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Cap'n Abe. Storekeeper
 CAP'N ABE,
STOREKEEPER
A STORY OF CAPE COD

BY

JAMES A. COOPER

ILLUSTRATED BY
A. O. SCOTT

NEW YORK
SULLY AND KLEINTEICH
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CopyRIGHT. 1917. By
SULLY AND KLEINTEICH

All rights reserved

PROPEkTY
QF THE
NEW YORK
S(*CIRTY LIBRARY
•^

CONTENTS
CHAP1ER PAGE

I. A Choice I
II. Cap'n Abe ..... 19
III. In Cap'n Abe's Living-Room . 35
IV. The Shadow of Coming Events 45
V. What Happened in the Night 55
VI. Boarded by Pirates . 63
VII. Under Fire .... 74
VIII. Something About Salt Water
Taffy 88
IX. Suspicion Hovers 103
X. What Louise Thinks 115
XI. The Leading Man 127
XII. The Descent of Aunt Euphe-
mia 137
XIII. Washy Gallup's Curiosity 149
XIV. A Choice of Chaperons . 159
XV. The Unexpected 170
XVI. A Tragedy of Errors 182
XVII. The Odds Against Him . 190
XVIII. Something Breaks . 198
XIX. Much Ado .... 208
vi Contents
CHAPTER PAGE
XX. The Sun Worshipers .216
XXI. Discoveries .... 226
XXII. Shocking News .... 236
XXIII. Between the Fires . . . 247
XXIV. Gray Days 254
XXV. Aunt Euphemia Makes a Point 262
XXVI. At Last 271
XXVII. Sargasso 278
XXVIII. Storm Clouds Threaten . . 287
XXIX. The Scar 297
XXX. When the Strong Tides Lift 306
XXXI. An Anchor to the Soul . . 318
XXXII. On the Roll of Honor . . 328
 ILLUSTRATIONS

Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper . Frontispiece

FACINO
PAGE

The launch glided in beside the dock where

she stood 126
His voice quavered as he shrilly asked:
" Then, where's Cap'n Abe? " . 202
Louise saw that Lawford was foremost among
the volunteers 316
 CAP'N ABE, STOREKEEPER

CHAPTER I

A CHOICE

" Of course, my dear, there is nobody but your

Aunt Euphemia for you to go to ! "
"Oh, daddy-professor! Nobody? Can we rake
or scrape up no other relative on either side of the
family who will take in poor little me for the sum
mer? You will be home in the fall, of course."
" That is the supposition," Professor Grayling
replied, his lips pursed reflectively. " No. Dear
me! there seems nobody."
" But Aunt Euphemia ! "
" I know, Lou, I know. She expects you, how
ever. She writes "
" Yes. She has it all planned," sighed Louise
Grayling dejectedly. " Every move at home or
abroad Aunt Euphemia has mapped out for me.
When I am with her I am a mere automaton—only
unlike a real marionette I can feel when she pulls
the strings ! "
The professor shook his head. " There's—
2 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper

there's only your poor mother's half-brother down

on the Cape."
" What half-brother ? " demanded Louise with
a quick smile that matched the professor's quizzical
one.
" Why Well, your mother, Lou, had an
older half-brother, a Mr. Silt. He keeps a store at
Cardhaven. You know, I met your mother down
that way when I was hunting seaweed for the Smith
sonian Institution. Your grandmother was a Bel
lows and her folks lived on the Cape, too. Her
family has died out and your grandfather was dead
before I married your mother. The half-brother,
this Mr. Silt—Captain Abram Silt—is the only in
dividual of that branch of the family left alive, I
believe."
" Goodness ! " gasped the girl. " What a family
tree!"
Again the professor smiled whimsically. " Only
a few of the branches. But they all reach back to
the first navigators of the world."
" The first navigators? "
" I do not mean to the Phoenicians," her father
said. " I mean that the world never saw braver
nor more worthy sailors than those who called the
wind-swept hamlets of Cape Cod their home ports.
The Silts were all master-mariners. This Captain
Abe is a bachelor, I believe. You could not very
well go there."
 A Choice 3
Louise sighed. " No ; I couldn't go there—I sup
pose. I couldn't go there " Her voice wan
dered off into silence. Then suddenly, almost ex
plosively, it came back with the question : " Why
couldn't I?"
"My dear Lou! What would your aunt say?"
gasped the professor.
He was a tall, rather soldierly looking man—the
result of military training in his youth—with a
shock of perfectly white hair and a sweeping mus
tache that contrasted clearly with his pink, always
cleanly shaven cheeks and chin. Without impress
ing the observer with his muscular power, Pro
fessor Grayling was a better man on a long hike
and possessed more reserve strength than many
more beefy athletes.
His daughter had inherited his springy carriage
and even the clean pinkness of his complexion—
always looking as though she were fresh from her
shower. But there was nothing mannish about Lou
Grayling—nothing at all, though she had other
attributes of body and mind for which to thank her
father.
They were the best of chums. No father and
daughter could have trod the odd corners of the
world these two had visited without becoming so
closely attached to each other that their processes
of thought, as well as their opinions in most mat
ters, were almost in perfect harmony. Although
4 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
Mrs. Euphemia Conroth was the professor's own
sister he could appreciate Lou's attitude in this
emergency. While the girl was growing up there
had been times when it was considered best—
usually because of her studies—for Lou to live with
Aunt Euphemia. Indeed, that good lady believed
it almost a sin that a young girl should attend the
professor on any of his trips into " the wilds," as
she expressed it. Aunt Euphemia ignored the fact
that nowadays the railroad and telegraph are in
Thibet and that turbines ply the headwaters of the
Amazon.
Mrs. Conroth dwelt in Poughkeepsie—that half
way stop between New York and Albany; and she
was as exclusive and opinionated a lady as might
be found in that city of aristocracy and learning.
The college in the shadow of which Aunt
Euphemia's dwelling basked, was that which had led
the professor's daughter under the lady's sway. Al
though the girls with whom Lou associated within
the college walls were up-to-the-minute—if not a
little ahead of it—she found her aunt, like many
of those barnacles clinging to the outer reefs of
learning in college towns, was really a fossil. If
one desires to meet the ultraconservative in thought
and social life let me commend him to this stratum
of humanity within stone's throw of a college.
These barnacles like Aunt Euphemia are wedded to
a manner of thought, gained from their own school
 A Choice 5
experiences, that went out of fashion inside the
colleges thirty years ago.
Originally, in Lou Grayling's case, when she first
lived with Aunt Euphemia and was a day pupil at
an exclusive preparatory school, it had been drilled
into her by the lady that " children should be seen
but not heard ! " Later, although she acknowledged
the fact that young girls were now taught many
things that in Aunt Euphemia's maidenhood were
scarcely whispered within hearing of " the young
person," the lady was quite shocked to hear such
subjects discussed in the drawing-room, with her
niece as one of the discussers.
The structure of man and the lower animals,
down to the number of their ribs, seemed no proper
topic for light talk at an evening party. It made
Aunt Euphemia gasp. Anatomy was Lou's hobby.
She was an excellent and practical taxidermist,
thanks to her father. And she had learned to name
the bones of the human frame along with her multi
plication table.
However, there was little about Louise Grayling
to commend her among, for instance, the erudite of
Boston. She was sweet and wholesome, as has been
indicated. She had all the common sense that a
pretty girl should have—and no more.
For she was pretty and, as well, owned that
charm of intelligence without which a woman is a
mere doll. Her father often reflected that the man
6 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
who married Lou would be playing in great luck.
He would get a mate.
So far as Professor Grayling knew, however
(and he was as keenly observant of his daughter
and her development as he was of scientific mat
ters), there was as yet no such man in sight. Lou
had escaped the usual boy-and-girl entanglements
which fret the lives of many young folk, because of
her association with her father in his journeys about
the world. Being a perfectly normal, well-balanced
girl, black boys, brown boys, yellow boys, or all
the hues and shades of boys to be met with in those
odd corners of the earth where the white man is
at a premium, did not interest Lou Grayling in the
least.
Without being ultraconservative like Aunt
Euphemia, she was the sort of girl whom one might
reckon on doing the sensible—perhaps the obvious
—thing in almost any emergency. Therefore, after
that single almost awed exclamation from the pro
fessor—his sole homage to Mrs. Grundy—he
added :
" My dear, do as you like. You are old enough
and wise enough to choose for yourself—your
aunt's opinion to the contrary notwithstanding.
Only, if you don't mind "
"What is it, daddy-prof?" she asked him with
a smile, yet still reflective.
" Why, if you don't mind," repeated the pro
 A Choice 7
fessor, " I'd rather you didn't inform me where you
decide to spend your summer until I am off. I—I
don't mind knowing after I am at sea—and your
aunt cannot get at me."
She laughed at him gaily. " You take it for
granted that I am going to Cape Cod," she cried
accusingly.
" No—o. But I know how sorely I should be
tempted myself, realizing your aunt's trying dis
position."
" Perhaps this—this half-uncle may be quite as
trying."
" Impossible ! " was the father's rather emphatic
reply.
"What?" she cried. "Traitor to the family
fame?"
" You do not know Cape Cod folk. I do," he
told her rather seriously. " Some of them are
quaint and peculiar. I suppose there are just as
many down there with traits of extreme Yankee
frugality as elsewhere in New England. But your
mother's people, as I knew them, were the very salt
of the earth. Our wanderings were all that kept
you from knowing the old folk before they passed
away."
" You tempt me," was all Louise said. Then the
conversation lapsed.
It was the day following that the professor was
to go to Boston preparatory to sailing. At the mo
8 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
ment of departure his daughter, smiling, tucked a
sealed note into his pocket.
" Don't open it, daddy-prof, till you are out of
sight of Cohasset Rocks," she said. " Then you
will not know where I am going to spend the time
of your absence until it is too late—either to oppose
or to advise."
" You can't worry me," he told her, with admira
tion in his glance. " I've every confidence in you,
my dear. Have a good time if you can."
She watched him down the long platform be
tween the trains. When she saw him assisted into
the Pullman by the porter she turned with a little
sigh, and walked up the rise toward Forty-second
Street. She could almost wish she were going with
him, although seaweed and mollusk gathering was
a messy business, and the vessel he sailed in was an
ancient converted coaster with few comforts for
womenkind. Louise Grayling had been hobbled by
city life for nearly a year now and she began to
crave new scenes.
There were some last things to do at the fur
nished apartment they were giving up. Some
trunks were to go to the storehouse. Her own bag
gage was to be tagged and sent to the Fall River
boat.
For, spurred by curiosity as well as urged by a
desire to escape Aunt Euphemia for a season,
Louise was bent upon a visit to Cape Cod. At
 A Choice 9
least, she would learn what manner of person her
only other living relative was—her mother's half-
brother, Captain Abram Silt.
In the train the next day, which wandered like an
erratic caterpillar along the backbone of the Cape,
she began to wonder if, after all, she was display
ing that judgment which daddy-professor praised
so highly. It was too early in the season for the
" millionaire's special " to be scheduled, in which
those wealthy summer folk who have " discovered "
the Cape travel to and from Boston. Lou was on
a local from Fall River that stopped at every pair
of bars and even hesitated at the pigpens along the
right of way.
Getting aboard and getting off again at the in
numerable little stations, were people whose like she
had never before seen. And their speech, plenti
fully sprinkled with colloquialisms of a salt flavor,
amused her, and sometimes puzzled her. Some of
the men who rode short distances in the car wore
fishermen's boots and jerseys. They called the con
ductor " skipper," and hailed each other in familiar
idioms.
The women were not uncomely, nor did they
dress in outlandish manner. Great is the sway of
the modern Catalogue House ! But their speech was
blunt and the three topics of conversation most
popular were the fish harvest, clamming, and sum
mer boarders.
10 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
" Land sakes ! is that you, Em'line Scudder ?
What sent you cruisin' in these waters? I thought
you never got away from the Haven."
" Good-day, Mrs. Eldredge. You're fairin'
well? I just had to come over to Littlebridge for
some fixin's. My boarders will be 'long and I got
to freshen the house up a little."
" You goin' to have the same folks you had last
year, Em'line? "
" Oh, yes. They're real nice—for city people.
I tell Barzillai "
"How is Barzillai?"
" Middlin'. His leg ain't never been just right
since he was helpin' ice the Tryout, come two sum
mers ago. You know, one o' them big cakes from
the ice fact'ry fell on him. ... I tell Barzillai the
city folks are a godsend to us Cape Codders in
summer time, now that sea-goin' don't seem so
pop'lar with the men as it useter be."
" I dunno. Some of these city folks don't seem
to be sent by the Lord, but by the other feller ! "
was the grim rejoinder. " I had tryin' times with
my crowd last summer; and the children with 'em
was a visitation—like the plagues of Egypt!"
Louise was an amused yet observant listener.
She began thus early to gain what these good peo
ple themselves would call a " slant " upon their
characters and their outlook on life.
Aside from her interest in her fellow-travelers,
 A Choice 11
there were other things to engage the girl's atten
tion. New places always appealed to her more
than unfamiliar human beings ; perhaps because she
had seen so many of the latter in all quarters of the
globe and found so little variety in their characters.
There were good people and bad people everywhere,
Louise had found. Greedy, generous, morose, and
laughing; faithful and treacherous, the quick and
the stupid ; those likable at first meeting as well as
those utterly impossible. Of whatever nation and
color they might be, she had learned that under
their skins they were all just human beings.
But Nature—ah! she was ever changing. This
girl who had seen so much of the world had never
seen anything quite like the bits of scene she ob
served from the narrow window of the car. Not
beautiful, perhaps, but suggestive and provocative
of genre pictures which would remain in her mem
ory long afterward. There were woods and fields,
cranberry bogs and sand dunes, between the ham
lets; and always through the open window the salt
tang of the air delighted her. She was almost pre
pared to say she was glad she had ventured when
she left the train at Paulmouth and saw her trunks
put off upon the platform.
A teetering stage, with a rack behind for light
baggage, drawn by a pair of lean horses, waited
beside the station. The stage had been freshened
for the season with a thin coat of yellow paint.

x
12 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
The word " Cardhaven " was painted in bright blue
letters on the doors of this ancient coach.
" No, ma'am ! I can't possibly take your trunks,"
the driver said, politely explanatory. " Ye see,
miss, I carry the mail this trip an' the parcel-post
traffic is right heavy, as ye might say. . . . Belay
that, Jerry ! " he observed to the nigh horse that
was stamping because of the pest of flies. " We'll
cast off in a minute and get under way. . . . No,
miss, I can't take 'em; but Perry Baker'll likely go
over to the Haven to-night and he'll fetch 'em for
ye. I got all the cargo I can load."
Soon the horses shacked out of town. The sandy
road wandered through the pine woods where the
hot June sunshine extracted the scent of balsam
until its strength was almost overpowering. Louise,
alone in the interior of the old coach, found herself
pitching and tossing about as though in a heavy
sea.
" It is fortunate I am a good sailor," she told her
self, somewhat ruefully.
The driver was a large man in a yellow linen
duster. He was not especially communicative—
save to his horses. He told them frankly what he
thought of them on several occasions! But "city
folks" were evidently no novelty for him. As he
put Louise and her baggage into the vehicle he had
asked :
" Who you cal'latin' to stop with, miss?"
 A Choice 13
" I am going to Mr. Abram Silt's," Louise had
told him.
" Oh ! Cap'n Abe. Down on the Shell Road.
I can't take ye that fur—ain't allowed to drive be
yond the tavern. But 'tain't noways a fur walk
from there."
He expressed no curiosity about her, or her
business with the Shell Road storekeeper. That
surprised Louise a little. She had presumed all
these people would display Yankee curiosity.
It was not a long journey by stage, for which
she was thankful. The noonday sun was hot and
the interior of the turnout soon began to take on
the semblance of a bake-oven. They came out at
last on a wind-swept terrace and she gained her
first unobstructed view of the ocean.
She had always loved the sea—its wideness, its
mystery, its ever changing face. She watched the
sweep of a gull following the crested windrow of
the breakers on a near-by reef, busy with his fishing.
AH manner of craft etched their spars and canvas
on the horizon, only bluer than the sea itself. In
shore was a fleet of small fry—catboats, sloops,
dories under sail, and a smart smack or two going
around to Provincetown with cargoes from the
fish pounds.
" I shall like it," she murmured after a deeper
breath.
They came to the outlying dwellings of Card
14 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
haven; then to the head of Main Street that de
scended gently to the wharves and beaches of the
inner harbor. Halfway down the hill, just beyond
the First Church and the post-office, was the ram
bling, galleried old structure across the face of
which, and high under its eaves, was painted the
name " Cardhavcn Inn." A pungent, fishy smell
swept up the street with the hot breeze. The tide
was out and the flats were bare.
The coach stopped before the post-office, and
Louise got out briskly with her bag. The driver,
backing down from his seat, said to her :
"If ye wait till I git out the mail I'll drive ye
inter the tavern yard in style. I bait the horses
there."
" Oh, I'll walk," she told him brightly. " I can
get dinner there, I suppose?"
" Warn't they expectin' you at Cap'n Abe's?"
the stage driver asked. " I want to know ! Oh,
yes. You can buy your dinner at the tavern. But
'tain't a long walk to Cap'n Abe's. Not fur beyond
the Mariner's Chapel."
Louise thanked him. A young man was coming
down the steps of the post-office. He was a more
than ordinarily good-looking young fellow, deeply
tanned, with a rather humorous twist to his shaven
lips, and with steady blue eyes. He was dressed
in quite common clothing: the jersey, high boots,
and sou'wester of a fisherman.
 A Choice 15

He looked at Louise, but not offensively. He

did not remove his hat as he spoke.
" I heard Noah say you wished to go to Cap'n
Abe's store," he observed with neither an assump
tion of familiarity nor any bucolic embarrassment.
" I am bound that way myself."
" Thank you ! " she said with just enough dig
nity to warn him to keep his distance if he chanced
to be contemplating anything familiar. " But I
shall dine at the hotel first."
A brighter color flooded into his cheeks and
Louise felt that she might have been too sharp
with him. She mended this by adding :
" You may tell me how to get to the Shell Road
and Mr. Silt's, if you will be so kind."
He smiled at that. Really, he was an awfully
nice-looking youth! She had no idea that these
longshore fishermen would be so gentlemanly and
so good looking.
" Oh, you can't miss it. Take the first left-hand
street, and keep on it. Cap'n Abe's store is the only
one beyond the Mariner's Chapel."
" Thank you," she said again and mounted the
broad steps of the Inn. The young fellow hesi
tated as though he were inclined to enter too. But
when Louise reached the piazza and glanced quickly
down at him, he was moving on.
The cool interior of a broad hall with a stair
way mounting out of it and a screened dining
16 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
room at one side, welcomed the girl. A bustling
young woman in checked gingham, which fitted her
as though it were a mold for her rather plump
figure, met the visitor.
" How-do! " she said briskly. " Goin' to stop? "
" Only for dinner," Louise said, smiling—and
when she smiled her gray eyes made friends.
" Almost over. But I'll run an' tell the cook to
dish you up something hot. Come right this way
an' wash. I'll fix you a table where it's cool. This
is 'bout the first hot day we've had."
She showed the visitor into the dressing-room
and then bustled away. Later she hovered about
the table where Louise ate, the other boarders
having departed.
" My name's Gusty Durgin," she volunteered.
" I reckon you're one o' them movin' picture
actresses they say are goin' to work down to The
Beaches this summer."
"What makes you think so?" asked Louise,
somewhat amused.
" Why—you kinder look it. I should say you
had ' screen charm.' Oh ! I been readin' up about
you folks for a long time back. I subscribed to The
Fillnm Universe that tells all about you. I'd like
to try actin' before the cam'ra myself. But I cal'late
I ain't got much ' screen charm,' " the waitress added
seriously. " I'm too fat. And I wouldn't do none
of them comedy pictures where the fat woman
 A Choice 17
always gets the worst of it. But you must take
lovely photographs."
" I'm not sure that I do," laughed Louise.
" Land sakes ! Course you do. Them big eyes
o' yourn must just look fetchin' in a picture. I
don't believe I've ever seen you in a movie, have
I, Miss ?"
" Grayling."
" ' Grayling ' ! Ain't that pretty ? " Gusty Dur-
gin gave an envious sigh. " Is it your honest to
goodness, or just your fillum name?"
" My ' honest to goodness,' " the visitor con
fessed, bubbling with laughter.
" Land sakes ! I should have to change mine all
right. The kids at school useter call me ' Dusty
Gudgeon.' Course, my right name's Augusta; but
nobody ever remembers down here on the Cape
to call anybody by such a long name. Useter be
a boy in our school who was named ' Christopher
Columbus George Washington Marquis de Lafay
ette Gallup.' His mother named him that. But
everybody called him ' Lafe '—after Lafayette,
ye see.
" Land sakes ! I should just have to change my
name if I acted in the pictures. Your complexion's
real, too, ain't it ? " pursued this waitress with
histrionic ambitions. " Real pretty, too, if 'tis high
colored. I expect you have to make up for the
pictures, just the same."

N
 18 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
" I suppose I should. I believe it is always neces
sary to accentuate the lights and shadows for the
camera."
" ' Accentuate '—yep. That's a good word. I'll
remember that," said Gusty. " You goin' to stay
down to The Beaches long—and will you like it?"
"The Beaches?"
" That's where you'll work. At the Bozewell
house. Swell bungalow. All the big bugs live
along The Beaches."
" I am not sure just how long I shall stay," con
fessed Louise Grayling; "but I know I am going
to like it"

^-
 CHAPTER II

CAP N ABE

" I see by the Globe paper," Cap'n Abe observed,

pushing up from his bewhiskered visage the silver-
bowed spectacles he really did not need, " that them
fellers saved from the wreck of the Gilbert Gaunt
cal'late they went through something of an adven
ture."
" And they did," rejoined Cap'n Joab Beecher,
"if they seen ha'f what they tell about."
" I dunno," the storekeeper went on reflectively,
staring at a huge fishfly booming against one of the
dusty window panes. " I dunno. Cap'n Am'zon
was tellin' me once't about what he and two others
went through with after the Posy Lass, out o'
Bangor, was smashed up in a big blow off Hat'ras.
What them fellers in the Globe paper tell about
ain't a patch on what Cap'n Am'zon suffered."
There was an uncertain, troubled movement
among Cap'n Abe's hearers. Even the fishfly
stopped droning. Cap'n Beecher looked longingly
through the doorway from which the sea could be
observed as well as a strip of that natural break
water called " The Neck," a barrier between the
19
20 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
tumbling Atlantic and the quiet bay around which
the main village of Cardhaven was set.
All the idlers in the store on this June after
noon were not natives. There were several young
fellows from The Beaches—on the Shell Road to
which Cap'n Abe's store was a fixture. In sight of
The Beaches the wealthy summer residents had built
their homes—dwellings ranging in architectural de
sign from the mushroom-roofed bungalow to a
villa in the style of the Italian Renaissance.
The villa in question had been built by I. Tapp,
the Salt Water Taffy King, and Lawford Tapp,
only son of the house, was one of the audience in
Cap'n Abe's store.
“Cap'n Am'zon said,” boomed the storekeeper
a good deal like the fishfly—“Cap'n Am'zon said
the Posy Lass was loaded with lumber and her car
go's 'bout all that kep’ her afloat as fur as Hat'ras.
Then the smashin' big seas that come aboard settled
her right down like a wounded duck.
“The deck load went o' course; and about ev'ry
thing else was cleaned off the decks that warn’t
bolted to 'em. The seas rose up and picked off the
men, one after t'other, like a person'd clean off a
beach plum bush.”
“I shouldn't wonder,” spoke up Cap'n Beecher,
“if we seen some weather 'fore morning.”
He was squinting through the doorway at an
azure and almost speckless sky. There was an un
 Cap'n Abe 21
easy shuffling of boots. One of the boys from The
Beaches giggled. Cap'n Abe—and the fishfly—
boomed on together, the storekeeper evidently
visualizing the scene he narrated and not the half-
lighted and goods-crowded shop. At its best it was
never well illumined. Had the window panes been
washed there was little chance of the sunshine
penetrating far save by the wide open door. On
either hand as one entered were the rows of
hanging oilskins, storm boots, miscellaneous cloth
ing and ship chandlery that made up only a part
of Cap'n Abe's stock.
There were blue flannel shirts dangling on
wooden hangers to show all their breadth of shoul
der and the array of smoked-pearl buttons. Brown
and blue dungaree overalls were likewise displayed
—grimly, like men hanging in chains. At the end
of one row of these quite ordinary habiliments was
one dress shirt with pleated bosom and cuffs as
stiff as a board. Law ford Tapp sometimes specu
lated on that shirt—how it chanced to be in Cap'n
Abe's stock and why it had hung there until the
flies had taken title to it !
Centrally located was the stove, its four heavily
rusted legs set in a shallow box which was some
times filled with fresh sawdust. The stovepipe,
guyed by wires to the ceiling, ran back to the chim
ney behind Cap'n Abe.
He stood at the one space that was kept cleared
22 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
on his counter, hairy fists on the brown, hacked
plank—the notches of the yard-stick and fathom-
stick cut with a jackknife on its edge—his pale
eyes sparkling as he talked.
" There she wallered," went on the narrator of
maritime disaster, " her cargo held together by
rotting sheathing and straining ribs. She was
wrung by the seas like a dishrag in a woman's
hands. She no longer mounted the waves; she
bored through 'em. 'Twas a serious time—to hear
Cap'n Am'zon tell it."
" I guess it must ha' been, Abe," Milt Baker put
in hastily. " Gimme a piece o' that Brown Mule
chewin' tobacker."
" I'll sell it to ye, Milt," the storekeeper said
gently, with his hand on the slide of the cigar and
tobacco showcase.
" That's what I mean," rejoined Milt boldly,
fishing in his pocket for the required nickel.
" For fourteen days while the Posy Lass was
drivin' off shore before an easterly gale, Cap'n
Am'zon an' two others, lashed to the stump o' the
fo'mast, cx-isted in a smother of foam an' spume,
with the waves picklin' 'em ev'ry few minutes.
And five raw potaters was all they had to eat in
all that endurin' time ! "
"Five potatoes?" Lawford Tapp cried. "For
three men? And for fourteen days? Good-
night! "
 Cap'n Abe 23
Cap'n Abe stared at him for a moment, his eyes
holding sparks of indignation. " Young man," he
said tartly, " you should hear Cap'n Am'zon him
self tell it. You wouldn't cast no doubts upon his
statement."
Cap'n Joab snorted and turned his back again.
Young Tapp felt somewhat abashed.
" Yes, sir ! " proceeded Cap'n Abe who seldom
lost the thread of one of his stories, " they was
lashed to that stump of a mast and they lived on
them potaters—scraping 'em fine with their sheath-
knives, and husbandin' 'em like they was jewels.
One of 'em went mad."
" One o' the potaters ? " gasped Amiel Perdue.
" Who went crazy—your brother, Cap'n Abe?"
Milt asked cheerfully. He had squandered a nickel
in trying to head off the flow of the storekeeper's
story, and felt that he was entitled to something
besides the Brown Mule.
Cap'n Abe kept to his course apparently un
ruffled : " Cap'n Am'zon an' the other feller lashed
the poor chap—han's an' feet—and so kep' him
from goin' overboard. But mebbe 'twarn't a
marciful act after all. When they was rescued
from the Posy Lass, her decks awash and her
slowly breakin' up, there warn't nothing could be
done for the feller that had lost his mind. He
was put straightaway into a crazy-house when they
got to port.
 24 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
" Now, them fellers saved from the Gilbert
Gaunt didn't go through nothin' like that, it stands
to reason. Cap'n Am'zon "
Law ford Tapp was gazing out of the door be
side Cap'n Joab, whose deeply tanned, whisker-
fringed countenance wore an expression of dis
gust.
" I declare ! I'd love to see this wonderful
brother of his. He must have Baron Munchausen
lashed to the post," the young man whispered.
" Never heard tell of that Munchausen feller,"
Cap'n Joab reflected. " Reckon he didn't sail from
any of the Cape ports. But you let Abe tell it,
Cap'n Am'zon Silt is the greatest navigator an'
has the rip-snortin'est adventoors of airy deep-
bottom sailor that ever chawed salt hoss."
" Did you ever see him?" Lawford asked.
"See who?"
" Cap'n Amazon ? "
" No. I didn't never see him. But I've heard
Cap'n Abe talk about him—standin' off an' on as
ye might say—for twenty year and more."
" Odd you never met him, isn't it? "
" No. I never happened on Cap'n Am'zon when
I was sea-farin'. And he ain't never been to Card-
haven to my knowledge."
"Never been here?" murmured Lawford Tapp
more than a little surprised. " Wasn't he born and
brought up here? "

