Cap'n Eri
by
Joseph Lincoln

Part 3 out of 6



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


 


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