I don't want you to think I'm tryin' to be
cur'ous 'bout your affairs, or anything like that, but are you sure
there ain't some reason more 'n you've told me of for your wantin'
this place?  I ain't no real relation of yours, you understand, but
I would like to have you feel that you could come to me with your
troubles jest the same as you would to your grandpa.  Now, honest
and true, ain't there somethin' back of this?"

It was only for a moment that Elsie hesitated, but that moment's
hesitation and the manner in which she answered went far toward
confirming the Captain's suspicions.

"No, Captain Eri," she said.  "It is just as I've told you.  I
don't want to be dependent on grandfather any longer."

"And there ain't a single other reason for--  Of course, I ought to
mind my business, but--  Well, there! what was it you wanted me to
do?  Help you git the place?"

"Yes, if you will.  I know Captain Perez has said that you were
interested in the town-meetings and helped to nominate some of the
selectmen and the school-committee, so I thought perhaps, if you
used your influence, you might get the position for me."

"Well, I don't know.  I did do a little electioneerin' for one or
two fellers and maybe they'd ought to be willin' to do somethin'
for me.  Still, you can't never tell.  A cat 'll jump over your
hands if she knows there's a piece of fish comin' afterwards, but
when she's swallowed that fish, it's a diff'rent job altogether.
Same way with a politician.  But, then, you let me think over it
for a spell, and p'raps to-morrow we'll see.  You think it over,
too.  Maybe you'll change your mind."

"No, I shan't change my mind.  I'm ever and ever so much obliged to
you, though."

She started toward the door, but turned impulsively and said, "Oh,
Captain Eri, you don't think that I'm ungrateful, do you?  You nor
Captain Perez nor Captain Jerry won't think that I do not appreciate
all your kindness?  You won't think that I'm shirking my duty, or
that I don't want to help take care of grandfather any longer?  You
won't?  Promise me you won't."

She choked down a sob as she asked the question.

Captain Eri was as much moved as she was.  He hastened to answer.

"No, no, no!" he exclaimed.  "Course we won't do no such thing.
Run right along, and don't think another word about it.  Wait till
to-morrer.  I'll have a plan fixed up to land that school-committee,
see if I don't."

But all that evening he worked at the model of the clipper, and the
expression on his face as he whittled showed that he was puzzled,
and not a little troubled.

He came back from his fishing next day a little earlier than usual,
changed his working-clothes for his second best suit, harnessed
Daniel into the buggy, and then came into the house, and announced
that he was going over to the Neck on an errand, and if Elsie
wanted to go with him, he should be glad of her company.  As this
was but part of a pre-arranged scheme, the young lady declared that
a ride was just what she needed.

Captain Eri said but little, as they drove up to the "main road";
he seemed to be thinking.  Elsie, too, was very quiet.  When they
reached the fruit and candy shop, just around the corner, the
Captain stopped the horse, got down, and went in.  When he came out
he had a handful of cigars.

"Why, Captain Eri," said Elsie, "I didn't know that you smoked
cigars.  I thought a pipe was your favorite."

"Well, gin'rally speakin', 'tis," was the answer, "but I'm
electioneerin' now, and politics without cigars would be like a
chowder without any clams.  Rum goes with some kind of politics,
but terbacker kind of chums in with all kinds.  'Tain't always safe
to jedge a candidate by the kind of cigars he gives out neither;
I've found that out.

"Reminds me of a funny thing that Obed Nickerson told me one time.
Obed used to be in politics a good deal up and down the Cape, here,
and he had consider'ble influence.  'Twas when Bradley up to Fall
River was runnin' for Congress.  They had a kind of pow-wow in his
office--a whole gang of district leaders--and Obed he was one of
'em.  Bradley went to git out the cigar-box, and 'twas empty, so he
called in the boy that swept out and run errands for him, give the
youngster a ten-dollar bill, and told him to go down to a terbacker
store handy and buy another box.  Well, the boy, he was a new one
that Bradley'd jest hired, seemed kind of surprised to think of
anybody's bein' so reckless as to buy a whole box of cigars at
once, but he went and pretty soon come back with the box.

"The old man told him to open it and pass 'em round.  Well,
everybody was lookin' for'ard to a treat, 'cause Bradley had the
name of smokin' better stuff than the average; but when they lit up
and got a-goin', Obed said you could see that the gang was s'prised
and some disgusted.  The old man didn't take one at fust, but
everybody else puffed away, and the smoke and smell got thicker 'n'
thicker.  Obed said it reminded him of a stable afire more 'n
anything else.  Pretty soon Bradley bit the end of one of the
things and touched a match to it.  He puffed twice--Obed swears
'twa'n't more'n that--and then he yelled for the boy.

"'For the Lord's sake!' he says, 'where'd you git them cigars?'
Well, it come out that the boy hadn't told who the cigars was for,
and he'd bought a box of the kind his brother that worked in the
cotton mill smoked.  Obed said you'd ought to have seen Bradley's
face when the youngster handed him back seven dollars and seventy-
five cents change."

They reached that part of Orham which is called the Neck, and
pulled up before a small building bearing the sign "Solomon Bangs,
Attorney-at-Law, Real Estate and Insurance."  Here the Captain
turned to his companion and asked, "Sure you haven't changed your
mind, Elsie?  You want that school-teachin' job?"

"I haven't changed my mind, Captain Eri."

"Well, I wanted to be sure.  I should hate to ask Sol Bangs for
anything and then have to back out afterwards.  Come on, now."

Mr. Soloman Bangs was the chairman of the Orham school-committee.
He was a short, stout man with sandy side-whiskers and a bald head.
He received them with becoming condescension, and asked if they
wouldn't sit down.

"Why, I've got a little bus'ness I want to talk with you 'bout,
Sol," said the Captain.  "Elsie, you set down here, and make
yourself comf'table, and Sol and me 'll go inside for a minute."

As he led the way into the little private office at the back of the
building, and seemed to take it for granted that Mr. Bangs would
follow, the latter gentleman couldn't well refuse.  The private
office was usually reserved for interviews with widows whose
homestead mortgages were to be foreclosed, guileless individuals
who had indorsed notes for friends, or others whose business was
unpleasant and likely to be accompanied with weeping or profanity.
Mr. Bangs didn't object to foreclosing a mortgage, but he disliked
to have a prospective customer hear the dialogue that preceded the
operation.

On this occasion the door of the sanctum was left ajar so that
Elsie, although she did not try to listen, could not very well help
hearing what was said.

She heard the Captain commenting on the late cranberry crop, the
exceptionally pleasant weather of the past month, and other
irrelevant subjects.  Then the perfumes of the campaign cigars
floated out through the doorway.

"Let's see," said Captain Eri, "when's town meetin' day?"

"First Tuesday in December," replied Mr. Bangs.

"Why, so 'tis, so 'tis.  Gittin' pretty nigh, ain't it?  What are
you goin' to git off the school-committee for?"

"Me?  Get off the committee?  Who told you that?"

"Why, I don't know.  You are, ain't you?  Seems to me I heard Seth
Wingate was goin' to run and he's from your district, so I thought,
of course--"

"Is Seth going to try for the committee?"

"Seth's a good man," was the equivocal answer.

"A good man!  He ain't any better man than I am.  What's he know
about schools, or how to run 'em?"

"Well, he's pretty popular.  Folks like him.  See here, Sol; what's
this 'bout your turnin' Betsy Godfrey off her place?"

"Who said I turned her off?  I've been carrying that mortgage for
so long it's gray-headed.  I can't be Santa Claus for the whole
town.  Business is business, and I've got to look out for myself."

"Ye-es, I s'pose that's so.  Still, folks talk, and Seth's got lots
of friends."

"Eri, I ain't denying that you could do a heap to hurt me if you
wanted to, but I don't know why you should.  I've always been
square with you, far's I know.  What have you got against me?"

"Oh, nuthin', nuthin'!  Didn't I hear you was tryin' to get that
Harniss teacher to come down here and take Carrie Nixon's place
when she got married?"

"Well, I thought of her.  She's all night, isn't she?"

"Yes, I s'pose she is.  'Twould be better if she lived in Orham,
maybe, and folks couldn't say you went out of town for a teacher
when you could have had one right from home.  Then, she's some
relation of your cousin, ain't she?  'Course, that's all right,
but--well, you can't pay attention to everything that's said."

"Could have got one right from home!  Who'd we get?  Dave
Eldredge's girl, I suppose.  I heard she was after it."

The conversation that followed was in a lower tone, and Elsie heard
but little of it.  She heard enough, however, to infer that Captain
Eri was still the disinterested friend, and that Solomon was very
anxious to retain that friendship.  After a while the striking of
matches indicated that fresh cigars were being lighted, and then
the pair rose from their chairs, and entered the outer office.  Mr.
Bangs was very gracious, exceedingly so.

"Miss Preston," he said, "Cap'n Hedge tells me that it--er--might
be possible for us--er--for the town to secure--er--to--in short,
for us to have you for our teacher in the upstairs room.  It ain't
necessary for me to say that--er--a teacher from Radcliffe don't
come our way very often, and that we--that is, the town of Orham,
would--er--feel itself lucky if you'd be willing to come."

"Of course, I told him, Elsie," said Captain Eri, "that you
wouldn't think of comin' for forty-five dollars a month or anything
like that.  Of course, 'tisn't as though you really needed the
place."

"I understand, I understand," said the pompous committeeman.  "I
think that can be arranged.  I really think--er--Miss Preston, that
there ain't any reason why you can't consider it settled.  Ahem!"

Elsie thanked him, trying her best not to smile, and they were
bowed out by the great man, who, however, called the Captain to one
side, and whispered eagerly to him for a moment or two.  The word
"Seth" was mentioned at least once.

"Why, Captain Eri!" exclaimed Elsie, as they drove away.

The Captain grinned.  "Didn't know I was such a heeler, did you?"
he said.  "Well, I tell you.  If you're fishin' for eels there
ain't no use usin' a mack'rel jig.  Sol, he's a little mite eely,
and you've got to use the kind of bait that 'll fetch that sort of
critter."

"But I shouldn't think he would care whether he was on the school-
committee or not.  It isn't such an exalted position."

Captain Eri's answer was in the form of a parable.  "Old Laban
Simpkins that lived 'round here one time," he said, "was a mighty
hard ticket.  Drank rum by the hogshead, pounded his wife till she
left him, and was a tough nut gin'rally.  Well, one evenin' Labe
was comin' home pretty how-come-you-so, and he fell into Jonadab
Wixon's well.  Wonder he wa'n't killed, but he wa'n't, and they
fished him out in a little while.  He said that was the deepest
well he ever saw; said he begun to think it reached clear through
to the hereafter, and when he struck the water he was s'prised to
find it wa'n't hot.  He j'ined the church the next week, and
somebody asked him if he thought religion would keep him from
fallin' into any more wells.  He said no; said he was lookin' out
for somethin' further on.

"Well, that's the way 'tis with Sol.  School-committee's all right,
but this section of the Cape nominates a State representative next
year.

"I mustn't forgit to see Seth," he added.  "I promised I would, and
besides," with a wink, "I think 'twould be better to do it 'cause,
between you and me, I don't b'lieve Seth knows that he's been
thinkin' of runnin' for the committee and has decided not to."

The second member of the school board, John Mullett, was, so the
Captain said, a sort of "me too" to Mr. Bangs, and would vote as
his friend directed.  The third member was Mr. Langworthy, the
Baptist minister and, although two to one was a clear majority,
Captain Eri asserted that there was nothing like a unanimous vote,
and so they decided to call upon the reverend gentleman.

They found him at home, and Elsie was surprised, after the previous
interview, to see how differently her champion handled the case.
There was no preliminary parley and no beating about the bush.
Miss Preston's claim to the soon-to-be-vacant position was stated
clearly and with vigor.  Also the reasons why she should receive a
higher salary than had previously been paid were set forth.  It was
something of a surprise to Elsie, as it had been to Ralph, to see
how highly the towns-people, that is, the respectable portion of
them, seemed to value the opinions of this good-natured but
uneducated seaman.  And yet when she considered that she, too, went
to him for advice that she would not have asked of other and far
more learned acquaintances, it did not seem so surprising after
all.

The clergyman had had several candidates in mind, but he was easily
won over to Elsie's side, partly by the Captain's argument, and
partly because he was favorably impressed by the young lady's
appearance and manner.  He expressed himself as being convinced
that she would be exactly the sort of teacher that the school
required and pledged his vote unconditionally.

And so, as Captain Eri said, the stump-speaking being over, there
was nothing to do but to wait for the election, and Elsie and he
agreed to keep the affair a secret until she received formal notice
of the appointment.  This was undoubtedly a good plan, but,
unfortunately for its success, Solomon Bangs called upon his fellow
in the committee, Mr. Mullett, to inform the latter that he,
entirely unaided, had discovered the very teacher that Orham needed
in the person of John Baxter's granddaughter.  Mr. Mullett, living
up to his "me too" reputation, indorsed the selection with
enthusiasm, and not only did that, but also told everyone he met,
so that Captain Perez heard of it at the post-office the very next
afternoon.

The natural surprise of this gentleman and of Captain Jerry at
their guest's sudden determination was met by plausible explanations
from Captain Eri, to the effect that Elsie was a smart girl, and
didn't like to be "hangin' 'round doin' nothin', now that her
grandpa was some better."  Elsie's own reason, as expressed to them,
being just this, the pair accepted it without further questioning.
Neither of them attached much importance to the letter which she had
received, although Captain Perez did ask Mrs. Snow if she knew from
whom it came.

The lady from Nantucket was not so easily satisfied.  At her first
opportunity she cornered Captain Eri, and they discussed the whole
affair from beginning to end.  There was nothing unusual in this
proceeding, for discussions concerning household matters and
questions of domestic policy were, between these two, getting to be
more and more frequent.  Mrs. Snow was now accepted by all as one
of the family, and Captain Eri had come to hold a high opinion of
her and her views.  What he liked about her, he said, was her "good
old-fashioned common-sense," and, whereas he had formerly trusted
to his own share of this virtue almost altogether, now he was glad
to have hers to help out.

The marriage idea, that which had brought the housekeeper to Orham,
was now seldom mentioned.  In fact, Captain Eri had almost entirely
ceased to ruffle Jerry's feelings with reference to it.  Mrs. Snow,
of course, said nothing about it.  But, for that matter, she said
very little about herself or her affairs.

It was a curious fact that the lady from Nantucket had never
referred, except in a casual way, to her past history.  She had
never told how she came to answer the advertisement in the Nuptial
Chime, nor to explain how so matter-of-fact a person as she was had
ever seen that famous sheet.  As she said nothing concerning these
things, no one felt at liberty to inquire, and, in the course of
time, even Captain Perez' lively curiosity had lapsed into a
trance.

Mrs. Snow was certain that Elsie's reason for wishing to obtain the
position of school-teacher was something more specific than the one
advanced.  She was also certain that the girl was troubled about
something.  The root of the matter, she believed, was contained in
the mysterious letter.  As Captain Eri was of precisely the same
opinion, speculation between the two as to what that letter might
have contained was as lively as it was unfruitful.

One thing was certain, Elsie was not as she had formerly been.  She
did her best to appear the same, but she was much more quiet, and
had fits of absentmindedness that the Captain and the housekeeper
noticed.  She had no more evening "errands," but she occasionally
took long walks in the afternoons, and on these walks she evidently
preferred to be alone.

Whether Mr. Hazeltine noticed this change in her was a question.
The Captain thought he did, but at any rate, his calls were none
the less frequent, and he showed no marked objection when Captain
Jerry, who now considered himself bound in honor to bring about the
union he had so actively championed, brought to bear his artful
schemes for leaving the young folks alone.  These devices were so
apparent that Elsie had more than once betrayed some symptoms of
annoyance, all of which were lost on the zealous match-maker.
Ralph, like the others, was much surprised at Miss Preston's
application for employment, but, as it was manifestly none of his
business, he, of course, said nothing.

At the next committee meeting Elsie was unanimously chosen to fill
Miss Nixon's shoes as trainer of the young idea at the grammar
school, and, as Miss Nixon was very anxious to be rid of her
responsibilities in order that she might become the carefree bride
of a widower with two small children, the shoe-filling took place
in a fortnight.

From her first day's labors Elsie returned calm and unruffled.  She
had met the usual small rebellion against a new teacher, and had
conquered it.  She said she believed she had a good class and she
should get on with them very nicely.  It should be mentioned in
passing, however, that Josiah Bartlett, usually the ring-leader
in all sorts of trouble, was a trifle upset because the new
schoolmistress lived in the same house with him, and so had not yet
decided just how far it was safe to go in trespassing against law
and order.

Thanksgiving day came, and the Captains entertained Miss Patience
Davis and her brother and Ralph Hazeltine at dinner.  That dinner
was an event.  Captain Eri and Mrs. Snow spent a full twenty
minutes with the driver of the butcher's cart, giving him
directions concerning the exact breed of turkey that was to be
delivered, and apparently these orders were effectual, for Captain
Luther, who was obliged to hurry back to the life-saving station as
soon as dinner was over, said that he was so full of white meat and
stuffing that he cal'lated he should "gobble" all the way to the
beach.  His sister stayed until the next day, and this was very
pleasing to all hands, particularly Captain Perez.

They had games in the evening, and here the captains distinguished
themselves.  Seth Wingate and his wife, and Mr. and Mrs. Obed
Nickerson came in, as did several other retired mariners and their
better-halves.  Obed brought his fiddle and sat in the corner and
played the music for a Virginia reel, and Ralph laughed until he
choked to see Captain Jerry--half of his shirt-collar torn loose
from the button and flapping like a sail--convoy stout Mrs. Wingate
from one end of the line to the other, throwing into the performance
all the fancy "cuts" and "double-shuffles" he learned at the
Thanksgiving balls of a good many years before.  Captain Perez
danced with Miss Patience, who assured him she had never had such a
good time since she was born.  The only scoffer was the bored
Josiah, who, being a sophisticated New Yorker, sat in the best chair
and gazed contemptuously upon the entire proceeding.  He told "Web"
Saunders the next day that he never saw such a gang of "crazy jays"
in his life.

Even John Baxter was better that day.  He seemed a trifle more
rational, and apparently understood when they told him that it was
Thanksgiving.  There would have been no cloud anywhere had not Mrs.
Snow, entering her room after Elsie had gone to bed, found that
young lady awake and crying silently.

"And she wouldn't tell what the trouble was," said the housekeeper
to Captain Eri, the next day.  "Said it was nothin'; she was kind
of worried 'bout her grandpa.  Now, you and me know it wa'n't THAT.
I wish to goodness we knew WHAT it was."

The Captain scratched his nose with a perplexed air.  "There's one
feller I'd like to have a talk with jest 'bout now," he said;
"that's the one that invented that yarn 'bout a woman's not bein'
able to keep a secret."



CHAPTER XIII

CAPTAIN JERRY MAKES A MESS OF IT


It was during the week that followed the holiday so gloriously
celebrated that Captain Jerry made a mess of it, and all with the
best intentions in the world.  Elsie had had a hard day at the
school, principally owing to the perversity of the irrepressible
Josiah, whose love for deviltry was getting the better of his
respect for the new teacher.  The boy had discovered that Elsie
never reported his bad conduct to Captain Perez, and, therefore,
that the situation was not greatly different from what it had been
during the reign of Miss Nixon.

On this particular day he had been a little worse than usual, and,
as uneasiness and mischief in a schoolroom are as catching as the
chickenpox, Elsie came home tired and nervous.  Captain Eri and
Mrs. Snow were certain that this increasing nervousness on the part
of their guest was not due to school troubles alone, but, at any
rate, nervous she was, and particularly nervous, and, it must be
confessed, somewhat inclined to be irritable, during the supper and
afterward, on this ill-starred night.

The beginning of the trouble was when Ralph Hazeltine called.
Mrs. Snow was with her patient in the upper room, Captain Eri was
out, and Captain Perez and Captain Jerry were with Elsie in the
dining room.  The electrician was made welcome by the trio--more
especially by the captains, for Miss Preston was in no mood to be
over-effusive--and a few minutes of general conversation followed.
Then Captain Jerry, in accordance with his plan of campaign, laid
down his newspaper, coughed emphatically to attract the attention of
his partner, and said, "Well, I guess I'll go out and look at the
weather for a spell.  Come on, Perez."

"Why, Captain Jerry!" exclaimed Elsie, "you were out looking at the
weather only ten minutes ago.  I don't think it has changed much
since then.  Why don't you stay here and keep us company?"

"Oh, you can't never tell about the weather 'long this coast.  It's
likely to change most any time.  Besides," with a wink that
expressed comprehension unlimited, "I reckon you and Mr. Hazeltine
don't care much 'bout the company of old fogies like me and Perez.
Two's company and three's a crowd, you know.  Ho, ho, ho!"

"Captain Jerry, come back this minute!"

But the Captain chuckled and shook out of the door, followed by the
obedient Perez, who, having pledged fealty, stuck to his colors
whatever might happen.

At another time, Elsie would probably have appreciated and enjoyed
the joke as much as anyone, but this evening it did not appeal to
her in the least.  Ralph put in a very uncomfortable half-hour, and
then cut his visit short and departed.  It was rather sharp and
chilly outside, but the breeze felt like a breath from the tropics
compared with the atmosphere of that dining room.

It certainly was Captain Jerry's unlucky evening, for he left Perez
chatting with a fisherman friend, who had left a favorite pipe in
his shanty and had come down to get it, and entered the house
alone.  He had seen the electrician go, and was surprised at the
brevity of his call, but he was as far from suspecting that he
himself was the indirect cause of the said brevity as a mortal
could be.

He came into the dining room, hung his cap on the back of a chair,
and remarked cheerfully, "Well, Elsie, what did you send your
company home so quick for?  Land sake! twelve o'clock wa'n't none
too late for me when I was young and goin' round to see the girls."

But Miss Preston did not smile.  On the contrary, she frowned, and
when she spoke the Captain had a vague feeling that someone had
dropped an icicle inside his shirt collar.

"Captain Jerry," said the young lady, "I want to have a talk with
you.  Why do you think it necessary to get up and leave the room
whenever Mr. Hazeltine calls?  You do it every time, and to-night
was no exception, except that by what you said you made me appear a
little more ridiculous than usual.  Now, why do you do it?"

The Captain's jaw fell.  He stared at his questioner to see if
she was not joking, but, finding no encouragement of that kind,
stammered, "Why do I do it?  Why?"

"Yes, why?"

"Why, 'cause I thought you wanted me to."

"_I_ wanted you to!  Why should you think that, please?"

"Well, I don't know.  I thought you two would ruther be alone.  I
know, when I used to go to see my wife 'fore we was married, I--"

"Please, what has that got to do with Mr. Hazeltine's visits here?"

"Why, why, nothin', I s'pose, if you say so.  I jest thought--"

"What right have you to suppose that Mr. Hazeltine is calling on me
more than any other person or persons in this house?"

This was something of a poser, but the Captain did his best.  He
sat on the edge of a chair and rubbed his knee, and then blurted
out, "Well, I s'pose I--that is, we thought he was, jest 'cause he
nat'rally would; that's 'bout all.  If I'd thought--why, see here,
Elsie, don't YOU think he's comin' to see you?"

This was a return thrust that was hard to parry, but, although the
young lady's color heightened just a bit, she answered without much
hesitation:

"I don't know that I do.  At any rate, I have given you no
authority to act on any such assumption, and I DON'T want you to
put me again in the ridiculous position you did this evening, and
as you have done so often before.  Why, his visits might be perfect
torture to me, and still I should have to endure them out of common
politeness.  I couldn't go away and leave him alone."