-
.
 Cap'n Abe 25
" No. Neither was Cap'n Abe. The Silts
flourish, as ye might say—or, useter 'fore the
fam'ly sort o' petered out—down New Bedford
way. Cap'n Abe come here twenty-odd year back
and opened this store. He's as salt as though he'd
been a haddocker since he was weaned. But he's
always stuck mighty close inshore. Nobody ever
seen him in a boat—'ceptin' out in a dory fishin'
for tomcod in the bay, and on a mighty ca'm day
at that."
" How does it come that he is called captain,
then?" Lawford asked, impressed by Cap'n
Beecher's scorn of the storekeeper.
The captain reflected, his jaws working spas
modically. " It's easy 'nough to pick up skipper's
title longshore. 'Most ev'ry man owns some kind
of a boat; and o' course a man's cap'n of his own
craft—or 'doughter be. But I reckon Abe Silt
aimed his title honest 'nough."
" How ? " urged Lawford.
" When Abe fust come here to Cardhaven there
was still two-three wrecking comp'nies left on the
Cape. Why, 'tain't been ten years since the Paul-
mouth Comp'ny wrecked the Mary Benson that
went onto Sanders Reef all standin'. They made
a good speck out o' the job, too.
" Wal, Abe bought into one o' the comp'nies—
was the heaviest stockholder, in fac', so nat'rally
was cap'n. He never headed no crew—not as I
26 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
ever heard on. But the title kinder stuck; and I
don't dispute Abe likes it.''
" But about his brother—this Captain Amazon? "
The line of Cap'n Joab Beecher's jaw, clean
shaven above his whisker, looked very grim indeed,
and he wagged his head slowly. " I don't know
what to make of all this talk o' Cap'n Abe's," was
his enigmatical reply.
Law ford turned to gaze curiously at the store
keeper. He certainly looked to be of a salt flavor,
did Cap'n Abe Silt, though so many of his years
had been spent behind the counter of this gloomy
and cluttered shop. He was not a large man, nor
commanding to look upon. His eyes were too mild
for that—save when, perhaps, lie grew excited in
relating one of his interminable stories about Cap'n
Amazon.
Cap'n Amazon Silt, it seemed, had been every
thing on sea and land that a mariner could be.
Xo romance of the sea, or sea-going, was too re
markable to be capped by a tale of one of Cap'n
Amazon's experiences. Some of these stories of
wild and remarkable happenings, the storekeeper
had told over and over again until they were
threadbare.
Cap'n Abe's brown, gray-streaked beard swept
the breast of his blue jersey. He was seldom seen
without a tarpaulin on his head, and this had made
his crown as bare and polished as a shark's tooth.
 Cap'n Abe 27
Under the bulk of his jersey he might have been
either thin or deep-chested, for the observer could
not easily judge. And nobody ever saw the store
keeper's sleeves rolled up or the throat-latch of his
shirt open.
Despite the fact that he held a thriving trade in
his store on the Shell Road (especially during the
summer season) Cap'n Abe lived emphatically a
lonely life. Twenty years' residence meant little
to Cardhaven folk. Cap'n Abe was still an out
sider to people who were so closely married and
intermarried that every human being within five
miles of the Haven (not counting the aristocrats of
The Beaches) could honestly call each of the others
cousin in some degree.
The house and store was set on a lonely stretch
of road. It was unlighted at night, for the last
street lamp had been fixed by the town fathers at
the Mariner's Chapel, as though they said to all
mundane illumination as did King Canute to the
sea, " Thus far shalt thou come and no farther."
Betty Gallup came cross lots each day to " rid
up " Mr. Silt's living-room, which was behind the
store, the chambers being overhead. She was gone
home long before he put out the store lights and
turned out the last lingering idler, for Cap'n Abe
preferred to cook for himself. He declared the
Widow Gallup did not know how to make a decent
chowder, anyway; and as for lobscouse, or the
28 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
proper frying of a mess of " blood-ends," she was
all at sea. He intimated that there were digestive
reasons for her husband's death at the early age of
sixty-eight.
Milt Baker had successfully introduced another
topic of conversation, far removed it would seem
from any adventurous happening connected with
Cap'n Amazon Silt's career.
" I hear tell," said Milt, chewing Brown Mule
with gusto, " that them folks cavortin' down on
The Beaches for a week past is movin' picture
actors. That so, Lawford?"
" There's a camera man and a director, and sev
eral handy men arrived," the son of the Salt Water
Taffy King replied. " They are going to use Boze-
well's house for some pictures. The Bozewells are
in Europe."
"But ain't none of the actorines come?" de
manded Milt, who was a sad dog—let him tell it!
He had been motorman on a street car in Provi
dence for a couple of winters before he married
Mandy Card, and now tried to keep green his
reputation for sophistication.
" I believe not," Lawford answered, with re
flection. " I presume the company will come later.
The director is taking what he calls ' stills ' of the
several localities they propose using when the films
are really made."
" One of 'em told me," chuckled Amiel Perdue,
 Cap'n Abe 29
" that they was hopin' for a storm, so's to get a real
wreck in the picture."
" Hoh ! " snorted Cap'n Joab. " Fine time o'
year to be lookin' for a no'theaster on the Cape."
" And do they reckon a craft'll drift right in
here if there is a storm an' wrack herself to please
'em ? " piped up Washy Gallup—no relation to
Betty save through interminable cross-currents of
Card and Baker blood.
" Sometimes them fillum fellers buy a boat an'
wreck it a-purpose. Look what they did to the old
Morning Star," Milt said. " I read once of a
comp'ny putting two locomotives on one track an'
running 'em full-tilt together so's to get a picture
of the smashup."
"Crazy critters!" muttered Cap'n Joab.
" But wait till ye see the fillum actresses," Milt
chuckled. " Tell ye what, boys, some of 'em'll
make ye open your eyes!"
" Ye better go easy, Milt, 'bout battin' your
eyes," advised Amiel Perdue. " Mandy ain't lost
her eyesight none either."
Washy's thin whine broke through the guffaw:
" I seen a picture at Paulmouth once't about a
feller and a girl lost in the woods o' Borneo. It
was a stirrin' picture. They was chased by head-
hunters, and one o' these here big man-apes tackled
'em—what d'ye call that critter now? Suthin' like
ringin' a bell."
30 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
" Orang-outang," suggested Law ford.
" That's it. Sounds jest like the Baptist Meetin'
House bell. It's cracked."
" Them orang-outangs don't sound like no bell—
not when they holler," put in Cap'n Abe, leaning on
his counter and staring at the tireless fishfly again.
" Cap'n Am'zon Silt, when he was ashore once't in
Borneo, met one o' them critters."
"Gosh all fishhooks!" ejaculated Milt. "Ain't
there no place on this green airth that brother o'
yourn ain't been, Cap'n Abe? "
" He ain't never been in jail, Milt," said the
storekeeper mildly, and the assembly broke into an
appreciative chuckle. It was well known that on
the last Fourth of July Milt Baker had been shut
into the calaboose at Paulmouth to sober up.
" As I was sayin'," pursued Cap'n Abe reflec
tively, " Cap'n Am'zon went up country with a
Dutchman—a trader, I b'lieve he said the man was
—and they got into a part where the orang-outangs
was plentiful."
" Jest as thick as sandpipers along The Beaches,
I shouldn't wonder," put in Cap'n Joab, at last
tempted beyond his strength.
" No; nor like mackerel when ye get a full seine-
haul," responded the storekeeper, unruffled, " but
thicker'n you'd want sand fleas to be if the fleas
measured up to the size of orang-outangs."
Lawford Tapp burst into open laughter. " They
 Cap'n Abe 31
can't catch you, can they, Cap'n Abe?" he said.
" If that brother of yours has gone through one-
half the perils by land and sea I've heard you tell
about, he's beat out most sailors from old Noah
down to Admiral Dewey."
Cap'n Abe's brows came together in pronounced
disapproval. " Young man," he said, " if Cap'n
Am'zon was here now ye wouldn't darst cast any
aspersions on his word. He ain't the man to stand
for't."
" Well, I'd like to see Cap'n Amazon," Lawford
said lightly, " if only for the sake of asking him a
question or two."
" You'll likely get your wish," returned the store
keeper tartly.
"What d'ye mean?" drawled Milt Baker, who
always bobbed up serenely. " Ye don't say Cap'n
Am'zon's likely to show up here at Cardhaven after
all these years ? "
There was barely a second's hesitation on Mr.
Silt's part. Then he said : " That's exactly what I
mean. I got a—ahem!—a letter from Cap'n
Am'zon only lately."
" And he's comin' to see ye ? " gasped Cap'n
Joab, turning from the door to stare like the others
at the storekeeper.
" Yes," the latter confessed. " And he's likely
to stay quite a spell when he does come. Says
suthin' 'bout settlin' down. He's gettin' along in
32 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
years like the rest of us. Mebbe I'll let him keep
store for me this summer whilst I take a vacation,"
added Cap'n Abe more briskly, " like I been wantin'
to do for a long spell back."
" You took a vacation of a week or more about—
was it ten year ago? " demanded Cap'n Joab. " I
looked after the place for ye then."
"Ahem! I mean a real vacation," Cap'n' Abe
declared, still staring at the fishfly now feebly but
ting its head against the pane. " That week was
when I went to the—'hem—buryin' of my a'nt,
Joab. I'll go this time mebbe for two-three months.
Take a v'y'ge somewhere. I've always wanted to."
" Land sakes ! " exploded Cap'n Joab. " I know
ye been talkin' 'bout cruisin' around—to see your
folks, or the like— for the longest spell. But I
didn't s'pose ye re'lly meant it. And your brother
comin', too ! Well ! "
"If he can tell of his adventures as well as you
relate them," laughed Lawford, " Cap'n Amazon
should be an addition to the Cardhaven social
whirl."
" You take my advice, young man," Cap'n Abe
said, with sternness, " and belay that sort o' talk
afore Cap'n Am'zon when he does come. He's
lived a rough sort o' life. He's nobody's tame cat.
Doubt his word and he's jest as like as not to take
ye by the scruff of the neck and duck ye in the
water butt."
 Cap'n Abe 33
There was a general laugh. Almost always the
storekeeper managed to turn the tables in some way
upon any doubting Thomas that drifted into his
shop. Because of his ability in this particular he
had managed to hold his audience all these years.
Law ford could think of no reply with which to
turn the laugh. His wit was not of a nimble order.
He turned to the door again and suddenly a low
ejaculation parted his lips.
" There's that girl again ! "
Milt Baker screwed his neck around for a look.
" See who's come ! " he cackled. " I bet it's one
o' them moving picture actresses."
Lawford cast on the ribald Milt a somewhat
angry glance. Yet he did not speak again for a
moment.
" Tidy craft," grunted Cap'n Joab, eying the
young woman who was approaching the store along
the white road.
" I saw her get out of Noah's ark when he landed
at the post-office this noon," Lawford explained to
Cap'n Joab. " She looks like a nice girl."
" Trim as a yacht," declared the old man ad
miringly.
She was plainly city bred—and city gowned—
and she carried her light traveling bag by a strap
over her shoulder. Her trim shoes were dusty from
her walk and her face was pink under her wide
hat brim.
34 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
Lawford stepped out upon the porch. His gaze
was glued again to this vision of young woman
hood; but as he stood at one side she did not appear
to see him as she mounted the steps.
The heir of the Salt Water Taffy King was
twenty-four, his rather desultory college course be
hind him; and he thought his experience with girls
had been wide. But he had never seen one just
like Louise Grayling. He was secretly telling him
self this as she made her entrance into Cap'n Abe's
Store.
 CHAPTER III

in cap'n abe's living-room

Louise came into the store smiling and the dusty,

musty old place seemed actually to brighten in the
sunshine of her presence. Her big gray eyes (they
were almost blue when their owner was in an in
trospective mood) now sparkled as her glance
swept Cap'n Abe's stock-in-trade—the shelves of
fly-specked canned goods and cereal packages, with
soap, and starch, and half a hundred other kitchen
goods beyond ; the bolts of calico, gingham, " turkey
red," and mill-ends; the piles of visored caps and
boxes of sunbonnets on the counter; the ship-
lanterns, coils of rope, boathooks, tholepins hang
ing in wreaths; bailers, clam hoes, buckets, and
the thousand and one articles which made the store
on the Shell Road a museum that later was sure
to engage the interest of the girl.
Now, however, the clutter of the shop gained
but fleeting notice from Louise. Her gaze almost
immediately fastened upon the figure of the be-
whiskered old man, with spectacles and sou'wester
both pushed back on his bald crown, who mildly
looked upon her—his smile somehow impressing
86
36 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
Louise Grayling as almost childish, it was so
kindly.
Cap'n Joab had dodged through the door after
Law ford Tapp. The other boys from The Beaches
followed their leader. Old Washy Gallup and
Amiel Perdue suddenly remembered that it was al
most chore time as this radiant young woman said :
" I wish to see Mr. Abram Silt—Captain Silt.
Is he here? "
" I'm him, miss," Cap'n Abe returned politely.
Milt Baker surely would have remained of all the
crowd of idlers, gaping oilily at the visitor across
the top of the rusty stove, had not a shrill feminine
voice been heard outside the store.
"Is Milt Baker there? Ain't none o' you men
seen him ? Land sakes ! he's as hard to hold as the
greased pig on Fourth o' July—an' jest 'bout as
useful."
" Milt," said Cap'n Abe suggestively, " I b'lieve
I hear Mandy callin' you."
"I'm a-comin'!—I'm a-comin', Mandy!" gur
gled Milt, cognizant of the girl's gay countenance
turned upon him.
" What did you want, miss?" asked Cap'n Abe,
as the recreant husband of the militant Mandy
stumbled over his own feet getting out of the store.
Louise bubbled over with laughter; she could not
help it. Cap'n Abe's bearded countenance broke
slowly into an appreciative grin.
 In Cap'n Abe's Living-Room 37
" Yes," he said, " she does have him on a leadin'
string. I do admit Mandy's a card."
The girl, quick-witted as she was bright looking,
got his point almost at once. " You mean she was
a Card before she married him?"
" And she's a Card yet," Cap'n Abe said, nod
ding. " Guess you know a thing or two, yourself.
What can I do for you ? "
" You can say : ' Good-evening, Niece Louise,' "
laughed the girl, coming closer to the counter upon
which the storekeeper still leaned.
"Land sakes!"
" My mother was a Card. That is how I came
to see your joke, Uncle Abram."
"Land sakes!"
" Don't you believe me ? "
" I—I ain't got but one niece in the world,"
mumbled Cap'n Abe. " An'—an' I never expected
to see her."
" Louise Grayling, daughter of Professor Ernest
Grayling and Miriam Card—your half-sister's child.
See here—and here." She snapped open her bag,
resting it on the counter, and produced an old-
fashioned photograph of her mother, a letter, yel
lowed by time, that Cap'n Abe had written Pro
fessor Grayling long before, and her own accident
policy identification card which she always carried.
Cap'n Abe stretched forth a hairy hand, and it
closed on Lou's as a sunfish absorbs its prey. The
 38 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
girl's hand to her wrist was completely lost in the
grip ; but despite its firmness Cap'n Abe's handclasp
was by no means painful. He released her and,
leaning back, smiled benignly.
"Land sakes!" he said again. "I'm glad to
see little Mirry's girl. An' you do favor her a
mite. But I guess you take mostly after the Gray
lings."
" People say I am like my father."
" An' a mighty nice lookin' man—an' a pleasant
—as I remember him," Cap'n Abe declared.
" Come right in here, into my sittin'-room, Niece
Louise, an' lemme take a look at you. Land
sakes!"
He lifted the flap in the counter to let her
through. The doorway beyond gave entrance to a
wide hall, or " entry," between the store and the
living-room. The kitchen was in a lean-to at the
back. The table in the big room was already
spread with a clean red-and-white checked table
cloth and set with heavy chinaware for a meal. A
huge caster graced the center of the table, contain
ing glass receptacles for salt, red and black pepper,
catsup, vinegar, and oil. Knives, forks, and spoons
for two—all of utilitarian style—were arranged
with mathematical precision beside each plate.
In one window hung a pot with " creeping jew "
and inchplant, the tendrils at least a yard long. In
the other window was a blowzy-looking canary in

\
 In Cap'n Abe's Living-Room 39
a cage. A corpulent tortoise-shell cat occupied the
turkey-red cushion in one generous rocking chair.
There was a couch with a faded patchwork cover
let, several other chairs, and in a glass-fronted case
standing on the mantlepiece a model of a brigantine
in full sail, at least two feet tall.
" Sit down," said Cap'n Abe heartily. " Drop
your dunnage right down there," as Louise slipped
the strap of her bag from her shoulder. " Take
that big rocker. Scat, you, Diddimus! and let the
young lady have your place."
" Oh, don't bother him, Uncle Abram. What a
beauty he is," Louise said, as the tortoise-shell—
without otherwise moving—opened one great, yel
low eye.
" He's a lazy good-for-nothing," Cap'n Abe said
mildly. " Friends with all the mice on the place, I
swan ! But sometimes he's the only human critter
I have to talk to. 'Cept Jerry."
"Jerry?"
" The bird," explained Cap'n Abe, easing himself
comfortably into a chair, his guest being seated, and
resting his palms on his knees as he gazed at her
out of his pale blue eyes. " He's a lot of comfort
—Jerry. An' he useter be a great singer. Kinder
gittin' old, now, like the rest of us.
" Does seem too bad," went on Cap'n Abe re
flectively, " how a bird like him has got to live in
a cage all his endurin' days. Jerry's a prisoner—
40 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
like I been. / ain't never had the freedom I
wanted, Miss "
" Louise, please, Uncle Abram. Lou Grayling,"
the girl begged, but smiling.
" Then just you call me Cap'n Abe. I'm sort o'
useter that," the storekeeper said.
" Of course I will. But why haven't you been
free?" she asked, reverting to his previous topic.
" Seems to me—down here on the Cape where the
sea breezes blow, and everything is open "
" Yes, 'twould seem so,'' Cap'n Abe said, but
he said it with hesitation. " I been some hampered
all my life, as ye might say. Tis something that
was bred in me. But as for Jerry
" Jerry was give to me by a lady when he was
a young bird. After a while I got thinkin' a heap
about him bein' caged, and one sunshiny day—it
was a marker for clays down here on the Cape, an'
we have lots on 'em ! One sunshiny day I opened
his door and opened the window, and I says :
' Scoot! The hull world's yourn! ' "
" And didn't he go ? " asked the girl, watching
the rapt face of the old man.
" Did he go ? Right out through that window
with a song that'd break your heart to hear, 'twas
so sweet. He pitched on the old apple tree yonder
—the August sweet'nin'—and I thought he'd bust
his throat a-tellin' of how glad he was to be free
out there in God's sunshine an' open air."
 In Cap'n Abe's Living-Room 41
" He came back, I see," said Louise thoughtfully.
"That's just it!" cried Cap'n Abe, shaking his
head till the tarpaulin fell off and he forgot to pick
it up. " That's just it. He come back of his own
self. I didn't try to ketch him. When it grew on
toward sundown an' the air got kinder chill, I
didn't hear Jerry singin' no more. I'd seen him,
off'n on, flittin' 'bout the yard all day. When I
come in here to light the hangin'-lamp cal'latin' to
make supper, I looked over there at the window.
I'd shut it. There was Jerry on the window sill,
humped all up like an old woman with the tisic."
" The poor thing! " was Lou's sympathetic cry.
" Yes," said Cap'n Abe, nodding. " He warn't
no more fit to be let loose than nothin' 'tall. And
I wonder if / be," added the storekeeper. " I've
been caged quite a spell now.
" But now tell me. Niece Louise," he added with
latent curiosity, " how did you find your way
here?"
" Father says—' Daddy-professor,' you know is
what I call him. He says if we had not always
been traveling when I was not at school, I should
have known you long ago. He thinks very highly
of my mother's people."
" I wanter know ! "
" He says you are the ' salt of the earth '—that
is his very expression."
" Yes. We're pretty average salt, I guess," ad
42 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
mitted Cap'n Abe. " I never seen your father but
once or twice. You see, Louise, your mother was
a lot younger'n me an' Am'zon."
"Who?"
" Cap'n Am'zon. Oh ! / ain't the only uncle you
got," he said, watching her narrowly. " Cap'n
Am'zon Silt "
"Have I another relative? How jolly!" ex
claimed Louise, clasping her hands.
" Ye-as. Ain't it? Jest," Cap'n Abe said.
" Ahem ! your father never spoke of Cap'n
Am'zon? "
" I don't believe daddy-prof even knew there was
such a person."
" Alebbe not. Mebbe not," Cap'n Abe agreed
hastily. " And not to be wondered at. You see,
Am'zon went to sea when he was only jest a boy."
"Did he?"
" Yep. Ran away from home—like most boys
done in them days, for their mothers warn't partial
to the sea—and shipped aboard the whaler South
Sea Belle. He tied his socks an' shirt an' a book
o' navigation he owned, up in a handkerchief, and
slipped out over the shed roof one night, and away
he went." Cap'n Abe told the girl this with that
far-away look on his face that usually heralded one
of his tales about Cap'n Amazon.
" I can remember it clear 'nough. He walked all
the way to New Bedford. We lived at Rocky
 In Cap'n Abe's Living-Room 43
Head over against Bayport. 'Twas quite a step to
Bedford. The South Sea Belle was havin' hard
time makin' up her crew. She warn't a new ship.
Am'zon was twelve year old an' looked fifteen.
An' he was fifteen 'fore he got back from that
v'y'ge. Mebbe I'll tell ye 'bout it some time—or
Cap'n Am'zon will. He's been a deep-bottom sailor
from that day to this."
" And where is he now? " asked Louise.
" Why—mebbe !—he's on his way here. I
shouldn't wonder. He might step in at that door
any minute," and Cap'n Abe's finger indicated the
store door.
There was the sound of a footstep entering the
store as he spoke. The storekeeper arose. " I'll
jest see who 'tis," he said.
While he was absent Louise laid aside her hat
and made a closer inspection of the room and its
furniture. Everything was homely but comfort
able. There was a display of marine art upon the
walls. All the ships were drawn exactly, with the
stays, spars, and all rigging in place, line for line.
They all sailed, too, through very blue seas, the
crest of each wave being white with foam.
Flanking the model of the brigantine on the
mantle were two fancy shell pieces—works of art
appreciated nowhere but on the coast. The designs
were ornate; but what they could possibly repre
sent Louise was unable to guess.
44 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
She tried to interest the canary by whistling to
him and sticking her pink finger between the wires
of his cage. He was ruffled and dull-eyed like all
old birds of his kind, and paid her slight attention.
When she turned to Diddimus she had better suc
cess. He rolled on his side, stuck all his claws out
and drew them in again luxuriously, purring mean
while like a miniature sawmill.
When Cap'n Abe came back the girl asked:
" Wasn't your customer a young man I saw on the
porch as I came in? "
" Yep. Law ford Tapp. Said he forgot some
matches and a length o' ropeyarn. I reckon you
went to that young man's head. And his top
hamper ain't none too secure, Niece Louise."
"Oh, did I?" laughed the girl, understanding
perfectly. " How nice."
"Nice? That's how ye take it. Lawford Tapp
ain't a fav'rite o' mine."
" But he seemed very accommodating to-day
when I asked him how to reach your store."
" So you met him up town? "
"Yes, Uncle Abe."
" He's perlite enough," scolded the storekeeper.
" But I don't jest fancy the cut of his jib. Wanted
to know if you was goin' to stop here."
" Oh ! " exclaimed Louise. " That is what I want
to know myself. Am I? "
 CHAPTER IV

THE SHADOW OF COMING EVENTS

Cap'n Abe reached for his spectacles and pulled

them down upon his nose to look at his guest
through the lenses. Not that they aided his sight
in the least; but the act helped to cover the fact
that he was startled.
" Stop here ? " he repeated. " Where's your
father ? Ain't he with you up to the Inn ? "
" No, Cap'n Abe. He is in Boston to-day. But
he will sail to-morrow for a summer cruise with a
party for scientific research. I am all alone. So
I came down here to Cape Cod."
Louise said it directly and as simply as the
storekeeper himself might have spoken. Yet it
seemed really difficult for Cap'n Abe to get her
meaning into his head.
" You mean you was intendin' to cast anchor
here—with me? "
"If it is agreeable. Of course I'll pay my board
if you'll let me. You have a room to spare, haven't
you?"
" Land sakes, yes! "
" And I am not afraid to use my hands. I might
45
46 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
even be of some slight use," and she smiled at him
till his own slow smile responded, troubled and
amazed though he evidently was by her determina
tion. " I've roughed it a good deal with daddy-
prof. I can cook—some things. And I can do
housework "
" Bet Gallup does that," interposed Cap'n Abe,
finally getting his bearings. " Hi-mighty, ye did
take me aback all standin', Niece Louise! Ye did,
for a fac'. But why not? Land sakes, there's
room enough, an' to spare! Ye don't hafter put
them pretty ban's to housework. Betty Gallup'll
ido all that. An' you don't have to pay no board
money. As for cookin' That remin's me.
I'd better git to work on our supper. We'll be
sharp for it 'fore long."
"And—and I may stay?" asked Louise, with
some little embarrassment now. " You are sure it
won't inconvenience you? "
" Bless you, no ! I cal'late it's more likely to in
convenience you," and Cap'n Abe chuckled mel
lowly. " I don't know what sort o' ' roughin' it '
you've done with your pa; but if there's anything
much rougher than an ol' man's housekeepin' down
here on the Cape, it must be pretty average
rough!"
She laughed gayly. "You can't scare me!"
" Ain't a-tryin' to," he responded, eying her ad
miringly. " You're an able seaman, I don't dis
 The Shadow of Coming Events 47
pute. An' we'll git along fine. Hi-mighty ! there's
Am'zon!"
Louise actually turned around this time to
look at the door, expecting to see the mariner
in question enter. Then she said, half doubt
fully :
" Do you suppose your brother will object if he
does come, Cap'n Abe ? "
" Land sakes, no ! " the storekeeper quickly as
sured her. " 'Tain't that. But I cal'lated 'bout
soon's Am'zon anchored here I'd cast off moorin's
myself."
"Go away?" Louise demanded.
" Yes. Like poor old Jerry, mebbe," said Cap'n
Abe, looking at the caged bird. " Mebbe I'll be glad
to come back again—and in a hurry. But while
Cap'n Am'zon is here I can take a vacation that
I've long hankered for, Niece Louise. I—I got my
plans all made."
" Don't for one moment think of changing them
on my account," Louise said briskly. " I shall like
Uncle Amazon immensely if he's anything like you,
Cap'n Abe."
" He—he ain't so much like me," confessed the
storekeeper. " Not in looks he ain't. But hi-
mighty! I know he'll be as pleased as Punch to
see ye."
" Are you sure of that ? "
" Wait till you see how he takes to ye," declared
48 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
her reassuring uncle. " Now, lemme git my apern
on and set to work on supper."
"Can't I help, Cap'n Abe?"
" In them things?" the storekeeper objected.
" Well—I'll have plenty of house dresses when
my trunks come. I left my checks at the station for
a man named Perry Baker. They said he'd bring
them over to-night."
" He will," Cap'n Abe assured her. But he
stopped a moment, stock-still in the middle of the
room, and stared at her unseeingly. Evidently his
mind was fixed upon an idea suddenly suggested
by her speech. " He will," he repeated. Then :
" I'll get the fat kettle over an' the fry-cage
ready. Amiel brought me a likely cod. 'Tain't
been out o' the water two hours."
" I love fish," confessed Louise, following him to
the kitchen door.
" Lucky you do, if you're going to stay a spell
on Cape Cod. For that's what you'll eat mornin',
noon, and night. Fish and clams, an' mebbe a pot
o' baked beans on a Saturday, or a chicken for
Sunday's dinner. I don't git much time to cook
fancy."
" But can't this woman who comes to do the
work cook for you ? "
" She can't cook for me," snorted Cap'n Abe.
" I respect my stomach too much to eat after Bet
Gallup. She's as good a man afore the mast as airy
 The Shadow of Coming Events 49
feller in Cardhaven. An' that's where she'd
oughter be. But never let her in the galley."
" Oh, well," Louise said cheerfully. " I'm a dab
at camp cooking myself, as I told you. Uncle
Amazon and I will make out—if he comes."
"Oh! Ah! 'Hem!" said Cap'n Abe, clearing
his throat. He stooped to pick up a dropped pot-
lid and came up very red in the face. " You
needn't borrow any trouble on that score. Cap'n
Am'zon's as good a cook as I be."
Only twice did Cap'n Abe make forced trips into
the shop. The supper hour of Cardhaven was well
established and the thoughtful housewives did not
seek to make purchases while the fat was hot in
Cap'n Abe's skillet. One of these untimely cus
tomers was a wandering child with a penny. " I
might have waited on him, Cap'n Abe," Louise de
clared.
"Land sakes! so you might," the storekeeper
agreed. " Though if he'd seen you behind my
counter I reckon that young 'un of 'Liathel
Grummet's would have been struck dumber than
nature made him in the fust place."
The other customer was a gangling, half-grown
youth after a ball of seine twine and the girl heard
him say in a shocked whisper to Cap'n Abe:
" Say ! is it true there's one o' them movin' pic
ture actresses goin' to stop here with you, Cap'n
Abe? Ma heard so."
50 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
"' You tell your ma," Cap'n Abe said sternly,
" that if she keeps on stretchin' her ears that
a-\vay, she'll hear the kambuoy over Bartell Shoals
in a dead calm ! "
Cap'n Abe's bald poll began to shine with minute
beads of perspiration. He looked over the bib of
his voluminous apron like a bewhiskered gnome
very busy at some mysterious task. Louise noticed
that his movements about the kitchen were remark
ably deft.
" All hands called ! " he called out at length.
" I'm about to dish up."
" Shall I put on another plate, Cap'n Abe? You
expected somebody else to supper? "
" Nope. All set. I'm always ready for a mess
mate; but 'tain't often one boards me 'cept Cap'n
Joab now and then. His woman likes to git him
out from under foot. You see, when a woman's
been useter seein' her husband only 'twixt v'y'ges
for forty year, I 'spect 'tis something of a cross to
have him litterin' up the house ev'ry day," he con
fessed. " But as I can't leave the shop myself to
go visitin' much in return, Joab acks offish. We
Silts was always bred to be hospitable. Poor or
rich, we could share what we had with another.
So I keep an extry plate on the table.
" I've had occasion," pursued the philosophical
storekeeper, drawing up his own chair across the
table from the girl, " to be at some folks' houses at
 The Shadow of Coming Events 51
meal time and had 'em ask me to set up and have
a bite. But it never looked to me as if they meant
it 'nless there was already an extry plate there.
" Just like having a spare bedroom. If you can
say : ' Stay all night, we got a room for ye,' then
that's what I call hospitality. I wouldn't live in a
house that warn't big enough to have at least one
spare room."
" I believe I must be very welcome here, Cap'n
Abe," Louise said, smiling at the kindly old man.
" Land sakes, I sh'd hope ye felt so ! " ejaculated
Cap'n Abe. " Now, i f you don't mind, Niece
Louise." He dropped his head suddenly and closed
his eyes in reverence. " For what we are about
to partake of, Lord, make us duly thankful.
Amen ! " His countenance became animated again.
" Try them biscuit. I made 'em this morning
'twixt Marcy Coe selectin' that piece of gingham
for a new dress and John Peckham buying cordage
for his smack. But they warmed up right nice in
the oven."
Meanwhile he heaped her plate with codfish and
fried potatoes cooked to a delicate brown. There
was good butter, fat doughnuts, and beach-plum
preserve. It was a homely meal but Louise ate
it graciously. Already the air of Cardhaven had
sharpened her appetite.
" Lend me your apron," insisted the girl when
they had finished, " and I will wash these dishes."
52 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
" I us'ally let them go till Betty Gallup comes in
the morning," the storekeeper said rather ruefully.
" It don't look right to me that you should mess
with these greasy dishes jest as we get under way,
as ye might say."
" You must not make company of me, Cap'n
Abe," Louise declared. " There, I hear a customer
in the store," and she gave him a little pat on the
shoulder as he delivered the huge apron into her
hand.
" I dunno," he said, smiling upon her quizzically,
" as I shall really want to cast off if Cap'n Am'zon
does come. Seems to me 'twould be hi-mighty nice
to have a girl like you around the place, Louise."
" Then don't go," she said, briskly beginning to
clear off. " / sha'n't mind having two of you for
me to boss. Two captains! Think of it."
" Yes. I know. But I got all my plans laid,"
he murmured, and then went slowly into the store.
There seemed to be some briskness in the after-
supper trade, and Louise suspected that it was
founded upon the news of her arrival at Cap'n
Abe's store. Several of his rather tart rejoinders
reached her ears as she went from kitchen to living-
room and back again. Finally removing the apron,
her task done, she seated herself with Diddimus in
her lap within the radiance of the lamp and within
hearing of all that was said in the store.
" No. I dunno's I ever did tell ye quite all my
 The Shadow of Coming Events 53
business, Joab. Some things I missed, includin' the
list of my relations."
" Yes, I hear tell most of these movin' picture
actresses are pretty, Miz' Peckham. They pick 'em
for that puppose, I shouldn't wonder. I didn't ask
her what part she was goin' to play—if any."
" Land sakes, Mandy, she's just got here ! I
ain't no idee how long she'll stay. If you think
there's any danger of Milt not tendin' to his
clammin' proper whilst she's here you'd better send
him on a cruise with Cap'n Durgin. The Tryout
sails for the Banks to-morrow, I understand."
" No, Washy. That was my A'nt Matildy I
went away to help bury ten years ago. She's still
dead—an' this ain't her daughter. This is my ha'f
sister's child, she that was Miriam Card. She got
married to a scientific chap that works for the gov
ernment. I guess when you write to Washington
for your garden seeds next spring, you better ask
about him, if ye want to know more'n I can
tell ye."
" You got it right for once't, Joab. I do expect
Cap'n Am'zon. Mebbe to-night. He may come
over from the depot with Perry Baker—I can't
tell. What'll I do with the girl? Land sakes!
ain't Cap'n Am'zon just as much her uncle as 7 be?
Some o' you fellers better stow your jaw-tackle if
Cap'n Am'zon does heave to here. For he ain't no
tame cat, like I told you."
54 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
"You back again, Lawford Tapp? Hi-mighty!
what you forgot this time? Fishhooks? Goin'
fishin', be you ? Wal, in my 'pinion you're throwin'
your hook into unproductive waters around here, as
ye might say. Even chummin' won't sarve ye.
Good-night ! "
After getting rid of this importunate customer,
Cap'n Abe closed his door and put out his store
lights—an hour earlier than usual—and came back
to sit down with Louise. His visage was red and
determination sat on his brow.
" I snum ! " he emphatically observed. " Card-
haven folks seem bit with some kind o' bug. Talk
'bout curiosity! 'Hem! I dunno what Cap'n
Am'zon'll think of 'em."
" / think they are funny," Louise retorted, her
laughter bubbling up again.
" Likely it looks so to you," said Cap'n Abe.
" They're pretty average funny I do guess to a
stranger, as ye might say. But after you've sum
mered 'em and wintered 'em for twenty-odd years
like I have, land sakes ! the humor's worn hi-mighty
thin!"
 CHAPTER V

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE NIGHT

Cap'n Abe produced a pipe. He looked at his

niece tentatively. " Do—do you mind tobacker
smoke? "
" Daddy-prof is an inveterate," she laughed.
" Huh ? An—an invet'rate what? "
" Smoker. I don't begrudge a man smoking
tobacco as long as we women have our tea. A
nerve tonic in both cases."
" I dunno for sure that I've got any nerves,"
Cap'n Abe said, the corners of his eyes wrinkling.
" Mebbe I was behind the door when they was
given out. But a pipeful o' tobacker this time o'
the evening does seem sort o' satisfyin'. That,
and knittin'."
Having filled his pipe and lit it, he puffed a few
times to get it well alight and then reached for a
covered basket that Louise had noticed on a small
stand under Jerry's cage. He drew from this a
half-fashioned gray stocking that was evidently in
tended for his own foot and the needles began to
click in his strong, capable hands.
" Supprise you some, does it, Louise?" Cap'n
55
56 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
Abe said. " Cap'n Am'zon taught me. Most old
whalers knit. That, an' doin' scrimshaw work, was
'bout all that kep' 'em from losing their minds
on them long v'y'ges into the Pacific. An' I've
seen the time myself when I was hi-mighty glad I'd
l'arned to count stitches.
" Land sakes ! Some o' them whalin' v'y'ges
lasted three- four years. Cap'n Am'zon was in the
old bark Neptune's Daughter when she was caught
in the ice and drifted pretty average close't to the
south pole.
" You know," said Cap'n Abe reflectively, " the
Antarctic regions ain't like the Arctic. 'Cause why?
There ain't no folks there. Cap'n Am'zon says
there ain't 'nough land at the south pole to make
Marm Scudder's garden—and they say she didn't
need more'n what her patchwork quilt would cover.
Where there's land there's folks. And if there was
land in the Antarctic there'd be Eskimos like there
is up North.
" 'Hem! Well, that wasn't what I begun on, was
it? This knitting. Cap'n Am'zon says that many's
the time he's thanked his stars he knowed how to
knit."
" I shall be glad to meet him," said Louise.
" If he comes," Cap'n Abe rejoined, " an' I go
away as I planned to, 'twon't make a mite o' dif
ference to you, Niece Louise. You feel right at
home here—and so'll Cap'n Am'zon, though he
 What Happened in the Night 57
ain't never been to Cardhaven yet. He'll be a lot
better company for you than I'd be."
" Oh, Cap'n Abe, I can scarcely believe that ! "
cried the girl.
" You don't know Cap'n Am'zon," the store
keeper said. " I tell ye fair : he's ev'rything that
I ain't! As a boy—'hem!—Am'zon was always
leadin' an' me follerin'. I kinder took after my
mother, I guess. She was your grandmother.
Your grandfather was a Card—and a nice man he
was.
" Our father—me an' Am'zon's—was Cap'n
Joshua Silt of the schooner Bravo. Hi-mighty trim
and taut craft she was, from all accounts. I—I
warn't born when he died," added Cap'n Abe, hesi
tatingly.
" You were a posthumous child ! " said Louise.
" Er—I guess so. Kinder 'pindlin', too. Yes !
yes! Cap'n Am'zon's ahead o' me—in ev'ry way.
When father died 'twas pretty average hard on
mother," Cap'n Abe pursued. " We was livin' at
Rocky Head. I guess I told you b'fore? "
"Yes," Louise said, interested.
" The Bravo was makin' reg'lar trips from New
port to Bangor, Maine. Short-coastin' v'y'ges paid
well in them days. There come a big storm in the
spring—onexpected. Mother'd got a letter from
Cap'n Josh— father he'd put out o' Newport with
a sartain tide. He warn't jest a fair-weather
58 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
skipper. Cap'n Am'zon gits his pluck an' darin'
from Cap'n Josh.
" Well, mother knowed he must be out o' sight
of Fort Adams and the Dumplin's when the storm
burst, and that he'd take the inside passage, the
wind bein' what it was. She watched from Rocky
Head and she seen what she knowed to be the
Bravo heave in sight.
" There warn't no foolin' her," pursued Cap'n
Abe, whose pipe had gone out but whose knitting
needles twinkled the faster. " No. She knowed
the schooner far's she could glim her. She watched
the Bravo caught in the cross-current when the gale
dropped sudden, and tryin' to claw off shore.
" But no use ! She was doomed ! There warn't
no help for the schooner. She went right on to
Toll o' Death Reef and busted up in an hour. Not
a body ever was beached, for the current, tide, an'
gale was all off shore. And it happened in plain
sight of our windows.
" Two months later," Cap'n Abe said reflectively,
" I come into the world. Objectin', of course, like
all babies. Funny thing that. We all come into it
makin' all kinds of a hullabaloo against anchorin'
here; and we most of us kick just as hard against
slippin' our moorin's to get out of it.
" Land sakes ! " he exclaimed in conclusion.
" There ye be. I guess my mother hated the sea
'bout as much as any longshore woman ever did.
 What Happened in the Night 59
And there's a slew of 'em detest it worse'n cats.
Why, ye couldn't hire some o' these Cape Cod fe
males to get into a boat. Their men for genera
tions was drowned and more'n forty per cent, of
the stones in the churchyards along the coast,
sacred to the mem'ry of the men of the fam'lies,
have on 'em : ' Lost at sea.'
" Can't blame the women. Old Ella Coffin that
lives on Narrer P'int over yonder ain't been to the
main but once't in fifteen years. That was when
an off-shore gale blew all the water out o' the
breach 'twixt the p'int and the mainland.
" Ye see," said Cap'n Abe, smiling again,
" Narrer P'int is re'lly an island, even at low water.
But then a hoss an' buggy can splatter across't the
breach. But it makes Marm Coffin seasick even to
ride through water in a buggy. Marked, she is, as
you might say.
" Well, now, Louise, child," the storekeeper
added, " I'm a-gassin' 'bout things that don't much
int'rest you, I cal'late. I'll light a lamp an' show
you up to your room. When Perry Baker comes
by and by, I'll help him in with your trunks. You
needn't worry about 'em."
It had been foggy on the Sound the night before
and Louise had not slept until the boat had rounded
Point Judith. So she was not averse to retiring
at this comparatively early hour.
Cap'n Abe led her upstairs to a cool, clean, and
60 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
comfortable chamber. The old four-posted, corded
bedstead stood in the middle of the room, covered
with a blue-and-white coverlet, with sheets and pil
low cases as white as foam. It could not be
doubted that Cap'n Abe had carried out his idea
of hospitality. The spare room was always ready
for the possible guest.
" Good-night, uncle," she said, smiling at him
as he handed her the lamp. " I believe I am going
to have a delightful time here."
" Of course you be! Of course! " he exclaimed.
" An' if I ain't here, Cap'n Am'zon will show you
a better time than I could. Good-night. Sleep
well, Louise."
He kissed her on the forehead. But she, impul
sively, pressed her fresh lips to the storekeeper's
weather-beaten cheek. Before she closed the door
of the bedroom she heard him clumping downstairs
in his heavy boots.
After that he must have removed his footgear
for, although she heard doors open and close, she
could not distinguish his steps.
" I'm glad I came ! " she told herself with en
thusiasm as she prepared to retire. " What a de
lightful old place it is! And Uncle Abram—why.
he's a dear! Daddy-prof was not half enthusiastic
enough about the Cape Cod folk. It has been a
distinct loss to me that I was never here before."
She laid out her toilet requisites upon the painted
 What Happened in the Night 61
pine bureau and hung her negligee over the back
of a chair. As she retied the ribbon in one of the
sleeves of her nightgown she thought:
" And that Tapp boy came back a second time !
Some fisherman's son, I suppose. But exceedingly
nice looking ! "
A little later the feather bed had taken her into
its arms and she almost instantly fell asleep. Oc
casionally through the night she was roused by un
familiar sounds. There was a fog coming in from
the sea and the siren at the lighthouse on the Neck
began to bellow like a bereft cow.
There were movements downstairs. Once she
heard a wagon stop, and voices. Then the bump
ing of heavy boxes on the side porch. Her trunks.
Voices below in the living-room—gruff, yet sub
dued. Creaking footsteps on the stair ; then Louise
realized that they were carrying something heavy
down and out to the waiting wagon. She was just
dropping to sleep when the wagon was driven
away.
There came a heavy summons on her door while
it was still dark. But a glance at her watch as
sured Lou Grayling that it was the fog that made
the light so dim.
"Yes, Cap'n Abe?" she called cheerfully, for
even early rising could not quench her good spirits.
" 'Tain't time to get up yet, Niece Louise," he
told her behind the thin panel of the door. " Don't
62 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
disturb yourself. Cap'n Am'zon's come an' I'm
off."
" You're what? " gasped the girl sitting up in her
nest of feathers.
" I'm a-goin' to Boston. Jest got time to ketch
the clam-train at the depot. Don't you bother.
Cap'n Am'zon's here and he'll take care of you till
I get back. Betty Gallup'll be here by six or a lit
tle after to do the work. You can have her stop
at night, if you want to."
" But, Uncle "
" Must hurry, Louise," hastily said Cap'n Abe as
he heard the bedcords creak and the patter of the
girl's feet on the matting. " Cap'n Am'zon knows
of a craft that'll sail to-day from Boston and I
must jine her crew. Good-bye ! "
He was gone. Louise, throwing on the negligee,
hurried to the screened window. The fog had
breathed upon the wires and clouded them. She
heard the door open below, a step on the porch, and
then a muffled:
" Bye, Am'zon. Don't take no wooden money.
I'm off."
A shrouded figure passed up the road and was
quickly hidden by the fog.
 CHAPTER VI

BOARDED BY PIRATES

Louise could not go back to sleep. She drew

the ruffles of the negligee about her throat and re
moved the sliding screen the better to see into the
outer world.
There was a movement in the fog, for the rising
breeze ruffled it. Full daybreak would bring its en
tire dissipation. Already the mist held a luster
heralding the sun. The " hush-hush " of the surf
along The Beaches was more insistent now than at
any time since Louise had come to Cap'n Abe's
store, while the moan of the breakers on the outer
reefs was like the deep notes of a distant organ.
A cock crew, and at his signal outdoor life
seemed to awaken. Other chanticleers sounded
their alarms; a colt whistled in a paddock and his
mother neighed softly from her stall ; a cow lowed ;
then, sweet and clear as a mountain stream, broke
forth the whistle of a wild bird in the marsh. This
matin of the feathered songster rose higher and
higher till he reached the very top note of his scale
and then fell again, by cadences, until it mingled
with the less compelling calls of other birds.
63
64 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
There was a warm pinkness spreading through
the fog in one direction, and Louise knew it must
be the reflection of the light upon the eastern
horizon. The sun would soon begin a new day's
journey.
The fog was fast thinning, for across the road
she could see a spiral of blue smoke mounting
through it from the chimney of a neighbor. The
kitchen fire there had just been lighted.
Below, and from the living-rooms behind the
store, the girl heard some faint noises as though
the early morning tasks of getting in wood and
filling the coal scuttle were under way. Uncle
Amazon must be " takin' holt " just as Cap'n Abe
said he would.
Louise was curious to see the returned mariner;
but it was too early to go down yet. She might
really have another nap before she dressed, she
thought, yawning behind a pink palm.
There was a step in the store. Her room over
looked by two windows the roof of the front porch
and she could hear what went on below plainly.
The step was lighter than Cap'n Abe's. The bolts
of the two-leaved door rattled and it was set wide ;
she heard the iron wedges kicked under each to
hold it open. Then a smell of pipe smoke was
wafted to her nostrils.
A footstep on the Shell Road announced the ap
proach of somebody from The Beaches. Louise
 Boarded by Pirates 65
yawned again and was on the point of creeping
into bed once more when she descried the figure
coming through the fog. She saw only the boots
and legs of the person at first; but the fog was
fast separating into wreaths which the rising
breeze hurried away, and the girl at the window
soon saw the full figure of the approaching man—
and recognized him.
At almost the same moment Lawford Tapp
raised his eyes and saw her ; and his heart immedi
ately beat the call to arms. Louise Grayling's
morning face, framed by the sash and sill of her
bedroom window, was quite the sweetest picture
he had ever seen.
It was only for a moment he saw her, her bare
and rounded forearm on the sill, the frilly negligee
so loosened that he could see the column of her
throat. Her gray eyes looked straight into his—
then she was gone.
" Actress, or not," muttered the son of the
Salt Water Taffy King, "there's nothing artifi
cial about her. And she's Cap'n Abe's niece.
Well!"
He saw the figure on the porch, smoking, and
hailed it :
" Hey, Cap'n Abe ! Those fishhooks you sold
me last evening aren't what I wanted—and there's
the Merry Andrew waiting out there for me now.
I want "
66 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
The figure in the armchair turned its head. It
was not Cap'n Abe at all !
" Mornin', young feller," said the stranger cor
dially. " You'll have to explain a leetle about them
hooks. I ain't had a chance to overhaul much of
Abe's cargo yet. I don't even know where he stows
his small tackle. Do you?"
Fully a minute did Law ford Tapp keep him
waiting for an answer while he stared at the
stranger. He was not a big man, but he somehow
gave the impression of muscular power. He was
dressed in shabby clothing—shirt, dungaree trousers,
and canvas shoes such as sailors work and go aloft
in. The pipe he smoked was Cap'n Abe's—Law-
ford recognized it.
There was not, however, another thing about this
man to remind one of the old storekeeper. This
stranger was burned to a rich mahogany hue. Not
alone his shaven face, but his bared forearms and
his chest where the shirt was left unbuttoned
seemed stained by the tropical sun. Under jet-
black brows the eyes that gazed upon Law ford
Tapp seemed dark.
His sweeping mustache was black; and such hair
as was visible showed none of the iron gray of
advancing age in it. He wore gold rings in
his ears and to cap his piratical-looking figure
was a red bandana worn turbanwise upon his
head.
 Boarded by Pirates 67
" What's the matter with you, young feller ?
Cat got your tongue ? " demanded the stranger.
"Well, of all things!" finally gasped Lawford.
" I thought you were Cap'n Abe. But you're not.
You must be Cap'n Amazon Silt."
" That's who I be," agreed the other.
"His brother!"
" Ain't much like Abe, eh ? " and Cap'n Amazon
smiled widely.
" Only your voice. That is a little like Cap'n
Abe's. Well, I declare!" repeated Lawford, com
ing deliberately up the steps.
Cap'n Amazon rose briskly and led the way into
the store. The fog was clearing with swiftness
and a ray of sunlight slanted through a dusty win
dow with sufficient strength to illumine the shelves
behind the counter.
" Those boxes yonder are where Cap'n Abe keeps
his fishhooks. But isn't he here ? "
" He's off," Cap'n Amazon replied. " Up an-
chor'd and sailed 'bout soon's I come. Been ready
to go quite a spell, I shouldn't wonder. Had his
chest all packed and sent it to the depot by a wagon.
Walked over himself airly to ketch the train.
These the hooks, son?"
" But where's he gone? "
" On a v'y'ge," replied Cap'n Amazon. " Why
shouldn't he? Seems he's been lashed here, tight
and fast, for c'nsider'ble of a spell. He and this