Captain Jerry's face was a study of chagrin and troubled repentance.

"Elsie," he said, "I'm awful sorry; I am so.  If I'd thought I was
torturin' of you, 'stead of makin' it pleasant, I'd never have done
it, sure.  I won't go out again; I won't, honest.  I hope you won't
lay it up against me.  I meant well."

Now, if Captain Perez had delayed his entrance to that dining room
only two or three minutes longer, if he had not come in just in
time to prevent Elsie's making the explanatory and soothing answer
that was on her tongue, events would probably have been entirely
different, and a good deal of trouble might have been saved.  But
in he came, as if some perverse imp had been waiting to give him
the signal, and the interview between Captain Jerry and the young
lady whom he had unwittingly offended broke off then and there.

Elsie went upstairs feeling a little conscience-stricken, and with
an uneasy idea that she had said more than she should have.
Captain Perez took up the newspaper and sat down to read.  As for
Captain Jerry, he sat down, too, but merely to get his thoughts
assorted into an arrangement less like a spilled box of jackstraws.
The Captain's wonderful scheme, that he had boasted of and worked
so hard for, had fallen to earth like an exploded airship, and when
it hit it hurt.

His first idea was to follow the usual procedure, and take the
whole matter to Captain Eri for settlement, but the more he
considered this plan the less he liked it.  Captain Eri was an
unmerciful tease, and he would be sure to "rub it in," in a way the
mere thought of which made his friend squirm.  There wasn't much
use in confiding to Captain Perez, either.  He must keep the secret
and pretend that everything was working smoothly.

Then his thoughts turned to Hazeltine, and when he considered the
wrong he had done that young man, he squirmed again.  There wasn't
a doubt in his mind that Ralph felt exactly as Elsie did about his
interference.  Captain Jerry decided that he owed the electrician
an apology, and determined to offer it at the first opportunity.

And the opportunity came the very next morning, for Mrs. Snow
wanted some clams for dinner, and asked him to dig some for her.
The best clams in the vicinity were those in the flat across the
bay near the cable station, and the Captain took his bucket and hoe
and rowed over there.  As he was digging, Ralph came strolling down
to the shore.

Mr. Hazeltine's "Good-morning" was clear and hearty.  Captain
Jerry's was hesitating and formal.  The talk that followed was
rather one-sided.  Finally, the Captain laid down his hoe, and came
splashing over to where his friend was standing.

"Mr. Hazeltine," he said confusedly, "I kind of feel as if I ought
to beg your pardon.  I'm awful sorry I done what I did, but, as I
said to Elsie, I meant well, and I'm sorry."

"Sorry?  Sorry for what?"

"Why, for leavin' you and her alone so when you come to the house.
You see, I never thought but what you'd both like it, and 'twa'n't
till she raked me over the coals so for doin' it that I realized
how things was."

"Raked you over the coals?  I'm afraid I don't understand."

It is unnecessary to repeat the whole of the long and tangled
conversation that ensued.  The Captain tried to explain, tumbled
down, metaphorically speaking, got up again, and started off on
another tack.  In his anxiety to make his position perfectly clear,
he quoted from Elsie's remarks of the previous evening, and then,
thinking perhaps he had gone too far, tried to smooth these over by
more explanations.  Repeating this process several times got him
into such a snarl that he scarcely knew what he was saying.  When
the agony was over Ralph had received the impression that Miss
Preston had said his visits were a perfect torture to her, that she
objected to being left alone with him, that she held Captain Jerry
responsible for these things, and that the latter was sorry for
something or other, though what it was he, Ralph, didn't know or
care particularly.  To the Captain's continued apologies he
muttered absently that it was "all right," and walked slowly away
with his hands in his pockets.  Captain Jerry was relieved by this
expression of forgiveness.  He felt that the situation wasn't what
he would like to have it, but, at any rate, he had done his duty.
This was a great consolation.

Ralph didn't call that evening or the next.  When he did drop in it
was merely to inquire concerning John Baxter's progress, and to
chat for a moment with the captains.  His next visit was a week
later, and was just as brief and formal.

If Elsie noticed this sudden change she said nothing.  There might
have been some comment by the others, had not a new sensation so
occupied their minds as to shut out everything else.  This
sensation was caused by Josiah Bartlett, who ran away one night,
with his belongings tied up in a brown paper parcel, leaving a note
saying that he had gone to enlist in the Navy and wasn't coming
back any more.

There were lively times the next morning when the note was found.
Captain Perez was for harnessing up immediately and starting off to
find the lost one, hit or miss.  Captain Eri soon showed him the
folly of this proceeding and, instead, hurried to the railway
station and sent a telegram describing the fugitive to the
conductor of the Boston train.  It caught the conductor at
Sandwich, and the local constable at Buzzard's Bay caught the boy.
Josiah was luxuriously puffing a five-cent cigar in the smoking
car, and it was a crest-fallen and humiliated prodigal that,
accompanied by the a fore-mentioned constable, returned to Orham
that night.

But the stubbornness remained, and the next day Perez sought
Captain Eri in a troubled frame of mind.

"Eri," he said dejectedly, "I don't know what I'm goin' to do with
that boy.  He's too many for ME, that boy is.  Seems he's been
plannin' this runnin' away bus'ness for more 'n a month; been doin'
errands and odd jobs 'round town and savin' up his money on
purpose.  Says he won't go back to school again, no matter what we
do to him, and that he's goin' to git into the Navy if it takes ten
year.  He says he'll run away again fust chance he gits, and he
WILL, too.  He's got the sperit of the Old Scratch in him, and I
can't git it out.  I'm clean discouraged and wore out, and I know
that he'll do somethin' pretty soon that 'll disgrace us all."

"Humph!" exclaimed his friend.  "Stuffy as all that, is he?  You
don't say!  He ain't a bad boy, that is a REEL bad boy, either."

"No, that's jest it.  He ain't reel bad--yit.  But he will be if he
ain't fetched up pretty sudden.  'Course, I know what he needs is
to be made to mind fust, and then preached to afterwards.  And I
know that nat'rally I'm the one that ought to do it, but I jest
can't--there!  If I should start out to give him the dressin' down
he needs, I'd be thinkin' of his mother every minute, and how I
promised to treat him gentle and not be cross to him.  But
SOMETHIN'S got to be done, and if you can help me out any way I'll
never forgit it, Eri."

Captain Eri scratched his chin.  "Humph!" he grunted reflectively.
"He couldn't git into the Navy, he's too young.  More likely to be
a stowaway on a merchantman and then roustabout on a cattle boat,
or some such thing.  Even if he lied 'bout his age and did git to
be a sort of a ship's boy on a sailin' vessel, you and me know what
that means nowadays.  I presume likely 'twould end in his bein'
killed in some rumshop scrimmage later on.  Let--me--see.  Bound to
be a sailor, is he?"

"He's dead sot on it."

"More fool he.  Comes from readin' them ridic'lous story books, I
s'pose.  He ain't been on the water much sence he's been down here,
has he?"

"Not more 'n once or twice, except in a dory goin' to the beach, or
somethin' like that."

"That's so, that's what I thought.  Well, Perez, I'll tell you.
The boy does need breakin' in, that's a fact, and I think maybe I
could do it.  I could use a young feller on my boat; to go coddin'
with me, I mean.  Let me have the boy under me--no meddlin' from
anybody--for a couple of months.  Let him sign reg'lar articles and
ship 'long of me for that time.  Maybe I could make a white man of
him."

"I don't b'lieve he'd do it."

"I cal'late I could talk him into it.  There's some butter on my
tongue when it's necessary."

"You'd have to promise not to lay a hand on him in anger.  That's
what I promised his mother."

"All right, I promise it now.  That's all right, Perez.  You and me
are old shipmates, and bound to help each other out.  Just trust
him to me, and don't ask too many questions.  Is it a trade?  Good!
Shake."

They shook hands on it, and then Captain Eri went in to talk to the
unreconciled runaway.  That young gentleman, fresh from his triumph
over his uncle, at first refused to have anything to do with the
scheme.  He wasn't going to be a "cheap guy fisherman," he was
going into the Navy.  The Captain did not attempt to urge him,
neither did he preach or patronize.  He simply leaned back in the
rocker and began spinning sailor yarns.  He told of all sorts of
adventures in all climates, and with all sorts of people.  He had
seen everything under the sun, apparently, and, according to him,
there was no life so free and void of all restraint as that of an
able seaman on a merchant ship, or, preferably, on a fisherman; but
one point he made clear, and that was that, unless the applicant
had had previous training, his lot was likely to be an unhappy one.

"Of course," he said, as he rose to go, "it was my idea to sort of
train you up so's you could be ready when 'twas time to ship, but
long's you don't want to, why it's all off."

"I'll go with you, Cap!" said Josiah, whose eyes were shining.

"Good!  That's the talk!  You might as well sign articles right
away.  Wait till I git 'em ready."

He brought pen, ink, and paper, and proceeded to indite a
formidable document to the effect that "Josiah Bartlett, able
seaman," was to ship aboard the catboat Mary Ellen for a term of
two months.  Wages, five dollars a month.

"You see," he said, "I've put you down as able seaman 'cause that's
what you'll be when I git through with you.  Now sign."

So Josiah signed, and then Captain Eri affixed his own signature
with a flourish.

"There!" exclaimed the Captain, bringing his big palm down on the
back of the "able seaman" with a thump that brought water into the
eyes of that proud youth, "You're my man, shipmate.  We sail to-
morrer mornin' at four, rain or shine.  I'll call you at quarter
of.  Be ready."

"You bet, old man!" said Josiah.

Captain Perez met his friend as they came out of the parlor.

"Now, Eri," he whispered, "be easy as you can with him, won't you?"

The Captain answered in the very words of his crew.

"You bet!" he said fervently, and went away whistling.  Captain
Perez slept better that night.



CHAPTER XIV

THE VOYAGE OF AN "ABLE SEAMAN"


Promptly at a quarter to four the next morning Captain Eri rapped
on the parlor door.  Josiah, who had been dressed since three,
appeared almost instantly.  They walked down to the shore together,
and the Captain's eyes twinkled as he noted the elaborate roll in
the boy's walk.

The Mary Ellen was anchored between the beaches, and they rowed off
to her in a dory.  It was pitch-dark, and cold and raw.  Lanterns
showed on two or three of the other boats near by, and, as Josiah
and the Captain pulled up the eelgrass-covered anchor, a dim shape
glided past in the blackness.  It was the You and I, bound out.
Ira Sparrow was at the helm, and he hailed the Mary Ellen, saying
something about the weather.

"It 'll be kind of ca'm for a spell," replied Captain Eri, "but I
wouldn't wonder if we had some wind 'fore night.  Here you, fo'mast
hand," he added, turning to Josiah, "stand by to git the canvas on
her."

The mainsail was soon hoisted, and the catboat moved slowly out of
the bay.

"Gee! it's dark," exclaimed Josiah.  "what are you goin' way off
here for?  Why don't you go straight out?"

"I gin'rally take the short cut through the narrers," replied the
Captain, "but I thought you mightn't like the breakers on the
shoals, so I'm goin' 'round the p'int flat."

"Huh!  I ain't a-scared of breakers.  Can't be too rough for me.
Wisht 'twould blow to beat the band."

"Maybe 'twill by and by.  Pretty toler'ble slick now, though."

It was after sunrise when they reached the ledge where codfish most
do congregate.  The land was a mere yellow streak on the horizon.
The stiff easterly blow of the day before had left a smooth, heavy
swell that, tripping over the submerged ledge, alternately tossed
the Mary Ellen high in air and dropped her toward the bottom.  It
was cold, and the newly risen December sun did not seem to have
much warmth in it.  Anchor over the side, the Captain proposed
breakfast.

The "able seaman" did not feel very hungry, but he managed to
swallow a hard-boiled egg and a sandwich, and then, just to show
that he had reached the dignity of manhood, leaned back against the
side of the cockpit, lit a cigarette, and observed cheerfully,
"This is hot stuff, ain't it, Cap?"

Captain Eri wiped the crumbs from his mouth, leisurely produced his
pipe, and proceeded to fill it with tobacco shaved from a chunky
plug.

"What d'you smoke them things for?" he asked contemptuously,
referring to the cigarette.  "Nobody but dudes and sissies smoke
that kind of truck.  Here, take this pipe, and smoke like a man."

Josiah looked askance at the proffered pipe.

"Oh, no!" he said magnanimously, "you'll want it yourself.  I'll
get along with these things till I git ashore; then I'll buy a pipe
of my own."

"Never you mind 'bout me.  I've got two or three more below there,
some'eres.  Take it and light up."

The "able seaman" took the reeking, nicotine soaked affair, placed
it gingerly between his teeth, held a match to the bowl and
coughingly emitted a cloud of ill-smelling smoke.  The pipe wheezed
and gurgled, and the Mary Ellen rocked and rolled.

"Now, then," said Captain Eri, "we've sojered long enough.  Go
below, and bring up the bait bucket and the lines."

Josiah staggered into the little cabin, reappeared with the heavy
cod lines and the bucket of mussels, and watched while the Captain
"baited up."

"All ready!" said the skipper.  "Two lines apiece, one over each
side.  Watch me."

The cod bit almost immediately, and for ten minutes the work was
exciting and lively.  The Captain, watching from the corner of his
eye, noticed that his assistant's pipe was wheezing less regularly,
and that his lines were thrown over more and more listlessly.  At
length he said, "Haven't stopped smokin' so quick, have you?
What's the matter--gone out?  Here's a match."

"I guessed I've smoked enough for now.  I can't fish so well when
I'm smokin'."

"Bosh!  If you want to be a reel sailor you must smoke all the
time.  Light up."

Reluctantly the boy obeyed, and puffed with feverish energy.  Also
he swallowed with vigor.  The cod smelt fishy; so did the bait, and
the catboat rolled and rolled.  Suddenly Josiah pulled in his
lines, and took the pipe from his lips.

"What's the matter?" inquired the watchful skipper.

"I--I guess I won't fish any more, Cap.  Kind of slow sport, ain't
it?  Guess I'll go in there and take a snooze."

"I guess you won't!  You shipped to fish, and you're goin' to fish.
Pick up them lines."

The boy sullenly turned toward the cabin door.  Was he, who had
just declared himself independent of school restraint, he who had
once been the thorn in the flesh of every policeman in the --th
ward, to be ordered about by this Cape Cod countryman!  "Aw, go
chase yourself!" he said contemptuously.  A minute after, when he
picked himself up from the heap of slimy fish in the bottom of the
boat, he saw the Captain standing solidly on one cowhide-shod foot,
while the other was drawn easily back and rested on its toe.  When
Josiah recovered his breath, the burst of bad language with which
he assailed his companion did credit to his street bringing up.  It
was as short as it was fierce, however, and ended amid the cod and
the mussels from the overturned bait bucket.  But, as the Captain
said afterwards, he was "spunky" and rose again, incoherent with
rage.

"You--you--I'll kill you!" he shrieked.  "You promised not to touch
me, you lyin' old--"

He tried to get out of the way, but didn't succeed, and this time
merely sat up and sobbed as Captain Eri said in even tones:

"No, I'm not lyin'.  I promised not to lay a hand on you in anger,
that's all.  Fust place, I don't kick with my hands, and, second
place, I ain't angry.  Now, then, pick up them lines."

The "able seaman" was frightened.  This sort of treatment was new
to him.  He judged it best to obey now and "get square" later on.
He sulkily picked up the codlines, and threw the hooks overboard.
Captain Eri, calmly resuming his fishing, went on to say, "The fust
thing a sailor has to l'arn is to obey orders.  I see you've
stopped smokin'.  Light up."

"I don't want to."

"Well, I want you TO.  Light up."

"I won't.  Oh, yes, I will!"

He eyed the threatening boot fearfully and lit the awful pipe with
shaking fingers.  But he had taken but a few puffs when it went
over the side, and it seemed to Josiah that the larger half of
himself went with it.  The Captain watched the paroxysm grimly.

"Sick, hey?" he grunted, "and not a capful of wind stirrin'.
You're a healthy sailor!  I thought I'd shipped a man, but I see
'twas only a sassy baby.  My uncle Labe had a good cure for
seasickness.  You take a big hunk of fat salt pork, dip it in
molasses, and--"

"Oh, d-o-n-'t!"  Another spasm.

"Dip it in molasses," repeated Captain Eri.

"Don't, Cap!  PLEASE don't!"

"Another thing a sailor learns is not to call his skipper 'Cap.'  A
fo'mast hand always says 'Aye, aye, sir,' when his off'cer speaks
to him.  Understand that?"

"Y-e-s.  Oh, Lord!"

"WHAT?"

"Ye--I mean aye, aye."

"Aye, aye, WHAT?"

"Aye, aye, SIR!  OH, dear me!"

"That's better.  Now pick up them lines."

Well, 'twas a dreadful forenoon for Josiah; one not to be forgotten.
The boat rolled unceasingly, his head ached, and pulling the heavy
cod made his back and shoulders lame; also, he was wet and cold.
The other boats scattered about the fishing grounds pulled up their
anchors and started for home, but Captain Eri did not budge.  At
noon he opened his lunch basket again, and munched serenely.  The
sight of the greasy ham sandwiches was too much for the "able
seaman."  He suffered a relapse and, when it was over, tumbled on
the seat which encircled the cockpit and, being completely worn out,
went fast asleep.  The Captain watched him for a minute or two,
smiled in a not unkindly way, and, going into the cabin, brought out
an old pea jacket and some other wraps with which he covered the
sleeper.  Then he went back to his fishing.

When Josiah awoke the Mary Ellen was heeled over on her side, her
sail as tight as a drumhead.  The wind was whistling through the
cordage, and the boat was racing through seas that were steel-blue
and angry, with whitecaps on their crests.  The sun was hidden by
tumbling, dust-colored clouds.  The boy felt weak and strangely
humble; the dreadful nausea was gone.

Captain Eri, standing at the tiller, regarded him sternly, but
there was the suspicion of a twinkle in his eye.

"Feelin' better?" he asked.

"Ye--aye, aye, sir."

"Humph!  Want to smoke again.  Pipe right there on the thwart."

"No, thank you, sir."

It was some time before anything more was said.  Josiah was gazing
at the yellow sand-cliffs that, on every tack, grew nearer.  At
length the Captain again addressed him.

"Perez ever tell you 'bout our fust v'yage?  Never did, hey?  Well,
I will.  Him and me run away to sea together, you know."

And then Captain Eri began a tale that caused the cold shivers to
chase themselves from Josiah's big toe to the longest hair on his
head.  It was the story of two boys who ran away and shipped aboard
an Australian sailing packet, and contained more first-class
horrors than any one of his beloved dime novels.  As a finishing
touch the narrator turned back the grizzled hair on his forehead
and showed a three-inch scar, souvenir of a first mate and a
belaying pin.  He rolled up his flannel shirtsleeve and displayed
a slightly misshapen left arm, broken by a kick from a drunken
captain and badly set by the same individual.

"Now," he said in conclusion, "I cal'late you think I was pretty
hard on you this mornin', but what do you figger that you'd have
got if you talked to a mate the way you done to me?"

"Don't know.  S'pose I'd have been killed,--sir."

"Well, you would, mighty nigh, and that's a fact.  Now, I'll tell
you somethin' else.  You wanted to enlist in the Navy, I understand.
You couldn't git in the Navy, anyway, you're too young, but s'pose
you could, what then?  You'd never git any higher 'n a petty
officer, 'cause you don't know enough.  The only way to git into the
Navy is to go through Annapolis, and git an education.  I tell you,
education counts.  Me and Perez would have been somethin' more 'n
cheap fishin' and coastin' skippers if we'd had an education; don't
forgit that."

"I guess I don't want to be a sailor, anyway, sir.  This one trip
is enough for me, thank you."

"Can't help that.  You shipped 'long with me for two months, and
you'll sail with me for two months, every time I go out.  You won't
run away again neither, I'll look out for that.  You'll sail with
me and you'll help clean fish, and you'll mind me and you'll say
'sir.'  You needn't smoke if you don't want to," with a smile.  "I
ain't p'tic'lar 'bout that.

"Then," went on the Captain, "when the two months is up you'll be
your own master again.  You can go back to 'Web' Saunders and
'Squealer' Wixon and 'Ily' Tucker and their tribe, if you want to,
and be a town nuisance and a good-for-nuthin'.  OR you can do this:
You can go to school for a few years more and behave yourself and
then, if I've got any influence with the Congressman from this
district--and I sort of b'lieve I have, second-handed, at any rate--
you can go to Annapolis and learn to be a Navy officer.  That's my
offer.  You've got a couple of months to think it over in."

The catboat swung about on her final tack and stood in for the
narrows, the route which the Captain had spoken of as the "short
cut."  From where Josiah sat the way seemed choked with lines of
roaring, frothing breakers that nothing could approach and keep
above water.  But Captain Eri steered the Mary Ellen through them
as easily as a New York cabdriver guides his vehicle through a jam
on Broadway, picking out the smooth places and avoiding the rough
ones until the last bar was crossed and the boat entered the
sheltered waters of the bay.

"By gum!" exclaimed the enthusiastic "able seaman."  "That was
great--er--sir!"

"That's part of what I'll l'arn you in the next two months," said
the Captain.  "'Twon't do you any harm to know it when you're in
the Navy neither.  Stand by to let go anchor!"



CHAPTER XV

IN JOHN BAXTER'S ROOM


If Josiah expected any relaxation in Captain Eri's stern discipline
he was disappointed, for he was held to the strict letter of the
"shipping articles."  The Captain even went to the length of
transferring Perez to the parlor cot and of compelling the boy to
share his own room.  This was, of course, a precaution against
further attempts at running away.  Morning after morning the pair
rose before daylight and started for the fishing grounds.  There
were two or three outbreaks on the part of the "able seaman," but
they ended in but one way, complete submission.  After a while
Josiah, being by no means dull, came to realize that when he
behaved like a man he was treated like one.  He learned to steer
the Mary Ellen, and to handle her in all weathers.  Also, his
respect for Captain Eri developed into a liking.

Captain Perez was gratified and delighted at the change in his
grandnephew's behavior and manners, and was not a little curious to
learn the methods by which the result had been brought about.  His
hints being fruitless, he finally asked his friend point-blank.
Captain Eri's answer was something like this:

"Perez," he said, "do you remember old man Sanborn, that kept
school here when you and me was boys?  Well, when the old man run
foul of a youngster that was sassy and uppish he knocked the sass
out of him fust, and then talked to him like a Dutch uncle.  He
used to call that kind of treatment 'moral suasion.'  That's what
I'm doin' to Josiah; I'm 'moral suasionin' him."

Captain Perez was a little anxious concerning the first part of
this course of training, but its results were so satisfactory that
he asked no more questions.  The fact is, Captain Perez' mind was
too much occupied with another subject just at this time to allow
him to be over-anxious.  The other subject was Miss Patience Davis.

Miss Davis, her visit with her brother being over, was acting as
companion to an old lady who lived in a little house up the shore,
a mile or so above the station.  This elderly female, whose name
was Mayo, had a son who kept a grocery store in the village and
was, therefore, obliged to be away all day and until late in the
evening.  Miss Patience found Mrs. Mayo's crotchets a bit trying,
but the work was easy and to her liking, and she was, as she said,
"right across the way, as you might say, from Luther."  The "way"
referred to was the stretch of water between the outer beach and
the mainland.