*«%'•'«» """7
68 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
store of hisn was nigh 'bout spliced. I don't see
how he has weathered it so long."
" Gone away! " murmured Lawford.
Cap'n Amazon eyed him with a tilt to his head
and possibly a twinkle of amusement in his eye.
" Young man, what's your name ? " he asked
bluntly. Lawford told him. " Wal, it strikes me,"
Cap'n Amazon said, " that your tops'ls air slattin'
a good deal. You ain't on the wind."
" I am upset, I declare ! "
" Sure you got the right hooks this time? "
" Yes. I believe so."
"Then if your Merry Andrew—what is she,
cat-rigged or "
" Sloop."
" Then if your Merry Andrew sloop's a-waiting
for you, that's the way out," said Cap'n Amazon
coolly, pointing with his pipestem to the door.
" Come again—when you want to buy anything in
Abe's stock. Good day ! "
Lawford halted a moment at the door to look
back at the bizarre figure behind the counter, lean
ing on the scarred brown plank just as Cap'n Abe
so often did. The amazing difference between the
storekeeper's well remembered appearance and that
of his substitute grew more startling.
As Cap'n Amazon stood there half stooping,
leaning on his hairy fists, the picture rose in Law
ford Tapp's mind of a pirate, cutlass in teeth and
 Boarded by Pirates 69
his sash full of pistols, swarming over the rail of
a doomed ship. The young man had it in his mind
to ask a question about that wonderfully pretty girl
above. But, somehow, Cap'n Amazon did not ap
pear to be the sort of person to whom one could
put even a mildly impudent question.
The young man walked slowly down the road
toward the shore where his boat was beached. He
had no idea that a pair of gray eyes watched
him from that window where he had glimpsed
the vision of girlish beauty only a few minutes
before.
The neighborhood was stirring now and Louise
had not gone back to bed. Instead, she dressed as
simply as she could until it would be possible to get
at her trunks.
While thus engaged she observed the neighbor
hood as well as she could see it from the windows
of her chamber. Down the Shell Road, in the di
rection of the sea, there were but two or three
houses—small dwellings in wind-swept yards where
beach grass was about all the verdure that would
grow.
Across the road from the store, however, and as
far as she could see toward Cardhaven, were bet
ter homes, some standing in the midst of tilled
fields and orchards. Sandy lanes led to these home
steads from the highway. She could see the blunt
spire of the Mariner's Chapel. Yet Cap'n Abe's
70 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
house and store stood quite alone, for none of the
other dwellings were close to the road.
She set her chamber door ajar and suddenly
heard the clash of voices. The one that seemed
nearest to the stair was gruff, but feminine.
" That must be Betty Gallup," thought Louise.
" It is nearly six. I'll go down and interview the lady
who Cap'n Abe said ought to sail before the mast."
The foot of the stairway was in the back entry
which itself opened upon the rear porch. As she
came lightly down the stairs Louise saw a squat,
square figure standing in the open doorway. It was
topped by a man's felt hat and was dressed in a
loose, shapeless coat and a scant skirt down to the
tops of a pair of men's shoes.
Over the shoulder of this queer looking person
—of whose sex it was hard to be sure—Louise
could see an open letter that was evidently being
perused not for the first time.
The hands that held the letter were red and
hard and blunt-fingered, but not large. They did
not look feminine, however; not in the least.
The light tap of the girl's heels as she stepped on
the bare floor at the foot of the stairway aroused
this person, who turned, revealing a rather grim,
weather-beaten face, lit by little sharp brown eyes
that proceeded to stare at Louise Grayling with
frank curiosity.
" Humph ! " ejaculated the woman.
 Boarded by Pirates 71
Oh, it was a woman, Louise could now see, al
though Betty Gallup boasted a pronounced mustache
and a voice both deep and hoarse, while she looked
every inch the able seaman she was.
" Humph ! " she exclaimed again. " You don't
look much like a pirate, that's one comfort ! "
Louise burst into gay laughter—she could not
help it.
" I see by this letter Cap'n Abe left for me that
you're his niece—his ha'f sister's child—name,
Louise Grayling; and that you've come to stay a
spell."
" Yes," the girl rejoined, still dimpling. " And
I know you must be Mrs. Gallup ! "
" Bet Gallup. Yep. Ain't much chance of mis
taking me" the woman said, still staring at Louise.
" Humph ! you're pretty 'nough not to need m'lasses
to ketch flies. Why didn't Cap'n Abe stay to home
when you come visiting him ? "
" Why, he had his plans all laid to go away, if
Uncle Amazon came."
" Ya-as. That's so. You are his niece, too, I
s'pose."
" Whose niece ? Uncle Amazon's ? I suppose
I am," Louise gayly replied, " though when I came
I had no idea there was a second uncle down here
on the Cape."
"What's that?" demanded Betty Gallup, her
speech crackling like a rifle shot.
72 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
" I had not heard before of Cap'n Amazon," the
girl explained. " You see, for several reasons, I
have known very little about my mother's kin folk.
She died when I was a baby. We have traveled a
good deal, father and I."
" I see. I been told you worked for them movin'
pictures. Mandy Card was over to my house last
night. Well! what do you think of your Uncle
Am'zon?"
" I can express no opinion until I have met him,"
Louise returned, again dimpling.
" Haven't ye seen him ? " gasped Betty in aston
ishment.
" Not yet."
"Ye didn't see him when he came last night?"
" I was in bed."
" Then how—how d'ye know Cap'n Abe's gone ?
Or that this man is Am'zon Silt? Nobody ever
seen this critter 'round Cardhaven before," Betty
Gallup declared with strong conviction.
" Oh, no ; Uncle Amazon has never been here to
visit Cap'n Abe before. Cap'n Abe told me all
about it," the girl explained, fearing that scandal
was to take root here and now if she did not dis
courage it. " Of course Uncle Abe went away.
He came to my door and bade me good-bye."
Louise was puzzled. She saw an expression in
Betty Gallup's face that she could not interpret.
" Ye heard Cap'n Abe say he was goin'," mut
 Boarded by Pirates 73
tered Betty. " His voice sounds mighty like Cap'n
Abe's. But mebbe Abe Silt didn't go after all—
not rightly."
"What do you mean, Mrs. Gallup?" demanded
Louise in bewilderment.
" Well, if you ask me, I should say we'd been
boarded by pirates. Go take a look at that Uncle
Am'zon of yourn. He's in the store."
 CHAPTER VII

UNDER FIRE

" Uncle Amazon ? " burst out Louise. " A

pirate ? "
" That's what he looks like," repeated Betty
Gallup, nodding her head on which the man's hat
still perched. "I never saw the beat! Why, that
man give me the shock of my life when I came in
here just now ! "
"What do you mean?" the amazed girl asked.
" Why, as I come in—I was a lettle early,
knovvin' you was here—I heard as I s'posed Cap'n
Abe in the sittin'-room. I saw this letter, sealed and
directed to me, on,the dresser there. " ' Humph ! '
says I. ' Who's writin' billy-doos to me, I'd ad
mire to know ? ' And I up and opened it and see
it's in Cap'n Abe's hand. Just then I heard him
behind me ■"
" Heard who? Not Cap'n Abe? "
" No, no ! This other feller—this Cap'n Am'zon
Silt, as he calls himself. But I thought 'twas Cap'n
Abe's step I heard. He says : ' Oh ! you've found
the letter ? ' I declare I thought 'twas your uncle's
voice! "
74
 Under Fire 75
" But it was my uncle's voice, of course," Louise
reminded her, much amused. " Cap'n Amazon Silt
is my uncle, too."
" Humph ! I s'pose so. Looks to be. If 'tis him.
Anyhow," pursued the jerkily speaking Betty Gal
lup, " I turned 'round when he spoke spectin' to
see Cap'n Abe—for I hadn't read this letter then
—and there he warn't! Instead—of all the lookin'
critters! There! you go take a peek at him and
see what you think yourself. I'll put the breakfast
on the table. He's made coffee and the mush is
in the double-biler and the biscuits in the oven are
just browning. I reckon he's as handy 'round the
kitchen as Cap'n Abe is. Lots of these old
sailors be."
" Fancy ! an uncle who is a pirate ! " giggled
Louise and she ran through the living-room and the
dividing hall to the door of the store. First she
saw Cap'n Amazon from the rear. The red ban
dana swathing his head, below which was a lank
fringe of black hair, was the only bizarre thing she
noticed about her new-found relative. He seemed
to have very quick hearing for almost instantly he
swung smartly around to face her.
" Oh ! " was expelled from the girl's lips, for she
was as startled as Law ford Tapp and Betty Gallup
had been.
Compared with the mild-appearing, heavily
whiskered Cap'n Abe, this brother of the store
76 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
keeper was in looks what Betty had pronounced
him. His dark complexion, the long mustache, as
black and glossy as a crow's wing, the gold rings
in his ears, with the red handkerchief to top it
all, made Cap'n Amazon Silt as romantic a figure
as ever peered out of a Blackbeard or a Henry
Morgan legend.
There were intricate traceries on his forearms in
red and blue ink; beneath the open collar of his
shirt the girl gained a glimpse of other tattooing.
There was a faint scar traced along his right jaw,
almost from ear to chin, which added a certain
grimness to his expression.
Yet his was not at all a sinister face. His eyes
twinkled at her kindly—almost like Cap'n Abe's
eyes—and the huge mustache lifted in a smile.
" Ahoy ! " he cried jovially. " So this is my
niece, Louise, is it? Well, to be sure! Abe didn't
overpraise you. You be a pretty tidy craft."
The girl dimpled, coming forward to give him
her hand. As on the day before, her hand was
lost in a warm, firm clasp, while her uncle con
tinued to look her over with approval.
"Yes, sir!" he ejaculated. "You look to me
like one o' the tidiest craft I ever clapped eyes on.
I don't scarcely see how Abe could go away and
leave you. Dunno's he's got an eye for a pretty
woman like me. Bless you! I been a slave to the
women all my life."
 Under Fire 77
" Yet never married, Uncle Amazon ? " she
cried roguishly.
" Tell you how 'twas," he whispered hoarsely,
his hand beside his mouth. " I never could decide
betwixt and between 'em. No, sir! They are all
so desir'ble that I couldn't make up my mind. So
I stayed single."
" Perhaps you showed wisdom, Uncle Amazon,"
laughed the girl. " Still—when you grow old "
" Oh! there's plenty of sailors' snug harbors," he
hastened to say. " And time enough to worry
about that when I be old."
" I thought Why ! you look younger than
Cap'n Abe," she said.
"Ain't it a fact? He's let himself run to seed
and get old lookin'. That's from stayin' ashore all
his life. It's the feel of a heavin' deck under his
feet that keeps the spring in a man's wishbone.
Yes, sir! Abe's all right—good man and all that
—but he's no sailor," Cap'n Amazon added, shaking
his head.
" Now, here ! " he went on briskly, " we ought
to have breakfast, hadn't we? I left that woman
Abe has pokin' around here, to dish up; and it's
'most six bells. Feel kind of peckish myself,
Louise."
" I'll run to see if the biscuits are done," said the
girl; and she hurried to the kitchen ahead of him.
Betty Gallup was waiting for her.
78 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
“What d'ye think of him?” she whispered
anxiously.
“Why, he's splendid!” the girl replied scarcely
stifling her laughter. “He’s a character!”
“Humph! Mebbe. But even if he is your
uncle, I got to say right now he ain't a man I’d
trust. Nothin' a-tall like Cap'n Abel ”
“I think he seems a great deal like Uncle
Abram.”
“Humph! How long you knowed Abram Silt?
Come here yesterday for the fust time. Lemme
tell you, Miss Grayling, we've knowed Cap'n Abe
around here for twenty year and more. Course,
he ain't Cardhaven born; but we know him. He's
as diff'rent from this pirate that calls himself
Cap'n Am'zon Silt as chalk is from cheese.”
The mush was on the table. Louise called Cap'n
Amazon from the store. They sat down to the
table just as she had sat opposite to Cap'n Abe the
evening before. She thought, for a moment, that
Cap'n Amazon was going to ask a blessing as her
other uncle had. But no, he began spooning the
mush into a rather capacious mouth.
Into the room from the rear strolled Diddimus,
the tortoise-shell cat. Louise tried to attract his at
tention; but she was comparatively a stranger to
him. The cat went around to the chair where
Cap'n Abe always sat. He leaped into Cap'n
Amazon's lap.
 Under Fire 79
" Well, I never! " said Cap'n Amazon. " Seems
quite to home, doesn't he?"
Diddimus, preparing to " make his bed," looked
up with topaz eyes into the face of the captain.
Louise could see the cat actually stiffen with sur
prise. Then, with a " p-sst-maow ! " he leaped
down and ran out of the room at high speed.
"What—what do you think of that?" gasped
Cap'n Amazon. "The cat's gone crazy!"
The girl was in a gale of laughter. "Of course
he hasn't," she said. " He thought you were Cap'n
Abe—till he looked into your face. You can't
blame the cat, Uncle Amazon."
Cap'n Amazon smote his knee a resounding
smack of appreciation. " You got your bearin's
correct, Louise, I do believe. I must have surprised
the critter. And Abe set store by him, I've no
doubt."
" Diddimus will get over it," said the amused
Louise.
" There's that bird," Cap'n Amazon said sud
denly, looking around at the cage hanging in the
sunlit window. " What's Abe call him ? "
"Jerry."
" And he told me to be hi-mighty tender with
that canary. Wouldn't trust nobody else, he said,
to feed and water him." He rose from the table,
leaving his breakfast. " I wonder what Jerry
thinks of me? "
80 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
He whistled to the bird and thrust a big fore
finger between the wires of the cage. Immediately,
with an answering chirp, the canary hopped along
his perch with a queer sidewise motion and, reaching
the finger, sprang upon it with a little flutter of
its wings.
"There!" cried Cap'n Amazon, with boyish re
lief. " He takes to me all right."
" That don't show nothin'," said Betty Gallup
from the doorway. She had removed her hat and
coat and was revealed now as a woman approach
ing seventy, her iron-gray hair twisted into a
" bob " so that it could be completely hidden when
she had the hat on her head. " That don't show
nothin'," she repeated grimly.
Cap'n Amazon jerked his head around to look
at her, demanding : " Why don't it, I want to
know ? "
" 'Cause the bird's pretty near stone-blind."
" Blind ! " gasped Louise, pity in her tone.
" It can't be," murmured the captain, hastily fac
ing the window again.
" I found that out a year an' more ago," Betty
announced. " Didn't want to tell Cap'n Abe—he
was that foolish about the old bird. Jerry's used
to Cap'n Abe chirping to him and putting his
finger 'twixt the slats of the cage for him to perch
on. He just thinks you're Cap'n Abe."
She clumped out into the kitchen again in her
 Under Fire 81
heavy shoes. Cap'n Amazon came slowly back to
his chair. " Blind ! " he repeated. " I want to
know! Both his deadlights out. Too bad! Too
bad!"
He did not seem to care for any more break
fast.
Footsteps in the store soon brought the substi
tute shopkeeper to his feet again.
" I s'pose that's somebody come aboard for a
yard o' tape, or the seizings of a pair of shoes,"
he growled. " I'd ought to hauled in the gang
plank when we set down."
He disappeared into the store and almost at once
a shrill feminine voice greeted him as " Cap'n
Abe." Vastly amused, Louise arose and softly
followed to the store.
" Give me coupla dozen clothespins and a big
darnin' needle, Cap'n Abe. I got my wash ready
to hang out and found them pesky young 'uns of
Myra Stout's had got holt o' my pin bag and
fouled the pins all up usin' 'em for markers in
their garden.
Where's ICap'n
want—land
Abe?" sakes! Who—what

" He ain't here just now," Cap'n Amazon re

plied. " I'm his brother. You'll have to pick out
the needle you want. I can find and count the
clothespins, I guess. Two dozen, you say?"
" Land sakes ! Cap'n Abe gone away ? Don't
seem possible."
82 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
" There's a hull lot of seemin' impossible things
in this world that come to pass just the same," the
substitute storekeeper made answer, with some
tartness. " Here's the needle drawer. Find what
you want, ma'am."
Louise was frankly spying. She saw that the
customer was a lanky young woman in a sunbonnet.
When she dropped the bonnet back upon her nar
row shoulders with an impatient jerk, the better
to see the needles, it was revealed that her thin,
light hair was drawn so tightly back from her face
that it actually seemed to make her pop-eyed.
She had a rather pretty pink and white com
plexion, and aside from the defect of hairdressing
might have been attractive. She possessed a thin
and aquiline nose, however, the nostrils fairly
quivering with eagerness and curiosity.
" Land sakes! " she was saying. " I know Cap'n
Abe's been talkin' of goin' away—the longest spell!
But so suddent—'twixt night and mornin' as ye
might say "
" Exactly," said Cap'n Amazon dryly, and went
on counting the pins from the box into a paper
sack.
"What 'bout the girl that's come here? That
movie actress ? " asked the young woman with
added sharpness in her tone. " What you going to
do with her? "
Cap'n Amazon came back to the counter and even
 Under Fire 83
his momentary silence was impressive. He favored
the customer with a long stare.
" Course, 'tain't none o' my business. I was just
askin' "
" You made an int'restin' discovery, then,
ma'am," he said. " It ain't any of your business.
Me and my niece'll get along pretty average well,
I shouldn't wonder. Anything else, ma'am? I see
the needle's two cents and the pins two cents a
dozen. Six cents in all."
" Well, I run a book with Cap'n Abe. I ain't
got no money with me," said the young woman
defiantly.
" Le's see : what did you say your name was ? "
and Cap'n Amazon drew from the cash drawer a
long and evidently fully annotated list of customers'
names, prepared by Cap'n Abe.
" I'm Mandy Baker—she 'twas Mandy Card."
" Yes. I find you here all right. Your bill o'
ladin' seems good. Good-mornin', ma'am. Call
again."
Mandy Baker looked as though she desired to
continue the conversation. But there was that in
Cap'n Amazon's businesslike manner and speech
that impressed Mrs. Baker—as it had Law ford
Tapp—that here was a very different person from
the easy-going, benign Cap'n Abe. Mandy sniffed,
jerked her sunbonnet forward, and departed with
her purchases.
84 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
Cap'n Amazon's quick eye caught sight of
Louise's amused face in the doorway.
" Kind of a sharp craft that," he observed,
watching Mandy cross the road. " Reminds me
some o' one o' them Block Island double-enders
they built purpose for sword-fishing. When you
strike on to a sword-fish you are likely to want to
back water 'bout as often as shove ahead. I cal'late
this here Mandy Baker is some spry in her
maneuvers. And I bet she's got one o' the laziest
husbands in this whole town. 'Most always hap
pens that way," concluded the captain, who seemed
quite as homely philosophical and observant as his
brother.
As a stone thrown into a quiet pool drives circling
ripples farther and farther away from the point of
contact, so the news of Cap'n Abe's secret depar
ture and the appearance of the strange brother in
his place, spread through the neighborhood.
The coming of Louise to the store on the Shell
Road had also set the tongues to clacking. Mandy
Baker, who took her husband's rating in women's
eyes at his own valuation, was up in arms. A
pretty girl, and an actress at that!— for until recent
years that was a word to be only whispered in
polite society on the Cape—was considered by such
as Mandy to be under suspicion right from the
start.
The mystery of Cap'n Amazon, however, quite
 Under Fire 85
overtopped the gossip about Louise. Idlers who
seldom dropped into the store before afternoon
came on this day much earlier to have a look at
Cap'n Amazon Silt. Women left their housework
at " slack ends " to run over to the store for some
thing considered suddenly essential to their work.
Some of the clam-diggers lost a tide to obtain an
early glimpse of Cap'n Amazon. Even the chil
dren came and peered in at the store door to see
that strange, red-kerchief-topped figure behind
Cap'n Abe's counter.
Cap'n Joab Beecher was one of the earliest ar
rivals. Cap'n Joab had been as close to Cap'n Abe
as anybody in Cardhaven. There had been some
little friction between him and the storekeeper on
the previous evening. Cap'n Joab felt almost as
though Cap'n Abe's sudden departure was a thrust
at him.
But when he introduced himself to Cap'n Amazon
the latter seized the caller's hand in a seaman's
grip, and said heartily : " I want to know Cap'n
Joab Beecher, of the old Sally Noble. I knowed
the bark well, though I never happened to clap eyes
on you, sir. Abe give me a letter for you. Here
'tis. Said you was a good feller and might help
wise me to things in the store here till I'd l'arned
her riggin' and how to sail her proper."
Cap'n Joab was frankly pleased by this. He
spelled out the note Cap'n Abe had addressed to
86 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
him slowly, being without his reading glasses, and
then said :
" I'm yours to command, Cap'n Silt. Land
sakes! I s'pose your brother had a pufhct right
to go away. He'd talked about goin' enough.
Where's he gone ? "
" On a v'y'ge," said Cap'n Amazon.
"No! Gone to sea?"
" Yes. Sailing to-day—out o' Boston."
"I want to know! Abe Silt gone to sea!
Wouldn't never believed it. Always 'peared to be
afraid of gettin' his paws wet—same's a cat,"
ruminated Cap'n Joab. " What craft's he sailin'
in?"
The Boston morning paper lay before Cap'n
Amazon, opened at the page containing the shipping
news. His glance dropped to the sailing notices
and with scarcely a moment's hesitancy he said :
"Curlew, Ripley, master, out o' Boston. I
knowed of her—knowed Cap'n Ripley," and he
pointed to the very first line of the sailing list.
" If Abe got there in time he like enough j'ined
her crew."
"Shipped before the mast?" exploded Cap'n
Joab.
" Well," Cap'n Amazon returned sensibly, " if
you were skipper about where would you expect a
lubber like Abe Silt to fit into your crew ? "
" I swanny, that's so ! " agreed Cap'n Joab.
 Under Fire 87
" But it's goin' to be hard lines for a man of his
years—and no experience."
Cap'n Amazon sniffed. " I guess he'll get along,"
he said, seemingly less disturbed by his brother's
plight than other people. " Three months of sum
mer sailin' won't do him no harm."
That he was under fire he evidently felt, and re
sented it. His brother's old neighbors and friends
desired to know altogether too much about his
business and that of Cap'n Abe. He told Louise
before night :
"I tell you what, Abe's got the best of it! If
I'd knowed I was goin' to be picked to pieces by a
lot of busybodies the way I be, I'd never agreed
to stay by the ship till Abe got back. No, sir!
These folks around here are the beatenest I ever
see.
Yet Louise noticed that he seemed able to hold
his own with the curious ones. His tongue was
quite as nimble as Cap'n Abe's had been. On the
day of her arrival, Lou Grayling had believed she
would be amused at Cardhaven. Ere the second
twenty-four hours of her stay wer« rounded out,
she knew she would be.
 CHAPTER VIII