And Captain Perez was much interested in Miss patience--very much
so, indeed.  His frequent visits to the Mayo homestead furnished no
end of amusement to Captain Eri, and also to Captain Jerry, who
found poking fun at his friend an agreeable change from the old
programme of being the butt himself.  He wasn't entirely free from
this persecution, however, for Eri more than once asked him, in
tones the sarcasm of which was elaborately veiled, if his match-
making scheme had gotten tired and was sitting down to rest.  To
which the sacrifice would reply stoutly, "Oh, it's comin' out all
right; you wait and see."

But in his heart Captain Jerry knew better.  He had been wise
enough to say nothing to his friends concerning his interviews with
Elsie and Ralph, but apparently the breaking-off between the pair
was final.  Hazeltine called occasionally, it is true, but his
stays were short and, at the slightest inclination shown by the
older people to leave the room, he left the house.  There was some
comment by Eri and Mrs. Snow on this sudden change, but they were
far from suspecting the real reason.  Elsie continued to be as
reticent as she had been of late; her school work was easier now
that Josiah was no longer a pupil.

Christmas was rather a failure.  There were presents, of course,
but the planned festivities were omitted owing to a change in John
Baxter's condition.  From growing gradually better, he now grew
slowly, but surely, worse.  Dr. Palmer's calls were more frequent,
and he did not conceal from Mrs. Snow or the captains his anxiety.
They hid much of this from Elsie, but she, too, noticed the change,
and was evidently worried by it.  Strange to say, as his strength
ebbed, the patient's mind grew clearer.  His speech, that in his
intervals of consciousness had heretofore dealt with events of the
past, was now more concerned with recent happenings.  But Captain
Eri had never heard him mention the fire.

One afternoon in January Mrs. Snow and Captain Eri were together in
the sick room.  The rest of the household was absent on various
errands; Captain Perez paying a visit to the life-saver's sister
and Elsie staying after school to go over some examination papers.
There was snow on the ground, and a "Jinooary thaw" was causing the
eaves to drip, and the puddles in the road to grow larger.  The
door of the big stove was open, and the coals within showed red-
hot.  Captain Baxter was apparently asleep.

"Let me see," said Mrs. Snow musingly, in a low tone.  "I've been
here now, two, three, over four months.  Seems longer, somehow."

"Seems almost as if you'd always been here," replied Captain Eri.
"Queer how soon we git used to a change.  I don't know how we got
along afore, but we did some way or other, if you call it gittin'
along," he added with a shrug.  "I should hate to have to try it
over again."

"It's always seemed funny to me," remarked the lady, "that you men,
all sailors so--and used to doin' for yourselves, should have had
such a time when you come to try keepin' house.  I should have
expected it if you was--well, doctors, or somethin' like that--used
to havin' folks wait on you, but all sea captains, it seems queer."

"It does, don't it?  I've thought of that myself.  Anybody'd think
we was the most shif'less lot that ever lived, but we wa'n't.  Even
Jerry--and he's the wust one of the three when it comes to leavin'
things at loose ends--always had a mighty neat vessel, and had the
name of makin' his crews toe the mark.  I honestly b'lieve it come
of us bein' on shore and runnin' the shebang on a share and share
alike idee.  If there'd been a skipper, a feller to boss things,
we'd have done better, but when all hands was boss--nobody felt
like doin' anything.  Then, too, we begun too old.  A feller gits
sort of sot in his ways, and it's hard to give in to the other
chap.

"Now, take that marryin' idee," he went on.  "I laughed at that a
good deal at fust and didn't really take any stock in it, but I
guess 'twas real hoss sense, after all.  Anyhow, it brought you
down here, and what we'd done without you when John was took sick,
_I_ don't know.  I haven't said much about it, but I've felt
enough, and I know the other fellers feel the same way.  You've
been so mighty good and put up with so many things that must have
fretted you like the nation, and the way you've managed--my!"

The whole-souled admiration in the Captain's voice made the
housekeeper blush like a girl.

"Don't say a word, Cap'n Eri," she protested.  "It's been jest a
pleasure to me, honest.  I've had more comfort and--well, peace,
you might say, sence I've been in this house than I've had afore
for years."

"When I think," said the Captain, "of what we might have got for
that advertisement, I swan it makes my hair curl.  Advertisin' that
way in that kind of a paper, why we might have had a--a play
actress, or I don't know what, landed on us.  Seems 's if there was
a Providence in it: seems 's if you was kind of SENT--there!"

"I don't know what you must think of me answerin' an advertisement
for a husband that way.  It makes me 'shamed of myself when I think
of it, I declare.  And in that kind of a paper, too."

"I've wondered more times than a few how you ever got a hold of
that paper.  'Tain't one you'd see every day nat'rally, you know."

Mrs. Snow paused before she answered.  Then she said slowly, "Well,
I'm s'prised you ain't asked that afore.  I haven't said much about
myself sence I've been here, for no p'tic'lar reason that I know
of, except that there wasn't much to tell and it wasn't a very
interestin' yarn to other folks.  My husband's name was Jubal
Snow--"

"You don't say!" exclaimed the Captain.  "Why, Jerry used to know
him."

"I shouldn't wonder.  Jubal knew a lot of folks on the Cape here.
He was a good husband--no better anywheres--and he and I had a good
life together long as he was well.  I've sailed a good many v'yages
with him, and I feel pretty nigh as much at home on the water as I
do on land.  Our trouble was the same that a good many folks have;
we didn't cal'late that fair weather wouldn't last all the time,
that's all.

"It wasn't his fault any more than 'twas mine.  We saved a little
money, but not enough, as it turned out.  Well, he was took down
sick and had to give up goin' to sea, and we had a little place
over in Nantucket, and settled down on it.  Fust along, Jubal was
able to do a little farmin' and so on, and we got along pretty
well, but by and by he got so he wa'n't able to work, and then
'twas harder.  What little we'd saved went for doctor's bills and
this, that, and t'other.  He didn't like to have me leave him, so I
couldn't earn much of anything, and fin'lly we come to where
somethin' had to be done right away, and we talked the thing over
and decided to mortgage the house.  The money we got on the
mortgage lasted until he died.

"He had a little life insurance, not enough, of course, but a
little.  He was plannin' to take on more, but somehow it never
seemed as if he could die, he so big and strong, and we put it off
until he got so he couldn't pass the examination.  When the
insurance money come I took it to Jedge Briar, a mighty good friend
of Jubal's and mine and the one that held the mortgage on the
house, and I told him I wanted to pay off the mortgage with it,
so's I'd have the house free and clear.  But the Jedge advised me
not to, said the mortgage was costin' me only six per cent., and
why didn't I put the money where 'twas likely to be a good
investment that would pay me eight or ten per cent.?  Then I'd be
makin' money, he said.  I asked him to invest it for me, and he put
it into the Bay Shore Land Company, where most of his own was."

"Sho!  I want to know!" broke in the Captain.  "He did, hey!  Well,
I had some there, too, and so did Perez.  Precious few fam'lies on
the Cape that didn't."

"Yes, he thought 'twas the safest and best place he knew of.  The
officers bein' sons of Cape people and their fathers such fine men,
everybody said 'twas all right.  I got my dividends reg'lar for a
while, and I went out nussin' and did sewin' and got along reel
well.  I kept thinkin' some day I'd be able to pay off the mortgage
and I put away what little I could towards it, but then _I_ was
took sick and that money went, and then the Land Company went up
the spout."

The Captain nodded.  The failure of the company had brought poverty
to hundreds of widows.  Mrs. Snow's case was but another instance.

"Let me see," said the lady.  "Where was I?  Oh, yes! the Land
Company's failin'.  Well, it failed and the insurance money went
with it.  It was discouragin', of course, but I had my house,
except for the mortgage, and I had my health again, and, if I do
say it, I ain't afraid of work, so I jest made up my mind there was
no use cryin' over spilt milk, and that I must git along and begin
to save all over again.  Then Jedge Briar died and his nephew up to
Boston come into the property.  I was behind in my payments a
little, and they sent me word they should foreclose the mortgage,
and they did."

"Well, I swan!  The mean sculpins!  Didn't you have NOBODY you
could go to; no relations nor nothin'?"

"I've got a brother out in Chicago, but he married rich and his
wife doesn't care much for her husband's relations.  I never saw
her but once, and then one of the first things she asked me was if
it was true that there was more crazy people in Nantucket than in
any other place of its size on earth, and afore I could answer she
asked me what made 'em crazy.  I told her I didn't know unless it
was answerin' city folks' questions.  She didn't like that very
well, and I haven't heard from Job--that's my brother--for a long
time.  All my other near relations are dead.

"So they foreclosed the mortgage, and gave me notice to move out.
I packed my things, and watered my flowers--I had quite a pretty
flower garden--for the last time, and then come in and set down in
the rocker to wait for the wagon that was goin' to move me.  I got
to thinkin' how proud Jubal and me was when we bought that house
and how we planned about fixin' it up, and how our baby that died
was born in it, and how Jubal himself had died there, and told me
that he was glad he was leavin' me a home, at any rate; and I got
so lonesome and discouraged that I jest cried, I couldn't help it.
But I've never found that cryin' did much good, so I wiped my eyes
and looked for somethin' to read to take up my mind.  And that
Chime paper was what I took up.

"You see, there'd been a big excursion from Boston down the day
before, and some of the folks come down my way to have a sort of
picnic.  Two of 'em, factory girls from Brockton, they was, come to
the house for a drink of water.  They were gigglin', foolish enough
critters, but I asked 'em in, and they eat their lunches on my
table.  They left two or three story papers and that Chime thing
when they went away.

"Well, I looked it over, and almost the first thing I saw was that
advertisement signed 'Skipper.'  It didn't read like the other
trashy things in there, and it sounded honest.  And all of a sudden
it come over me that I'd answer it.  I was lonesome and tired and
sort of didn't care, and I answered it right off without waitin'
another minute.  That's all there is to tell.  When I come here
to be housekeeper I wrote the folks that's takin' care of my
furniture--they're reel kind people; I was goin' to board there if
I had stayed in Nantucket--to keep it till I come back.  There!  I
meant to tell you this long ago, and I don't know why I haven't."

The Captain knew why she hadn't.  It was easy to read between the
lines the tale of the years of disappointment and anxiety.  Such
stories are not easy to tell, and he respected the widow more than
ever for the simple way in which she had told hers.

"That Land Company bus'ness," he said, "carried off a good lot of
Cape Cod money.  I never saw but one man that I thought was glad it
busted, and that was old Caleb Weeks, over to Harniss.  The old man
was rich, but closer 'n the bark of a tree--he'd skin a flea for
the hide and taller--and used to be a hard case into the bargain.
One time they had a big revival over there and he got religion.
The boys used to say what caught Caleb was the minister's sayin'
salvation was free.  Well, anyhow, he got converted and j'ined the
church.  That was all right, only while the fit was fresh he
pledged himself to give five hundred dollars to help build the new
chapel.  When he cooled down a little he was sorry, and every time
they'd hint at his comin' down with the cash, he'd back and fill,
and put it off for a spell.  When the Land Company went up he was
the only happy one in town, 'cause he said he'd lost all his money.
Course, under the circumstances, they couldn't ask him to pay, so
he didn't.  From what I hear he lost as much as fifty dollars."

They both laughed, and Mrs. Snow was about to answer when she was
interrupted.

"Eri," said a weak voice.  "Eri."

The Captain started, turned sharply, and saw the sick man watching
him, his eyes fixed and unwavering.

"Eri," said John Baxter again, "come here."

Mrs. Snow hurried to her patient, but the latter impatiently bade
her let him alone.

"Not you," he said, "I want Eri."

Captain Eri stooped down beside the bed.

"What is it, John?" he asked.

"Eri s'pose God called you to break man's law and keep his, what
would you do?"

The Captain glanced anxiously at the house-keeper.  Then he said
soothingly:

"Oh, that's all right, John.  Don't worry 'bout that.  You and me
settled that long ago.  How are you feelin' now?"

"I know, I know," with the monotonous persistence of those whose
minds are wandering,--and then cleanly once more, "Eri, I've been
called."

"Ssh-h!  That's all right, John; that's all right.  Don't you want
Mrs. Snow to fix your piller?  P'raps you'd lay a little easier,
then.  Now, Mrs. Snow, if you'll jest turn it while I lift him.
So; that's better now, ain't it, shipmate, hey?"  But the sick man
muttered an unintelligible something, and relapsed once more into
the half-doze, half-stupor that was his usual state.

Captain Eri sighed in relief.

"That was queer, wa'n't it?" he observed.

"He's had two or three of those spells in the last day or two," was
the answer.

The Captain wondered what his friend might have said during those
"spells," but he was afraid to inquire.  Instead, he asked, "What
did the doctor say when he was here this mornin'?"

"Nothin' very hopeful.  I asked him plain what he thought of the
case, and he answered jest as plain.  He said Cap'n Baxter had
failed dreadful in the last week, and that he wouldn't be s'prised
if he dropped off most any time.  Then again, he said he might live
for months."

"I see, I see."

They were silent for a while, watching the sick man, whose sleep,
or stupor, was not as tranquil as usual.  Two or three times his
eyes opened, and he muttered audibly.

"I never saw him so restless afore," commented Captain Eri
anxiously.

"He was so last night."

"Did Elsie see him?"

"No, I was alone here, and she was asleep in the next room.  I got
up and shut the door."

The Captain glanced keenly at the housekeeper, but her face was
placid and inscrutable.  He shifted uneasily and then said,
"Elsie's late to-night, ain't she?  I wonder what's keepin' her."

"School work, I s'pose.  She's workin' harder 'n she ought to, I
think."

"FIRE!"

The word was shouted, and the room rang with it.  John Baxter,
whose weakness had hitherto been so great that he could not turn
himself in bed, was leaning on his elbow and pointing with
outstretched finger to the open stove door.

"Fire!" he shouted again.  "It's blazin'!  It's burnin'!  It's
wipin' the plague spot from the earth.  I hear you, Lord!  I'm old,
but I hear you, and your servant's ready.  Where will it be to-
morrer?  Gone! burnt up! and the ways of the wicked shan't
prevail."

They forced him back on the pillow, but he fought them fiercely for
a moment or two.  After they thought they had quieted him, he broke
out again, talking rapidly and clearly.

"I hear the call, Lord," he said.  "I thank thee for showin' it to
me in your Book.  'And they burnt all their cities wherein they
dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire.'  With fire!  With
fire!"

"Ssh-h!  There, there, John!  Don't talk so," entreated the
Captain.

"Where's the kerosene?" continued the old man.  "And the matches?
Now softly, softly.  The shavin's.  It's dark.  Here, in the
corner.  Ah, ha! ah, ha!  'And all their goodly castles with fire!'
Now, Web Saunders, you wicked man!  Now!  Burn!  I've done it,
Lord!  I've done it!"

"Hush!" almost shouted the agonized Captain Eri.  "Hush, John!  Be
still!"

"There, there, Cap'n Baxter," said Mrs. Snow soothingly, laying her
hand on the sick man's forehead.  Somehow, the touch seemed to
quiet him; his eyes lost their fire, and he muttered absently that
he was tired.  Then the eyes closed and he lay still, breathing
heavily.

"Land of love!" exclaimed the Captain.  "That was awful!  Hadn't I
better go for the doctor?"

"I don't think so, unless he gits worse.  He had jest such a turn,
as I told you, last night."

"Did he talk like he did jest now?"

"Jest the same."

"'Bout the same things?"

"Yes."

The Captain gasped.  "Then you knew!" he said.

"That he set the billiard room afire?  Yes.  I've always rather
suspicioned that he did, and last night, of course, made me sure of
it."

"Well, well!  You haven't said nothin' 'bout it to anybody?"

"Of course not."

"No, 'course you haven't.  You must excuse me--I'm kind of upset, I
guess.  Dear! dear!  Did you think _I_ knew it?"

"I sort of guessed that you did."

"Well, I did.  I've known it ever sence that night he was found.
He had his coat on when I found him, and 'twas all burnt, and there
was an empty kerosene bottle in his pocket.  I hid the coat, and
threw the bottle away, and turned him so he was facin' towards the
saloon 'stead of from it.  And I lied when I told the doctor that
he was jest as he fell.  There! the murder's out!  Now, what do you
think of me?"

"Think?  I think you did exactly right."

"You DO?"

"I sartinly do."

"Well, I snum!  I've been over that thing time and time again, and
I've felt like I was sort of a firebug myself sometimes.  I've
heard folks layin' it to fust one and then the other, and
cal'latin' that Web did it himself to git the insurance, and all
the time I've known who really did do it, and haven't said
anything.  I jest couldn't.  You see, John and me's been brothers
almost.  But I didn't s'pose anybody else would see it the same
way."

"Cap'n Eri, do you s'pose I blame you for tryin' to keep your best
friend out of trouble that he got into by bein'--well--out of his
head.  Why, land of mercy!  He ain't no more to be held responsible
than a baby.  You did what I'd have done if I'd been in your place,
and I respect you for it."

The Captain's voice shook as he answered:

"Marthy Snow," he said, "you're the kind of woman that I'd like to
have had for a sister."

It was perhaps a half-hour later when Captain Eri started for the
schoolhouse to bring Elsie home.  John Baxter had not wakened, and
Mrs. Snow said she was not afraid to remain alone with him.  The
thaw had turned to a light rain and the Captain carried an umbrella.
It was dark by this time, and when he came in sight of the
schoolhouse he saw a light in the window.

One of the scholars--a by no means brilliant one--whose principal
educational achievement was the frequency with which he succeeded
in being "kept after school," was seated on the fence, doing his
best to whittle it to pieces with a new jackknife.

"Hello, sonny!" said the Captain.  "Miss Preston gone yit?"

"No, she ain't," replied the boy, continuing to whittle.  "She's up
there.  Mr. Saunders is there, too."

"Saunders?  WEB SAUNDERS?"

"Yup.  I see him go in there a little while ago."  Captain Eri
started toward the schoolhouse at a rapid pace; then he suddenly
stopped; and then, as suddenly, walked on again.  All at once he
dropped his umbrella and struck one hand into the palm of the other
with a smack.

When he reached the door, he leaned the umbrella in the corner and
walked up the stairs very softly, indeed.



CHAPTER XVI

A BUSINESS CALL


That enterprising business man, Mr. "Web" Saunders, opened the door
of his renovated billiard room a little later than usual the next
morning.  It was common report about the village that Mr. Saunders
occasionally sampled the contents of some of the "original packages"
which, bearing the name and address of a Boston wholesale liquor
dealer, came to him by express at irregular intervals.  It was also
reported, probably by unreliable total abstainers, that during these
"sampling" seasons his temper was not of the best.  Perhaps Mrs.
Saunders might have said something concerning this report if she had
been so disposed, but unless a discolored eye might be taken as
evidence, she never offered any.  The injury to her eye she
explained by saying that something "flew up and hit her."  This
was no doubt true.

But, gossip aside, Mr. Saunders did not seem in good humor on this
particular morning.  A yellow cur, of nondescript breed, taken
since the fire, in payment of a debt from "Squealer" Wixon, who had
described it as a "fust-class watchdog," rose from its bed behind
the cigar counter, yawned, stretched, and came slinking over to
greet its master.  "Web" forcibly hoisted it out of the door on the
toe of his boot.  Its yelp of pained surprise seemed to afford the
business man considerable relief, for he moved more briskly
afterward, and proceeded to sweep the floor with some degree of
speed.

The forenoon trade at the billiard room was never very lively, and
this forenoon was no exception.  "Bluey" Batcheldor drifted in,
stepped into the little room the door of which was lettered "Ice
Cream Parlor," and busied himself with a glass and bottle for a few
moments.  Then he helped himself to a cigar from the showcase, and
told his friend to "chalk it up."  This Mr. Saunders didn't seem to
care to do, and there was a lively argument.  At length "Bluey's"
promise to "square up in a day or so" was accepted, under protest,
and the customer departed.

At half-past eleven the man of business was dozing in a chair by
the stove, and the "watchdog," having found it chilly outside and
venturing in, was dozing near him.  The bell attached to the door
rang vigorously, and both dog and man awoke with a start.  The
visitor was Captain Eri.

Now, the Captain was perhaps the last person whom the proprietor of
the billiard room expected to see, but a stranger never would have
guessed it.  In fact, the stranger might reasonably have supposed
that the visitor was Mr. Saunders' dearest friend, and that his
call was a pleasure long looked forward to.

"Why, Cap'n!" exclaimed "Web," "how are you?  Put her there!  I'm
glad to see you lookin' so well.  I said to 'Squealer' the other
day, s'I, 'Squealer, I never see a man hold his age like Cap'n
Hedge.  I'll be blessed if he looks a day over forty,' I says.
Take off your coat, won't you?"

Somehow or other, the Captain must have lost sight of "Web's"
extended hand.  Certainly, the hand was large enough to be seen,
but he did not take it.  He did, however, accept the invitation to
remove his coat, and, slipping out of the faded brown pea jacket,
threw it on a settee at the side of the room.  His face was stern
and his manner quiet, and in spite Of Mr. Saunders' flattering
reference to his youthful appearance, this morning he looked at
least more than a day past forty.

But, if Captain Eri was more than usually quiet and reserved, "Web"
was unchanged, and, if he noticed that the handshake was declined,
said nothing about it.  His smile was sweetness itself, as he
observed, "Well, Cap'n, mighty mod'rate weather we're having for
this time of year, ain't it?  What's new down your way?  That's
right, have a chair."

The Captain had no doubt anticipated this cordial invitation, for
he seated himself before it was given, and, crossing his legs,
extended his dripping rubber boots toward the fire.  The rain was
still falling, and it beat against the windows of the saloon in
gusts.

"Web," said Captain Eri, "set down a minute.  I want to talk to
you."

"Why, sure!" exclaimed the genial man of business, pulling up
another chair.  "Have a cigar, won't you?  You don't come to see me
very often, and I feel's though we ought to celebrate.  Ha! ha! ha!"

"No, I guess not, thank you," was the answer.  "I'll smoke my pipe,
if it's all the same to you."

Mr. Saunders didn't mind in the least, but thought he would have a
cigar himself.  So he lit one and smoked in silence as the Captain
filled his pipe.  "Web" knew that this was something more than an
ordinary social visit.  Captain Eri's calls at the billiard room
were few and far between.  The Captain, for his part, knew what his
companion was thinking, and the pair watched each other through the
smoke.

The pipe drew well, and the Captain sent a blue cloud whirling
toward the ceiling.  Then he asked suddenly, "Web, how much money
has Elsie Preston paid you altogether?"

Mr. Saunders started the least bit, and his small eyes narrowed a
trifle.  But the innocent surprise in his reply was a treat to
hear.

"Elsie?  Paid ME?" he asked.

"Yes.  How much has she paid you?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"Yes, you do.  She's been payin' you money reg'lar for more 'n a
month.  I want to know how much it is."

"Now, Cap'n Hedge, I don't know what you're talkin' about.
Nobody's paid me a cent except them that's owed me.  Who did you
say?  Elsie Preston?  That's the school-teacher, ain't it?"

"Web, you're a liar, and always was, but you needn't lie to me this
mornin', 'cause it won't be healthy; I don't feel like hearin' it.
You understand that, do you?"

Mr. Saunders thought it time to bluster a little.  He rose to his
feet threateningly.

"Cap'n Hedge," he said, "no man 'll call me a liar."

"There's a precious few that calls you anything else."

"You're an old man, or I'd--"

"Never you mind how old I am.  A minute ago you said I didn't look
more 'n forty; maybe I don't feel any older, either."

"If that Preston girl has told you any--"

"She hasn't told me anything.  She doesn't know that I know
anything.  But I do know.  I was in the entry upstairs at the
schoolhouse for about ten minutes last night."

Mr. Saunders' start was perceptible this time.  He stood for a
moment without speaking.  Then he jerked the chair around, threw
himself into it, and said cautiously, "Well, what of it?"

"I come up from the house to git Elsie home 'cause 'twas rainin'.
I was told you was with her, and I thought there was somethin'
crooked goin' on; fact is, I had a suspicion what 'twas.  So when I
got up to the door I didn't go in right away; I jest stood
outside."

"Listenin', hey!  Spyin'!"

"Yup.  I don't think much of folks that listens, gin'rally speakin',
but there's times when I b'lieve in it.  When I'm foolin' with a
snake I'd jest as soon hit him from behind as in front.  I didn't
hear much, but I heard enough to let me know that you'd been takin'
money from that girl right along.  And I think I know why."

"You do, hey?"

"Yup."

Then Mr. Saunders asked the question that a bigger rascal than he
had asked some years before.  He leaned back in his chair, took a
pull at his cigar, and said sneeringly, "Well, what are you goin'
to do 'bout it?"

"I'm goin' to stop it, and I'm goin' to make you give the money
back.  How much has she paid you?"

"None of your d--n bus'ness."

The Captain rose to his feet.  Mr. Saunders sprang up, also, and
reached for the coal shovel, evidently expecting trouble.  But if
he feared a physical assault, his fear was groundless.  Captain Eri
merely took up his coat.

"Maybe it ain't none of my bus'ness," he said.  "I ain't a
s'lectman nor sheriff.  But there's such things in town, and p'raps
they'll be int'rested.  Seems to me that I've heard that
blackmailin' has got folks into State's prison afore now."

"Is that so?  Never heard that folks that set fire to other
people's prop'ty got there, did you?  Yes, and folks that helps 'em
gits there, too, sometimes.  Who was it hid a coat a spell ago?"

It was Captain Eri's turn to start.  He hesitated a moment, tossed
the pea jacket back on the settee and sat down once more.  Mr.
Saunders watched him, grinning triumphantly.

"Well?" he said with a sneer.

"A coat, you say?"

"Yes, a coat.  Maybe you know who hid it; I can guess, myself.
That coat was burned some.  How do you s'pose it got burned?  And
say! who used to wear a big white hat round these diggin's?  Ah,
ha!  Who did?"

There was no doubt about the Captain's start this time.  He wheeled
sharply in his chair, and looked at the speaker.

"Humph!" he exclaimed.  "You found that hat, did you?"

"That's what I done!  And where do you think I found it?  Why,
right at the back of my shed where the fire started.  And there'd
been a pile of shavin's there, too, and there'd been kerosene on
'em.  Who smashed the bottle over in the field, hey?"

Captain Eri seemed to be thinking.  "Web" evidently set his own
interpretation on this silence, for he went on, raising his voice
as he did so.

"Did you think I was fool enough not to know who set that fire?  I
knew the night she burned, and when I met Dr. Palmer jest comin'
from your house, and he told me how old Baxter was took sick goin'
to the fire--oh, yes, GOIN'--I went up on that hill right off, and
I hunted and I found things, and what I found I kept.  And what I
found when I pulled that burned shed to pieces I kept, too.  And
I've got 'em yit!"

"You have, hey?  Dear! dear!"

"You bet I have!  And somebody's goin' to pay for 'em.  Goin' to
pay, pay, PAY!  Is that plain?"

The Captain made no answer.  He thrust his hands into his pockets
and looked at the stove dolefully, so it seemed to the man of
business.

"Fust off I thought I'd have the old cuss jailed," continued Mr.
Saunders.  "Then, thinks I, 'No, that won't pay me for my buildin'
and my bus'ness hurt and all that.'  So I waited for Baxter to git
well, meanin' to make him pay or go to the jug.  But he stayed sick
a-purpose, I b'lieve, the mean, white-headed, psalm-singin'--"

Captain Eri moved uneasily and broke in, "You got your insurance
money, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did, but whose fault is that?  'Twa'n't his, nor any other
darned 'Come-Outer's.'  It don't pay me for my trouble, nor it
don't make me square with the gang.  I gen'rally git even sometime
or 'nother, and I'll git square now.  When that girl come here,
swellin' 'round and puttin' on airs, I see my chance, and told her
to pay up or her granddad would be shoved into Ostable jail.  That
give her the jumps, I tell you!"

"You wrote her a letter, didn't you?"

"You bet I did!  She come 'round to see me in a hurry.  Said she
didn't have no money.  I told her her granddad did, an she could
git that or go to work and earn some.  I guess she thought she'd
ruther work.  Oh, I've got her and her prayin', house-burnin'
granddad where I want 'em, and I've got you, too, Eri Hedge,
stickin' your oar in.  Talk to me 'bout blackmail!  For two cents
I'd jail the old man and you, too!"

This was the real Mr. Saunders.  He usually kept this side of his
nature for home use; his wife was well acquainted with it.

Captain Eri was evidently frightened.  His manner had become almost
apologetic.

"Well," he said, "I wouldn't do that if I was you, Web.  I heard
you tell Elsie last night she wa'n't payin' you enough, and I
thought--"

"I know what you thought.  You thought you could scare me.  You
didn't know I had the coat and hat, did you?  Well, what I said I
stand by.  The girl AIN'T payin' me enough.  Fourteen dollars a
week she gits, and she's only been givin' up ten.  I want more.  I
want--"

But here Captain Eri interrupted him.

"I guess that 'll do," he said calmly.  "You've told me what I
wanted to know.  Ten dollars a week sence the middle of November.
'Bout seventy dollars, rough figgerin'.  Now, then, hand it over."

"What?"

"Hand over that seventy dollars."

"Hand over hell!  What are you talkin' 'bout?"

The Captain rose and, leaning over, shook his forefinger in Mr.
Saunders' flabby red face.

"You low-lived, thievin' rascal," he said, "I'm givin' you a chance
you don't deserve.  Either you'll pay me that money you've stole
from that girl or I'll walk out of that door, and when I come in
again the sheriff 'll be with me.  Now, which 'll it be?  Think
quick."

Web's triumphant expression was gone, and rage and malice had taken
its place.  He saw, now, that the Captain had tricked him into
telling more than he ought.  But he burst out again, tripping over
words in his excitement.

"Think!" he yelled.  "I don't need to think.  Bring in your
sheriff.  I'll march down to your house and I'll show him the man
that set fire to my buildin'.  What 'll you and that snivelin'
granddaughter of his do then?  You make off to think a turrible lot
of the old prayer-machine 'cause he's your chum.  How'd you like to
see him took up for a firebug, hey?"

"I ain't afraid of that."

"You ain't?  You AIN'T!  Why not?"

"'Cause he's gone where you can't git at him.  He died jest afore I
left the house."

Mr. Saunders' brandished fist fell heavily on the arm of his chair.
His face turned white in patches, and then flamed red again.

"Died!" he gasped.

"Died."

"You--you're a liar!"

"No, I ain't.  John Baxter's dead.  He was a chum of mine--you're
right there--and if I'd known a sneak like you was after him I'd
have been here long afore this.  Why, you--"

The Captain's voice shook, but he restrained himself and went on.

"Now, you see where you stand, don't you?  Long's John lived you
had the proof to convict him; I'll own up to that much.  I hid the
coat; I smashed the bottle.  The hat I didn't know 'bout.  I might
have told you at fust that all that didn't amount to anything, but
I thought I'd wait and let you tell me what more I wanted to know.
John Baxter's gone, poor feller, and all your proof ain't worth a
cent.  Not one red cent.  Understand?"

It was quite evident that Mr. Saunders did understand, for his
countenance showed it.  But the bluster was not out of him yet.

"All right," he said.  "Anyhow, the girl's left, and if she don't
pay I'll show her granddad up for what he was.  And I'll show you
up, too.  Yes, I will!" he shouted, as this possibility began to
dawn on him.  "I'll let folks know how you hid that coat and--and
all the rest of it."

"No, you won't."

"Why won't I?"

"'Cause you won't dare to.  You've been hittin' at a sick man
through a girl; neither of 'em could hit back.  But now you're
doin' bus'ness with me, and I ain't sick.  If you open your mouth
to anybody,--if you let a soul know who set that fire,--I'll walk
straight to Jedge Baker, and I'll tell him the whole story.  I'll
tell him what I did and why I did it.  And THEN I'll tell him what
you did--how you bullied money out of that girl that hadn't no more
to do with the fire than a baby.  If it comes to facin' a jury I'll
take my chances, but how 'bout you?  You, runnin' a town nuisance
that the s'lectmen are talkin' of stoppin' already; sellin' rum by
the drink when your license says it shan't be sold 'cept by the
bottle.  Where'll YOUR character land you on a charge of blackmail?

"And another thing.  The folks in this town knew John Baxter afore
he was like what he's been lately.  A good many of 'em swore by
him--yes, sir, by mighty, some of 'em loved him!  This is a law-
abidin' town, but s'pose--jest s'pose I should go to some of the
fellers that used to sail with him, and tell 'em what you've been
up to.  Think you'd stay here long?  _I_ think you'd move out--on a
rail."

Captain Eri paused and sat on the arm of his chair, grimly watching
his opponent, whose turn for thinking had come.  The face of the
billiard magnate was an interesting study in expression during the
Captain's speech.  From excited triumph it had fallen to fear and
dejection; and now, out of the wreck, was appearing once more the
oily smile, the sugared sweetness of the every-day Mr. Saunders.

"Now, Cap'n Hedge," purred the reconstructed one, "you and me has
always been good friends.  We hadn't ought to fight like this.  I
don't think either of us wants to go to court.  Let's see if we
can't fix the thing up some way."

"We'll fix it up when you pay me the seventy dollars."

"Now, Cap'n Hedge, 'tain't likely I've got seventy dollars in my
pocket.  Seems to me you're pretty hard on a poor feller that's
jest been burnt out.  I think we'd ought to--"

"How much HAVE you got?"

After a good deal of talk and protestation Mr. Saunders acknowledged
being the possessor of twenty-six dollars, divided between the cash
drawer and his pocket.  This he reluctantly handed to the Captain.

Then the Captain demanded pen, ink, and paper; and when they were
brought he laboriously wrote out a screed to the effect that
Webster Saunders had received of Elsie Preston forty-four dollars,
which sum he promised to pay on demand.

"There," he said, pushing the writing materials across the table.
"Sign that."

At first Mr. Saunders positively refused to sign.  Then he
intimated that he had rather wait and think it over a little while.
Finally he affixed his signature and spitefully threw the pen
across the room.

Captain Eri folded up the paper and put it in his pocket.  Then he
rose and put on his pea jacket.

"Now, there's jest one thing more," he said.  "Trot out that coat
and hat."

"What do you mean?"

"Trot out that coat and hat of John's.  I want 'em."

"I shan't do it."

"All right, then.  It's all off.  I'll step over and see the Jedge.
You'll hear from him and me later."

"Hold on a minute, Cap'n.  You're in such a everlastin' hurry.  I
don't care anything 'bout the old duds, but I don't know's I know
where they are.  Seems to me they're up to the house somewheres.
I'll give 'em to you to-morrer."

"You'll give 'em to me right now.  I'll tend shop while you go
after 'em."

For a moment it looked as though the man of business would rebel
outright.  But the Captain was so calm, and evidently so determined
to do exactly what he promised, that "Web" gave up in despair.
Muttering that maybe they were "'round the place, after all," he
went into the back room and reappeared with the burned coat and the
scorched white felt hat.  Slamming them down on the counter, he
said sulkily, "There they be.  Any more of my prop'ty you'd like to
have?"

Captain Eri didn't answer.  Coolly tearing off several sheets of
wrapping paper from the roll at the back of the counter, he made a
bundle of the hat and coat, and tucked it under his arm.  Then he
put on his own hat and started for the door.

"Good-mornin'," he said.

The temper of the exasperated Mr. Saunders flared up in a final
outburst.

"You think you're almighty smart, don't you?" he growled between
his teeth.  "I'll square up with you by and by."

The Captain turned sharply, his hand on the latch.

"I wish you'd try," he said.  "I jest wish to God you'd try.  I've
held in more 'n I thought I could when I come up here, but if you
want to start a reel fust-class rumpus, one that 'll land you where
you b'long and rid this town of you for keeps, jest try some of
your tricks on me.  And if I hear of one word that you've said
'bout this whole bus'ness, I'll know it's time to start in.  Now,
you can keep still or fight, jest as you please.  I tell you
honest, I 'most wish you'd fight."

The door slammed.  Mr. Saunders opened it again and gazed
vindictively after the bulky figure splashing through the slush.
The dog came sneaking up and rubbed his nose against his master's
hand; it was an impolitic move on his part.

"Git out! " roared "Web," delighted at the opportunity.  "You good-
for-nothin' pup!  How's that set?"

"That" was a kick that doubled the cur up against the settee.  As
it scrambled to its feet, Mr. Saunders kicked it again.  And then
the "watchdog" exhibited the first evidence of spirit that it had
ever been known to show.  With a snarl, as the man turned away, it
settled its teeth into the calf of his leg, and then shot out of
the door and, with its tail between its legs, went down the road
like a yellow cannon ball.



CHAPTER XVII

THROUGH FIRE AND WATER


It was true--John Baxter was dead.  His violent outbreak of the
previous afternoon had hastened the end that the doctor had
prophesied.  There was no harrowing death scene.  The weather-
beaten old face grew calmer, and, the sleep sounder, until the tide
went out--that was all.  It was like a peaceful coming into port
after a rough voyage.  No one of the watchers about the bed could
wish him back, not even Elsie, who was calm and brave through it
all.  When it was over, she went to her room and Mrs. Snow went
with her.  Captain Eri went out to make his call upon Mr. Saunders.

The funeral was one of the largest ever held in Orham.  The little
house was crowded.  Old friends, who had drifted away from the
fanatic in his latter days, came back to pay tribute to the strong
man whom they had known and loved.  There was some discussion among
the captains as to who should preach the funeral sermon.  Elsie had
left this question to Captain Eri for settlement, and the trio and
Mrs. Snow went into executive session immediately.

"If John had had the settlin' of it himself," observed Eri, "he'd
have picked Perley, there ain't no doubt 'bout that."

"I know it," said Captain Perez, "but you must remember that John
wa'n't himself for years, and what he'd have done now ain't what
he'd have done 'fore he broke down.  I hate to think of Perley's
doin' it, somehow."

"Isn't Mr. Perley a good man?" asked the housekeeper.

"He's good enough, fur's I know," replied Captain Jerry, "but I
know what Perez means.  A funeral, seems to me, ought to be a
quiet, soothin' sort of a thing, and there ain't nothin' soothin'
'bout Come-Outer' preachin'.  He'll beller and rave 'round, I'm
'fraid, and stir up poor Elsie so she won't never git over it."

"I know it," agreed Captain Eri.  "That's what I've been afraid of.
And yit," he added, "I should feel we was doin' somethin' jest
opposite from what John would like, if we had anybody else."

"Couldn't you see Mr. Perley beforehand," suggested Mrs. Snow, "and
tell him jest the kind of sermon he must preach.  Tell him it must
be quiet and comfortin' and--"

"And short."  Captain Eri finished the sentence for her.  "I guess
that's the way we'll have to settle it.  I'll make him understand
one thing, though--he mustn't drag in rum sellin' and all the rest
of it by the heels.  If he does I'll--I don't know what I'll do to
him."

The interview with the Reverend Perley that followed this
conversation must have been effective, for the sermon was
surprisingly brief and as surprisingly calm.  In fact, so rational
was it that a few of the more extreme among the preacher's
following were a bit disappointed and inquired anxiously as to
their leader's health, after the ceremony was over.

The procession of carryalls and buggies followed the hearse to the
cemetery among the pines, and, as the mourners stood about the
grave, the winter wind sang through the evergreen branches a song
so like the roar of the surf that it seemed like a dirge of the sea
for the mariner who would sail no more.  As they were clearing away
the supper dishes that night Captain Eri said to Mrs. Snow, "Well,
John's gone.  I wonder if he's happier now than he has been for the
last ten years or so."

"I think he is," was the answer.

"Well, so do I, but if he hadn't been a 'Come Outer' I don't s'pose
Brother Perley and his crowd would have figgered that he had much
show.  Seems sometimes as if folks like that--reel good-hearted
folks, too, that wouldn't hurt a fly--git solid comfort out of the
feelin' that everybody that don't agree with 'em is bound to
everlastin' torment.  I don't know but it's wicked to say it, but
honest, it seems as if them kind would 'bout as soon give up the
hopes of Heaven for themselves as they would the satisfaction of
knowin' 'twas t'other place for the other feller."

To which remark the somewhat shocked housekeeper made no reply.

The following day Elsie went back to her school.  Captain Eri
walked up with her, and, on the way, told her of his discovery of
her secret, and of his interview with "Web" Saunders.  It was
exactly as the Captain had surmised.  The note she had received on
the evening of the return from the life-saving station was from the
proprietor of the billiard saloon, and in it he hinted at some dire
calamity that overshadowed her grandfather, and demanded an
immediate interview.  She had seen him that night and, under threat
of instant exposure, had promised to pay the sum required for
silence.  She had not wished to use her grandfather's money for
this purpose, and so had taken the position as teacher.

"Well," said the Captain, "I wish you'd have come to me right away,
and told me the whole bus'ness.  'Twould have saved a pile of
trouble."

The young lady stopped short and faced him.

"Captain Eri," she said, "how could I?  I was sure grandfather had
set the fire.  I knew how ill he was, and I knew that any shock
might kill him.  Besides, how could I drag you into it, when you
had done so much already?  It would have been dreadful.  No, I
thought it all out, and decided I must face it alone."

"Well, I tell you this, Elsie; pretty gin'rally a mean dog 'll bite
if he sees you're afraid of him.  The only way to handle that kind
is to run straight at him and kick the meanness out of him.  The
more he barks the harder you ought to kick.  If you run away once
it 'll be mighty uncomf'table every time you go past that house.
But never mind; I cal'late this p'tic'lar pup won't bite; I've
pulled his teeth, I guess.  What's your plans, now?  Goin' to keep
on with the school, or go back to Boston?"

Miss Preston didn't know; she said she had not yet decided, and, as
the schoolhouse was reached by this time, the Captain said no more.

There was, however, another question that troubled him, and that
seemed to call for almost immediate settlement.  It was:  What
should be done with Mrs. Snow?  The housekeeper had been hired to
act as such while John Baxter was in the house.  Now he was gone,
and there remained the original marriage agreement between Captain
Jerry and the widow, and honor called for a decision one way or the
other.  Mrs. Snow, of course, said nothing about it, neither did
Captain Jerry, and Captain Eri felt that he must take the
initiative as usual.  But, somehow, he was not as prompt as was his
wont, and sat evening after evening, whittling at the clipper and
smoking thoughtfully.  And another week went by.

Captain Perez might, and probably would, have suggested action upon
this important matter, had not his mind been taken up with what, to
him, was the most important of all.  He had made up his mind to ask
Patience Davis to marry him.

Love is like the measles; it goes hard with a man past fifty, and
Captain Perez was severely smitten.  The decision just mentioned
was not exactly a brand-new one, his mind had been made up for some
time, but he lacked the courage to ask the momentous question.
Something the lady had said during the first stages of their
acquaintance made a great impression on the Captain.  She gave it
as her opinion that a man who loved a woman should be willing to go
through fire and water to win her.  Captain Perez went home that
night pondering deeply.

"Fire and water!" he mused.  "That's a turrible test.  But she's a
wonderful woman, and would expect it of a feller.  I wonder if I
could do it; seems 's if I would now, but flesh is weak, and I
might flunk, and that would settle it.  Fire and water!  My! my!
that's awful!"

So the Captain delayed and Miss Patience, who had cherished hopes,
found need of a good share of the virtue for which she was named.

But one afternoon at the end of the week following that of the
funeral, Perez set out for a call upon his intended which he meant
should be a decisive one.  He had screwed his courage up to the top
notch, and as he told Captain Eri afterwards, he meant to "hail her
and git his bearin's, if he foundered the next minute."

He found the lady alone, for old Mrs. Mayo had gone with her son,
whose name was Abner, to visit a cousin in Harniss, and would not
be back until late in the evening.  Miss Patience was very glad to
have company, and it required no great amount of urging to persuade
the infatuated swain to stay to tea.  When the meal was over--they
washed the dishes together, and the Captain was so nervous that it
is a wonder there was a whole plate left--the pair were seated in
the parlor.  Then said Captain Perez, turning red and hesitating,
"Pashy, do you know what a feller told me 'bout you?"

Now, this remark was purely a pleasant fiction, for the Captain was
about to undertake a compliment, and was rather afraid to shoulder
the entire responsibility.

"No; I'm sure I don't, Perez," replied Miss Davis, smiling sweetly.

"Well, a feller told me you was the best housekeeper in Orham.  He
said that the man that got you would be lucky."

This was encouraging.  Miss Patience colored and simpered a little.

"Land sake!" she exclaimed.  "Whoever told you such rubbish as
that?  Besides," with downcast eyes, "I guess no man would ever
want me."

"Oh, I don't know."  The Captain moved uneasily in his chair, as if
he contemplated hitching it nearer to that occupied by his
companion.  "I guess there's plenty would be mighty glad to git
you.  Anyhow, there's--there's one that--that--I cal'late the fog's
thick as ever, don't you?"

But Miss Patience didn't mean to give up in this way.

"What was it you was goin' to say?" she asked, by way of giving the
bashful one another chance.

"I was goin' to say, Pashy, that--that--I asked if you thought the
fog was as thick as ever."

"Oh, dear me!  Yes, I s'pose likely 'tis," was the discouraged
answer.

"Seems to me I never see such weather for this time of year.  The
ice is all out of the bay, and there ain't a bit of wind, and it's
warm as summer, pretty nigh.  Kind of a storm-breeder, I'm afraid."

"Well, I'm glad you're here to keep me comp'ny.  I've never been
sole alone in this house afore, and I should be dreadful lonesome
if you hadn't come."  This was offered as a fresh bait.

"Pashy, I've got somethin' I wanted to ask you.  Do you think you
could--er--er--"

"What, Perez?"

"I wanted to ask you"--the Captain swallowed several times--"to ask
you--What in the nation is that?"

"Oh, that's nothin' only the hens squawkin'.  Go on!"

"Yes, but hens don't squawk this time of night 'thout they have
some reason to.  It's that fox come back; that's what 'tis."

Miss Patience, earlier in the evening, had related a harrowing tale
of the loss of two of Mrs. Mayo's best Leghorns that had gone to
furnish a Sunday meal for a marauding fox.  As the said Leghorns
were the pride of the old lady's heart, even the impending proposal
was driven from Miss Davis' mind.

"Oh, Perez! you don't s'pose 'tis the fox, do you?"

"Yes, MA'AM, I do!  Where's the gun?"

"There 'tis, behind the door, but there ain't a mite of shot in the
house.  Abner's been goin' to fetch some from the store for I don't
know how long, but he's always forgot it."

"Never mind.  I'll pound the critter with the butt.  Come quick,
and bring a lamp."

The noise in the henyard continued, and when they opened the door
it was louder than ever.