SOMETHING ABOUT SALT WATER TAFFY

During the day Cap'n Amazon and Amid Per

due carried Louise's trunks upstairs and into the
storeroom, handy to her own chamber. It seems
Cap'n Amazon had not brought his own sea chest;
only a " dunnage bag," as he called it.
" But there's plenty of Abe's duds about," he
said; "and we're about of a size."
When Louise went to unpack her trunks she
found a number of things in the storeroom more
interesting even than her own pretty summer
frocks. There were shells, corals, sea-ivory—
curios, such as are collected by seamen the world
over. Cap'n Abe was an indefatigable gatherer of
such wares. There was a green sea chest standing
with its lid wide open, tarred rope handles on its
ends, that may have been around the world a score
of times. It was half filled with old books.
All the dusty, musty volumes in the chest seemed
to deal with the sea and sea-going. Many of them,
long since out of print and forgotten, recounted
strange and almost unbelievable romances of nau
tical life—stories of wrecks, fires, battles with
88
 Something About Salt Water Taffy 89
savages and pirates, discoveries of lone islands and
marvelous explorations in lands which, since the
date of publication, have become semi-civilized or
altogether so.
Here were narratives of men who had sailed
around the world in tiny craft like Captain Slocum;
stories of seamen who had become chiefs of can
nibal tribes, like the famous Larry O'Brien; sev
eral supposedly veracious narratives of the sur
vivors of the Bounty; stories of Arctic and
Antarctic discovery and privation. There were
also several scrapbooks filled with newspaper clip
pings of nautical wonders—many of these clipped
from New Bedford and Newport papers which at
one time were particularly rich in whalers' yarns.
Interested in skimming these wonderful stories,
Lou Grayling spent most of the afternoon. Here
was a fund of entertainment for rainy days—or
wakeful nights, if she chanced to suffer such. She
carried one of the scrapbooks into her bedroom
that it might be under her hand if she desired such
amusement.
In arranging her possessions in closet and bureau,
she found no time on this first day at Cap'n Abe's
store to stroll even as far as The Beaches; but
the next morning she got up betimes, as soon as
Cap'n Amazon himself was astir, dressed, and ran
down and out of the open back door while her
uncle was sweeping the store.
90 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
The sun was but then opening a red eye above
the horizon. The ocean, away out to this line
demarcating sea and sky, was perfectly flat. Un
like the previous dawn, this was as clear as a bell's
note.
Louise had been wise enough to wear high shoes,
so the sands above high-water mark did not bother
her. The waves lapped in softly, spreading over
the dimpling gray beach, their voice reduced to a
whispering murmur.
Along the crescent of the sands, above on the
bluffs, were set the homes of the summer residents
—those whom Gusty Durgin, the waitress at the
hotel, termed " the big bugs." On the farthest
point visible in this direction was a sprawling,
ornate villa with private dock and boathouses, and
a small breakwater behind which floated a fleet of
small craft. Louise heard the " put-put-a-put " of
a motor and descried a swift craft coming from
this anchorage.
She saw, by sweeping it with her glance, that
not a soul but herself was on the shore—neither
in the direction of the summer colony nor on the
other hand where the beach curved sharply out to
the lighthouse at the end of the Neck. The motor
boat was fast approaching the spot where Louise
stood.
It being the single moving object on the scene,
save the gulls, she began to watch it. There was
 Something About Salt Water Taffy 91
but one person in the motor boat. He was hatless
and was dressed in soiled flannels. It was the
young man, Law ford Tapp, of whom Cap'n Abe
did not altogether approve.
" He must work for those people over there,"
Louise Grayling thought. " He is nice looking."
It could not be possible that Law ford Tapp had
descried and recognized the figure of the girl from
the Tapp anchorage!
He no longer wore his hip boots. After shutting
off his engine, he guided the sharp prow of the
launch right up into the sand and leaped into shal
low water, bringing ashore the bight of the painter
to throw over a stub sunk above high-water mark.
" Good-morning ! What do you think of it ? "
he asked Louise, with a cordial smile that belonged
to him.
" It is lovely ! " she said. " Really wonderful !
I suppose you have lived here so long it does not
appeal to you as strongly as to tbe new-beholder ? "
" I don't know about that. It's the finest place
in the world, I think. There's no prettier shore
along the Atlantic coast than The Beaches."
" Perhaps you are right. I do not know much
about the New England coast," she confessed.
" And that—where the spray dashes up so high,
even on this calm morning?"
"Gull Rocks. The danger spot of all danger
spots along the outer line of the Cape. In rough
92 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
weather all one can see out there is a cauldron of
foam."
Before she could express herself again the purr
of a swiftly moving motor car attracted her atten
tion, and she turned to see a low, gray roadster
coming toward them from the north. The Shell
Road, before reaching the shore, swerved northward
and ran along the bluffs on which the bungalows
and summer cottages were built. These dwellings
faced the smooth white road, the sea being behind
them.
As Louise looked the car slowed down and
stopped, the engine still throbbing. A girl was at
the wheel. She was perhaps fifteen, without a hat
and with two plaits of yellow hair lying over her
slim shoulders.
" Hey, Ford ! " she shouted to the young man,
"haven't you been up to Cap'n Abe's yet?
Daddy's down at the dock now and he's in a tear
ing hurry."
She gazed upon Lou Grayling frankly but made
no sign of greeting. She did not wait, indeed, for
a reply from the young man but threw in the
clutch and the car shot away.
" I've got to go up to the store," he said.
"L'Enfant Terrible is evidently going to Paul-
mouth to meet the early train. Must be somebody
coming."
Louise looked at him quickly, her expression one
 Something About Salt Water Taffy 93
of perplexity. She supposed this child in the car
was the daughter of Lawford's employer. But
whoever before heard a fisherman speak just as he
did ? Had Cap'n Abe been at home she certainly
would have tapped that fount of local knowledge
for information regarding Lawford. He did not
look so much the fisherman type without his jersey
and high boots.
" How do you like the old fellow up at the
store?" Lawford asked, as they strolled along to
gether. " Isn't he a curious old bird? "
" You mean my Uncle Amazon? "
" Goodness ! He is your uncle, too, isn't he ? "
and a flush of embarrassment came into his bronzed
cheek. " I had forgotten he was Cap'n Abe's
brother. He is so different ! "
"Isn't he?" responded Louise demurely. "He
doesn't look anything like Uncle Abram, at least."
" I should say not! " ejaculated Lawford. " Do
you know, he's an awfully—er—romantic looking
old fellow. Looks just as though he had stepped
out of an old print."
" The frontispiece of a book about buccaneers,
for instance?" she suggested gleefully.
" Well," and he smiled down upon her from his
superior height, " I wasn't sure you would see it
that way."
" Do you know," she told him, still laughing,
" that Betty Gallup calls him nothing but ' that old
94 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
pirate.' She has taken a decided dislike to him
and I have to keep smoothing her ruffled feathers.
And, really, Cap'n Amazon is the nicest man."
" I bet he's seen some rough times," Lawford
rejoined with vigor. " We used to think Cap'n
Abe told some stretchers about his brother; but
Cap'n Amazon looks as though he had been
through all that Cap'n Abe ever told about—and
more."
" Oh, he's not so very terrible, I assure you,"
Louise said, much amused.
" Did you notice the scar along his jaw? Looks
like a cutlass stroke to me. I'd like to know how
he came by it. It must have been some fight! "
" You will make him out a much more terrible
character than he can possibly be."
" Never mind. If he's anything at all like Cap'n
Abe, we'll get it all out of him. I bet he can tell
us some hair-raisers."
" I tell you he's a nice old man, and I won't have
you talk so about him," Louise declared. " We
must change the subject."
"We'll talk about you," said Lawford quickly.
" I'm awfully curious. When does your—er—
work begin down here?"
"My work?" Then she understood him and
dimpled. " Oh, just now is my playtime."
" Making pictures must be interesting."
" I presume it looks so to the outsider," she ad
 Something About Salt Water Taffy 95
mitted. It amused her immensely that he should
think her a motion picture actress.
" Your coming here and Cap'n Amazon exchang
ing jobs with his brother have caused more excite
ment than Cardhaven and the vicinity have seen in
a decade. Or at least since / have lived here."
" Oh ! Then are you not native to the soil ? "
" No. Not exactly," he replied. And then after
a moment he added : " It's a great old place, even
in winter."
"Not dull at all?"
" Never dull," he reassured her. " Too much
going on, on sea and shore, to ever be dull. Not
for me, at least. I love it."
They reached the store. Louise bade the young
man good-morning and went around to the back
door to greet Betty.
Law ford made his purchases in rather serious
mood and returned to his motor boat. His mind
was fixed upon the way Louise Grayling had looked
as he stepped ashore and greeted her.
He had been close enough to her now, and for time
enough as well, to be sure that there was nothing
artificial about this girl. She was as natural as a
flower—and just as sweet! There was a softness
to her cheek and to the curve of her neck like rich
velvet. Her eyes were mild yet sparkling when she
became at all animated. And that demure smile!
And her dimples!
96 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
When a young man gets to making an account
ing of a girl's charms in this way, he is far
gone indeed. Law ford Tapp was very seriously
smitten.
He saw his youngest sister, Cicely, whom the
family always called L'Enfant Terrible, speeding
back to the villa in the automobile. She had not
gone as far as Paulmouth, after all, and she reached
home long before he docked the launch. Law ford
did not pay much attention to what went on in the
big villa. His mother and sisters lived a social life
of their own. He merely slept there, spending
most of his days on the water.
The Salt Water Taffy King was not at the pri
vate dock when Law ford arrived. Mr. Israel Tapp
was an irritable and impatient man. He " flew off
the handle " at the slightest provocation. Many
times a day he lost his temper and, as Lawford
phlegmatically expressed it, " blew up."
These exhibitions meant nothing particularly to
Mr. Tapp. They were escape-valves for a nervous
irritability that had grown during his years of idle
ness. Born of a poor Cape family, but with a dis
like for fish-seines and lobster-pots, he had turned
his attention from the first to the summer visitors,
even in his youth beginning to flock to the old-
fashioned ports of the Cape. Catering to their
wants was a gold mine but little worked at that
time.
 Something About Salt Water Taffy 97
He began to sell candy at one of the more popular
resorts. Then he began to make candy. His
Salt Water Taffy became locally famous. He
learned that a good many of the wealthier people
who visited the Cape in summer played all the year
around. They went to Atlantic City or to the
Florida beaches in the winter.
So Israel Tapp branched out and established salt
water taffy kitchens all up and down the coast.
" I. Tapp, the Salt Water Taffy King " became a
catch-word. It was then but a step to incorporating
a company and establishing huge candy factories.
I. Tapp went on by leaps and bounds. While yet
a comparatively young man he found himself a
multi-millionaire. Even a rather expensive family
could not spend his income fast enough.
He built the ornate villa at The Beaches and, like
Law ford, preferred to live there rather than else
where. His wife and the older girls insisted upon
having a town house in Boston and in traveling at
certain times to more or less exclusive resorts and
to Europe. Their one ambition was to get into that
exclusive social set in which they felt their money
should rightfully place them. But a house on the
Back Bay does not always assure one's entrance to
the circles of the " gilded codfish."
Mr. Tapp went down to the dock again after a
time. Law ford had the Merry Andrew all ready
to set out on the proposed fishing trip. The sloop
98 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
was a pretty craft, clinker built, and about the
fastest sailing boat within miles of Cardhaven.
Law ford was proud of her.
" So you're back at last, are you? " snapped the
Salt Water Taffy King.
He was a portly little man with a red face and
a bald brow. His very strut pronounced him a
self-made man. He glared at his son, whose cool
nonchalance he often declared was impudence.
" I've been waiting some time for you, dad. Hop
aboard," Law ford calmly said.
" You took your time in getting back here," re
sponded his father, by no means mollified. " And
you knew I was waiting. But you had to stand
and talk to a girl over there. Cicely says it is that
picture actress who is staying at Cap'n Abe's. Is
that so?"
" I presume Cicely is right," his son answered.
" There is no other here at present to my knowl
edge."
"Of all things!" ejaculated Mr. Tapp. "You
are always making some kind of a fool of yourself,
Lawford. Don't, for pity's sake, be that kind of a
fool."
" What do you mean, dad? " and now the young
man's eyes flashed. It was seldom that Lawford
turned upon his father in anger.
" You know very well what I mean. Keep away
from such women. Don't get messed up with actor
 Something About Salt Water Taffy 99
people. I won't have it, I tell you! I am deter
mined that at least one rich man's son shall not be
the victim of the wiles of any of these stage
women."
The flush remained in Lawford's cheek. It hurt
him to hear his father speak so in referring to
Louise Grayling. He, too, possessed some of the
insular prejudice of his kind against those who win
their livelihood in the glare of the theatrical spot
light. This gentle, well-bred, delightful girl stay
ing at Cap'n Abe's store was a revelation to him.
He held his tongue, however, and held his temper
in check as well.
" I don't see," stormed I. Tapp, " why you can't
take up with a nice girl and marry. Why, at your
age I was married and we had Marian ! "
" Don't you think that should discourage me,
dad?" Law ford put in. "Marian is nobody to
brag of, I should say."
"Hah!" ejaculated his father. "She's a fool,
too. But there are nice girls. I was talking to
your mother about your case last night. Of course,
I don't want you to say anything to her about what
I'm going to tell you now. She's got the silliest
notions," pursued Mr. Tapp who labored under the
belief that all the wisdom of the ages had lodged
under his own hat. " Expects her daughters to
marry dukes and you to catch a princess or the
like."

814491
100 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
" There are no such fish in these waters," laughed
Lawford. " At least, none has so much as nibbled
at my hook."
" And no nice girl will nibble at it if you don't
come ashore once in a while and get into something
besides fisherman's duds."
" Now, dad, clothes do not make the man."
" Who told you such a fool tlling as that ? Some
fool philosopher with only one shirt to his back
said it. Bill Johnson proved how wrong that was
to my satisfaction years and years ago. Good old
Bill ! I wanted to branch out. We had just that
one little candy factory and I worked in it myself
every day.
" I got the idea," continued I. Tapp, launched
on a favorite subject now, " that my balance sheet
and outlook for trade might impress the bank peo
ple. I wanted to build a bigger factory. So I took
off my apron one day and walked over to the bank.
I saw the president. He looked like a fashion
plate himself and he swung a pair of dinky glasses
on a cord as he listened to me and looked me over.
Then he turned me down—flat !
" I told Bill about it. Bill was kind of tied up
just then himself. That was before he made his
big strike. But he was a different fellow from me.
Bill always looked like ready money.
" ' Isra,' he says to me, ' I'll tell you how to get
that money from the bank.'
 Something About Salt Water Taffy 101
" ' It can't be done, Bill,' I told him. ' The presi
dent of the bank showed me that my business was
too weak to stand such spread-eagling.'
" ' Nonsense ! ' says Bill. ' It isn't your business,
it's your nerve that you've got to hire money on—
and your clothes. You do what I tell you. Come
to my tailor's in the morning.'
" Well, to cut a long story short, I did it. I
rigged up to beat that bank president himself.
When he saw me in about two hundred dollars'
worth of good clothes he considered the case again
and recommended the loan to his board. ' You put
your facts much more lucidly to-day, Mr. Tapp,'
is the way he expressed himself. But take it from
me, Law ford, it was my clothes that made the im
pression.
" So! " ruminated Mr. Tapp, " that is one thing
Bill Johnson did for me. And later, as you know,
he came into the candy business with me and his
money helped make I. Tapp, the Salt Water Taffy
King. Lawford, Bill is like a brother to me. His
girl, Dorothy, is one of the nicest girls who ever
stepped in a slipper."
" Dorothy Johnson is a really sweet girl, dad,"
Lawford agreed. " I like her."
"There!" ejaculated I. Tapp. "You let that
liking become something stronger. Dorothy's just
the girl for you to marry."
"What?" gasped the skipper of the Merry
102 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
Andrew, almost losing his grip on the steering
wheel.
" You get my meaning," said his father, scowl
ing. " I've always meant you should marry Bill's
daughter. I had your mother write her last night
inviting her down here. Of course, your mother
and the girls think Bill Johnson's folks are too
plain. But I'm boss once in a while in my own
house."
" And you call mother a matchmaker! "
" I know what I want and I'm going to get it,"
said I. Tapp doggedly. " Dorothy is the girl for
you. Don't you get entangled with anybody else.
Not a penny of my money will you ever handle if
you don't do as I say, young man ! "
" You needn't holler till you're hit, dad," Law-
ford said, trying to speak carelessly.
" Oh ! / shan't holler," snarled the Taffy King.
" I warn you. One such play as that and I'm
through with you. I'm willing to support an idle,
ne'er-do-well; but he sha'n't saddle himself with
one of those theatrical creatures and bring scandal
upon the family. Do you know what I was doing
when I was your age? I had a booth at 'Gansett,
two at Newport, a big one at Atlantic City, and
was beginning to branch out. I worked like a dog,
too."
" That's why I think I don't have to work, dad,"
said Law ford coolly.
 CHAPTER IX

SUSPICION HOVERS

Betty Gallup, clothed as usual in her man's

hat and worn pea-coat, but likewise on this occa
sion with mystery, seized Louise by the hand the
instant she appeared and drew her into the kitchen,
shutting the door between that and the living-
room.
" What is the matter? " the girl asked. " Have
you broken something—or is the canary dead ? "
" Sh! " warned Betty, her little brown eyes blink
ing rapidly. " I heard something last night."
" I didn't. I slept like a baby. The night before
I heard that old foghorn "
" I mean," interrupted Betty, " something was
told me."
" Well, go on." Louise made up her mind that
she could not stem the tide of talk.
" About your uncle, Cap'n Abe. He—he never
was seen to take that train to Boston. I got it
straight, or pretty average straight. Mandy Baker
told me, and Peke Card's wife, Mary Lizbeth, told
her, who got it right from Lute Craven who works
in the post-office uptown, and Lute got it from
103
104 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
Noah Coffin. You know, he't drives the ark you
come over in from Paulmouth. Well ! Noah was
at Paulmouth depot as he always is of course when
the clam train stops at five-thutty-five. He says he
didn't see Cap'n Abe nor nobody that looked like
him board that train yest'day mornin'."
"Why, Betty!" Louise could only gasp. This
house-that-Jack-built narrative quite took her breath
away.
" Besides," went on Betty, " there's more to it.
Cap'n Abe's chest was took back to the depot by
Perry Baker when he brought your trunks over,
sure 'nough. And Perry Baker says he shipped
that chest to Boston for your uncle, marked to be
called for. It went by express."
" But—but what of it? " asked the puzzled girl.
" Humph ! Stands to reason," declared Mrs.
Gallup, " that Cap'n Abe wouldn't have done no
such foolish thing as that. It costs money to ship
a heavy sea chest by express. He could have took
it on his ticket as baggage, free gratis, for
nothin' ! "
" I really don't see," Louise now said rather
severely, "that these facts you state—if they are
facts—are any of our business, Betty. Uncle
Abram might have taken the train at some other
station. He was not sure, perhaps, whether he
would join the ship Cap'n Amazon recommended,
so why should he not send his chest by express ? "
 Suspicion Hovers 105
" Cap'n Am'zon! Humph! " sniffed Betty. " No
body knows whether that's his name or not. He
comes here without a smitch of clo'es, as near as
I can find out."
Louise was amused ; yet she was somewhat vexed
as well. The curiosity, as well as the animosity, dis
played by Betty and others of the neighbors began
to appall her. If Cape Cod folk were, as her daddy-
professor had declared, " the salt of the earth,"
some of the salt seemed to have lost its savor.
" We were talking about Cap'n Abe," said
Louise severely. " Just as he had his own good
reasons for going away when and how he did, he
probably had his reasons for taking nobody into
his confidence. This Perry Baker, the expressman,
must know that Cap'n Abe sent the trunk from the
house, here."
"Humph! Yes! Nobody's denyin' that."
" Then Cap'n Abe must have known exactly what
he wished to do. Cap'n Amazon surely had noth
ing to do with the chest, with how his brother took
the train, or with tvherc he took it. Really, Betty,
what do you suspect Cap'n Amazon has done?"
" I don't know what he's done," snapped Betty.
" But I wouldn't put nothin' past him, from his
looks. The old pirate ! "
"You will make me feel very bad if you con
tinue to talk this way about my Uncle Amazon,"
said the girl, far from feeling amused now. " It is
106 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
not right. I hope you will not continue to repeat
such things. If you do you will some time be sorry
for it, Betty."
" Humph ! " sniffed the woman. " Mebbe I will.
But I'm warnin' you, Miss Grayling."
" Warning me of what? "
"Of that man. That old sinner! I never see
a wickeder looking feller in my life—and I've
sailed with my father and my husband to 'most
ev'ry quarter of the globe. He may be twin brother
to the Angel Gabriel; but if he is, his looks belie
it!"
There was nothing in all this of enough conse
quence to disturb the girl, only in so far as she
was vexed to find the neighbors so gossipy and
unkind. She gazed thoughtfully upon Cap'n Ama
zon as he sat across from her at the breakfast table,
and wondered how anybody could see in his
bronzed face anything sinister.
That he was rather ridiculously gotten up, it was
true. Those gold earrings! But then, she had
seen several of the older men about the store wear
ing rings in their ears. If he did not always have
that bright-colored kerchief on his head! But
then, he might wear that because he was susceptible
to neuralgia and did not wish to wear a hat all the
time as seemed to have been Cap'n Abe's custom.
When he smiled at her and his eyes crinkled at
the corners, he was as kindly of expression, she
 Suspicion Hovers 107
thought, as Cap'n Abe himself. And he was a
much better looking man than the brother who had
gone away.
" Cap'n Amazon," she said to him, " I believe
you must be just full of stories of adventure and
wonderful happenings by sea and land. Uncle
Abram said you had been everywhere."
Cap'n Amazon seemed to take a long breath, then
cleared his throat, and said :
" I've been pretty nigh everywhere. Seen some
funny corners of the world, too, Louise."
" You must tell me about your adventures," she
said. " Your brother told me that you ran away
to sea when you were only twelve years old and
sailed on a long whaling voyage."
" Yep. South Sea Belle. Some old hooker, she
was," said Cap'n Amazon briskly. " We was out
three year and come home with our hold bustin'
with ile, plenty of baleen, some sperm, and a lump
of ambergris as big as a nail keg—or pretty nigh."
Right then and there he launched into relating
how the wondrous find of ambergris came to be
made, neglecting his breakfast to do so. He told it
so vividly that Louise was enthralled. The picture
of the whaling bark beating up to the dead and
festering leviathan lying on the surface of the
ocean to which the exploding gases of decomposi
tion had brought the hulk, lived in her mind for
days. The mate of the South Sea Belle, believing
108 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
the creature had died of the disease supposedly
caused by the growth of the ambergris in its intes
tines, had insisted upon boarding the carcass. Driv
ing away the clamorous and ravenous sea fowl, he
had dug down with his blubber-spade into the vitals
of the whale and recovered the gray, spongy, ill-
smelling mass which was worth so great a sum to
the perfumer.
" 'Twas a big haul—one o' the biggest lumps o'
ambergris ever brought into the port of New Bed
ford," concluded Cap'n Amazon. " Helped make
the owners rich, and the Old Man, too. Course, I
got my sheer; but a boy's sheer on a whaler them
days wouldn't buy him no house and lot. So I
went to sea again."
" You must have been at sea almost all your life,
Cap'n Amazon."
" Pretty nigh. I ain't never lazed around on
shore when there was a berth in a seaworthy craft
to be had for the askin'. I let Abe do that," he
added, in what Louise thought was a rather scorn
ful tone.
" Why, I don't believe Uncle Abram has a lazy
bone in his body ! See the nice business he has
built up here. And he told me he owned shares in
several vessels and other property."
" That's t-ue," Cap'n Amazon agreed promptly.
" And a tidy sum in the Paulmouth National Bank.
I got a letter to the bank folks he left to introduce
 Suspicion Hovers 109
me, if I needed cash. Yes, Abe's done well enough
that way. But he's the first Silt, I swanny! that
ever stayed ashore."
" And now you are going to remain ashore your
self," she said, laughing.
" I'm going to try it, Louise. I've done my sheer
of roaming about. Mebbe I'll settle down here for
good."
" With Cap'n Abe? Won't that be fine? "
" Yep. With Abe," he muttered and remained
silent for the rest of the meal.
On Saturday the store trade was expected to be
larger than usual. Louise told Cap'n Amazon she
would gladly help wait on the customers; but he
would not listen to that for a moment.
" I'm not goin' to have you out there in that
store for these folks to look over and pick to pieces,
my girl," he said decidedly. " You stay aft and
I'll 'tend to things for'ard and handle this crew.
Besides, there's that half-grown lout, Amiel Perdue.
Abe said he sometimes helped around. He knows
the ship, alow and aloft, and how the stores is
stowed."
The morning was still young when Betty came
downstairs in hot rage and attacked Cap'n Amazon.
It seemed she had gone up to give the chambers
their usual weekly cleaning, and had found the
room in which the captain slept locked against her.
It was Cap'n Abe's room and it seemed it was
 110 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
Cap'n Abe's custom—as it was Cap'n Amazon's—
to make his own bed and keep his room tidy during
the week. But Betty had always given it a thor
ough cleaning and changed the bed linen on
Saturdays.
" What's that room locked for? I want to know
what you mean?" the woman demanded of Cap'n
Amazon. " Think I'm goin' to work in a house
where doors is locked against me? I'm as honest
as any Silt that ever hobbled on two laigs. Nex'
thing, I cal'late, you'll be lockin' the coal shed and
countin' the sticks in the woodpile."
She had much more to say—and said it. It
seemed to make her feel better to do so. Cap'n
Amazon looked coolly at her, but did not offer to
take the key out of his trousers' pocket.
"What d'ye mean?" repeated Betty, breathless.
" I mean to keep my cabin locked," he told her
in a perfectly passive voice, but in a manner that
halted her suddenly, angry as she was. " I don't
want no woman messin' with my berth nor with
my duds. That door's no more locked against you
than it is against my niece. You do the rest of
your work and don't you worry your soul 'bout my
cabin."
Louise, who was an observant spectator of this
contest, expected at first that Betty would not
stand the indignity—that she would resign from
her situation on the spot.
-

*
 Suspicion Hovers 111
But that hard, compelling stare of Cap'n Amazon
seemed to tame her. And Betty Gallup was a per
son not easily tamed. She spluttered a little more,
then returned to her work. Though she was sullen
all day, she did not offer to reopen the discussion.
" What a master he must have been on his own
quarter-deck," Louise thought. " And he must
have seen rough times, as that Lawford Tapp sug
gested. My! he's not much like Cap'n Abe, after
all."
But with her, Cap'n Amazon was as gentle as
her own father. He stood on his dignity with the
customers who came to the store, and with Betty;
but he was most kindly toward Louise in every
look and word.
That under his self-contained and stern exterior
dwelt a very tender heart, the girl was sure. For
the absent Cap'n Abe he appeared to feel a strong
man's good-natured scorn for a weak one; but
Louise saw him stand often before Jerry's cage,
chirping to the bird and playing with him. And
at such times there was moisture in Cap'n Amazon's
eye.
"Blind's a bat! Poor little critter!" he would
murmur. " All the sunshine does is to warm him ;
he can't see it no more. Out-o'-doors ain't nothin'
to him now."
Nor would he allow anybody but himself to at
tend to the needs of poor little Jerry. He had
112 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
promised Abe, he said. He kept that promise
faithfully.
Diddimus, the cat, was entirely another problem.
At first, whenever he saw Cap'n Amazon approach,
he howled and fled. Then, gradually, an unholy
curiosity seemed to enthrall the big tortoise-shell.
He would peer around corners at Cap'n Amazon,
stare at him with wide yellow eyes through open
doorways, leap upon the window sill and glower at
the substitute storekeeper—in every way showing
his overweening interest in the man. But he
absolutely would not go within arm's reach of
him.
" I always did say a cat's a plumb fool," de
clared Cap'n Amazon. " They'll desert ship as
soon as wink. Treacherous critters, the hull tribe.
Why, when I was up country in Cuba once, I
stopped at a man's hacienda and he had a tame wild
cat—-had had it from a kitten. Brought it up on
a bottle himself.
" He thought a heap of that critter, and when
he laid in his hammock under the trees—an' that
was most of the time, for them Caribs are as
lazy as the feller under the tree that wished for
the cherries to fall in his mouth!—Yes, sir! when
he laid in his hammock that yaller-eyed demon
would lay in it, too, and purr like an ordinary
cat.
" But a day come when the man fell asleep and
 Suspicion Hovers 113
had a nightmare or something, and kicked out,
cracking that cat on the snout with his heel. Next
breath the cat had a chunk out o' his calf and if
I hadn't been there with a gun he'd pretty near
have eat the feller! "
The personal touch always entered into Cap'n
Amazon's stories. He had always been on the spot
when the thing in point happened—and usually he
was the heroic and central figure. No foolish
modesty stayed his tongue when it came to re
counting adventures.
He had all his wits, as well as all his wit, about
him, had Cap'n Amazon. This was shown by an
occurrence that very Saturday afternoon.
Milt Baker, like the other neighbors, was becom
ing familiar, if not friendly, with the substitute
storekeeper and, leaning on the showcase, Milt
said:
" Leave me have a piece of Brown Mule, Cap'n
Am'zon. I'm all out o' chewin'. Put it on the
book and Mandy'll pay for it."
" Avast there ! " Cap'n Amazon returned. " Seems
to me I got something in the bill o' ladin' 'bout
that," and he drew forth the long memorandum
Cap'n Abe had made to guide his substitute's
treatment of certain customers. " No," the sub
stitute storekeeper said, shaking his head nega
tively. " Can't do it."
" Why not, I want to know ? " blustered Milt.
114 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
" I guess my credit's good." He already had the
Brown Mule in his hand.
" Your wife's credit seems to be good," Cap'n
Amazon returned firmly. " But here's what I find
here : ' Don't trust Milt Baker for Brown Mule
'cause Mandy makes him pay cash for his tobacker
and rum. We don't sell no rum.' That's enough,
young man."
Milt might have tried to argue the case with
Cap'n Abe; but not with Cap'n Amazon. There
was something in the steady look of the latter that
caused the shiftless clam digger to dig down into
his pocket for the nickel, pay it over, and walk
grumblingly out of the store.
" Does beat all what a fool a woman will be,"
commented Cap'n Amazon, rather enigmatically;
only Louise, who heard him, realized fully what
his thought was. Jealous and hard-working Mandy
Baker had chosen for herself a handicap in the
marriage game.
 CHAPTER X