"He's in the henhouse," whispered Miss Patience.  "He must have
gone in that hole at the side that had the loose board over it."

"All right," murmured the Captain.  "You go 'round with the lamp
and open the door.  That 'll scare him, and I'll stand at the hole
and thump him when he comes out."

So, shielding the lamp with her apron, the guardian of Mrs. Mayo's
outraged Leghorns tiptoed around to the henhouse door, while
Captain Perez, brandishing the gun like a club, took up his stand
by the hole at the side.

Without the lamp the darkness was pitchy.  The Captain, stooping
down to watch, saw something coming out of the hole--something
that was alive and moved.  He swung the gun above his head, and,
bringing it down with all his might, knocked into eternal oblivion
the little life remaining in the finest Leghorn rooster.

"Consarn it!" yelled the executioner, stooping and laying his hand
on the victim, "I've killed a hen!"

Just then there came a scream from the other side of the henhouse,
followed by a crash and the sound of a fall.  Running around the
corner the alarmed Perez saw his lady-love stretched upon the
ground, groaning dismally.

"Great land of Goshen!" he cried.  "Pashy, are you hurt?"

"Oh, Perez!" gasped the fallen one.  "Oh, Perez!"

This pitiful appeal had such an effect upon the Captain that he
dropped upon his knees and, raising Miss Davis' head in his hands,
begged her to say she wasn't killed.  After some little time she
obligingly complied, and then, having regained her breath,
explained the situation.

What had happened was this:  The fox, having selected his victim
the rooster, had rendered it helpless, and was pushing it out of
the hole ahead of him.  The Captain had struck the rooster just as
Miss Patience opened the door, and the fox, seizing this chance of
escape, had dodged by the lady, upsetting her as he went.

"Well," she said, laughing, "there's no great harm done.  I'm sorry
for the rooster, but I guess the fox had fixed him anyway.  Oh, my
soul and body! look there!"

Perez turned, looked as directed, and saw the henhouse in flames.

The lighted lamp, which Miss Patience had dropped as she fell, lay
broken on the floor, and the blazing oil had run in every direction.
The flames were making such headway that they both saw there was
practically no chance of saving the building.  The frightened hens
were huddled in the furthest corner, gazing stupidly at the fire.

"Oh, those poor Leghorns!" wailed Miss Patience.  "Those hens Mrs.
Mayo thought the world of, and left me to look out for.  Last thing
she asked me was to be sure they was fed.  And now they'll be all
burned up!  What SHALL I do?"

Here the lady began to cry.

"Pashy!" roared the Captain, whom the sight of his charmer's tears
had driven almost wild, "don't say another word.  I'll save them
hens or git cooked along with 'em!"

And turning up his coat collar, as though he was going into a
refrigerator instead of a burning building, Captain Perez sprang
through the door.

Miss Davis screamed wildly to him to come back, and danced about,
wringing her hands.  The interior of the henhouse was now a mass of
black smoke, from which the voices of the Captain and the Leghorns
floated in a discordant medley, something like this:

"Hold still, you lunatics!  ("Squawk! squawk!")  Druther be roasted
than have me catch you, hadn't you?  ("Squawk! squawk!")  A--
kershew!  Land! I'm smothered!  NOW I've got you!  Thunderation!
Hold STILL!  HOLD STILL, I tell you!"

Just as the agonized Miss Patience was on the point of fainting,
the little window at the back of the shanty was thrown open and two
hens, like feathered comets, shot through it.  Then the red face of
the Captain appeared for an instant as he caught his breath with a
"Woosh!" and dived back again.  This performance was repeated six
times, the Captain's language and the compliments he paid the hens
becoming more picturesque every moment.

At length he announced, "That's all, thank goodness!" and began to
climb through the window.  This was a difficult task; for the
window was narrow and, in spite of what Captain Eri had called his
"ingy-rubber" make up, Captain Perez stuck fast.

"Catch hold of my hands and haul, will you, Pashy?" he pleaded.
"That's it; pull hard!  It's gittin' sort of muggy in behind here.
I'll never complain at havin' cold feet ag'in if I git out of this.
Now, then!  Ugh!  Here we be!"

He came out with a jerk, like a cork out of a bottle, and rolled on
the ground at his lady's feet.

"Oh, Perez!" she exclaimed, "are you hurt?"

"Nothin' but my feelin's," growled the rescuer, scrambling upright.
"I read a book once by a feller named Joshua Billin's, or somethin'
like it.  He was a ignorant chap--couldn't spell two words right--
but he had consider'ble sense.  He said a hen was a darn fool, and
he was right; she's all that."

The Captain's face was blackened, and his clothes were scorched,
but his spirit was undaunted.

"Pashy," he said, "do you realize that if we don't git help, this
whole shebang, house and all, will burn down?"

"Perez, you don't mean it!"

"I wouldn't swear that I didn't.  Look how that thing's blazin'!
There's the barn t'other side of it, and the house t'other side of
that."

"But can't you and me put it out?"

"I don't dare resk it.  No, sir!  We've got to git help, and git it
in a hurry, too!"

"Won't somebody from the station see the light and come over?"

"Not in this fog.  You can't see a hundred foot.  No, I've got to
go right off.  Good land!  I never thought!  Is the horse gone?"

"No; the horse is here.  Abner took one of the store horses to go
to Harniss with.  But he did take the buggy, and there's no other
carriage but the old carryall, and that's almost tumblin' to
pieces."

"I was cal'latin' to go horseback."

"What! and leave me here alone with the house afire?  No, indeed!
If you go, I'm goin', too."

"Well, then, the carryll's got to do, whether or no.  Git on a
shawl or somethin', while I harness up."

It was a frantic harnessing, but it was done in a hurry, and the
ramshackle old carryall, dusty and cobwebbed, was dragged out of
the barn, and Horace Greeley, the horse, was backed into the
shafts.  As they drove out of the yard the flames were roaring
through the roof of the henhouse, and the lath fence surrounding it
was beginning to blaze.

"Everything's so wet from the fog and the melted snow," observed
the Captain, "that it 'll take some time for the fire to git to the
barn.  If we can git a gang here we can save the house easy, and
maybe more.  By mighty!" he ejaculated, "I tell you what we'll do.
I'll drive across the ford and git Luther and some of the station
men to come right across.  Then I'll go on to the village to fetch
more.  It was seven when I looked at the clock as we come in from
washin' dishes, so the tide must be still goin' out, and the ford
jest right.  Git dap!"

"Hurry all you can, for goodness' sake!  Is this as fast as we can
go?"

"Fast as we can go with this everlastin' Noah's Ark.  Heavens! how
them wheels squeal!"

"The axles ain't been greased for I don't know when.  Abner was
going to have the old carriage chopped up for kindlin' wood."

"Lucky for him and us 'tain't chopped up now.  Git dap, slow-poke!
Better chop the horse up, too, while he's 'bout it."

The last remark the Captain made under his breath.

"My gracious, how dark it is!  Think you can find the crossin'?"

"GOT to find it; that's all.  'Tis dark, that's a fact."

It was.  They had gone but a few hundred yards; yet the fire was
already merely a shapeless, red smudge on the foggy blackness
behind them.  Horace Greeley pounded along at a jog, and when the
Captain slapped him with the end of the reins, broke into a jerky
gallop that was slower than the trot.

"Stop your hoppin' up and down!" commanded Perez, whose temper was
becoming somewhat frayed.  "You make me think of the walkin' beam
on a steamboat.  If you'd stop tryin' to fly and go straight ahead
we'd do better."

They progressed in this fashion for some distance.  Then Miss
Davis, from the curtained depths of the back seat, spoke again.

"Oh, dear me!" she exclaimed.  "Are you sure you're on the right
track?  Seems 's if we MUST be abreast the station, and this road's
awful rough."

Captain Perez had remarked the roughness of the road.  The carryall
was pitching from one hummock to another, and Horace Greeley
stumbled once or twice.

"Whoa!" commanded the Captain.  Then he got down, lit a match, and,
shielding it with his hands, scrutinized the ground.  "I'm kind of
'fraid," he said presently, "that we've got off the road somehow.
But we must be 'bout opposite the crossin'.  I'm goin' to drive
down and see if I can find it."

He turned the horse's head at right angles from the way they were
going, and they pitched onward for another hundred yards.  Then
they came out upon the hard, smooth sand, and heard the water
lapping on the shore.  Captain Perez got out once more and walked
along the strand, bending forward as he walked.  Soon Miss Patience
heard him calling.

"I've found it, I guess," he said, coming back to the vehicle.
"Anyhow, it looks like it.  We'll be over in a few minutes now.
Git dap, you!"

Horace Greeley shivered as the cold water splashed his legs, but
waded bravely in.  They moved further from the shore and the water
seemed to grow no deeper.

"Guess this is the crossin' all right," said the Captain, who had
cherished some secret doubts.  "Here's the deep part comin'.  We'll
be across in a jiffy."

The water mounted to the hubs, then to the bottom of the carryall.
Miss Davis' feet grew damp and she drew them up.

"Oh, Perez!" she faltered, "are you sure this is the ford?"

"Don't git scared, Pashy!  I guess maybe we've got a little to one
side of the track.  I'll turn 'round and try again."

But Horace Greeley was of a different mind.  From long experience
he knew that the way to cross a ford was to go straight ahead.  The
bottom of the carryall was awash.

"Port your hellum, you lubber!" shouted the driver, pulling with
all his might on one rein.  "Heave to!  Come 'bout!  Gybe! consarn
you! gybe!"

Then Horace Greeley tried to obey orders, but it was too late.  He
endeavored to touch bottom with his forelegs, but could not; tried
to swim with his hind ones, but found that impossible; then
wallowed wildly to one side and snapped a shaft and the rotten
whiffletree short off.  The carryall tipped alarmingly and Miss
Patience screamed.

"Whoa!" yelled the agitated Perez.  "'Vast heavin'! belay!"

The animal, as much frightened by his driver's shouts as by the
water, shot ahead and tried to tear himself loose.  The other sun-
warped and rotten shaft broke.  The carryall was now floating, with
the water covering the floor.

"No use; I'll have to cut away the wreck, or we'll be on our beam
ends!" shouted the Captain.

He took out his jackknife, and reaching over, severed the traces.
Horace Greeley gave another wallow, and finding himself free,
disappeared in the darkness amid a lather of foam.  The carriage,
now well out in the channel, drifted with the current.

"Don't cry, Pashy!" said the Captain, endeavoring to cheer his
sobbing companion, "we ain't shark bait yit.  As the song used to
say:


     "'We're afloat, we're afloat,
       And the rover is free.'


"I've shipped aboard of 'most every kind of craft," he added, "but
blessed if I ever expected to be skipper of a carryall!"

But Miss Patience, shut up in the back part of the carriage like a
water nymph in her cave, still wept hysterically.  So Captain Perez
continued his dismal attempt at facetiousness.

"The main thing," he said, "is to keep her on an even keel.  If she
teeters to one side, you teeter to t'other.  Drat that fox!" he
ejaculated.  "I thought when Web's place burned we'd had fire
enough to last for one spell, but it never rains but it pours."

"Oh, dear!" sobbed the lady.  "Now everything 'll burn up, and
they'll blame me for it.  Well, I'll be drownded anyway, so I
shan't be there to hear 'em.  Oh, dear! dear!"

"Oh, don't talk that way.  We're driftin' somewheres, but we're
spinnin' 'round so I can't tell which way.  Judas!" he exclaimed,
more soberly, "I remember, now; it ain't but a little past seven
o'clock, and the tide's goin' out."

"Of course it is," resignedly, "and we'll drift into the breakers
in the bay, and that 'll be the end."

"No, no, I guess not.  We ain't dead yit.  If I had an oar or
somethin' to steer this clipper with, maybe we could git into shoal
water.  As 'tis, we'll have to manage her the way Ote Wixon used to
manage his wife, by lettin' her have her own way."

They floated in silence for a few moments.  Then Miss Patience, who
had bravely tried to stifle her sobs, said with chattering teeth,
"Perez, I'm pretty nigh froze to death."

It will be remembered that the Captain had spoken of the weather as
being almost as warm as summer.  This was a slight exaggeration.
It happened, fortunately for the castaways, that this particular
night, coming as it did just at the end of the long thaw, was the
mildest of the winter and there was no wind, but the air was chill,
and the damp fog raw and biting.

"Well, now you mention it," said Captain Perez, "it IS cold, ain't
it?  I've a good mind to jump overboard, and try to swim ashore and
tow the carryall."

"Don't you DO it!  My land! if YOU should drown what would become
of ME?"

It was the tone of this speech, as much as the words, that hit the
Captain hard.  He himself almost sobbed as he said:

"Pashy, I want you to try to git over on this front seat with me.
Then I can put my coat 'round you, and you won't be so cold.  Take
hold of my hand."

Miss Patience at first protested that she never could do it in the
world, the carriage would upset, and that would be the end.  But
her companion urged her to try, and at last she did so.  It was a
risky proceeding, but she reached the front seat somehow, and the
carryall still remained right-side-up.  Luckily, in the channel
between the beaches there was not the slightest semblance of a
wave.

Captain Perez pulled off his coat, and wrapped it about his
protesting companion.  He was obliged to hold it in place, and he
found the task rather pleasing.

"Oh, you're SO good!" murmured Miss Patience.  "What should I have
done without you?"

"Hush!  Guess you'd have been better off.  You'd never gone after
that fox if it hadn't been for me, and there wouldn't have been
none of this fuss."

"Oh, don't say that!  You've been so brave.  Anyhow, we'll die
together, that's a comfort."

"Pashy," said Captain Perez solemnly, "it's mighty good to hear you
say that."

It is, perhaps, needless to explain that the "dying" portion of the
lady's speech was not that referred to by the Captain; the word
"together" was what appealed to him.  Miss Patience apparently
understood.

"Is it?" she said softly.

"Yes--yes, 'tis."  The arm holding the coat about the lady's
shoulder tightened just a little.  The Captain had often dreamed of
something like this, but never with quite these surroundings.
However, he was rapidly becoming oblivious to such trivial details
as surroundings.

"Pashy," he said huskily, "I've been thinkin' of you consider'ble
lately.  Fact is, I--I--well, I come down to-day a-purpose to ask
you somethin'.  I know it's a queer place to ask it, and--and I
s'pose it's kind of sudden, but--will--will you--  Breakers! by
mighty!"

The carryall had suddenly begun to rock, and there were streaks of
foam about it.  Now, it gave a most alarming heave, grounded, swung
clear, and tipped yet more.

"We're capsizin'," yelled Perez.  "Hang on to me, Pashy!"

But Miss Patience didn't intend to let this, perhaps the final
opportunity, slip.  As she told her brother afterward, she would
have made him say it then if they had been "two fathom under
water."

"Will I what, Perez?" she demanded.

The carryall rose on two wheels and begun to turn over, but the
Captain did not notice it.  The arms of his heart's desire were
about his neck, and he was looking into her eyes.

"Will you marry me?" he gasped.

"Yes," answered Miss Patience, and they went under together.

The Captain staggered to his feet, and dragged his chosen bride to
hers.  The ice-cold water reached their shoulders.  And, like a
flash, as they stood there, came a torrent of rain and a wind that
drove the fog before it like smoke.  Captain Perez saw the shore,
with its silhouetted bushes, only a few yards away.  Beyond that,
in the blackness, was a light, a flickering blaze, that rose and
fell and rose and fell again.

The Captain dragged Miss Patience to the beach.

"Run!" he chattered, "run, or we'll turn into icicles.  Come on!"

With his arm about her waist Perez guided his dripping companion,
as fast as they could run, toward the light.  And as they came
nearer to it they saw that it flickered about the blackened ruins
of a hen-house and a lath fence.

It was Mrs. Mayo's henhouse, and Mrs. Mayo's fence.  Their
adventurous journey had ended where it began.

"You see, Eri," said Captain Perez, as he told his friend the story
that night, "that clock in the dining room that I looked at hadn't
been goin' for a week; the mainspring was broke.  'Twa'n't seven
o'clock, 'twas nearer nine when the fire started, and the tide
wa'n't goin' out, 'twas comin' in.  I drove into the water too
soon, missed the crossin', and we jest drifted back home ag'in.
The horse had more sense than I did.  We found him in the barn
waiting for us."

Abner Mayo had piled against the back of his barn a great heap of
damp seaweed that he intended using in the spring as a fertilizer.
The fire had burned until it reached this seaweed and then had gone
no further.  The rain extinguished the last spark.

"Well, by mighty!" exclaimed Captain Perez for at least the tenth
time, as he sat in the kitchen, wrapped in an old ulster of Mr.
Mayo's, and toasting his feet in the oven, "if I don't feel like a
fool.  All that scare and wet for nothin'."

"Oh, not for nothin', Perez," said Miss Patience, looking tenderly
down into his face.

"Well, no, not for nothin' by a good deal!  I've got you by it, and
that's everything.  But say, Pashy!" and the Captain looked awed by
the coincidence, "I went through fire and water to git you!"



CHAPTER XVIII

THE SINS OF CAPTAIN JERRY


Captain Perez made a clean breast of it to Captain Eri when he
reached home that night.  It was after twelve o'clock, but he
routed his friend out of bed to tell him the news and the story.
Captain Eri was not as surprised to hear of the engagement as he
pretended to be, for he had long ago made up his mind that Perez
meant business this time.  But the tale of the fire and the voyage
in the carryall tickled him immensely, and he rolled back and forth
in the rocker and laughed until his side ached.

"I s'pose it does sound kind of ridic'lous," said the accepted
suitor in a rather aggrieved tone, "but it wa'n't ha'f so funny
when 'twas goin' on.  Fust I thought I'd roast to death, then I
thought I'd freeze, and then I thought I'd drown."

"Perez," said the panting Eri, "you're a wonder.  I'm goin' to tell
Sol Bangs 'bout you next time I see him.  He'll want you to enter
in the races next Fourth of July.  We've had tub races and the like
of that, but a carryall sailin' match 'll be somethin' new.  I'll
back you against the town, though.  You can count on me."

"Now, look here, Eri Hedge, if you tell a livin' soul 'bout it,
I'll--"

"All right, shipmate, all right; but it's too good to keep.  You
ought to write a book, one of them kind like Josiah used to read.
Call it 'The Carryall Pirate, or The Terror of the Channel,' hey?
Gee! you'd be famous!  But, say, old man," he added more seriously,
"I'll shake hands with you.  I b'lieve you've got a good woman, one
that 'll make it smooth sailin' for you the rest of your life.  I
wish you both luck."

Captain Perez shook hands very gravely.  He was still a little
suspicious of his chum's propensity to tease.  It did not tend to
make him less uneasy when, a little later, Captain Eri opened the
parlor door and whispered, "Say, Perez, I've jest thought of some-
thin'.  What are you goin' to say to M'lissy Busteed?  Her heart
'll be broke."

"Aw, git out!" was the disgusted answer.

"Well, I only mentioned it.  Folks have had to pay heavy for breach
of promise 'fore now.  Good-night."

Perez manfully told of his engagement at the breakfast table next
morning, although he said nothing concerning the rest of his
adventures.  He was rather taken aback to find that no one seemed
greatly surprised.  Everyone congratulated him, of course, and it
was gratifying to discern the high opinion of the future Mrs. Ryder
held by Mrs. Snow and the rest.  Captain Jerry solemnly shook hands
with him after the meal was over and said, "Perez, you done the
right thing.  There's nothin' like married life, after all."

"Then why don't you try it yourself?" was the unexpected question.
"Seems to me we'll have to settle that matter of yours pretty soon.
I meant to speak to Eri 'bout it 'fore this, but I've had so much
on my mind.  I will to-night when he comes back from fishin'."

Captain Jerry made no further remarks, but walked thoughtfully
away.

So that evening, when they were together in Captain Jerry's room
after supper, Perez, true to his promise, said:

"Eri, it seems to me we've got to do somethin' 'bout Mrs. Snow.
She was hired to be housekeeper while John was sick.  Now he's
dead, and she'll think it's queer if we don't settle that marryin'
bus'ness.  Ain't that so?"

"Humph!" grunted Captain Jerry.  "Perez is in a mighty sweat to git
other folks married jest 'cause he's goin' to be.  I don't see why
she can't keep on bein' housekeeper jest the same as she's always
been."

"Well, I do, and so do you, and you know it.  We agreed to the
housekeepin' bus'ness jest as a sort of put off.  Now we can't put
off no longer.  Mrs. Snow come down here 'cause we advertised for a
wife, and she's been so everlastin' good that I feel 'most ashamed
every time I think of it.  No use, you've got to ask her to marry
you.  He has, hasn't he, Eri?"

"Yes," answered Captain Eri laconically.

The sacrifice squirmed.  "I hate to ask," he said.  "Why don't we
wait a spell, and let her say somethin' fust?"

"That WOULD be nice, wouldn't it?  She's that kind of a woman,
ain't she?" sputtered Perez.  "No, you bet she ain't!  What she'd
say would be to give her opinion of us and our manners, and walk
out of the house bag and baggage, and I wouldn't blame her for
doin' it."

"P'raps she wouldn't have me.  She never said she would."

"Never said she would!  Have you ever asked her?  She's had all
this time to l'arn to know you in, and I cal'late if she was
willin' to think 'bout it 'fore she ever see you, she'd be more
willin' now.  Ain't that so, Eri?

And again Captain Eri said shortly, "Yes."

"I wish you'd mind your own consarns, and give me time," protested
Captain Jerry.

"Time!  How much time do you want?  Land of Goshen!  I should think
you'd had time enough.  Why--"

"Oh, let up!" snorted the persecuted.  "Why don't you git married
yourself, and bring Pashy over to keep house?  What we started to
git in the fust place was jest a wife for one of us that would keep
things shipshape, and now--"

The withering look of scorn that Perez bent upon him caused him to
hesitate and stop.  Captain Perez haughtily marched to the door.

"Eri," he said, "I ain't goin' to waste my time talkin' to a--a
dogfish like him.  He ain't wuth it."

"Hold on, now, Perez!" pleaded the discomfited sacrifice, alarmed
at his comrade's threatened desertion.  "I was only foolin'.  Can't
you take a joke?  I haven't said I wouldn't do it.  I think a heap
of Mrs. Snow; it's only that I ain't got the spunk to ask her,
that's all."

"Humph! it don't take much spunk," replied the successful wooer,
forgetful of his own past trepidation.

"Well," Captain Jerry wriggled and twisted, but saw no loophole.
"Well, give me a month to git up my courage in and--"

"A month!  A month's ridic'lous; ain't it, Eri"

"Yes."

"Well, three weeks, then."

This offer, too, was rejected.  Then Captain Jerry held out for a
fortnight--for ten days.  Finally, it was settled that within one
week from that very night he was to offer his heart and hand to the
lady from Nantucket.  He pledged his solemn word to do it.

"There!" exclaimed the gratified Captain Perez.  "That's a good job
done.  He won't never be sorry for it, will he, Eri?"

And Captain Eri made his fourth contribution to the conversation.

"No," he said.


Josiah went up to the post-office late in the afternoon of the next
day.  The "able seaman" was behaving himself remarkably well.  He
had become a real help to Captain Eri, and the latter said that
sailing alone would be doubly hard when his foremast hand went back
to school again, which he was to do very shortly, for Josiah meant
to accept the Captain's offer, and to try for the Annapolis
appointment when the time came.

The boy came back with the mail and an item of news.  The mail, a
paper only, he handed to Mrs. Snow, and the news he announced at
the supper table as follows:

"Mr. Hazeltine's goin' to leave the cable station," he said.