WHAT LOUISE THINKS

SUNDAY morning such a hush pervaded the

store on the Shell Road, and brooded over its sur
roundings, as Lou Grayling had seldom experienced
save in the depths of the wilderness.
She beheld a breeze-swept sea from her window
with no fishing boats going out. There was nobody
on the clam flats, although the tide was just right
at dawn. The surfman from the patrol station
beyond The Beaches paced to the end of his beat
dressed in his best, like a man merely taking a
Sunday morning stroll.
The people she saw seemed to be changed out of
their everyday selves. Not only were they in Sab
bath garb, but they had on their Sabbath manner.
Even to Milt Baker, the men were cleanly shaven
and wore fresh cotton shirts of their wives'
laundering.
Cap'n Amazon appeared from his “cabin" when
the first church bells began to ring, arrayed in a
much wrinkled but very good suit of “go ashore”
clothes of blue, which were possibly those he had
worn when he arrived at the store on the Shell
115
116 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
Road. He wore a hard, glazed hat of an old-
fashioned naval shape and, instead of the usual red
bandana, he wore a black silk handkerchief tied
about his head.
Just why he always kept his crown thus swathed,
Louise was very desirous of knowing. Yet she
did not feel like asking him such a very personal
question. Had it been Cap'n Abe she would not
for a moment have hesitated. Louise had heard
of men being scalped by savages and she was al
most tempted to believe that this had happened to
Cap'n Amazon in one of his wild encounters.
" We'll go to the First Church, Niece Louise,"
he said firmly. " Abe always did. These small-
fry craft, like the Mariner's Chapel, are all right,
I don't dispute; but they are lacking in ballast.
It's in my mind to attend the church that's the
most like a well-founded, deep-sea craft."
Louise was more impressed than amused by this
philosophy. The captain seemed to have put on his
" Sunday face " like everybody else. As they came
out of the yard old Washington Gallup hobbled
by, but instead of stopping to chatter inconse-
quently, for he was an inveterate gossip, he saluted
the captain respectfully and hobbled on.
Indeed, the captain was a figure on this day to
command profound respect. It is no trick at all
for a big man to look dignified and impressive ; but
Cap'n Amazon was not a big man. However, in
 What Louise Thinks 117
his blue pilot-cloth suit, cut severely plain, and
with his hard black hat on his head he made a veri
table picture of what a master-mariner should
be.
On his quarter-deck, in fair or foul weather,
Louise was sure that he had never lacked the
respect of his crew or their confidence. He was
distinctly a man to command—a leader and di
rector by nature. He was, indeed, different from
the seemingly easy-going, gentle-spoken Cap'n Abe,
the storekeeper.
They had scarcely started up the Shell Road
when the whir of a fast-running automobile sounded
behind them and the mellow hoot of a horn.
Louise turned to see a great touring car take the
curve from the direction of The Beaches and glide
swiftly toward them. Law ford Tapp was guiding
the car.
" Then he's a chauffeur as well as fisherman and
boatman," she thought.
She could not see how he was dressed under the
coat he wore; but he touched his cap to her and
Cap'n Amazon as he drove by.
Beside Lawford on the driving seat was a plump
little man who seemed to be violently quarreling
with the chauffeur. In the tonneau was a matronly
woman and three girls including " L'Enfant Ter
rible," all, Louise thought, rather overdressed.
" Those folks, so I'm told," said Cap'n Amazon
118 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
placidly, come from that big house on the p'int—
as far as you can see from our windows. More
money than good sense, I guess. Though the man,
he comes of good old Cape stock. But I guess that
blood can de-te-ri-orate, as the feller said. Ain't
much of it left in the young folks, pretty likely.
They just laze around and play all the time. If
' All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,' you
can take it from me, Niece Louise, that all play
and no work makes Jill a pretty average useless
girl. Yes, sir ! "
To the First Church it was quite a walk, up
Main Street beyond the Inn and the post-office.
There was some little bustle on Main Street at
church-going time for some of the vacation visitors
—those of more modest pretensions than the occu
pants of the cottages at The Beaches—had already
arrived.
At the head of the church aisle Cap'n Amazon
spoke apologetically to the usher :
" Young man, my brother, Mr. Abram Silt, hires
a pew here; but I don't rightly know its bearings.
Would you mind showin' me and my niece the
course? "
They were accommodated. After service several
shook hands with them ; but Louise noticed that
many cast curious glances at the black silk hand
kerchief on Cap'n Amazon's head and did not
come near. Despite his dignity and the reverence
 What Louise Thinks 119
of his bearing, he did look peculiar with that
kerchief swathing his crown.
Gusty Durgin, the waitress at the Cardhaven Inn,
claimed acquaintanceship after church with Louise.
" There's goin' to be more of your crowd come
to-morrow, Miss Grayling," she said. " Some of
'em's goin' to stop with us at the Inn. How you
makin' out down there to Cap'n Abe's? Land
sakes! that ain't Cap'n Abe!"
" It is his brother, Cap'n Amazon Silt," explained
Louise.
" I want to know ! He looks amazin' funny,
don't he? Not much like Cap'n Abe. You see,
my folks live down the Shell Road. My ma mar
ried again. D'rius Vleet. Nice man, but a Dutch
man. I don't take up much with these furiners.
" Now ! what was I sayin' ? Oh ! The boss tells
me there's a Mr. Judson Bane of your crowd goin'
to stop with us. Sent a telegraph dispatch for a
room to be saved for him. With bath! Land
sakes ! ain't the whole ocean big enough for him to
take a bath in? We ain't got nothing like that.
And two ladies—I forget their names. You know
Mr. Bane?"
" I have met him—once," confessed Louise.
" Some swell he is, I bet," Gusty declared.
" I'm goin' to speak to him. Mebbe he can get me
into the company. I ain't so ow-ful fat. I seen
a picture over to Paulmouth last night where there
120 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
was a girl bigger'n I am, and she took a re'l sad
part.
" She cried re'l tears. / can do that. All I got
to do is to think of something re'l mis'rable—like
the time our old brahma hen, Beauty, got bit by
Esek Coe's dog, and ma had to saw her up. Then
the tears'll squeeze right out, just as easy! "
Louise thought laughter would overcome her
" just as easy " despite the day and place. She
knew a hearty burst of laughter in the church
edifice would amaze and shock the lingering con
gregation.
Seeing that Cap'n Amazon was busy with some
men he had met, the girl walked out to the little
vestibule of the church. Here a number of women
and men were discussing various matters—the
sermon, the weather, clamming, boating, and the
colony at The Beaches. Two women stood apart
from the others and presently Louise was attracted
to them by the sound of Law ford Tapp's name.
" I dunno who he is exactly, bein' somethin' o'
a stranger here," one of the women said. " But I
was told he was some poor relation who allers lived
among the fisher folk. But he does seem to know
how to run thet autermobile, don't he? "
"I should say!'' returned the other woman.
" An' he's well spoken, too—from what I heard
him say down to the store."
" Yes, I know that too. Well, I hope he buys
 What Louise Thinks 121
the outfit—Jimmy wants to sell it bad enough—
an' needs the money, believe me ! " And thereupon
the two women took their departure.
The conversation hung in Louisa's mind and she
looked exceedingly thoughtful when Cap'n Amazon
broke away from those with whom he had been
talking and joined her.
" Nice man, that Reverend Jimson, I guess," the
captain said, as they wended their way homeward;
" but he's got as many ways of holdin' a feller as
an octopus. And lemme tell you, that's a plenty!
Arms seem to grow on devilfish ' while you wait '
as the feller said.
" I sha'n't ever forget the time I was a boy in
the old Mary Bcdloc brig, out o' Boston, loaded
with sundries for Jamaica, to bring back molasses
—and something a leetle mite stronger. That's
'bout as near as I ever got to having traffic with
liquor—and 'twas an unlucky v'y'ge all the way
through.
" Before we ever got the rum aboard," pursued
Cap'n Amazon, " on our way down there, our water
went bad. Yes, sir ! Water does get stringy some
times on long v'y'ges. It useter on whalin' cruises
—get all stringy and bad; but after she'd worked
clear she'd be fit to drink again.
" But this time in the Mary Bcdloc it was some
thing mysterious happened to the drinking water.
Made the hull crew sick. Cap'n Jim Braman was
122 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
master. He was a good navigator, but an awful
profane man. Swore without no reason to it.
" Well Where was I ? Oh, yes ! We had light
airs in the Caribbean for once, and didn't make no
more headway in a day than a brick barge goin'
upstream. We come to an island—something more
than a key—and Cap'n Braman ordered a boat's
crew ashore for water. I was in the second's boat so
I went. We found good water easy and the second
officer, who was a nice young chap, let us scour
around on our own hook for fruit and such, after
we'd filled the barrels.
" I was all for shellfish them days, and I see
some big mussels attached to the rocks, it bein' low
water. Some o' them mussels, when ye gut 'em
same as ye would deep-sea clams, make the nicest
fry you ever tasted.
" Wal," said Cap'n Amazon, walking sedately
home from church with his amused niece on his
arm, " I wanted a few of them mussels. There
was a mud bottom and so the water was black.
Just as I reached for the first mussel I felt some
thing creeping around my left leg. I thought it
was eel-grass ; then I thought it was an eel.
" Next thing I knowed it took holt like a leech
in half a dozen places. I jumped; but I didn't
jump far. There was two o' the things had me, and
that left leg o' mine was fast as a duck's foot in
the mud!"
 What Louise Thinks 123
" Oh, Uncle Amazon ! " gasped Louise.
" Yep. A third arm whipped out o' the water
had helt me round the waist tighter'n any girl of
my acquaintance ever lashed her best feller. Land
sakes, that devilfish certainly give me a hi-mighty
hug!
" But I had what they call down in the Spanish
speakin' islands a machette—a big knife for cuttin'
your way through the jungle. I hauled that out o'
the waistband of my pants and I began slicing at
them snake-like arms of the critter and yelling like
all get-out.
" More scare't than hurt, I reckon. I was a
young feller, as I tell you, and hadn't seen so much
of the world as I have since," continued Cap'n
Amazon. " But the arms seemed fairly to grow
on that devilfish. I wasn't hacked loose when the
second officer come runnin' with his gun. I dragged
the critter nearer inshore and he got a look at it.
Both barrels went into that devilfish, and that was
more than it could stomach; so it let go," finished
the captain.
"Mercy! what an experience," commented
Louise, wondering rather vaguely why the minister
of the First Church had reminded her uncle of
this octopus.
" Yes. 'Twas some," agreed Cap'n Amazon.
" But let's step along a little livelier, Niece Louise.
I'm goin' to give you a re'l fisherman's chowder
124 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper

for dinner, an' I want to git the pork and onions

over. I like my onions well browned before I slice
in the potaters."
Cap'n Amazon insisted on doing most of the
cooking, just as Cap'n Abe had. Louise had baked
some very delicate pop-overs for breakfast that
morning and the captain ate his share with appre
ciation.
" Pretty average nice, I call 'em, for soft-fodder,"
he observed. " But, land sakes ! give me something
hearty and kind of solid for reg'lar eating. Or
dinary man would starve pretty handy, I guess, on
breadstuff like this."
The chowder was both as hearty and as appetiz
ing as one could desire. Nor would the captain
allow Louise to wash the dishes afterward.
" No, girl. I'll clean up this mess. You go out
and see how fur you can walk on that hard beach
now it's slack tide. You ain't been up there to
Tapp P'int yit and seen that big house that belongs
to the candy king. Neither have I, of course," he
added ; " but they been tellin' me about it in the
store."
Louise accepted the suggestion and started to
walk up the beach ; but she did not get far. There
was a private dock running out beyond low-water
mark just below the very first bungalow. She saw
several men coming down the steps from the top
of the bluff to the shore and the bathhouses; a big
 What Louise Thinks 125
camera was set up on the sands. This must be
BozewelPs bungalow, she decided ; the one engaged
by the moving picture people.
If Judson Bane was to be leading man of the
company the picture was very likely to be an im
portant production; for Bane would not leave the
legitimate stage for any small salary. Seeing no
women in the party and that the men were head
ing up the beach, Louise went no farther in that
direction, and instead walked out upon the private
dock to its end.
It was not until then that she saw, shooting in
shore, the swift launch in which Lawford Tapp
had come over in the morning previous. The wind
being off the land she had not heard its exhaust.
In three minutes the launch glided in beside the
dock where she stood.
"Come for a sail, Miss Grayling?" he asked
her, with his very widest smile. " I'll take you out
around Gull Rocks."
"Oh! I am not sure "
" Surely you're not down here to work on Sun
day?" and he glanced at the actors.
She laughed. " Oh, no, Mr. Tapp. I do not
work on Sundays. Uncle Amazon would not even
let me wash the dishes."
" I should think not," murmured Lawford with
an appreciative glance at her ungloved hands.
" He's a pretty decent old fellow, I guess. Will
126 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
you come aboard? She's perfectly safe, Miss
Grayling."
If he had invited her to enter the big touring
car he had driven that morning, to go for a " joy
ride," Louise Grayling would certainly have re
fused. To go on a pleasure trip at the invitation
of a chauffeur in his employer's car was quite out
of consideration.
But this was somehow different, or so it seemed.
She hesitated not because of who or what he was
(or what she believed him to be), but because she
had seen something in his manner and expression
of countenance that warned her he was a young
man not to be lightly encouraged.
In that moment of reflection Louise Grayling
asked herself if she felt that he possessed a more
interesting personality than almost any man she
had ever met socially before. She did so consider
him, she told herself, and so—she stepped aboard
the launch.
She did not need his hand to help her to the
seat beside him. She was boatwise. He pushed
off, starting his engine; and they were soon chug-
chugging out upon the limitless sea.
•

The launch irliiled in beside the ilock where she stood

 CHAPTER XI

THE LEADING MAN

" I saw you with Cap'n Amazon going to church

this morning," Lawford said. " To the First
Church, I presume ? "
"And you?"
" Oh, I drove the folks over to Paulmouth.
There is an Episcopal Church there and the girls
think it's more fashionable. You don't see many
soft-collared shirts among the Paulmouth Episco
palians."
There spoke the " native," Louise thought ; and
she smiled.
" It scarcely matters, I fancy, which denomina
tion one attends. It is the spirit in which we wor
ship that counts."
He gazed upon her seriously. " You're a
thoughtful girl, I guess. I should not have looked
for that—in your business."
" In my business ? Oh ! "
" We outsiders have an idea that people in the
theatrical line are a peculiar class unto themselves,"
Lawford went on.
" But I " On the point of telling him of his
127
128 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
mistake she hesitated. He was unobservant of her
amusement and went on with seriousness:
" I guess I'm pretty green after all. I don't know
much about the world—your world, at least. I
love the sea, and sailing, and all the seashore has
to offer. Sometimes I'm out here alone all day
long."
" But what is it doing for you? " she asked him
rather sharply. " Surely there can be very little in
it, when all's said and done. A man with your in
telligence—you have evidently had a good educa
tion."
" I suppose I don't properly appreciate that," he
admitted.
" And to really waste your time like this—loafing
longshore, and sailing boats, and—and driving an
automobile. Why ! you are a regular beach comber,
Mr. Tapp. It's not much of an outlook for a man
I should think."
She suddenly stopped, realizing that she was
showing more interest than the occasion called
for. Law ford was watching her with smoldering
eyes.
" Don't you think it is a nice way to live? " he
asked. " The sea is really wonderful. I have
learned more about sea and shore already than you
can find in all the books. Do you know where the
gulls nest, and how they hatch their young? Did
you ever watch a starfish feeding? Do you know
 The Leading Man 129
what part of the shellfish is the scallop of commerce?
Do you know that every seventh wave is almost
sure to be larger than its fellows? Do you "
" Oh, it may be very delightful," Louise inter
rupted this flow of badly catalogued information to
say. He expressed exactly her own desires. Noth
ing could be pleasanter than spending the time, day
after day, learning things " at first hand " about
nature. For her father—and of course for her—to
do this was quite proper, Louise thought. But not
for this young fisherman, who should be making his
way in the world. "Where is it getting you?"
she demanded.
"Getting me?"
" Yes," she declared with vigor, yet coloring a
little. " A man should work."
" But I'm not idle."
" He should work to get ahead—to save—to
make something of himself—to establish himself in
life—to have a home."
He smiled then and likewise colored. " I—I
A man can't do that alone. Especially the home-
making part."
" You don't suppose any of these girls about
here—the nice girls, I mean—want a man who is
not a home provider ? "
He laughed outright then. " Some of them get
that kind, I fear, Miss Grayling. Mandy Card,
for instance."
130 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
" Are you planning to be another Milt Baker? "
she responded with scorn.
" Oh, now, you're hard on a fellow," he com
plained. " I'm always busy. And, fixed as I am,
I don't see why I should grub and moil at un
pleasant things."
Louise shrugged her shoulders and made a ges
ture of finality. " You are impossible, I fear," she
said and put aside—not without a secret pang—her
interest in Lawford Tapp, an interest which had
been developing since she first met the young man.
He allowed the subject to lapse and began telling
her about the ledges on which the rock cod and
tautog schooled ; where bluefish might be caught on
the line, and snappers in the channels going into
the Haven.
" Good sport. I must take you out in the Merry
Andrew," he said. " She's a peach of a sailer—
and my very own."
" Oh! do you own the sloop, Mr. Tapp? "
" I guess I do ! And no money could buy her,"
he cried with boyish enthusiasm. " She's the best
lap-streak boat anywhere along the Cape. And
sail! "
" I love sailing," she confessed, with brightening
visage.
" Say! You just set the day—so it won't con
flict with your work—and I'll take you out," he de
clared eagerly.
 The Leading Man 131
" But won't it conflict with your duties? "
" Humph ! " he returned. " I thought your idea
was that I didn't have any duties. However," and
he smiled again, " you need not worry about that.
When you want to go I will arrange everything so
that I'll have a free day."
" But not alone, Mr. Tapp? "
" No," he agreed gravely. " I suppose that
wouldn't do. But we can rake up a chaperon some
where."
" Oh, yes ! " and Louise dimpled again. " We'll
take Betty Gallup along. She's an able seaman,
too."
"I bet she is!" ejaculated Lawford with em
phasis.
He handled the boat with excellent judgment, and
his confidence caused Louise to see no peril when
they ran almost on the edge of the maelstrom over
Gull Rocks. " I know this coast by heart," he said.
" I believe there's not one of them sailing out of
the Haven who is a better pilot than I am. At
least, I've learned that outside of textbooks," and
he smiled at her.
Louise wondered how good an education this
scion of a Cape Cod family really had secured. The
longer she was in his company the more she was
amazed by his language and manners. She noted,
too, that he was much better dressed to-day. His
flannels were not new; indeed they were rather
132 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
shabby. But the garments' original cost must have
been prohibitive for a young man in his supposed
position. Very likely, however, they had been given
him, second-hand, by some member of the family
for which he worked.
The more she saw of him, and the more she
thought about it, the greater was Louise's disap
pointment in Law ford Tapp. She was not exactly
sorry she had come out with him in the motor
boat; but her feeling toward him was distinctly
different when she landed, from that which had been
roused in her first acquaintance.
It was true he was not an idle young man—not
exactly. But he betrayed an ability and a training
that should already have raised him above his pres
ent situation in the social scale, as Louise under
stood it. She was disappointed, and although she
bade Lawford Tapp good-bye pleasantly she was
secretly unhappy.
The next morning she chanced to need several
little things that were not to be found in Cap'n
Abe's store and she went uptown in quest of them.
At midday she was still thus engaged, so she
went to the Inn for lunch.
Gusty Durgin spied her as she entered and found
a small table for Louise where she would be alone.
A fat woman whom Gusty mentioned as " the
boss's sister, Sara Ann Whipple," helped wait upon
the guests. Several of the business men of the town,
 The Leading Man 133
as well as the guests of the Inn, took their dinners
there.
To one man, sitting alone at a table not far dis
tant, Louise saw that Gusty was particularly at
tentive. He was typically a city man; one could
not for a moment mistake him for a product of the
Cape.
He was either a young-old or an old-young look
ing man, his hair graying at the temples, but very
luxuriant and worn rather long. A bright com
plexion and beautifully kept teeth and hands
marked him as one more than usually careful of his
personal appearance. Indeed, his character seemed
to border on that of the exquisite.
His countenance was without doubt attractive,
for it was intelligent and expressed a quiet humor
that seemed to have much kindliness mixed with
it. His treatment of the unsophisticated Gusty,
who hovered about him with open admiration, held
just that quality of good-natured tolerance which
did not offend the waitress but that showed dis
cerning persons that he considered her only in the
light of an artless child.
" D'you know who that is? " Gusty whispered to
Louise when she found time to do so. The plump
girl was vastly excited ; her hands shook as she set
down the dishes. " That's Mr. Judson Bane."
" Yes. I chanced to meet Mr. Bane once, as I
told you," smiled Louise, keeping up the illusion of
134 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
her own connection with the fringe of the theatrical
world.
" And Miss Louder and Miss Noyes have come.
My, you ought to see them! " said the emphatic
waitress. " They've got one o' them flivvers. Some
gen'leman friend of Miss Noyes' lent it to 'em.
They're out now hunting what they call a garridge
for it. That's a fancy name for a barn, I guess.
And dressed ! " gasped Gusty finally. " They're
dressed to kill ! "
" We shall have lively times around Cardhaven
now, sha'n't we?" Louise commented demurely.
" We almost always do in summer," Gusty
agreed with a sigh. " Last summer an Italian lost
his trick bear in the pine woods 'twixt here and
Paulmouth and the young 'uns didn't darest to go
out of the houses for a week. Poor critter ! When
they got him he was fair foundered eating green
cranberries in the bogs."
" Something doing," no matter what, was Gusty's
idea of life as it should be. Louise finished her
meal and went out of the dining-room. In the hall
her mesh bag caught in the latch of the screen door
and dropped to the floor. Somebody was right at
hand to pick it up for her.
" Allow me," said a deep and cultivated voice.
" Extremely annoying."
It was Mr. Bane, hat in hand. He restored the
bag, and as Louise quietly thanked him they walked
 The Leading Man 135
out of the Inn together. Louise was returning to
Cap'n Abe's store, and she turned in that direction
before she saw that Mr. Bane was bound down the
hill, too.
" I fancy we are fellow-outcasts," he said.
" You, too, are a visitor to this delightfully quaint
place?"
" Yes, Mr. Bane," she returned frankly.
" Though I can claim relationship to some of these
Cardhaven folk. My mother came from the
Cape."
" Indeed ? It is not such a far cry to Broadway
from any point of the compass, after all, is it?"
and he smiled engagingly down at her.
" You evidently do not remember me, Mr.
Bane ? " she said, returning his smile. " Aboard
the Anders Liner, coming up from Jamaica, two
years ago this last winter? Professor Ernest
Grayling is my father."
" Indeed ! " he exclaimed. " You are Miss Gray
ling? I remember you and your father clearly.
Fancy meeting you here!" and Mr. Bane insisted
on taking her hand. " And how is the professor ?
No need to ask after your health, Miss Grayling."
As they walked on together Louise took more
careful note of the actor. He had the full habit of
a well-fed man, but was not gross. He was athletic,
indeed, and his head was poised splendidly on
broad shoulders. Louise saw that his face was mas
136 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
saged until it was as pink and soft as a baby's, with
out a line of close shaving to be detected. The
network of fine wrinkles at the outer corners of
his eyes was scarcely distinguishable. That there
was a faint dust of powder upon his face she
noted, too.
Judson Bane was far, however, from giving the
impression of effeminacy. Quite the contrary. He
looked able to do heroic things in real life as well
as in the drama. And as their walk and conversa
tion developed, Louise Grayling found the actor to
be an interesting person.
He spoke well and without bombast upon any
subject she ventured on. His vocabulary was good
and his speaking voice one of the most pleasing she
had ever heard.
So interested was Louise in what Mr. Bane said
that she scarcely noticed Law ford Tapp who passed
and bowed to her, only inclining her head in re
turn. Therefore she did not catch the expression
on Law ford's face.
" A fine-looking young fisherman," observed Mr.
Bane patronizingly.
" Yes. Some of them are good-looking and more
intelligent than you would believe," Louise re
joined carelessly. She had put Lawford Tapp aside
as inconsequential.
 CHAPTER XII

THE DESCENT OF AUNT EUPHEMIA

It was midforenoon the following day, and quite

a week after Louise Grayling's arrival at Cap'n
Abe's store on the Shell Road, that the stage was
set for a most surprising climax.
The spirit of gloom still hovered over Betty
Gallup in the rear premises where she was sweep
ing and dusting and scrubbing. Her idea of clean
liness indoors was about the same as that of a
smart skipper of an old-time clipper ship.
"If that woman ain't holystonin' the deck ev'ry
day she thinks we're wadin' in dirt, boot-laig high,"
growled Cap'n Amazon.
" Cleanliness is next to godliness ! " quoted
Louise, who was in the store at the moment.
"Land sakes!" ejaculated the captain. "It's
next door to a lot of other things, seems like, too.
I shouldn't say that Bet Gallup was spillin' over
with piety."
Louise, laughing softly, went to the door. There
was a cloud of dust up the road and ahead of it
came a small automobile. Cap'n Amazon was
singing, in a rather cracked voice:
137
138 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
" ' The Bonndiri Biller, Captain Hanks,
She was hove fiat doum on the Western
Banks,' "

With a saucy blast of its horn the automobile

flashed past the store. There were two young x
women in it, one driving. Louise felt sure they
were Miss Louder and Miss Noyes, mentioned by
Gusty Durgin the day before, and their frocks and
hats were all that their names suggested.
" Them contraptions," Cap'n Amazon broke off
in his ditty to say, " go past so swift that you
can't tell rightly whether they got anybody to the
helm or not. Land sakes, here comes another!
They're getting as common as sandfleas on Horse-
neck Bar, and Washy Gallup says that's a-plenty."
lie did not need to come to the door to make this
discovery of the approach of the second machine.
There sounded another blast from an auto horn
and a considerable racket of clashing gears.
"Land sakes!" Cap'n Amazon added. "Is it
going to heave to here? "
Louise had already entered the living-room,
bound for her chamber to see if, by chance, Betty
had finished dusting there. She did not hear the
second automobile stop nor the cheerful voice of
its gawky driver as he said to his fare:
" This is the place, ma'am. This is Cap'n
Abe's."
 The Descent of Aunt Euphemia 139
His was the only car in public service at the
Paulmouth railroad station and Willy Peebles sel
dom had a fare to Cardhaven. Noah Coffin's ark
was good enough for most Cardhaven folk if they
did not own equipages of their own.
When Willy reached around and snapped open
the door of the covered car a lady stepped out and,
like a Newfoundland after a plunge into the sea,
shook herself. The car was a cramped vehicle and
the ride had been dusty. Her clothing was plenti
fully powdered; but her face was not. That was
heated, perspiring, and expressed a mixture of in
dignation and disapproval.
" Are you sure this is the place, young man ? "
she demanded.
" This is Cap'n Abe Silt's," repeated Willy.
" Why—it doesn't look "
"Want your suitcase, ma'am?" asked Willy.
" Wait. I am not sure. I—I must see if I .
I may not stay. Wait," she repeated, still star
ing about the neighborhood.
As a usual thing, she was not a person given to
uncertainty, in either manner or speech. Her some
what haughty glance, her high-arched nose, her thin
lips, all showed decision and a scorn of other peo
ple's opinions and wishes. But at this moment she
was plainly nonplused.
" There—there doesn't seem to be anybody
about," she faltered.
140 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
" Oh, go right into the store, ma'am. Cap'n
Abe's somewheres around. He always is."
Thus encouraged by the driver the woman stalked
up the store steps. She was not a ponderous
woman, but she was tall and carried considerable
flesh. She could carry this well, however, and did.
Her traveling dress and hat were just fashionable
enough to be in the mode, but in no extreme. This
well-bred, haughty, but perspiring woman ap
proached the entrance to Cap'n Abe's store in a
spirit of frank disapproval.
On the threshold she halted with an audible gasp,
indicating amazement. Her glance swept the in
terior of the store with its strange conglomeration
of goods for sale—on the shelves the rows of glow
ingly labeled canned goods, the blue papers of
macaroni, the little green cartons of fishhooks; the
clothing hanging in groves, the rows and rows of
red mittens; tiers of kegs of red lead, barrels of
flour, boxes of hardtack; hanks of tarred ground-
line, coils of several sizes of cordage, with a small
kedge anchor here and there. It was not so much
a store as it was a warehouse displaying many
articles the names and uses for which the lady did
not even know.
The wondrous array of goods in Cap'n Abe's
store did not so much startle the visitor, as the
figure that rose from behind the counter, where he
was stooping at some task.
 The Descent of Aunt Euphemia 141
She might be excused her sudden cry, for Cap'n
Amazon was an apparition to shock any nervous
person. The bandana he wore seemed, if possible,
redder than usual this morning; his earrings glis
tened; his long mustache seemed blacker and glos
sier than ever. As he leaned characteristically upon
the counter, his sleeves rolled to his elbows, the
throat-latch of his shirt open, he did not give one
impression of a peaceful storekeeper, to say the
least.
" Mornin', ma'am," said Cap'n Amazon, not at
all embarrassed. " What can I do for you,
ma'am? "
"You—you are not Captain Silt?" the visitor
almost whispered in her agitation.
" Yes, ma'am; I am."
"Captain Abram Silt?"
"No, ma'am; I ain't. I'm Cap'n Am'zon, his
brother. What can I do for you?" he repeated.
The explanation of his identity may have been be
coming tedious; at least, Cap'n Amazon gave it
grimly.
" Is—is my niece, Louise Grayling, here? "
queried the lady, her voice actually trembling, her
gaze glued to the figure behind the counter.
" 'Hem ! " said the captain, clearing his throat.
" Who did you say you was, ma'am ? "
" I did not say," the visitor answered stiffly
enough now. " I asked you a question."
142 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
" Likely—likely," agreed Cap'n Amazon. " But
you intimated that you was the a'nt of a party
by the name of Grayling. I happen to be her
uncle myself. Her mother was my ha'f-sister. I
don't remember—jest who'd you say you was,
ma'am ? "
" I am her father's own sister," cried the lady in
desperation.
" Oh, yes ! I see ! " murmured Cap'n Amazon.
" Then you must be her A'nt 'Phemie. I've heard
Louise speak of you. Tubbesure! "
" I am Mrs. Conroth," said Mrs. Euphemia
Conroth haughtily.
" Happy to make your acquaintance," said
Cap'n Amazon, bobbing his head and putting forth
his big hand. Mrs. Conroth scorned the hand,
raised her lorgnette and stared at the old mariner as
though he were some curious specimen from the
sea that she had never observed before. Cap'n
Amazon smiled whimsically and looked down at his
stained and toil-worn palm.
" I see you're nigh-sighted, ma'am. Some of us
git that way as we grow older. I never have been
bothered with short eyesight myself."
" I wish to see my niece at once," Mrs. Conroth
said, flushing a little at his suggestion of her ad
vancing years.
" Come right in," he said, lifting the flap in the
counter.
 The Descent of Aunt Euphemia 143
Mrs. Conroth glared around the store through
her glass. " Cannot Louise come here ? " she asked
helplessly.
" We live back o' the shop—and overhead," ex
plained Cap'n Amazon. " Come right in. I'll have
Betty Gallup call Louise."
Bristling her indignation like a porcupine its
quills, the majestic woman followed the spry figure
of the captain. Her first glance over the old-
fashioned, homelike room elicited a pronounced
sniff.
" Catarrh, ma'am? " suggested the perfectly com
posed Cap'n Amazon. " This strong salt air ought
to do it a world of good. I've known a sea v'y'ge
to cure the hardest cases. They tell me lots of
'em come down here to the Cape afflicted that way
and go home cured."
Mrs. Conroth stared with growing comprehen
sion at Cap'n Amazon. It began to percolate into
her brain that possibly this strange-looking seaman
possessed qualities of apprehension for which she
had not given him credit.
" Sit down, ma'am," said Cap'n Amazon hos
pitably. " Abe ain't here, but I cal'late he'd want
me to do the honors, and assure you that you are
welcome. He always figgers on having a spare
berth for anybody that boards us, as well as a seat
at the table.
" Betty," he added, turning to the amazed Mrs.
144 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
Gallup, just then appearing at the living-room
door, " tell Louise her A'nt 'Phemie is here, will
you? "
" Say Mrs. Conroth, woman," corrected the lady
tartly.
Betty scowled and went away, muttering : " Who's
a ' woman,' I want to know ? I ain't one no
more'n she is," and it can be set down in the log
that the " able seaman " began by being no friend
of Aunt Euphemia's.
It was with a sinking at her heart that Louise
heard of her aunt's arrival. She had written to
her Aunt Euphemia before leaving New York that
she had decided to try Cape Cod for the summer
and would go to her mother's relative, Captain
Abram Silt. Again, on reaching the store on the
Shell Road, she had dutifully written a second let
ter announcing her arrival.
She had known perfectly well that some time she
would have to " pay the piper." Aunt Euphemia
would never overlook such a thing. Louise was
sure of that. But the idea that the Poughkeepsie
lady would follow her to Cardhaven never for a
moment entered Louise's thought.
She had put off this reckoning until the fall—
until the return of daddy-professor. But here
Aunt Euphemia had descended upon her as unex
pectedly as the Day of Wrath spoken of in Holy
Writ.
 The Descent of Aunt Euphemia 145
As she came down the stairs she heard her uncle's
voice in the living-room. Something had started
him upon a tale of adventure above and beyond the
usual run of his narrative.
" Yes, ma'am," he was saying, " them that go
down to the sea in ships, as the Good Book says,
sartain sure meet with hair-raisin' experiences.
You jumped then, ma'am, when old Jerry let out
a peep. He was just tryin' his voice I make no
doubt. Ain't sung for months they say. I didn't
know why till I—I found out t'other day he was
blind—stone blind. >
" Some thinks birds don't know nothing, or ain't
much account in this man-world But, as I was
sayin', I lay another course. I'll never forget one
v'y'ge I made on the brigantine Hermione. That
was 'fore the day of steam-winches and we carried
a big crew—thirty-two men for'ard and a big after
guard.
" Well, ma'am ! Whilst she was hove down in a
blow off the Horn an albatross came aboard. You
know what they be—the one bird in all the seven
seas that don't us'ally need a dry spot for the sole
of his foot. If Noah had sent out one from the
ark he'd never have come back with any sprig of
promise for the land-hungry wanderers shut up in
that craft.
" Tis bad luck they do say to kill an albatross.
Some sailors claim ev'ry one o' them is inhabited
146 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
by a lost soul. I ain't superstitious myself. I'm
only telling you what happened.
" Dunno why that bird boarded us. Mebbe he
was hurt some way. Mebbe 'twas fate. But he
swooped right inboard, his wing brushing the men
at the wheel. Almost knocked one o' them down.
He was a Portugee man named Tony Spadello and
he had a Ke'l quick temper.
" Tony had his knife out in a flash and jumped
for the creature. The other steersman yelled (one
man couldn't rightly hold the wheel alone, the sea
was kicking up such a bobberation) but Tony's one
slash was enough. The albatross tumbled right
down on the deck, a great cut in its throat. It bled
like a dog shark, cluttering up the deck."
" Horrid ! " murmured Mrs. Conroth with a
shudder of disgust.
" Yes—the poor critter ! " agreed Cap'n Amazon.
" I never like to see innocent, dumb brutes killed.
Cap'n Hicks—he was a young man in them days,
and boastful—cursed the mess it made, yanked off
the bird's head, so's to have the beautiful pink beak
of it made into the head of a walkin'-stick, and
ordered Tony to throw the carcass overboard and
clean up the deck. I went to the wheel in his stead,
with Jim Ledward. Jim says to me : ' Am'zon, that
bird'll foller us. Can't git rid of it so easy as
that.'
" I thought he was crazy," went on Cap'n Ama
 The Descent of Aunt Euphemia 147*
zon, shaking his head. " I wasn't projectin' much
about superstitions. No, ma'am ! We had all we
could do—the two of us—handlin' the wheel with
them old graybacks huntin' us. Them old he
waves hunt in droves mostly, and when one did
board us we couldn't scarce get clear of the wash
of it before another would rise right up over our
rail and fill the waist, or mebbe sweep everything
clean from starn to bowsprit.
" It was sundown (only we hadn't seen no sun
in a week) when that albatross was killed and
hove overboard. At four bells of the mornin'
watch one o' them big waves come inboard. It
washed everything that wasn't lashed into the
scuppers and took one of our smartest men over
board with it. But there, floatin' in the wash it
left behind, was the dead albatross!"
" Oh, how terrible ! " murmured Mrs. Conroth,
watching Cap'n Amazon much as a charmed bird
is said to watch a snake.
" Yes, ma'am ; tough to lose a shipmate like that,
I agree. But that was only the beginning. Cap'n
Hicks pitched the thing overboard himself.
Couldn't ha' got one of the men, mebbe, to touch
it. Jim Ledward says : ' Skipper, ye make nothin'
by that. It's too late. Bad luck's boarded us.'
" And sure 'nough it had," sighed Cap'n Amazon,
as though reflecting. " You never did see such a
time as we had in gettin' round the Cape. And
148 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
we got it good in the roarin' forties, too—hail,
sleet, snow, rain, and lightnin' all mixed, and the
sea a reg'lar hell's broth all the time."
" I beg of you, sir," breathed the lady, shud
dering again. Cap'n Amazon, enthralled by his
own narrative, steamed ahead without noticing her
shocked expression.
" One hurricane on top of another—that's what
we got. We lost four men overboard, includin'
the third officer, one time and another. I was
knocked down myself and got a broken arm—had
it in a sling nine weeks. We got fever in a port
that hadn't had such an epidemic in six months,
and seven of the crew had to be took ashore.
" Bad luck dogged us and the ship. Only, it
never touched the skipper or Tony Spadello—the
only two that had handled the albatross. That is,
not as far as I know. Last time I see Cappy Hicks
he was carryin' his cane with the albatross beak
for a handle; and Tony Spadello has made a bar
rel of money keeping shop on the Bedford docks.
" But birds have an influence in the world, I take
it, like other folks. You wouldn't think, ma'am,
how much store my brother Abe sets by old Jerry
yonder."
Aunt Euphemia jumped up with an exclamation
of relief. " Louise ! " she uttered as she saw the
girl, amusement in her eyes, standing in the
doorway.
 CHAPTER XIII

WASHY GALLUP'S CURIOSITY

" I do not see how you can endure it, Louise !

He is impossible—quite impossible! I never knew
your tastes were low ! "
Critical to the tips of her trembling fingers, Aunt
Euphemia sat stiffly upright in Louise's bedroom
rocking chair and uttered this harsh reflection upon
her niece's good taste. Louise never remembered
having seen her aunt so angry before. But she
was provoked herself, and her determination to go
her own way and spend her summer as she chose
stiffened under the lash of the lady's criticism.
"What will our friends think of you?" de
manded Mrs. Conroth. " I am horrified to have
them know you ever remained overnight in such
a place. There are the Perritons. They were on
the train with me coming down from Boston.
They are opening their house here at what they
call The Beaches—one of the most exclusive colonies
on the coast, I understand. They insisted upon my
coming there at once, and I have promised to bring
you with me."
" You have promised more than you can per
149
150 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
form, Aunt Euphemia," Louise replied shortly.
" I will remain here."
"Louise!"
" I will remain here with Cap'n Amazon. And
with Uncle Abram when he returns. They are both
dear old men "
" That awful looking pirate! " gasped Mrs. Con-
roth.
" You do not know him," returned the girl.
" You do not know how worthy and how kind he
is."
" You have only known him a week yourself,"
remarked Aunt Euphemia. " What can a young
girl like you know about these awful creatures—
fishermen, sailors, and the like? How can you
judge?"
Louise laughed. " Why, Auntie, you know I
have seen much of the world and many more peo
ple than you have. And if I have not learned to
judge those I meet by this time I shall never learn,
though I grow to be as old as "—she came near
saying " as you are," but substituted instead—" as
Mrs. Methuselah. I shall remain here. I would
not insult Cap'n Amazon or Cap'n Abe, by leaving
abruptly and going with you to the Perritons'
bungalow."
" But what shall I say to them ? " wailed Aunt
Euphemia.
" What have you already said ? "
 Washy Gallup's Curiosity 151
" I said I expected you were waiting for me at
Cardhaven. I would not come over from Paul-
mouth in their car, but hurried on ahead. I
wished to save you the disgrace—yes, disgrace!—
of being found here in this—this country store.
Ugh ! " She shuddered again.
" I am determined that they shall not know your
poor, dear father unfortunately married beneath
him."
"Aunt Euphemia!" exclaimed Louise, her gray
eyes flashing now. " Don't say that. It offends
me. Daddy-prof never considered my mother or
her people beneath his own station."
" Your father, Louise, is a fool ! " was the lady's
tart reply.
" As he is your brother as well as my father,"
Louise told her coldly, " I presume you feel you
have a right to call him what you please. But I
assure you, Aunt Euphemia, it does not please me
to hear you do so."
" You are a very obstinate girl ! "
" That attribute of my character I fancy I inherit
from daddy-professor's side of the family," the girl
returned bluntly.
" I shall be shamed to death ! I must accept the
Perritons' invitation. I already have accepted it.
They will think you a very queer girl, to say the
least."
" I am," her niece told her, the gray eyes smiling
152 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
again, for Louise was soon over her wrath. " Even
daddy-prof says that."
" Because of his taking you all over the world
with him as he did. I only wonder he did not
insist upon your going on this present horrid
cruise."
" No. I have begun to like my comfort too well,"
and now Louise laughed outright. " A mark of
oncoming age, perhaps."
" You are a most unpleasant young woman,
Louise."
Louise thought she might return the compliment
with the exchange of but a single word; but she
was too respectful to do so.
" I am determined to remain here," she repeated,
" so you may as well take it cheerfully, auntie. If
you intend staying with the Perritons any length
of time, of course I shall see you often, and meet
them. I haven't come down here to the Cape to
play the hermit, I assure you. But I am settled
here with Cap'n Amazon, and I am comfortable.
So, why should I make any change? "
" But in this common house ! With that awful
looking old sailor! And the way he talks! The
rough adventures he has experienced—and the way
he relates them! "
" Why, I think he is charming. And his stories
are jolly fun. He tells the most thrilling and in
teresting things! I have before heard people tell
 Washy Gallup's Curiosity 153
about queer corners of the world—and been in some
of them myself. Only the romance seems all
squeezed out of such places nowadays. But when
Cap'n Amazon was young! " she sighed.
" You should hear him tell of having once been
wrecked on an island in the South Seas where
there were only women left of the tribe inhabiting
it, the men all having been killed in battle by a
neighboring tribe. The poor sailors did not know
whether those copper-colored Eves would decide to
kill and eat them, or merely marry them."
" Louise! " Aunt Euphemia rose and fairly glared
at her niece. " You show distinctly that associa
tion with these horrid people down here has already
contaminated your mind. You are positively
vulgar! "
She sailed out of the room, descended the stairs,
and " beat up " through the living-room and store,
as Betty Gallup said " with ev'ry stitch of canvas
drawin' and a bone in her teeth.'" Louise agreed
about the " bone "—she had given her Aunt
Euphemia a hard one to gnaw on.
The girl followed Mrs. Conroth to the automo
bile and helped her in. Cap'n Amazon came to the
store door as politely as though he were seeing an
honored guest over the ship's side.
" Ask your A'nt 'Phemie to come again. Too
bad she ain't satisfied to jine us here. Plenty o'
cabin room. But if she's aimin' to anchor near by
154 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
she'll be runnin' in frequent I cal'late. Good-day
to ye, ma'am ! "
Aunt Euphemia did not seem even to see him.
She was also afflicted with sudden deafness.
" Louise ! I shall never forget this—never ! " she
declared haughtily, as Willy Peebles started the
car and it rumbled on down the Shell Road.
Unable to face Cap'n Amazon just then for sev
eral reasons, Louise did not re-enter the store but
strolled down to the sands. There was a skiff
drawn up above high-water mark and the hcop-
backed figure of Washy Gallup sat in it. He was
mending a net. He nodded with friendliness to
Louise, his jaw working from side to side like a
cow chewing her cud—and for the same reason.
Washy had no upper teeth left.
"How be you this fine day, miss?" the old
fellow asked sociably. " It's enough to put new
marrer in old bones, this weather. Cold weather
lays me up same's any old hulk. An' I been used
to work, I have, all my life. Warn't none of 'em
any better'n me in my day."
" You have done your share, I am sure, Mr.
Gallup," the girl said, smiling cheerfully down
upon him. " Yours is the time for rest."
"Rest? How you talk!" exclaimed Washy.
" A man ought to be able to airn his own pollock
and potaters, or else he might's well give up the
ship. I tell 'em if I was only back in my young
 Washy Gallup's Curiosity 155
days where I could do a full day's work, I'd be
satisfied."
Louise had turned up a fiddler with the toe of
her boot. As the creature scurried for sanctuary,
Washy observed :
" Them's curious critters. All crabs is."
" I think they are curious," Louise agreed.
" Like a cross-eyed man. Look one way and run
another."
" Surely—surely. Talk about a curiosity—the
curiousest-osity I ever see was a crab they have in
Japanese waters; big around's a clam-bucket and
danglin', gre't long laigs to it like a sea-going
giraffe."
Louise was thankful for this opportunity for
laughter, for that " curiousest-osity " was too much
for her sense of the ludicrous.
Like almost every other man of any age that
Louise had met about Cardhaven—save Cap'n Abe
himself—Washy had spent a good share of his life
in deep-bottomed craft. But he had never risen
higher than petty officer.
" Some men's born to serve afore the mast—or
how'd we git sailors ? " observed the old fellow,
with all the philosophy of the unambitious man.
" Others get into the afterguard with one, two,
three, and a jump! " His trembling fingers knotted
the twine dexterously. " Now, there's your
uncle."
156 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
"Uncle Amazon?" asked Louise.
" No, miss. Cap'n Abe, I mean. This here
Am'zon Silt, 'tis plain to be seen, has got more
salt water than blood in his veins. Cap'n Abe's
a nice feller—not much again him here where he's
lived and kep' store for twenty-odd year. 'Ceptin'
his yarnin' 'bout his brother all the time. But from
the look of Cap'n Am'zon I wouldn't put past him
anything that Cap'n Abe says he's done—and
more.
" But Abe himself, now, I'd never believed would
trust himself on open water."
" Yet," cried Louise, " he's shipped on a sailing
vessel, Uncle Amazon says. He's gone for a
voyage."
" Ye-as. But has he?" Washy retorted, his
head on one side and his rheumy old eyes looking
up at her as sly as a ferret's.
"What do you mean?"
" We none of us—none of the neighbors, I mean
—seen him go. As fur's we know he didn't go
away at all. We're only taking his brother's word
for it."
" Why, Mr. Gallup ! You're quite as bad as
Betty. One would think to hear you and her talk
that Cap'n Amazon was a fratricide."
"Huh?"
" That he had murdered his brother," explained
the girl.
 Washy Gallup's Curiosity 157
" That's fratter side, is it ? Well, I don't take
no stock in such foolishness. Them's Bet Gallup's
notions. Cap'n Am'zon's all right, to my way o'
thinkin'. I was talkin' about Cap'n Abe."
" I do not understand you at all, then," said the
puzzled girl.
" I see you don't just foller me," he replied
patiently. " I ain't casting no alligators at your
Uncle Am'zon. It's Cap'n Abe. I doubt his goin'
to sea at all. I bet he never shipped aboard that
craft his brother tells about."
"Goodness! Why not?"
" 'Cause he ain't a sea-goin' man. There's a few
o' such amongst Cape Codders. Us'ally they go
away from the sea before they git found out,
though."
"'Found out?'" the girl repeated with exas
peration. "Found out in what?"
" That they're scare't o' blue water," Washy said
decidedly. " Nobody 'round here ever seen Cap'n
Abe outside the Haven. He wouldn't no more
come down here, push this skiff afloat, and row out
to deep water than he'd go put his hand in a wild
tiger's mouth—no, ma'am ! "
"Why, isn't that very ridiculous?" Louise said,
not at all pleased. " Of course Cap'n Abe shipped
on that boat just as Cap'n Amazon said he was
going to. Otherwise he would have been back—
or we would have heard from him."
158 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
"He did, hey?" responded Washy sharply,
springing the surprise he had been leading up to.
" Then why didn't he take his chist with him ? It's
come back to the Paulmouth depot, so Perry Baker
says, it not being claimed down to Boston."
 CHAPTER XIV