"Goin' to leave!" repeated the housekeeper, "what for?"

"I don't know, ma'am.  All I know is what I heard Mr. Wingate say.
He said Mr. Hazeltine was goin' to get through over at the station
pretty soon.  He said one of the operators told him so."

"Well, for the land's sake!  Did you know anything 'bout it, Eri?"

"Why, yes, a little.  I met Hazeltine yesterday, and he told me
that some folks out West had made him a pretty good offer, and he
didn't know whether to take it or not.  Said the salary was good,
and the whole thing looked sort of temptin'.  He hadn't decided
what to do yit.  That's all there is to it."

There was little else talked about during the meal.  Captain Perez,
Captain Jerry, and Mrs. Snow argued, surmised, and questioned
Captain Eri, who said little.  Elsie said almost nothing, and went
to her room shortly after the dishes were washed.

"Humph!" exclaimed Captain Perez, when they were alone, "I guess
your match-makin' scheme's up spout, Jerry."

And, for a wonder, Captain Jerry did not contradict him.

The weather changed that night, and it grew cold rapidly.  In the
morning the pump was frozen, and Captain Jerry and Mrs. Snow spent
some time and much energy in thawing it out.  It was later than
usual when the former set out for the schoolhouse.  As he was
putting on his cap, Elsie suggested that he wait for her, as she
had some lessons to prepare, and wanted an hour or so to herself at
her desk.  So they walked on together under a cloudy sky.  The mud
in the road was frozen into all sorts of fantastic shapes, and the
little puddles had turned to ice.

"That thaw was a weather-breeder, sure enough," observed Captain
Jerry.  "We'll git a storm out of this, 'fore we're done."

"It seems to me," said Elsie, "that the winter has been a very mild
one.  From what I had heard I supposed you must have some dreadful
gales here, but there has been none so far."

"We'll git 'em yit.  February's jist the time.  Git a good
no'theaster goin', and you'll think the whole house is comin' down.
Nothin' to what they used to have, though, 'cordin' to tell.  Cap'n
Jonadab Wixon used to swear that his grandfather told him 'bout a
gale that blew the hair all off a dog, and then the wind changed of
a sudden, and blew it all on again."

Elsie laughed.  "That must have been a blow," she said.

"Yes.  Cap'n Jonadab's somethin' of a blow himself, so he ought to
be a good jedge.  The outer beach is the place that catches it when
there's a gale on.  Oh, say! that reminds me.  I s'pose you was
glad to hear the news last night?"

"What news?"

"Why, that 'bout Mr. Hazeltine's goin' away.  You're glad he's
goin', of course."

Miss Preston did not answer immediately.  Instead, she turned and
looked wonderingly at her companion.

"Why should I be glad, pray?" she asked.

"Why, I don't know.  I jest took it for granted you would be.  You
didn't want him to come and see you, and if he was gone he couldn't
come, so--"

"Just a minute, please.  What makes you think I didn't want Mr.
Hazeltine to call?"

And now it was the Captain's turn to stare and hesitate.

"What makes me think--" he gasped.  "Why--you told me so,
yourself."

"_I_ told you so?  I'm certain that I never told you anything of
the kind."

Captain Jerry stood stock-still, and if ever a face expressed
complete amazement, it was his.

"Elsie Preston!" he ejaculated, "are you losin' your mem'ry or
what?  Didn't you pitch into me hot-foot for lettin' him be alone
with you?  Didn't you give me 'hark from the tomb' for gittin' up
and goin' away?  Didn't you say his calls was perfect torture to
you, and that you had to be decent to him jest out of common
politeness?  Now, didn't you?"

"Oh, that was it!  No, of course I didn't say any such thing."

"You DIDN'T!  Why, I heard you!  Land of love! my ears smarted for
a week afterward.  I ain't had sech a goin' over sence mother used
to git at me for goin' in swimmin' on Sunday.  And now you say you
didn't say it."

"I didn't.  You misunderstood me.  I did object to your leaving the
room every time he called, and making me appear so ridiculous; and
I did say that his visits might be a torture for all that you knew
to the contrary, but I certainly didn't say that they WERE."

"SUFFERIN'!  And you ain't glad he stopped comin'?"

The air of complete indifference assumed by the young lady was a
triumph.

"Why, of course," she said, "Mr. Hazeltine is a free agent, and I
don't know of any reason why he should be compelled to go where he
doesn't wish to go.  I enjoyed his society, and I'm sure Captain
Eri and Mrs. Snow enjoyed it, too; but it is quite evident that he
did not enjoy ours, so I don't see that there need be any more said
on the subject."

Captain Jerry was completely crushed.  If the gale described by the
redoubtable grandsire of Jonadab Wixon had struck him, he could not
have been more upset.

"My! my! my!" he murmured.  "And after my beggin' his pardon and
all!"

"Begging his pardon?  For what?"

"Why, for leavin' you two alone.  Of course, after you pitched into
me so I see how foolish I'd been actin', and I--honest, I didn't
sleep scursely a bit that night thinkin' 'bout it.  Thinks I, 'If
Elsie feels that way, why, there ain't no doubt that Mr. Hazeltine
feels the same.'  There wa'n't but one thing to be done.  When a
man makes a mistake, if he is any kind of a man, he owns up, and
does his best to straighten things out.  'Twa'n't easy to do, but
duty's duty, and the next time I see Mr. Hazeltine I told him the
whole thing, and--"

"You DID!"

"Sartin I did."

"What did you tell him?"

They had stopped on the sidewalk nearly opposite the post-office.
Each was too much engrossed in the conversation to pay any heed to
anything else.  If the few passersby thought it strange that the
schoolmistress should care to loiter out of doors on that cold and
disagreeable morning, they said nothing about it.  One young man in
particular, who, standing just inside the post-office door, was
buttoning his overcoat and putting on his gloves, looked earnestly
at the pair, but he, too, said nothing.

"Why, I told him," said Captain Jerry, in reply to the question,
"how you didn't like to have me go out of the room when he was
there.  Course, I told him I didn't mean to do nothin' out of the
way.  Then he asked me some more questions, and I answered 'em best
I could, and--well, I guess that's 'bout all."

"Did you tell him that I said his visits were a torture?"

"Why--" the Captain shuffled his feet uneasily--"seems to me I said
somethin' 'bout it--not jest that, you know, but somethin'.  Fact
is, I was so muddle-headed and upset that I don't know exactly what
I did say.  Anyhow, he said 'twas all right, so there ain't nothin'
to worry 'bout."

"Captain Jeremiah Burgess!" exclaimed Elsie.  Then she added, "What
MUST he think of me?"

"Oh, I'll fix that!" exclaimed the Captain.  "I'll see him some
time to-day, and I'll tell him you didn't mean it.  Why, I declare!
Yes, 'tis!  There he is, now!  Hi! Mr. Hazeltine!  Come here a
minute."

A mischievous imp was certainly directing Captain Jerry's movements.
Ralph had, almost for the first time since he came to Orham, paid an
early morning visit to the office in order to send an important
letter in the first mail.  The slamming of the door had attracted
the Captain's attention and, in response to the hail, Mr. Hazeltine
crossed the road.

And then Captain Jerry felt his arm clutched with a grip that meant
business, as Miss Preston whispered, "Don't you dare say one word
to him about it.  Don't you DARE!"

If Ralph had been surprised by the request to join the couple, he
was more surprised by the reception he received.  Elsie's face was
crimson, and as for the Captain, he looked like a man who had
suddenly been left standing alone in the middle of a pond covered
with very thin ice.

The electrician bowed and shook hands gravely.  As no remark seemed
to be forthcoming from those who had summoned him, he observed that
it was an unpleasant morning.  This commonplace reminded him of one
somewhat similar that he had made to a supposed Miss "Gusty" Black,
and he, too, colored.

"Did you want to speak with me, Captain?" he asked, to cover his
confusion.

"Why--why, I did," stammered poor Captain Jerry, "but--but I don't
know's I do now."  Then he realized that this was not exactly
complimentary, and added, "That is, I don't know--I don't know's I--
Elsie, what was it I was goin' to say to Mr. Hazeltine?"

At another time it is likely that the young lady's quick wit would
have helped her out of the difficulty, but now she was too much
disturbed.

"I'm sure I don't know," she said coldly.

"You don't know!  Why, yes you do?  'Twas--'twas--"  The Captain
was frantically grasping at straws.  "Why, we was wonderin' why you
didn't come to see us nowadays."

If the Captain had seen the look that Elsie shot at him, as he
delivered this brilliant observation, he might have been more,
instead of less, uncomfortable.  As it was, he felt rather proud
of having discovered a way out of the difficulty.  But Ralph's
embarrassment increased.  He hurriedly said something about having
been very busy.

"Well," went on the Captain, intent on making the explanation as
plausible as possible, "we've missed you consider'ble.  We was
sayin' we hoped you wouldn't give us up altogether.  Ain't that so,
Elsie?"

Miss Preston's foot tapped the sidewalk several times, but she
answered, though not effusively:

"Mr. Hazeltine is always welcome, of course."  Then, she added,
turning away, "Really, Captain Jerry, I must hurry to school.  I
have a great deal of work to do before nine o'clock.  Good-morning,
Mr. Hazeltine."

The Captain paused long enough to say, "We'll expect you now, so
come," and then hurried after her.  He was feeling very well
satisfied with himself.

"By mighty! Elsie," he chuckled, "I got out of that nice, didn't
I?"

He received no answer, even when he repeated the remark, and,
although he endeavored, as he swept out the schoolroom, to engage
the teacher in conversation, her replies were as cold as they were
short.  The Captain went home in the last stages of dismalness.

That afternoon, when Captain Eri returned from the fishing grounds,
he found Captain Jerry waiting for him at the shanty.  The
humiliated matchmaker sent Josiah up to the grocery store on an
errand, and then dragged his friend inside and shut the door.

Captain Eri looked at the woe-begone face with some concern.

"What ails you, Jerry?" he demanded.  "Have you--have you spoken to
Mrs. Snow 'bout that--that marriage?"

"No, I ain't, Eri, but I'm in a turrible mess, and I don't know
why, neither.  Seems to me the more I try to do for other folks the
wuss off I am; and, instead of gittin' thanks, all I git is blame."

"Why, what's the matter?"

"Well, now I know you'll think I'm a fool, and 'll jest pester the
life out of me.  See here, Eri Hedge!  If I tell you what I want
to, will you promise not to pitch into me, and not to nag and poke
fun?  If you don't promise I won't tell one single word, no matter
what happens."

So Captain Eri promised, and then Captain Jerry, stammering and
hesitating, unburdened his mind of the whole affair, telling of his
first reproof by Elsie, his "explanation" to Ralph, and the
subsequent developments.  Long before he finished, Captain Eri rose
and, walking over to the door, stood looking out through the dim
pane at the top, while his shoulders shook as if there was a
smothered earthquake inside.

"There!" exclaimed the injured matrimonial agent, in conclusion.
"There's the whole fool thing, and I 'most wish I'd never seen
either of 'em.  I thought I did fust-rate this mornin' when I was
tryin' to think up somethin' to show why I hailed Hazeltine, but
no, Elsie won't hardly speak to me.  I wish to goodness you'd tell
me what to do."

Captain Eri turned away from the door.  His eyes were watery, and
his face was red, but he managed to say:

"Oh, Jerry, Jerry!  Your heart's big as a bucket, but fishin' 's
more in your line than gittin' folks married to order is, I'm
'fraid.  You stay here, and unload them fish in the dory.  There
ain't many of 'em, and Josiah 'll help when he gits back.  I'm
goin' out for a few minutes."

He went down to the beach, climbed into a dory belonging to a
neighbor, and Captain Jerry saw him row away in the direction of
the cable station.

That evening, after the dishes were washed and the table cleared,
there came a knock at the door.  Mrs. Snow opened it.

"Why, for goodness sake!  Mr. Hazeltine!" she exclaimed.  "Come
right in.  What a stranger you are!"

Ralph entered, shook the snow, which had just begun to fall, from
his hat and coat, took off these articles, in response to the
hearty invitation of Captain Eri, and shook hands with all present.
Elsie's face was an interesting study.  Captain Jerry looked
scared.

After a few minutes' talk, Captain Eri rose.

"Mrs. Snow," he said, "come upstairs a little while.  I want to
talk to you 'bout somethin'.  You come, too, Jerry."

Captain Jerry looked from Elsie to the speaker, and then to Elsie
again.  But Captain Eri's hand was on his arm, and he rose and
went.

Elsie watched this wholesale desertion with amazement.  Then the
door opened again, and Captain Eri put in his head.

"Elsie," he said, "I jest want to tell you that this is my doin's,
not Jerry's.  That's all."  And the door shut.

Elsie faced the caller with astonishment written on her face.

"Mr. Hazeltine," she said icily, "you may know what this means, but
I don't."

Ralph looked at her and answered solemnly, but with a twinkle in
his eye:

"I'm afraid I can guess, Miss Preston.  You see Captain Jerry paid
Captain Eri a call this afternoon and, as a result, Captain Eri
called upon me.  Then, as a result of THAT, I--well, I came here."

The young lady blushed furiously.  "What did Captain Eri tell you?"
she demanded.

"Just what Captain Jerry told him."

"And that was?"

"What you told Captain Jerry this morning concerning something that
you told him before, I believe."

There was no answer to this.  Miss Preston looked as if she had a
mind to run out of the room, then as if she might cry, and finally
as if she wanted to laugh.

"I humbly apologize," said the electrician contritely.

"YOU apologize?  For what?"

"For my stupidity in believing that Captain Jerry was to be
accepted seriously."

"You were excusable, certainly.  And now I must apologize; also for
taking the Captain too seriously."

"Suppose we pair the apologies as they do the votes in the Senate.
Then one will offset the other."

"I'm afraid that isn't fair, for the blunder was all on my part."

"Well, if we can't pair apologies, suppose we pair blunders.  I
don't accept your statement of guilt, mind, but since you are
determined to shoulder it, we might put it on one side and on the
other we'll put--"

"What?"

"'Gusty' Black."

And then they both laughed.

A little later Captain Eri knocked at the door.

"Is it safe for a feller to come in?" he asked.

"Well," said Elsie severely, "I don't know whether talebearers
should be admitted or not, but if they do come they must beg pardon
for interfering in other people's affairs."

"Ma'am," and the Captain made a profound bow, "I hope you'll be so
'kind and condescendin', and stoop so low, and be so bendin'' as to
forgive me.  And, while I'm 'bout it, I'll apologize for Jerry,
too."

"No, sir," said the young lady decidedly.  "Captain Jerry must
apologize for himself.  Captain Jeremiah Burgess," she called up
the stairway, "come into court, and answer for your sins."

And Captain Jerry tremblingly came.



CHAPTER XIX

A "NO'THEASTER" BLOWS


It had begun to snow early in the evening, a light fall at first,
but growing heavier every minute, and, as the flakes fell thicker
and faster, the wind began to blow, and its force increased
steadily.  Ralph, hearing the gusts as they swooped about the
corners of the house, and the "swish" of the snow as it was thrown
against the window panes, several times rose to go, but Captain Eri
in each instance urged him to stay a little longer.  Finally, the
electrician rebelled.

"I should like to stay, Captain," he said, "but how do you think I
am going to get over to the station if this storm grows worse, as
it seems to be doing?"

"I don't think," was the calm reply.  "You're goin' to stay here."

"Well, I guess not."

"I guess yes.  S'pose we're goin' to let you try to row over to the
beach a night like this?  It's darker 'n a nigger's pocket, and
blowin' and snowin' great guns besides.  Jest you look out here."

He rose, beckoned to Ralph, and then opened the outer door.  He had
to use considerable strength to do this, and a gust of wind and a
small avalanche of snow roared in, and sent the lighter articles
flying from the table.  Elsie gave a little scream, and Mrs. Snow
exclaimed, "For the land's sake, shut that door this minute!
Everything 'll be soppin' wet."

The Captain pulled the door shut again, and dropped the hook into
the staple.

"Nice night for a pull, ain't it?" he observed, smiling.  "No, sir,
I've heard it comin' on, and I made up my mind you'd have to stay
on dry land for a spell, no matter if all creation wanted you on
t'other side."

Ralph looked troubled.  "I ought to be at the station," he said.

"Maybe so, but you ain't, and you'll have to put up at this
boardin' house till mornin'.  When it's daylight one of us 'll set
you across.  Mr. Langley ain't foolish.  He won't expect you to-
night."

"Now, Mr. Hazeltine," said the housekeeper, "you might jest as well
give it up fust as last.  You KNOW you can't go over to that
station jest as well as I do."

So Ralph did give it up, although rather against his will.  There
was nothing of importance to be done, but he felt a little like a
deserter, nevertheless.

"Perez won't git home neither," observed Captain Eri.  "He's snowed
in, too."

Captain Perez had that afternoon gone down to the Mayo homestead to
take tea with Miss Davis.

"Git home!  I should think not!" said Mrs. Snow decidedly.
"Pashy's got too much sense to let him try it."

"Well, Elsie," commented Captain Jerry, "I told you we'd have a
no'theaster 'fore the winter was over.  I guess there'll be gale
enough to satisfy you, now.  No school to-morrer."

"Well, that's settled!  Let's be comf'table.  Ain't there some of
that cider down cellar?  Where's the pitcher?"  And Captain Eri
hurried off to find it.

When bedtime came there was some argument as to where the guest
should sleep.  Ralph insisted that the haircloth sofa in the parlor
was just the thing, but Captain Eri wouldn't hear of it.

"Haircloth's all right to look at," he said, "but it's the
slipperiest stuff that ever was, I cal'late.  Every time I set
on a haircloth chair I feel's if I was draggin' anchor."

The cot was declared ineligible, also, and the question was finally
settled by Josiah and Captain Eri going upstairs to the room once
occupied by John Baxter, while Ralph took that which they vacated.

It was some time before he fell asleep.  The gale seemed to be
tearing loose the eternal foundations.  The house shook and the bed
trembled as if a great hand was moving them, and the snow slapped
against the windows till it seemed that they must break.

In the morning there was little change in the weather.  The snow
had turned to a sleet, half rain, that stuck to everything and
coated it with ice.  The wind was blowing as hard as ever.  Captain
Eri and Ralph, standing just outside the kitchen door, and in the
lee of the barn, paused to watch the storm for a minute before they
went down to the beach.  At intervals they caught glimpses of the
snow-covered roofs of the fish shanties, and the water of the inner
bay, black and threatening and scarred with whitecaps; then another
gust would come, and they could scarcely see the posts at the yard
gate.

"Think you want to go over, do you?" asked the Captain.

"I certainly do, if I can get there."

"Oh, we can git there all right.  I've rowed a dory a good many
times when 'twas as bad as this.  This ain't no picnic day, though,
that's a fact," he added, as they crossed the yard, and caught the
full force of the wind.  "Lucky you put on them ileskins."

Ralph was arrayed in Captain Jerry's "dirty-weather rig," and
although, as Captain Eri said, the garments fitted him "like a
shirt on a handspike," they were very acceptable.

They found the dory covered with snow and half-full of slush, and
it took some few minutes to get her into condition.  When this was
accomplished they hauled her down to the shore, and Captain Eri,
standing knee-deep in water, steadied her while Ralph climbed in.
Then the Captain tumbled in himself, picked up the oars, and
settled down for the pull to the outer beach.

A dory, as everyone acquainted alongshore knows, is the safest of
all small craft for use in heavy weather.  It is unsinkable for one
thing, and, being flat-bottomed, slips over the waves instead of
plowing through them.  But the high freeboard is a mark for the
wind, and to keep a straight course on such a morning as this
requires skill, and no small amount of muscle.  Ralph, seated in
the stern, found himself wondering how on earth his companion
managed to row as he did, and steer at the same time.  The strokes
were short, but there was power in them, and the dory, although
moving rather slowly, went doggedly on.

"Let me take her," shouted Ralph after a while, "you must be
tired."

"Who, me?" Captain Eri laughed.  "I could keep this up for a week.
There ain't any sea in here.  If we was outside now, 'twould be
diff'rent, maybe."

They hit the beach almost exactly at the right spot, a feat which
the passenger considered a miracle, but which the Captain seemed to
take as a matter of course.  They beached and anchored the dory,
and, bending almost double as they faced the wind, plowed through
the sand to the back door of the station.  There was comparatively
little snow here on the outer beach--the gale had swept it nearly
all away.

Mr. Langley met them as they tramped into the hall.  The old
gentleman was glad to see his assistant, for he had begun to fear
that the latter might have tried to row over during the evening,
and met with disaster.  As they sat round the stove in his room he
said, "We don't need any wrecks inside the beach.  We shall have
enough outside, I'm afraid.  I hear there is one schooner in
trouble now."

"That so?" asked Captain Eri.  "Where is she?"

"On the Hog's Back shoal, they think.  One of the life-saving crew
told McLaughlin that they saw her last night, when the gale first
began, trying to make an offing, and that wreckage was coming
ashore this morning.  Captain Davis was going to try to reach her
with the boat, I believe."

"I should like to be at the life-saving station when they land,"
said Ralph.  "It would be a new experience for me.  I've seen the
crew drill often enough, but I have never seen them actually at
work."

"What d'you say if we go down to the station?" asked the Captain.
"That is, if Mr. Langley here can spare you."

"Oh, I can spare him," said the superintendent.  "There is nothing
of importance to be done here just now.  But it will be a terrible
walk down the beach this morning."

"Wind 'll be at our backs, and we're rigged for it, too.  What
d'you say, Mr. Hazeltine?"

Ralph was only too glad of the opportunity to see, at least, the
finish of a rescuing expedition, and he said so.  So they got into
the oilskins again, pulled their "sou'westers" down over their
ears, and started on the tramp to the life-saving station.

The electrician is not likely to forget that walk.  The wind was,
as the Captain said, at their backs, but it whistled in from the
sea with terrific strength, and carried the sleet with it.  It
deluged them with water, and plastered them with flying seaweed and
ice.  The wet sand came in showers like hail, and beat against
their shoulders until they felt the sting, even through their
clothes.  Toward the bay was nothing but gray mist, streaked with
rain and sleet; toward the sea was the same mist, flying with the
wind over such a huddle of tossing green and white as Ralph had
never seen.  The surf poured in in rollers that leaped over each
other's humped backs in their savage energy to get at the shore,
which trembled as they beat upon it.  The ripples from one wave had
not time to flow back before those of the next came threshing in.
Great blobs of foam shot down the strand like wild birds, and the
gurgle and splash and roar were terrific.

They walked as near the water line as they dared, because the sand
was harder there.  Captain Eri went ahead, hands in his pockets and
head down.  Ralph followed, sometimes watching his companion, but
oftener gazing at the sea.  At intervals there would be a lull, as
if the storm giant had paused for breath, and they could see for
half a mile over the crazy water; then the next gust would pull the
curtain down again, and a whirl of rain and sleet would shut them
in.  Conversation meant only a series of shrieks and they gave it
up.

At length the Captain turned, grinned pleasantly, while the rain
drops splashed on his nose, and waved one arm.  Ralph looked and
saw ahead of them the clustered buildings of the life-saving
station.  And he was glad to see them.

"Whew!" puffed Captain Eri as they opened the door.  "Nice mornin'
for ducks.  Hey, Luther!" he shouted, "wake up here; you've got
callers."

They heard footsteps in the next room, the door opened, and in
came--not Luther Davis, but Captain Perez.

"Why, Eri!" he exclaimed amazedly.

"For the land's sake, Perez!  What are you doin' here?"

"What are YOU doin' here, I should say.  How d'you do, Mr.
Hazeltine?"

Captain Eri pushed back his "sou'wester," and strolled over to the
stove.  Ralph followed suit.

"Well, Perez," said the former, extending his hands over the fire,
"it's easy enough to tell you why we're here.  We heard there was a
wreck."

"There is.  She's a schooner, and she's off there on the Hog's
Back.  Luther and the crew put off to her more 'n two hours ago,
and I'm gittin' worried."

Then Perez went on to explain that, because of the storm, he had
been persuaded to stay at Mrs. Mayo's all night; that Captain Davis
had been over for a moment that evening on an errand, and had said
that the schooner had been sighted and that, as the northeaster was
coming on, she was almost certain to get into trouble; that he,
Perez, had rowed over the first thing in the morning to get the
news, and had been just in time to see the launching of the
lifeboat, as the crew put off to the schooner.

"There ain't nothin' to worry 'bout," observed Captain Eri.  "It's
no slouch of a pull off to the Hog's Back this weather, and
besides, I'd trust Lute Davis anywhere on salt water."

"Yes, I know," replied the unconvinced Captain Perez, "but he ought
to have been back afore this.  There was a kind of let-up in the
storm jest afore I got here, and they see her fast on the shoal
with the crew in the riggin'.  Luther took the small boat 'cause he
thought he could handle her better, and that's what's worryin' me;
I'm 'fraid she's overloaded.  I was jest thinkin' of goin' out on
the p'int to see if I could see anything of 'em when you folks
come."

"Well, go ahead.  We'll go with you, if Mr. Hazeltine's got any of
the chill out of him."

Ralph was feeling warm by this time and, after Perez had put on his
coat and hat, they went out once more into the gale.  The point of
which Perez had spoken was a wedge-shaped sand ridge that, thrown
up by the waves and tide, thrust itself out from the beach some few
hundred yards below the station.  They reached its tip, and stood
there in the very midst of the storm, waiting for the lulls, now
more frequent, and scanning the tumbling water for the returning
lifeboat.

"Schooner's layin' right over there," shouted Captain Perez in
Ralph's ear, pointing off into the mist.  "'Bout a mile off shore,
I cal'late.  Wicked place, the Hog's Back is, too."

"Wind's lettin' up a little mite," bellowed Captain Eri.  "We've
had the wust of it, I guess.  There ain't so much--"

He did not finish the sentence.  The curtain of sleet parted,
leaving a quarter-mile-long lane, through which they could see the
frothing ridges racing one after the other, endlessly.  And across
this lane, silent and swift, like a moving picture on a screen,
drifted a white turtleback with black dots clinging to it.  It was
in sight not more than a half minute, then the lane closed again,
as the rain lashed their faces.

Captain Perez gasped, and clutched the electrician by the arm.

"Godfrey mighty!" he exclaimed.

"What was it?" shouted Ralph.  "What was it, Captain Eri?"

But Captain Eri did not answer.  He had turned, and was running at
full speed back to the beach.  When they came up they found him
straining at the side of the dory that Luther Davis used in tending
his lobster pots.  The boat, turned bottom up, lay high above tide
mark in the little cove behind the point.

"Quick, now!" shouted the Captain, in a tone Ralph had never heard
him use before.  "Over with her!  Lively!"

They obeyed him without question.  As the dory settled right side
up two heavy oars, that had been secured by being thrust under the
seats, fell back with a clatter.

"What was it, Captain?" shouted Ralph.

"The lifeboat upset.  How many did you make out hangin' onto her,
Perez?  Five, seemed to me."

"Four, I thought.  Eri, you ain't goin' to try to reach her with
this dory?  You couldn't do it.  You'll only be drownded yourself.
My Lord!" he moaned, wringing his hands, "what 'll Pashy do?"

"Catch a-holt now," commanded Captain Eri.  "Down to the shore with
her!  Now!"

They dragged the dory to the water's edge with one rush.  Then Eri
hurriedly thrust in the tholepins.  Perez protested again.

"Eri," he said, "it ain't no use.  She won't live to git through
the breakers."

His friend answered without looking up.  "Do you s'pose," he said,
"that I'm goin' to let Lute Davis and them other fellers drown
without makin' a try for 'em?  Push off when I tell you to."

"Then you let me go instead of you."

"Don't talk foolish.  You've got Pashy to look after.  Ready now!"

But Ralph Hazeltine intervened.

"I'm going myself," he said firmly, putting one foot over the
gunwale.  "I'm a younger man than either of you, and I'm used to a
boat.  I mean it.  I'm, going."

Captain Eri looked at the electrician's face; he saw nothing but
determination there.

"We'll all go," he said suddenly.  "Mr. Hazeltine, run as fast as
the Lord 'll let you back to the station and git another set of
oars.  Hurry!"

Without answering, the young man sprang up the beach and ran toward
the buildings.  The moment that he was inside Captain Eri leaped
into the dory.

"Push off, Perez!" he commanded.  "That young feller's got a life
to live."

"You don't go without me," asserted Perez stoutly.

"All right!  Push off, and then jump in."

Captain Perez attempted to obey.  He waded into the water and gave
the dory a push, but, just as he was about to scramble in, he
received a shove that sent him backwards.

"Your job's takin' care of Pashy!" roared Captain Eri.

Perez scrambled to his feet, but the dory was already half-way
across the little patch of comparatively smooth water in the cove.
As he looked he saw it enter the first line of breakers, rise amid
a shower of foam, poise on the crest, and slip over.  The second
line of roaring waves came surging on, higher and more threatening
than the first.  Captain Eri glanced over his shoulder, turned the
dory's bow toward them and waited.  They broke, and, as they did
so, the boat shot forward into the whirlpool of froth.  Then the
sleet came pouring down and shut everything from sight.

When Ralph came hurrying to the beach, bearing the oars, he found
Captain Perez alone.



CHAPTER XX

ERI GOES BACK ON A FRIEND


Captain Eri knew that the hardest and most dangerous portion of his
perilous trip was just at its beginning.  If the dory got through
the surf without capsizing, it was an even bet that she would stay
right-side-up for a while longer, at any rate.  So he pulled out of
the little cove, and pointed the boat's bow toward the thundering
smother of white, his shoulders squared, his hands tightened on the
oar handles, and his under-jaw pushed out beyond the upper.  Old
foremast hands, those who had sailed with the Captain on his
coasting voyages, would, had they seen these signs, have prophesied
trouble for someone.  They were Captain Eri's battle-flags, and
just now his opponent was the gray Atlantic.  If the latter won, it
would only be after a fight.

The first wave tripped over the bar and whirled beneath him,
sending the dory high into the air and splashing its occupant with
spray.  The Captain held the boat stationary, waiting for the
second to break, and then, half rising, put all his weight and
strength on the oars.  The struggle had begun.

They used to say on board the Hannah M. that the skipper never got
rattled.  The same cool head and steady nerve that Josiah had
admired when the catboat threaded the breakers at the entrance of
the bay, now served the same purpose in this more tangled and
infinitely more wicked maze.  The dory climbed and ducked, rolled
and slid, but gained, inch by inch, foot by foot.  The advancing
waves struck savage blows at the bow, the wind did its best to
swing her broadside on, but there was one hundred and eighty pounds
of clear grit and muscle tugging at the oars, and, though the
muscles were not as young as they had been, there were years of
experience to make every pound count.  At last the preliminary
round was over.  The boat sprang clear of the breakers and crept
out farther and farther, with six inches of water slopping in her
bottom, but afloat and seaworthy.

It was not until she was far into deep water that the Captain
turned her bow down the shore.  When this was done, it was on the
instant, and, although a little more water came inboard, there was
not enough to be dangerous.  Then, with the gale astern and the
tide to help, Captain Eri made the dory go as she, or any other on
that coast, had never gone before.

The Captain knew that the wind and the tide that were now aiding
him were also sweeping the overturned lifeboat along at a rapid
rate.  He must come up with it before it reached the next shoal.
He must reach it before the waves, and, worse than all, the cold
had caused the poor fellows clinging to it for life to loose their
grip.

The dory jumped from crest to crest like a hurdler.  The sleet now
beat directly into the Captain's face and froze on his eyebrows and
lashes, but he dared not draw in an oar to free a hand.  The wind
caught up the spindrift and poured it over him in icy baths, but he
was too warm from the furious exercise to mind.

In the lulls he turned his head and gazed over the sea, looking for
the boat.  Once he saw it, before the storm shut down again, and he
groaned aloud to count but two black dots on its white surface.  He
pulled harder than ever, and grunted with every stroke, while the
perspiration poured down his forehead and froze when it reached the
ice dams over his eyes.

At last it was in plain sight, and the two dots, now clearly human
beings, were still there.  He pointed the bow straight at it and
rowed on.  When he looked again there was but one, a figure
sprawled along the keel, clinging to the centerboard.

The flying dory bore down upon the lifeboat, and the Captain risked
what little breath he had in a hail.  The clinging figure raised
its head, and Captain Eri felt an almost selfish sense of relief to
see that it was Luther Davis.  If it had to be but one, he would
rather it was that one.

The bottom of the lifeboat rose like a dome from the sea that beat
and roared over and around it.  The centerboard had floated up and
projected at the top, and it was about this that Captain Davis'
arms were clasped.  Captain Eri shot the dory alongside, pulled in
one oar, and the two boats fitted closely together.  Then Eri
reached out, and, seizing his friend by the belt round his waist,
pulled him from his hold.  Davis fell into the bottom of the dory,
only half conscious and entirely helpless.

Captain Eri lifted him so that his head and shoulders rested on a
thwart, and then, setting his oar against the lifeboat's side,
pushed the dory clear.  Then he began rowing again.

So far he had been more successful than he had reason to expect,
but the task that he must now accomplish was not less difficult.
He must reach the shore safely, and with another life beside his
own to guard.

It was out of the question to attempt to get back to the cove; the
landing must be made on the open beach, and, although Captain Eri
had more than once brought a dory safely through a high surf, he
had never attempted it when his boat had nearly a foot of water in
her and carried a helpless passenger.

Little by little, still running before the wind, the Captain edged
in toward the shore.  Luther Davis moved once or twice, but said
nothing.  His oilskins were frozen stiff and his beard was a lump
of ice.  Captain Eri began to fear that he might die from cold and
exhaustion before the attempt at landing was made.  The Captain
resolved to wait no longer, but to take the risk of running
directly for the beach.

He was near enough now to see the leaping spray of the breakers,
and their bellow sounded louder than the howl of the wind or the
noises of the sea about him.  He bent forward and shouted in the
ear of the prostrate life-saver.

"Luther!" he yelled, "Lute!"

Captain Davis' head rolled back, his eyes opened, and, in a dazed
way, he looked at the figure swinging back and forth with the oars.

"Lute!" shouted Captain Eri, "listen to me!  I'm goin' to try to
land.  D'you hear me?"

Davis' thoughts seemed to be gathering slowly.  He was, ordinarily,
a man of strong physique, courageous, and a fighter every inch of
him, but his strength had been beaten out by the waves and chilled
by the cold, and the sight of the men with whom he had lived and
worked for years drowning one by one, had broken his nerve.  He
looked at his friend, and then at the waves.

"What's the use?" he said feebly.  "They're all gone.  I might as
well go, too."

Captain Eri's eyes snapped.  "Lute Davis," he exclaimed, "I never
thought I'd see you playin' crybaby.  Brace up!  What are you,
anyway?"

The half-frozen man made a plucky effort.

"All right, Eri," he said.  "I'm with you, but I ain't much good."

"Can you stand up?"

"I don't know.  I'll try."

Little by little he raised himself to his knees.

"'Bout as fur's I can go, Eri," he said, between his teeth.  "You
look out for yourself.  I'll do my durndest."

The dory was caught by the first of the great waves, and, on its
crest, went flying toward the beach.  Captain Eri steered it with
the oars as well as he could.  The wave broke, and the half-filled
boat paused, was caught up by the succeeding breaker, and thrown
forward again.  The Captain, still trying to steer with one oar,
let go of the other, and seizing his companion by the belt, pulled
him to his feet.

"Now then," he shouted, "stand by!"

The boat poised on the curling wave, went down like a hammer,
struck the sand, and was buried in water.  Just as it struck,
Captain Eri jumped as far shoreward as he could.  Davis sprang with
him, but it was really the Captain's strength that carried them
clear of the rail.

They kept their feet for an instant, but, in that instant, Captain
Eri dragged his friend a yard or so up the shelving beach.  Then
they were knocked flat by the next wave.  The Captain dug his toes
into the sand and braced himself as the undertow sucked back.  Once
more he rose and they staggered on again, only to go down when the
next rush of water came.  Three times this performance was
repeated, and, as they rose for the fourth time, the Captain
roared, "Now!"

Another plunge, a splashing run, and they were on the hard sand of
the beach.  Then they both tumbled on their faces and breathed in
great gasps.

But the Captain realized that this would not do, for, in their
soaked condition, freezing to death was a matter of but a short
time.  He seized Davis by the shoulder and shook him again and
again.

"Come on, Lute!  Come on!" he insisted.  "Git up!  You've GOT to
git up!"

And, after a while, the life-saver did get up, although he could
scarcely stand.  Then, with the Captain's arm around his waist,
they started slowly up the beach toward the station.

They had gone but a little way when they were met by Ralph
Hazeltine and Captain Perez.


Mrs. Snow had been, for her, rather nervous all that forenoon.  She
performed her household duties as thoroughly as usual, but Elsie,
to whom the storm had brought a holiday, noticed that she looked
out of the window and at the clock frequently.  Once she even went
so far as to tell the young lady that she felt "kind of queer; jest
as if somethin' was goin' to happen."  As the housekeeper was not
the kind to be troubled with presentiments, Elsie was surprised.

Dinner was on the table at twelve o'clock, but Captain Eri was not
there to help eat it, and they sat down without him.  And here
again Mrs. Snow departed from her regular habit, for she ate little
and was very quiet.  She was the first to hear an unusual sound
outside, and, jumping up, ran to the window.

"Somebody's drivin' into the yard," she said.  "Who on airth would
be comin' here such a day as this?"

Captain Jerry joined her at the window.

"It's Abner Mayo's horse," he said.  "Maybe it's Perez comin'
home."

It was not Captain Perez, but Mr. Mayo himself, as they saw when
the rubber blanket fastened across the front of the buggy was
dropped and the driver sprang out.  Mrs. Snow opened the door for
him.

"Hello, Abner!" exclaimed Captain Jerry, as the newcomer stopped to
knock the snow from his boots before coming in, "what have you done
to Perez?  Goin' to keep him for a steady boarder?"

But Mr. Mayo had important news to communicate, and he did not
intend to lose the effect of his sensation by springing it without
due preparation.  He took off his hat and mittens and solemnly
declined a proffered chair.

"Cap'n Burgess," he said, "I've got somethin' to tell you--
somethin' awful.  The whole life-savin' crew but one is drownded,
and Cap'n Eri Hedge--"

An exclamation from Mrs. Snow interrupted him.  The housekeeper
clasped her hands together tightly and sank into a chair.  She was
very white.  Elsie ran to her.

"What is it, Mrs. Snow?" she asked.

"Nothin', nothin'!  Go on, Mr. Mayo.  Go on!"

The bearer of ill-tidings, gratified at the result of his first
attempt, proceeded deliberately:

"And Cap'n Hedge and Luther Davis are over at the station pretty
nigh dead.  If it wa'n't for the Cap'n, Luther'd have gone, too.
Eri took a dory and went off and picked him up.  Perez come over to
my house and told us about it, and Pashy's gone back with him to
see to her brother.  I didn't go down to the store this mornin',
'twas stormin' so, but as soon as I heard I harnessed up to come
and tell you."

Then, in answer to the hurried questions of Captain Jerry and
Elsie, Mr. Mayo told the whole story as far as he knew it.  Mrs.
Snow said nothing, but sat with her hands still clasped in her lap.

"Luther is ha'f drownded and froze," concluded Abner, "and the
Cap'n got a bang with an oar when they jumped out of the dory that,
Perez is afraid, broke his arm.  I'm goin' right back to git Dr.
Palmer.  They tried to telephone him, but the wire's down."

"Dear! dear! dear!" exclaimed Captain Jerry, completely demoralized
by the news.  "That's dreadful!  I must go right down there,
mustn't I?  The poor fellers!"

Mrs. Snow rose to her feet quietly, but with a determined air.

"Are you goin' right back soon's you've got the Doctor, Mr. Mayo?"
she asked.

"Why, no, I wa'n't.  I ain't been to my store this mornin', and I'm
'fraid I ought to be there."

To be frank, Abner was too great a sensation lover to forfeit the
opportunity of springing his startling news on the community.

"Then, Josiah, you'll have to harness Dan'l and take me down.  I
mustn't wait another minute."

"Why, Mrs. Snow!" expostulated Captain Jerry, "you mustn't go down
there.  The Doctor's goin', and I'll go, and Pashy's there already."

But the housekeeper merely waved him aside.

"I want you to stay here with Elsie," she said.  "There's no
tellin' how long I may be gone.  Josiah 'll drive me down, won't
you, Josiah?"

There was no lack of enthusiasm in the "able seaman's" answer.  The
boy was only too glad of the chance.

"But it ain't fit weather for you to be out in.  You'll git soakin'
wet."

"I guess if Pashy Davis can stand it, I can.  Elsie, will you come
and help me git ready, while Josiah's harnessin'?"

As they entered the chamber above, Elsie was thunderstruck to see
her companion seat herself in the rocker and cover her face with
her hands.  If it had been anyone else it would not have been so
astonishing, but the cool, self-possessed housekeeper--she could
scarcely believe it.

"Why, Mrs. Snow!" she exclaimed, "what IS it?"

The lady from Nantucket hastily rose and wiped her eyes with her
apron.

"Oh, nothin'," she answered, with an attempt at a smile.  "I'm kind
of fidgety this mornin', and the way that man started off to tell
his yarn upset me; that's all.  I mustn't be such a fool."

She set about getting ready with a vim and attention to detail that
proved that her "fidgets" had not affected her common-sense.  She
was pale and her hands trembled a little, but she took a covered
basket and packed in it cloth for bandages, a hot-water bottle,
mustard, a bottle of liniment, and numerous other things likely to
be of use.  Last of all, she added a bottle of whisky that had been
prescribed as a stimulant for John Baxter.

"I s'pose some folks would think 'twas terrible carryin' this with
me," she observed.  "A woman pitched into me once for givin' it to
her husband when he was sick.  I told her I didn't favor RHUBARB as
a steady drink, but I hoped I knew enough to give it when 'twas
necessary."

Ralph and Captain Perez were surprised men when the housekeeper,
dripping, but cheerful, appeared on the scene.  She and Josiah had
had a stormy passage on the way down, for the easy-going Daniel had
objected to being asked to trot through drifts, and Mrs. Snow had
insisted that he should be made to do it.  The ford was out of the
question, so they stalled the old horse in the Mayo barn and
borrowed Abner's dory to make the crossing.

Mrs. Snow took charge at once of the tired men, and the overtaxed
Miss Patience was glad enough to have her do it.  Luther Davis was
in bed, and Captain Eri, after an hour's sojourn in the same snug
harbor, had utterly refused to stay there longer, and now, dressed
in a suit belonging to the commandant, was stretched upon a sofa in
the front room.

The Captain was the most surprised of all when Mrs. Snow appeared.
He fairly gasped when she first entered the room, and seemed to be
struck speechless, for he said scarcely a word while she dosed him
with hot drinks, rubbed his shoulder--the bone was not broken, but
there was a bruise there as big as a saucer--with the liniment, and
made him generally comfortable.  He watched her every movement with
a sort of worshipful wonder, and seemed to be thinking hard.

Captain Davis, although feeling a little better, was still very
weak, and his sister and Captain Perez were with him.  Josiah soon
returned to the Mayo homestead to act as ferryman for Dr. Palmer
when the latter should arrive, and Ralph, finding that there was
nothing more that he could do, went back to the cable station.  The
storm had abated somewhat and the wind had gone down.  Captain Eri
and Mrs. Snow were alone in the front room, and, for the first time
since she entered the house, the lady from Nantucket sat down to
rest.  Then the Captain spoke.

"Mrs. Snow," he said gravely, "I don't believe you've changed your
clothes sence you got here.  You must have been soaked through,
too.  I wish you wouldn't take such risks.  You hadn't ought to
have come over here a day like this, anyway.  Not but what the Lord
knows it's good to have you here," he added hastily.

The housekeeper seemed surprised.

"Cap'n Eri," she said, "I b'lieve if you was dyin' you'd worry for
fear somebody else wouldn't be comf'table while you was doing it.
'Twould be pretty hard for me to change my clothes," she added,
with a laugh, "seein' that there probably ain't anything but men's
clothes in the place."  Then, with a sigh, "Poor fellers, they
won't need 'em any more."

"That's so.  And they were all alive and hearty this mornin'.  It's
an awful thing for Luther.  Has he told anything yit 'bout how it
come to happen?"

"Yes, a little.  The schooner was from Maine, bound to New York.
Besides her own crew she had some Italians aboard, coal-handlers,
they was, goin' over on a job for the owner.  Cap'n Davis says he
saw right away that the lifeboat would be overloaded, but he had to
take 'em all, there wa'n't time for a second trip.  He made the
schooner's crew and the others lay down in the boat where they
wouldn't hinder the men at the oars, but when they got jest at the
tail of the shoal, where the sea was heaviest, them Italians lost
their heads and commenced to stand up and yell, and fust thing you
know, she swung broadside on and capsized.  Pashy says Luther don't
say much more, but she jedges, from what he does say, that some of
the men hung on with him for a while, but was washed off and
drownded."

"That's right; there was four or five there when we saw her fust.
'Twas Lute's grip on the centerboard that saved him.  It's an awful
thing--awful!"

"Yes, and he would have gone, too, if it hadn't been for you.  And
you talk about MY takin' risks!"

"Well, Jerry hadn't ought to have let you come."

"LET me come!  I should like to have seen him try to stop me.  The
idea!  Where would I be if 'twa'n't helpin' you, after all you've
done for me?"

"I'VE done?  I haven't done anything!"

"You've made me happier 'n I've been for years.  You've been so
kind that--that--"

She stopped and looked out of the window.

"It's you that's been kind," said the Captain.  "You've made a home
for me; somethin' I ain't had afore sence I was a boy."

Mrs. Snow went on as if he had not spoken.

"And to think that you might have been drownded the same as the
rest," she said.  "I knew somethin' was happenin'.  I jest felt it,
somehow.  I told Elsie I was sure of it.  I couldn't think of
anything but you all the forenoon."

The Captain sat up on the couch.

"Marthy," he said in an awed tone, "do you know what I was thinkin'
of when I was pullin' through the wust of it this mornin'?  I was
thinkin' of you.  I thought of Luther and the rest of them poor
souls, of course, but I thought of you most of the time.  It kept
comin' back to me that if I went under I shouldn't see you ag'in.
And you was thinkin' of me!"

"Yes, when that Mayo man said he had awful news, I felt sure 'twas
you he was goin' to tell about.  I never fainted away in my life
that I know of, but I think I 'most fainted then."

"And you cared as much as that?"

"Yes."

Somehow both were speaking quietly, but as if it was useless longer
to keep back anything.  To speak the exact truth without reserve
seemed the most natural thing in the world.

"Well, well, well!" said the Captain reverently, and still in the
same low tone.  "I said once afore that I b'lieved you was sent
here, and now I'm sure of it.  It seems almost as if you was sent
to ME, don't it?"

The housekeeper still looked out of the window, but she answered
simply, "I don't know."

"It does, it does so.  Marthy, we've been happy together while
you've been here.  Do you b'lieve you could be happy with me
always--if you married me, I mean?"

Mrs. Snow turned and looked at him.  There were tears in her eyes,
but she did not wipe them away.

"Yes," she said.

"Think now, Marthy.  I ain't very young, and I ain't very rich."

"What am I?" with a little smile.

"And you really think you could be happy if you was the wife of an
old codger like me?"

"Yes."  The answer was short, but it was convincing.

Captain Eri rose to his feet.

"Gosh!" he said in a sort of unbelieving whisper.  "Marthy, are you
willin' to try?"

And again Mrs. Snow said "Yes."


When Dr. Palmer came he found Luther Davis still in bed, but
Captain Eri was up and dressed, and there was such a quiet air of
happiness about him that the man of medicine was amazed.

"Good Lord, man!" he exclaimed, "I expected to find you flat on
your back, and you look better than I've seen you for years.
Taking a salt-water bath in mid-winter must agree with you."

"It ain't so much that," replied the Captain serenely.  "It's the
pay I got for takin' it."

When the Doctor saw Perez alone, he asked the latter to keep a
close watch on Captain Eri's behavior.  He said he was afraid that
the exertion and exposure might have affected the Captain's brain.

Perez, alarmed by this caution, did watch his friend very closely,
but he saw nothing to frighten him until, as they were about to
start for home, Captain Eri suddenly struck his thigh a resounding
slap

"Jerry!" he groaned distressfully.  "I clean forgot.  I've gone
back on Jerry!"



CHAPTER XXI

"DIME-SHOW BUS'NESS"


Elsie and Captain Jerry were kept busy that afternoon.  Abner
Mayo's news spread quickly, and people gathered at the post-office,
the stores, and the billiard room to discuss it.  Some of the men,
notably "Cy" Warner and "Rufe" Smith, local representatives of the
big Boston dailies, hurried off to the life-saving station to get
the facts at first hand.  Others came down to talk with Captain
Jerry and Elsie.  Melissa Busteed's shawl was on her shoulders and
her "cloud" was tied about her head in less than two minutes after
her next-door neighbor shouted the story across the back yards.
She had just left the house, and Captain Jerry was delivering a
sarcastic speech concerning "talkin' machines," when Daniel plodded
through the gate, drawing the buggy containing Josiah, Mrs. Snow,
and Captain Eri.

For a man who had been described as "half-dead," Captain Eri looked
very well, indeed.  Jerry ran to help him from the carriage, but he
jumped out himself and then assisted the housekeeper to alight with
an air of proud proprietorship.  He was welcomed to the house like
a returned prodigal, and Captain Jerry shook his well hand until
the arm belonging to it seemed likely to become as stiff and sore
as the other.  While this handshaking was going on Captain Eri was
embarrassed.  He did not look his friend in the face, and most of
his conversation was addressed to Elsie.

As soon as he had warmed his hands and told the story of the wreck
and rescue, he said, "Jerry, come up to my room a minute, won't
you?  I've got somethin' I want to say."

Vaguely wondering what the private conversation might be, Jerry
followed his friend upstairs.  When they were in the room, Captain
Eri closed the door and faced his companion.  He was confused, and
stammered a little, as he said, "Jerry, I've--I've got somethin' to
say to you 'bout Mrs. Snow."

Then it was Captain Jerry's turn to be confused.

"Now, Eri," he protested, "'tain't fair to keep pesterin' me like
this.  I know I ain't said nothin' to her yit, but I'm goin' to.  I
had a week, anyhow, and it ain't ha'f over.  Land sake!" he burst
forth, "d'you s'pose I ain't been thinkin' 'bout it?  I ain't
thought of nothin' else, hardly.  I bet you I've been over the
whole thing every night sence we had that talk.  I go over it and
GO over it.  I've thought of more 'n a million ways to ask her, but
there ain't one of 'em that suits me.  If I was goin' to be hung
'twouldn't be no worse, and now you've got to keep a-naggin'.  Let
me alone till my time is up, can't you?"

"I wa'n't naggin'.  I was jest goin' to tell you that you won't
have to ask.  I've been talkin' to her myself, and--"

The sacrifice sprang out of his chair.

"Eri Hedge!" he exclaimed indignantly.  "I thought you was a friend
of mine!  I give you my word I'd do it in a week, and the least you
could have done, seems to me, would have been to wait and give me
the chance.  But no! all you think 'bout's yourself.  So 'fraid
she'd say no and you'd lose your old housekeeper, wa'n't you?  The
idea!  She must think I'm a good one--can't do my own courtin', and
have to git somebody to do it for me!  What did she say?" he asked
suddenly.

"She said yes to what I asked her," was the reply with a half
smile.

Upon Captain Jerry's face settled the look of one who accepts the
melancholy inevitable.  He sat down again.

"I s'posed she would," he said with a sigh.  "She's known me for
quite a spell now, and she's had a chance to see what kind of a man
I be.  Well, what else did you do?  Ain't settled the weddin' day,
have you?"  This with marked sarcasm.

"Not yit.  Jerry, you've made a mistake.  I didn't ask her for
you."

"Didn't ask her--didn't--  What are you talkin' 'bout, then?"

"I asked her for myself.  She's goin' to marry me."

Captain Jerry was too much astonished even to get up.  Instead, he
simply sat still with open mouth while his friend continued.

"I've come to think a lot of Mrs. Snow sence she's been here,"
Captain Eri said slowly, "and I've found out that she's felt the
same way 'bout me.  I've kept still and said nothin' 'cause I
thought you ought to have the fust chance and, besides, I didn't
know how she felt.  But to-day, while we was talkin', it all come
out of itself, seems so, and--well, we're goin' to be married."

The sacrifice--a sacrifice no longer--still sat silent, but curious
changes of expression were passing over his face.  Surprise,
amazement, relief, and now a sort of grieved resignation.

"I feel small enough 'bout the way I've treated you, Jerry,"
continued Captain Eri.  "I didn't mean to--but there! it's done,
and all I can do is say I'm sorry and that I meant to give you your
chance.  I shan't blame you if you git mad, not a bit; but I hope
you won't."

Captain Jerry sighed.  When he spoke it was in a tone of sublime
forgiveness.

"Eri," he said, "I ain't mad.  I won't say my feelin's ain't hurt,
'cause--'cause--well, never mind.  If a wife and a home ain't for
me, why I ought to be glad that you're goin' to have 'em.  I wish
you both luck and a good v'yage.  Now, don't talk to me for a few
minutes.  Let me git sort of used to it."

So they shook hands and Captain Eri, with a troubled look at his
friend, went out.  After he had gone, Captain Jerry got up and
danced three steps of an improvised jig, his face one broad grin.
Then, with an effort, he sobered down, assumed an air of due
solemnity, and tramped downstairs.

If the announcement of Captain Perez' engagement caused no
surprise, that of Captain Eri's certainly did--surprise and
congratulation on the part of those let into the secret, for it was
decided to say nothing to outsiders as yet.  Ralph came over that
evening and they told him about it, and he was as pleased as the
rest.  As for the Captain, he was only too willing to shake hands
with any and everybody, although he insisted that the housekeeper
had nothing to be congratulated upon, and that she was "takin' big
chances."  The lady herself merely smiled at this, and quietly said
that she was willing to take them.

The storm had wrecked every wire and stalled every train, and Orham
was isolated for two days.  Then communication was established once
more, and the Boston dailies received the news of the loss of the
life-savers and the crew of the schooner.  And they made the most
of it; sensational items were scarce just then, and the editors
welcomed this one.  The big black headlines spread halfway across
the front pages.  There were pictures of the wreck, "drawn by our
artist from description," and there were "descriptions" of all
kinds.  Special reporters arrived in the village and interviewed
everyone they could lay hands on.  Abner Mayo felt that for once he
was receiving the attention he deserved.

The life-saving station and the house by the shore were besieged by
photographers and newspaper men.  Captain Eri indignantly refused
to pose for his photograph, so he was "snapped" as he went out to
the barn, and had the pleasure of seeing a likeness of himself,
somewhat out of focus, and with one leg stiffly elevated, in the
Sunday Blanket.  The reporters waylaid him at the post-office, or
at his fish shanty, and begged for interviews.  They got them,
brief and pointedly personal, and, though these were not printed,
columns describing him as "a bluff, big-hearted hero," were.

If ever a man was mad and disgusted, that man was the Captain.  In
the first place, as he said, what he had done was nothing more than
any other man 'longshore would have done, and, secondly, it was
nobody's business.  Then again, he said, and with truth:

"This whole fuss makes me sick.  Here's them fellers in the crew
been goin' out, season after season, takin' folks off wrecks, and
the fool papers never say nothin' 'bout it; but they go out this
time, and don't save nobody and git drownded themselves, and
they're heroes of a sudden.  I hear they're raisin' money up to
Boston to give to the widders and orphans.  Well, that's all right,
but they'd better keep on and git the Gov'ment to raise the
sal'ries of them that's left in the service."

The climax came when a flashily dressed stranger called, and
insisted upon seeing the Captain alone.  The interview lasted just
about three minutes.  When Mrs. Snow, alarmed by the commotion,
rushed into the room, she found Captain Eri in the act of throwing
after the fleeing stranger the shiny silk hat that the latter had
left behind.

"Do you know what that--that swab wanted?" hotly demanded the
indignant Captain.  "He wanted me to rig up in ileskins and a
sou'wester and show myself in dime museums.  Said he'd buy that
dory of Luther's that I went out in, and show that 'long with me.
I told him that dory was spread up and down the beach from here to
Setuckit, but he said that didn't make no diff'rence, he'd have a
dory there and say 'twas the reel one.  Offered me a hundred
dollars a week, the skate!  I'd give ten dollars right now to tell
him the rest of what I had to say."

After this the Captain went fishing every day, and when at home
refused to see anybody not known personally.  But the agitation
went on, for the papers fed the flames, and in Boston they were
raising a purse to buy gold watches and medals for him and for
Captain Davis.

Shortly after four o'clock one afternoon of the week following that
of the wreck, Captain Eri ventured to walk up to the village,
keeping a weather eye out for reporters and smoking his pipe.  He
made several stops, one of them being at the schoolhouse where
Josiah, now back at his desk, was studying overtime to catch up
with his class.

As the Captain was strolling along, someone touched him from
behind, and he turned to face Ralph Hazeltine.  The electrician had
been a pretty regular caller at the house of late, but Captain Eri
had seen but little of him, for reasons unnecessary to state.

"Hello, Captain!" said Ralph.  "Taking a constitutional?  You want
to look out for Warner; I hear he's after you for another rescue
'special.'"

"He'll need somebody to rescue him if he comes pesterin' 'round
me," was the reply.  "You ain't seen my dime show friend nowheres,
have you?  I'd sort of like to meet HIM again; our other talk broke
off kind of sudden."

Ralph laughed, and said he was afraid that the museum manager
wouldn't come to Orham again very soon.

"I s'pose likely not," chuckled Captain Eri.  "I ought to have kept
his hat; then, maybe, he'd have come back after it.  Oh, say!" he
added, "I've been meanin' to ask you somethin'.  Made up your mind
'bout that western job yit?"

Ralph shook his head.  "Not yet," he said slowly.  "I shall very
soon, though, I think."

"Kind of puzzlin' you, is it?  Not that it's really any of my
affairs, you understand.  There's only a few of us good folks left,
as the feller said, and I'd hate to see you leave, that's all."

"I am not anxious to go, myself.  My present position gives me a
good deal of leisure time for experimental work--and--well, I'll
tell you in confidence--there's a possibility of my becoming
superintendent one of these days, if I wish to."

"Sho! you don't say!  Mr. Langley goin' to quit?"

"He is thinking of it.  The old gentleman has saved some money, and
he has a sister in the West who is anxious to have him come out
there and spend the remainder of his days with her.  If he does, I
can have his position, I guess.  In fact, he has been good enough
to say so."

"Well, that's pretty fine, ain't it?  Langley ain't the man to
chuck his good opinions round like clam shells.  You ought to feel
proud."

"I suppose I ought."

They walked on silently for a few steps, the Captain waiting for
his companion to speak, and the latter seeming disinclined to do
so.  At length the older man asked another question.

"Is t'other job so much better?"

"No."

Silence again.  Then Ralph said, "The other position, Captain, is
very much like this one in some respects.  It will place me in a
country town, even smaller than Orham, where there are few young
people, no amusements, and no society, in the fashionable sense of
the word."

"Humph!  I thought you didn't care much for them things."

"I don't."

To this enigmatical answer the Captain made no immediate reply.
After a moment, however, he said, slowly and with apparent
irrelevance, "Mr. Hazeltine, I can remember my father tellin' 'bout
a feller that lived down on the South Harniss shore when he was a
boy.  Queer old chap he was, named Elihu Bassett; everybody called
him Uncle Elihu.  In them days all hands drunk more or less rum,
and Uncle Elihu drunk more.  He had a way of stayin' sober for a
spell, and then startin' off on a regular jamboree all by himself.
He had an old flat-bottomed boat that he used to sail 'round in,
but she broke her moorin's one time and got smashed up, so he
wanted to buy another.  Shadrach Wingate, Seth's granddad 'twas,
tried to fix up a dicker with him for a boat he had.  They agreed
on the price, and everything was all right 'cept that Uncle Elihu
stuck out that he must try her 'fore he bought her.

"So Shad fin'lly give in, and Uncle Elihu sailed over to Wellmouth
in the boat.  He put in his time 'round the tavern there, and when
he come down to the boat ag'in, he had a jugful of Medford in his
hand, and pretty nigh as much of the same stuff under his hatches.
He got afloat somehow, h'isted the sail, lashed the tiller after a
fashion, took a nip out of the jug and tumbled over and went fast
asleep.  'Twas a still night or 'twould have been the finish.  As
'twas he run aground on a flat and stuck there till mornin'.

"Next day back he comes with the boat all scraped up, and says he,
'She won't do, Shad; she don't keep her course.'

"'Don't keep her course, you old fool!' bellers Shad.  'And you
tight as a drumhead and sound asleep!  Think she can find her way
home herself?' he says.

"'Well,' says Uncle Elihu, 'if she can't she ain't the boat for
me.'"

Ralph laughed.  "I see," he said.  "Perhaps Uncle Elihu was wise.
Still, if he wanted the boat very much, he must have hated to put
her to the test."

"That's so," assented the Captain, "but 'twas better to know it
then than to be sorry for it afterwards."

Both seemed to be thinking, and neither spoke again until they came
to the grocery store, where Hazeltine stopped, saying that he must
do an errand for Mr. Langley.  They said good-night, and the
Captain turned away, but came quickly back and said:

"Mr. Hazeltine, if it ain't too much trouble, would you mind
steppin' up to the schoolhouse when you've done your errand?  I've
left somethin' there with Josiah, and I'd like to have you git it.
Will you?"

"Certainly," was the reply, and it was not until the Captain had
gone that Ralph remembered he did not know what he was to get.

When he reached the school he climbed the stairs and opened the
door, expecting to find Josiah alone.  Instead, there was no one
there but Elsie, who was sitting at the desk.  She sprang up as he
entered.  Both were somewhat confused.

"Pardon me, Miss Preston," he said.  "Captain Eri sent me here.  He
said he left something with Josiah, and wished me to call for it."

"Why, I'm sure I don't know what it can be," replied Elsie.
"Josiah has been gone for some time, and he said nothing to me
about it."

"Perhaps it is in his desk," suggested Ralph.  "Suppose we look."

So they looked, but found nothing more than the usual assortment
contained in the desk of a healthy schoolboy.  The raised lid shut
off the light from the window, and the desk's interior was rather
dark.  They had to grope in the corners, and occasionally their
hands touched.  Every time this happened Ralph thought of the
decision that he must make so soon.

He thought of it still more when, after the search was abandoned,
Elsie suggested that he help her with some problems that she was
preparing for the next day's labors of the first class in
arithmetic.  In fact, as he sat beside her, pretending to figure,
but really watching her dainty profile as it moved back and forth
before his eyes, his own particular problem received far more
attention than did those of the class.  Suddenly he spoke:

"Teacher," he said, "please, may I ask a question?"

"You should hold up your hand if you wish permission to speak," was
the stern reply.

"Please consider it held up."

"Is the question as important as 'How many bushels did C. sell?'
which happens to be my particular trouble just now."

"It is to me, certainly."  Ralph was serious enough now.  "It is a
question that I have been wrestling with for some time.  It is,
shall I take the position that has been offered me in the West, or
shall I stay here and become superintendent of the station?  The
superintendent's place may be mine, I think, if I want it."

Elsie laid down her pencil and hesitated for a moment before she
spoke.  When she did reply her face was turned away from her
companion.

"I should think that question might best be decided by comparing
the salaries and prospects of the two positions," she said quietly.

"The two positions are much alike in one way.  You know what the
life at the station means the greater portion of the year--no
companions of your own age and condition, no society, no
amusements.  The Western offer means all this and worse, for the
situation is the same all the year.  I say these things because I
hope you may be willing to consider them, not from my point of view
solely, but from yours."

"From mine?"

"Yes.  You see I am recklessly daring to hope that, whichever lot
is chosen, you may be willing to share it with me--as my wife.
Elsie, do you think you could consider the question from that
viewpoint?"

And--well--Elsie thought she could.

The consideration--we suppose it was the consideration--took so
long that it was nearly dark when Elsie announced that she simply
MUST go.  It was Ralph's duty as a gentleman to help her in putting
on her coat, and this took an astonishingly long time.  Finally it
was done, however, and they came downstairs.

"Dearest," said Ralph, after the door was locked, "I forgot to have
another hunt for whatever it was that Captain Eri wanted me to
get."

Elsie smiled rather oddly.

"Are you sure you haven't got it?" she asked demurely.

"Got it!  Why--why, by George, what a numbskull I am!  The old
rascal!  I thought there was a twinkle in his eye."

"He said he should come back after me."

"Well, well!  Bless his heart, it's sound and sweet all the way
through.  Yes, I HAVE got it, and, what's more, I shall tell him
that I mean to keep it."


The gold watches from the people to the heroes of the Orham wreck
having been duly bought and inscribed and the medals struck, there
came up the question of presentation, and it was decided to perform
the ceremony in the Orham town hall, and to make the occasion
notable.  The Congressman from the district agreed to make the
necessary speech.  The Harniss Cornet Band was to furnish music.
All preparations were made, and it remained only to secure the
consent of the parties most interested, namely, Captain Eri and
Luther Davis.

And this was the hardest task of all.  Both men at first flatly
refused to be present.  The Captain said he might as well go to the
dime museum and be done with it; he was much obliged to the Boston
folks, but his own watch was keeping good time, and he didn't need
a new one badly enough to make a show of himself to get it.
Captain Davis said very much the same.

But Miss Patience was proud of her brother's rise to fame, and
didn't intend to let him forfeit the crowning glory.  She enlisted
Captain Perez as a supporter, and together they finally got
Luther's unwilling consent to sit on the platform and be stared at
for one evening.  Meanwhile, Captain Jerry, Elsie, Ralph, and Mrs.
Snow were doing their best to win Captain Eri over.  When Luther
surrendered, the forces joined, and the Captain threw up his hands.

"All right," he said.  "Only I ought to beg that dime museum
feller's pardon.  'Tain't right to be partial this way."


The hall was jammed to the doors.  Captain Eri, seated on the
platform at one end of the half-circle of selectmen, local
politicians, and minor celebrities, looked from the Congressman in
the middle to Luther on the other end, and then out over the
crowded settees.  He saw Mrs. Snow's pleasant, wholesome face
beaming proudly beside Captain Jerry's red one.  He saw Captain
Perez and Miss Patience sitting together close to the front, and
Ralph and Elsie a little further back.  The Reverend Mr. Perley was
there; so were the Smalls and Miss Abigail Mullett.  Melissa
Busteed was on the very front bench with the boys, of whom Josiah
was one.  The "train committee" was there--not a member missing--
and at the rear of the hall, smiling and unctuous as ever, was
"Web" Saunders.  In spite of his stage fright the Captain grinned
when he saw "Web."

Mr. Solomon Bangs, his shirt-bosom crackling with importance,
introduced the Congressman.  The latter's address was, so the Item
said, "a triumph of oratorical effort."  It really was a good
speech, and when it touched upon the simple sacrifice of the men
who had given up their lives in the course of what, to them, was
everyday work, there were stifled sobs all through the hall.
Luther Davis, during this portion of the address, sat with his big
hand shading his eyes.  Later on, when the speaker was sounding the
praises of the man who "alone, forgetful of himself, braved the sea
and the storm to save his friends," those who looked at Captain Eri
saw his chair hitched back, inch by inch, until, as the final
outburst came, little more than his Sunday shoes was in sight.  He
had retired, chair and all, to the wings.

But they called him to the platform again and, amid--we quote from
the Item once more--"a hurricane of applause," the two heroes were
adorned with the watches and the medals.

There was a sort of impromptu reception after the ceremony, when
Captain Eri, with Mrs. Snow on his arm, struggled through the crowd
toward the door.

"'Twas great, shipmate, and you deserved it!" declared magnanimous
Captain Jerry, wringing his hand.

"'Tain't ha'f what you ought to have, Eri," said Captain Perez.

"I haven't said much to thank you for savin' Luther," whispered
Miss Patience, "but I hope you know that we both appreciate what
you done and never 'll forgit it."

Ralph and Elsie also shook hands with him, and said some pleasant
things.  So did many others, Dr. Palmer among the number.
Altogether, the journey through the hall was a sort of triumphal
progress.

"Whew!" gasped the Captain, as they came out into the clear air and
the moonlight, "let's hope that's the last of the dime-show
bus'ness."

"Eri," whispered Mrs. Snow, "I'm so proud of you, I don't know what
to do."

And that remark was sweeter to the Captain's ears than all those
that had preceded it.

They turned into the shore road and were alone.  It was a clear
winter night, fresh, white snow on the ground, not a breath of
wind, and the full moon painting land and sea dark blue and silver
white.  The surf sounded faint and far off.  Somewhere in the
distance a dog was barking, and through the stillness came an
occasional laugh or shout from the people going home from the hall.

"Lots of things can happen in a few months, can't they?" said Mrs.
Snow, glancing at the black shadow of the shuttered Baxter
homestead.

"They can so," replied the Captain.  "Think what's happened sence
last September.  I didn't know you then, and now it seems 's if I'd
always known you.  John was alive then, and Elsie nor Ralph hadn't
come.  Perez hadn't met Pashy neither.  My! my!  Everybody's
choosed partners but Jerry," he chuckled, "and Jerry looked the
most likely candidate 'long at the beginnin'.  I'm glad," he added,
"that Ralph's made up his mind to stay here.  We shan't lose him
nor Elsie for a few years, anyhow."

They paused at the knoll by the gate.

"Fair day to-morrer," observed the Captain, looking up at the sky.

"I hope it 'll be fair weather for us the rest of our days," said
Mrs. Snow.

"You've HAD it rough enough, that's sure.  Well, I hope you'll have
a smooth v'yage, now."

The lady from Nantucket looked up into his face with a happy laugh.

"I guess I shall," she said.  "I know I've got a good pilot."





End of Project Gutenberg Etext of Cap'n Eri, by Joseph Crosby Lincoln