A CHOICE OF CHAPERONS

Washy Gallup's gossip should not have made

much impression upon Louise Grayling's mind, but
it fretted her. Perhaps her recent interview with
Aunt Euphemia had rasped the girl's nerves. She
left the old fisherman with a tart speech and re
turned to the store.
There were customers being waited upon, so she
had no opportunity to mention the matter of
Cap'n Abe's chest to the substitute storekeeper at
once. Then, when she had taken time to consider
it, she decided not to do so.
It really was no business of hers whether Cap'n
Abe had taken his chest with him when he sailed
from Boston or not. She had never asked Cap'n
Amazon the name of the vessel his brother was
supposed to have shipped on. Had she known it
was the Curlew, the very schooner on which Pro
fessor Grayling had sailed, she would, of course,
have shown a much deeper interest. And had Cap'n
Amazon learned from Louise the name of the craft
her father was aboard, he surely would have men
tioned the coincidence.
159
160 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
It stuck in the girl's mind—the puzzle about
Cap'n Abe's chest—but it did not come to her lips.
Looking across the table that evening, after the
store was closed, as they sat together under the
hanging lamp, she wondered that Cap'n Amazon
did not speak of it if he knew his brother's chest
had been returned to the Paulmouth express agent.
Without being in the least grim-looking in her
eyes, there was an expression on Cap'n Amazon's
face, kept scrupulously shaven, that made one hesi
tate to pry into or show curiosity regarding any of
his private affairs.
'. He might be perfectly willing to tell her anything
she wished to know. He was frank enough in re
lating his personal experiences up and down the
seas, that was sure!
Cap'n Amazon puffed at his pipe and tried to
engage the attention of Diddimus. The big tortoise-
shell ran from him no longer; but he utterly re
fused to be petted. He now lay on the couch and
blinked with a bored manner at the captain.
If Louise came near him he purred loudly, put
ting out a hooked claw to catch her skirt and stop
her, and so get his head rubbed. But if Cap'n
Amazon undertook any familiarities, Diddimus
arose in dignified silence and changed his place or
left the room.
" Does beat all," the captain said reflectively,
reaching for his knitting, " what notions dumb
 A Choice of Chaperons 161
critters get. We had a black man and a black dog
with us aboard the fo'master Sally S. Stern when
I was master, out o' Baltimore for Chilean ports.
Bill was the blackest negro, I b'lieve, I ever see.
You couldn't see him in the dark with his mouth
and eyes both shut. And that Newfoundland of
his was just as black and his coat just as kinky
as Bill's wool. The crew called 'em the two Snow
balls."
" What notion did the dog take, Uncle Ama
zon? " Louise asked as he halted. Sometimes he re
quired a little urging to " get going." But not
much.
" Why, no matter what Bill did around the deck,
or below, or overside, or what not, the dog never
seemed to pay much attention to him. But the
minute Bill started aloft that dog began to cry—
whine and bark—and try to climb the shrouds
after that nigger. Land sakes, you never in your
life saw such actions! Got so we had to chain the
dog Snowball whenever it came on to blow, for
there's a consarned lot o' reefin' down and hoistin'
sail on one o' them big fo'masters. The skipper't
keeps his job on a ship like the Sally S. Stem must
get steamboat speed out o' her.
" So, 'twas ' all hands to stations ! ' sometimes
three and four times in a watch. Owners ain't
overlib'ral in matter of crew nowadays. Think
because there's a donkey-engine on deck and a
162 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
riggin' to hoist your big sails, ye don't re'lly need
men for'ard at all.
" That v'y'ge out in pertic'lar I remember that
there was two weeks on a stretch that not a soul
aboard had more'n an hour's undisturbed sleep.
And that dog! Poor brute, I guess he thought
Bill was goin' to heaven and leavin' him behind
ev'ry time the nigger started for the masthead.
" I most always," continued Cap'n Amazon,
" seen to it myself that the dog was chained when
Bill was likely to go aloft. I liked that dog. He
was a gentleman, if he was black. And Bill was
a good seaman, and with a short tongue. The dog
was about the only critter aboard he seemed to
cotton to. Nothin' was too good for the dog, and
the only way I got Bill to sign on was by agree
ing to take the Newfoundland along.
" Well, we got around the Horn much as us'al.
Windjammers all have their troubles there. And
then, not far from the western end o' the Straits
we got into a belt of light airs—short, gusty winds
that blew every which way. It kept the men in
the tops most of the time. Some of 'em vowed
they was goin' to swing their hammocks up
there.
" Come one o' those days, with the old Sally just
loafin' along," pursued Cap'n Amazon, sucking
hard on his pipe, " when I spied a flicker o' wind
comin', and the mate he sent the men gallopin' up
 A Choice of Chaperons 163
the shrouds. I'd forgot the dog. So had Nigger
Bill, I reckon.
" Bill was one o' the best topmen aboard. He
was up there at work before the dog woke up and
started ki-yi-ing. He bayed Bill like a beagle
hound at the foot of a coon tree. Then, jumping,
he caught the lower shrouds with his forepaws.
" The new slant of the wind struck us at the
same moment. The old Sally S. heeled to lar
board and that Newfoundland was jerked over the
rail."
"The poor thing!" Louise cried.
" You'd ha' thought so. I wouldn't have felt
no worse if one of the men had gone over.
Owner's business, or not, I sung out to the second
to get his boat out and I kicked off my shoes,
grabbed a life-ring, and jumped myself."
"You! Uncle Amazon?" gasped his niece.
" Yep. The mate had the deck and I was the
only man free. There wasn't much of a sea run-
nin', anyway. No pertic'lar danger. That is, not
commonly.
" But the minute I come up to the surface and
rose breast-high, dashin' the water out o' my eyes
so's to look around for the dog, I seen I'd been a
leetle mite too previous, as the feller said. I
hadn't taken into consideration one pertic'lar chance
—like the feller't married one o' twins an' then
couldn't tell which from t'other.
164 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
" I see Snowball the dog, all right ; but headin'
for him like a streak o' greased lightin' was the
triandicular fin of a shark. I'd forgot all about
those fellers ; and we hadn't see one for weeks, any
way. In warmer waters than them the Sally S.
Stem was then in, the sharks will come right up
and stand with their noses out o' the sea begging
like a dog for scraps. They'd bark if they knew
how, by gravy!
" Well," went on Cap't Amazon while Louise
listened spellbound, " that dog Snowball was in a
bad fix. A dog's a dog—almost human as you
might say. But I wasn't aimin' puttin' myself in
a shark's mouth for a whole kennel full o' dogs.
" Mind you, not minutes but only seconds had
passed since the dog shot outboard. The ship was
not movin' fast. She heeled over again and her
spars and flappin' canvas was almost over my head
as I glanced up.
" And then I seen a sight—I did, for a fact. I
cal'late you never give a thought to how high the
teetering top of a mast on such a vessel as the
Sally S. Stern is, from the ocean level. Never
did, eh?
" Well," as the enthralled Louise shook her
head, " they're taller than a lot of these tall build
ings you see in the city. ' Skyscrapers ' they call
'em. That's what the old Sally's topmasts looked
like gazin' up at 'em out of the sea. They looked
 A Choice of Chaperons 165
like they brushed the wind-driven clouds chasin'
overhead.
" And out o' that web of riggin' and small spars,
and slattin' canvas, and other gear, I seen a man's
body hurled into the air. It was Snowball, the
man. Bill his right name was.
" Flung himself, he did, clean out o' the ship and
as she heeled back to starboard he shot down, feet
first, straight as a die, and made a hole in the sea
not ha'f a cable's length from me and nearer the
dog than I was. And as he came down I seen his
open knife flashing in his hand.
" Yes, my dear, that was a mem'rable leap.
Talk about these fellers jumpin' off that there
Brooklyn Bridge! 'Tain't much higher.
" The mate brought the Sally S. Stem up into
the wind, the second's crew got the boat over, and
they picked me up in a jiffy. Then I stood up and
yelled for 'em to pull on, for I could see the man,
the dog, and the shark almost in a bunch together.
" But," concluded Cap'n Amazon, " a nigger ain't
often much afraid of a shark. When we got to
'em there was a patch of bloody water and foam;
but it wasn't the blood of neither of the Snowballs
that was spilled. They come out of it without a
scratch."
" Oh, Cap'n Amazon, what a really wonderful
life you have led! " Louise said earnestly.
Cap'n Amazon's eye brightened, and he looked
166 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
vastly pleased. Whenever he made a serious im
pression with one of his tales of personal achieve
ment or peril, he was as frankly delighted as a
child.
" Yes, ain't I ? " he observed. " I don't for the
life of me see how Abe's stood it ashore all these
years. An' him keepin' a shop ! " and he sniffed
scornfully.
Before Louise could make rejoinder, or bolster
up the reputation of the absent Cap'n Abe in any
way, the noise of an automobile stopping before the
store was audible.
" Now, if that's one o' them summer fellers for
gas I shall raise the price of it—I vow! " ejaculated
Cap'n Amazon, but getting up briskly and laying
aside his pipe and knitting.
The summons did not come on the store door.
Somebody opened the gate, came to the side door
and rapped. Cap'n Amazon shuffled into the hall
and held parley with the caller.
" Why, come right in ! Sure she's here—an'
we're both sittin' up for comp'ny," Louise heard
the captain say heartily.
He ushered in Lawford Tapp. Not the usual
Lawford, in rough fisherman's clothing or boating
flannels—or even in the chauffeur's uniform
Louise supposed he sometimes wore. But in the
neat, well-fitting clothing of what the habit-adver
tising pages of the magazines term the " up-to
 A Choice of Chaperons 167
date young man." His sartorial appearance out
classed that of any longshoreman she had ever
imagined.
Louise gave him her hand with just a little ap
prehension. She realized that for a young man to
make an evening call upon a girl in a simple com
munity such as Cardhaven might cause comment
which she did not care to arouse. But it seemed
Law ford Tapp had an errand.
" I do not know, Miss Grayling, whether you
care to go out in my Merry Andrew now that your
friends have arrived," he said. " But if you do,
we might go on Thursday."
"Day after to-morrow? Why not?" she re
plied with alacrity. " Of course I shall be glad to
go—as I already assured you. My—er—friends'
coming makes no difference." She thought he
referred to Aunt Euphemia and the Perritons.
" They will not take up so much of my time that
I shall have to desert all my other acquaintances."
Law ford cheered up immensely at this statement.
Cap'n Amazon had gone into the store at once and
now"returned with his box of "private stock two-
fors," one of which choice cigars each of the men
took.
" Light up! Light up! " he said cordially. " My
niece don't mind the smell of tobacker." Cap'n
Amazon was much more friendly with Law ford
than Louise might have expected him to be. But,
168 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
of course, hospitality was a form of religion with
the Silt brothers. They could neither of them have
treated a guest shabbily.
Indeed, under the influence of the cigar and the
presence of another listener, the captain expanded.
With little urging he related incident after incident
of his varied career—stories of stern trial, of dan
gerous adventure, of grim fights with the ravening
sea; peril by shipwreck, by fire, by savages; en
counters with whales and sharks, with Malay
pirates; voyaging with a hold full of opium-crazed
coolie laborers, and of actual mutiny on the
hermaphrodite brig, Galatea, when Cap'n Amazon
alone of all the afterguard was left alive to fight
the treacherous crew and navigate the ship.
Those two hours were memorable—and would
remain so in Louise's mind for weeks. Lawford
Tapp, too, quite gave himself up to the charm of
the old romancer. To watch Cap'n Amazon's dark
intent face and his glowing eyes, while he told of
these wonders of sea and land, would have thrilled
the most sophisticated listener.
"Isn't he a wonder?" murmured Lawford, as
Louise accompanied him to the gate and watched
him start the automobile engine. " I never heard
such a fellow in my life. And good as gold! "
Louise had made up her mind to be distinctly
casual with the young man hereafter; but his hearty
praise of her uncle warmed her manner toward
 A Choice of Chaperons 169
him. Besides, she had to confess in secret that
Law ford was most likable.
She mentioned her aunt's arrival in the neighbor
hood and he asked, laughing:
" Oh, then shall we have her for our chaperon? "
" Aunt Euphemia ? Mercy, no ! I have chosen
Betty Gallup and believe me, Mr. Tapp, Betty is
much to be preferred."
It was odd that Louise had not yet discovered
who and what Law ford Tapp was. Yet the girl
had talked with few of the neighbors likely to dis
cuss the affairs of the summer residents along The
Beaches. And, of course, she asked Cap'n Amazon
no questions, for he was not likely to possess the
information.
After she had bidden her uncle good-night and
retired, thoughts of Lawford Tapp kept her mind
alert. She could not settle herself to sleep. With
the lamp burning brightly on the stand at the bed
side and herself propped with pillows, she opened
the old scrapbook found in the storeroom chest and
fluttered its pages.
Almost immediately she came upon a story re
lated in the Newport Mercury. It was the sup
posedly veracious tale of an ancient sea captain who
had been a whaler in the old days.
There, almost word for word, was printed the
story Cap'n Amazon had told her that evening
about the black man and the black dog!
 CHAPTER XV

THE UNEXPECTED

The finding of one of Cap'n Amazon's amazing

narratives of personal prowess in the old scrapbook
shocked Louise Grayling. The mystery of the thing
made alert her brain and awoke in the girl vague
suspicions that troubled her for hours. Indeed,
it was long that night before she could get to
sleep.
During these days of acquaintanceship and fa
miliarity with the old sea captain she had learned
to love him so well for his good qualities that it
was easy for her to forgive his faults. If he
" drew the long bow " in relating his adventures,
his niece was prepared to excuse the failing.
There was, too, an explanation of this matter,
and one not at all improbable. The reporter of the
Mercury claimed to have taken down the story of
the black man who had fought a shark for the life
of his dog just as it fell from the lips of an
ancient mariner. This mariner might have been
Cap'n Amazon Silt himself. Why not? The cap
tain might have been more modest in relating his
170
 The Unexpected 171
personal connection with the incident when talking
with the reporter than he had been in relating the
story to his niece.
Still, even with this suggested explanation wel
comed to her mind, Louise Grayling was puzzled.
She went through the entire scrapbook, skimming
the stories there related, to learn if any were fa
miliar. But no. She found nothing to suggest any
of the other tales Cap'n Amazon had related in
her hearing. And it was positive that her uncle
had not read this particular story of the black
man and the black dog since coming to the store
on the Shell Road, for Louise had had possession
of the book.
Therefore she was quite as mystified when she
fell asleep at dawn as she had been when first her
discovery was made. She was half determined to
probe for an explanation of the coincidence when
she came downstairs to a late breakfast. But no
good opportunity presented itself for the broaching
of any such inquiry.
She wished to make preparations for the fishing
party in the Merry Andrew, and that kept her in
the kitchen part of the day. She baked a cake and
made filling for sandwiches.
Betty Gallup accepted the invitation to accom
pany Louise on the sloop without hesitation. She
approved of Law ford Tapp. Yet she dropped noth
ing in speaking of the young man to open Louise's
172 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
eyes to the fact that he was the son of a multi
millionaire.
The activities of the moving picture company in
creased on this day; but it was not until the follow
ing morning, when Louise went shoreward with the
tackle and the smaller lunch basket, that she again
saw Mr. Judson Bane to speak to. As she sat upon
the thwart of the old skiff where Washy Gallup had
mended his net, the handsome leading man of the
picture company strolled by.
Bane certainly made a picturesque fisherman,
whether he looked much like the native breed or
not. An open-air studio had been arranged on the
beach below the Bozewell bungalow, and Louise
could see a director trying to give a number of
actors his idea of what a group of fishermen mend
ing their nets should look like.
" He should engage old Washy Gallup to give
color to the group," Louise said to Bane, laughing.
" Anscomb is having his own troubles with that
bunch," sighed the leading man. " Some of them
never saw a bigger net before than one to catch
minnows. Do you sail in this sloop I see coming
across from the millionaire's villa, Miss Grayling? "
" Yes," Louise replied. " Mr. Tapp is kind
enough to take us fishing."
" You are, then, one of these fortunate crea
tures," and Bane's sweeping gesture indicated that
he referred to the occupants of the cottages set
 The Unexpected 173
along the bluff above The Beaches, " who toil not,
neither do they spin. I fancied you might be one
of us. Rather, I've heard that down here."
" That surmise gained coinage when I first ar
rived at Cardhaven," Louise said, dimpling. " I did
nothing to discourage the mistake, and I presume
Gusty Durgin still believes I pose before the
camera."
" Gusty has aspirations that way herself,"
chuckled Bane. " She is a character."
" I wonder what kind of screen actresss I would
make?"
He smiled down at her rather grimly. " The
kind the directors call the appealing type, I fancy,
Miss Grayling. Though I have no doubt you would
do much better than most. Making big eyes at a
camera is the limit of art achieved by many of our
feminine screen stars. I do not expect to put in
a very pleasant summer amid my present sur
roundings."
" Oh, then you are here for more than one
picture."
" Several, if the weather proves propitious. I
shall play the fisherman hero, or the villain, until
my manager has my new play ready in the fall.
Believe me, Miss Grayling, I am not in love with
this picture drama. But when one is offered for
his resting season half as much again as he can
possibly earn during the run of a legitimate Broad
174 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
way production he must not be blamed for accept
ing the contract. We all bow to the power of
gold."
Louise, whose gaze was fixed upon the approach
ing sloop, smiled. She was thinking : " All but
Lawford Tapp, the philosophic fisherman! "
"I believe," Bane said, with flattery, "that I
should delight to play opposite to you, Miss Gray
ling, rank amateur though you would be. This
Anscomb really is a wonderful director and gets
surprising results from material that cannot com
pare with you. I'll speak to him if you say the
word. He'd oblige me, I am sure. One of the
scripts he has told me about has a part fitted to
you."
" Oh, Mr. Bane ! " she cried. " I'd have to think
about that, I fear. And such a tempting offer!
Now, if you said that to Gusty Durgin "
At the moment Betty Gallup came into view.
Masculine in appearance at any time in her man's
hat and coat, she was doubly so now. She frankly
wore overalls, but had drawn a short skirt over
them; and she wore gum boots. Bane stared at
this apparition and gasped :
" Is—is it a man—or what? "
" Why, Mr. Bane ! That is my chaperon."
" Chaperon ! Ye gods and little fishes ! Miss
Grayling, no matter where you go, or with whom,
you are perfectly safe with that as a chaperon."
 The Unexpected 175
" How ridiculous, Mr. Bane ! " the girl cried,
laughing. Betty strode through the sand to the
spot where they stood. " This is Mr. Bane,
Betty," Louise continued, " Mrs. Gallup, Mr.
Bane."
The actor swept off his sou'wester with a flourish.
Betty eyed him with disfavor.
"So you're one o' them play-actors, be you?
Land sakes ! And tryin' to look like a fisherman,
too! I don't s'pose you know a grommet from the
bight of a hawser."
" Guilty as charged," Bane admitted with a
chuckle. " But we all must live, Mrs. Gallup."
" Humph ! " grunted the old woman. " Are you
sure that's so in ev'ry case? There's more useless
folks on the Cape now than the Recordin' Angel
can well take care on."
" Oh, Betty ! " Louise gasped.
But Bane was highly amused. " I'm not at all
sure you're not right, Mrs. Gallup. I sometimes
feel that if I were a farmer and raised onions, or
a fisherman and caught the denizens of the sea, I
might feel a deeper respect for myself. As it is,
when I work I am only playing."
" Humph ! " exploded Betty again. " ' Denizens
of the sea,' eh? New one on me. I ain't never
heard of them fish afore."
The sail of the sloop slatted and then came down
with the rattle of new canvas. Having let go the
176 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
sheet, Law ford ran forward and pitched the anchor
over. Then he drew in the skiff that trailed the
Merry Andrew, stepped in, and sculled himself
ashore, beaching the boat just as Cap'n Amazon
came down from the store with a second basket of
supplies.
" Wish I was goin' with ye," he said heartily.
" Would, too, if I could shut up shop. But I prom
ised Abe I'd stay by the ship till he come home
again."
Louise introduced her uncle to Mr. Bane; but
during the bustle of getting into the skiff and push
ing off she overlooked the fact that Lawford and
the actor were not introduced.
" Bring us home a mess of tautog," Cap'n Ama
zon shouted. " I sartainly do fancy blackfish when
they're cooked right. Bile 'em, an' serve with an
egg sauce, is my way o' puttin' 'em on the table."
" That was Cap'n Abe's way, too," muttered
Betty.
The cloud on Lawford Tapp's countenance did
not lift immediately as he sculled them out to the
anchored sloop. Louise saw quickly that his ill
humor was for Bane.
" I must keep this young man at a distance," she
thought, as she waved her hand to Uncle Amazon
and Mr. Bane. " He takes too much for granted,
I fear. Perhaps, after all, I should have excused
myself from this adventure."
 The Unexpected 177
She eyed Lawford covertly as, with swelling
muscles and lithe, swinging body, he drove his
sculling oar. " But he does look more ' to the
manner born '—much more the man, in fact—than
that actor!"
Lawford could not for long forget his duty as
host, and he was as cheerful and obliging as usual
by the time the three had scrambled aboard the
Merry Andrew.
Immediately Betty Gallup cast aside her skirt and
stood forth untrammeled in the overalls. " Gimme
my way and I'd wear 'em doin' housework and
makin' my garding," she declared. " Land sakes !
I allus did despise women's fooleries."
Louise laughed blithely.
" Why, Betty," she said, " lots of city women
who do their own housework don ' knickers ' or
gymnasium suits to work in. No excuse is needed."
" Humph ! " commented the old woman. " I had
no idee city women had so much sense. The ones
I see down here on the Cape don't show it."
The morning breeze was light but steady. The
Merry Andrew was a sweetly sailing boat and Law
ford handled her to the open admiration of Betty
Gallup. The old woman's comment would have put
suspicion in Louise's mind had the girl not been
utterly blind to the actual identity of the sloop's
owner.
" Humph ! you're the only furiner, Lawford
 178 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
Tapp, I ever see who could sail a smack proper.
But you got Cape blood in you—that's what 'tis."
" Thank you, Betty," he returned, with the ready
smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes. " That
is a compliment indeed."
The surf only moaned to-day over Gull Rocks,
for there was little ground swell. The waves
heaved in, with an oily, leisurely motion and, it
being full sea, merely broke with a streak of foam
marking the ugly reef below.
A little to the seaward side of the apex of the
reef Betty, at a word from Law ford, cast loose the
sheet and then dropped the anchor.
" Mussel beds all about here," explained the
young man to his guest. " That means good feed
ing for the blackfish. Can't catch them anywhere
save on a rock bottom, or around old spiles or
sunken wrecks. Better let me rig your line, Miss
Grayling. You'll need a heavier sinker than that
for outside here—ten ounces at least. You see, the
tug of the undertow is considerable."
Betty Gallup, looking every whit the " able sea
man " now, rigged her own line quickly and opened
the bait can.
"Land sakes!" she exclaimed. " Where'd you
get scallop bait this time o' year, Law ford? You
must be a houn' dog for smellin' 'em out."
" I am," he laughed. " I know that tautog will
leave mussels for scallop any time. And we'll have

.
 The Unexpected 179
the eyes of the scallops fried for lunch. They're
all ready in the cabin."
The pulpy, fat bodies of the scallop—a commer
cial waste—were difficult to hang upon the short,
blunt hooks; but Law ford seemed to have just the
knack of it. He showed Louise how to lower the
line to the proper depth, advising :
" Remember, you'll only feel a nibble. The
tautog is a shy fish. He doesn't swallow hook, line,
and sinker like a hungry cod. You must snap him
quick when he takes the hook, for his mouth is
small and you must get him instantly—or not at
all."
Louise found this to be true. Her hooks were
" skinned clean " several times before she managed
to get inboard her first fish.
She learned, too, why the tackle for tautog has
to be so strong. Once hooked, the fish darts
straight down under rocks or into crevasses, and
sulks there. He comes out of that ambush like a
chunk of lead.
The party secured a number of these dainty fish ;
but to lend variety to the day's haul they got the
anchor up after luncheon and ran down to the
channels there to chum for snappers. Law ford had
brought along rods; for to catch the young and
gamey bluefish one must use an entirely different
rigging from that used for tautog.
Louise admired the rod Law ford himself used.
180 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
She knew something about fancy tackle, and this
outfit of the young man, she knew, never cost a
penny less than a hundred dollars.
" And this sloop, which is his property," she
thought, " is another expensive possession. I can
see where his money goes—when he has any to
spend. He is absolutely improvident. Too bad."
She had to keep reminding herself, it seemed, of
Law ford Tapp's most glaring faults. Improvi
dence and a hopeless leaning toward extravagance
were certainly unforgivable blemishes in the char
acter of a young man in the position she believed
Lawford held.
The sport of chumming for snappers, even if they
hooked more of sluggish fluke than of the gamier
fish to tempt which the chopped bait is devoted,
was so exciting that Betty, sailing the sloop, over
looked a pregnant cloud that streaked up from the
horizon almost like a puff of cannon smoke.
The squall was upon them so suddenly that
Louise could not wind in her line in good season.
Lawford was quicker; but in getting his tackle in
board he was slow to obey Betty's command:
" Let go that sheet ! Want to swamp us, foolin'
with that fancy fish rod ? "
" Aye, aye, skipper! " he sang out, laughing, and
jumped to cast off the line in question just as the
sail bulged taut as a drumhead with the striking
squall.
 The Unexpected 181
There was a " lubber's loop " in the bight of the
sheet and as the young man loosed it his arm was
caught in this trap. The boom swung viciously out
board and Law ford went with it. He was snatched
like some inanimate object over the sloop's rail and,
the next instant, plunged beneath the surface of the
suddenly foam-streaked sea.
 CHAPTER XVI

A TRAGEDY OF ERRORS

Lawford came up as the sloop swept by on her

new tack, his smile as broad as ever. He blew
loudly and then shouted :
" Going—too—fast—for—me ! Whoa ! Back up
a little, ladies, and let me climb aboard."
" Well, of all the crazy critters! " the " able sea
man " declared. " Stand by with that boathook,
Miss Lou, and see if you can harpoon him."
Louise swallowed the lump in her throat and
tried to laugh too. To tell the truth, the accident
to Lawford Tapp had frightened her dreadfully
at the moment it occurred.
Betty Gallup put over the wheel and the Merry
Andrew, still under propulsion of the bursting
squall, flew about, almost on her heel. Louise, who
was shielding her eyes from the flying spray under
the sharp of her hand and watching the head and
shoulders of Lawford as he plowed through the
jumping waves with a great overhand stroke, sud
denly shrieked aloud :
"Oh, Betty!"
"What's the matter? Land sakes!"
182
 A Tragedy of Errors 183
Both saw the peril threatening the swimmer.
The light skiff at the end of the long painter
whipped around when the line tautened. As Betty
cried out in echo to Louise's wail, the gunnel of
the skiff crashed down upon Lawford's head and
shoulders.
" Oh ! Oh ! He's hurt ! " cried Louise.
" He's drowned—dead ! " ejaculated Betty Gal
lup. " Here, Miss Lou, you take the wheel "
But the girl had no intention of letting the old
woman go overboard. Betty in her heavy boots
would be wellnigh helpless in the choppy sea. If
it were possible to rescue Law ford Tapp she would
do it herself.
The human mind is a wonderfully constituted—
mechanism, may we call it? It receives and reg
isters impressions that are seemingly incoordinate;
then of a sudden each cog slips into place and the
perfection of a belief, of an opinion, of a desire,
even of a most momentous discovery, is attained.
Thus instantly Louise Grayling had a startling
revelation. " Handle the boat yourself, Betty ! "
she commanded. "/ am going to get him."
Her skirt was dropped, even as she spoke. She
wore " sneaks " to-day instead of high boots, and
she kicked them off without unlacing them. Then,
poising on the rail for a moment, she dived over
board on a long slant.
She swam under the surface for some fathoms
184 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
and coming up dashed the water from her eyes to
stare about.
The black squall had passed. The sea dimpled
in blue and green streaks as before. A few white-
caps only danced about the girl. Where Law ford
had gone down
A round, sleek object—like the head of a seal
—bobbed in the agitated water. It was not ten
yards away. Had she not been so near she must
have overlooked it. He might have sunk again,
going down forever, for it was plain the blow he
had suffered had deprived Law ford of conscious
ness.
Louise wasted no breath in shouting, nor mo
ments in looking back at Betty and the sloop. All
her life she had been confident in the water. She
had learned to ride a surfboard with her father like
the natives in Hawaii. A comparatively quiet sea
like this held no terrors for Louise Grayling.
She dived in a long curve like a jumping por
poise, and went down after the sinking man. In
thirty seconds she had him by the hair, and then
beat her way to the surface with her burden.
Lawford's face was dead white; his eyes open
and staring. There was a cut upon the side of his
head from which blood and water dribbled upon
her shoulder as she held him high out of the sea.
There sounded the clash of oars in her ears.
How Betty had lowered the jib, thrown over the
 A Tragedy of Errors 185
anchor, and manned the skiff so quickly would al
ways be a mystery to Louise. But the " able sea
man " knew this coast as well, at least, as Lawford
Tapp. They were just over a shoal, and there was
safe anchorage for a small craft.
" Give him to me. Land sakes ! " gasped Betty
over her head. " I never see no city gal like you,
Miss Lou."
Nor had Louise ever seen a woman with so much
muscular strength and the knowledge of how to
apply it as Betty displayed. She lifted Lawford
out of the girl's arms and into the skiff with the
dexterity of one trained in hauling in halibut, for
Betty had spent her younger years on the Banks
with her father.
Louise scrambled into the skiff without assistance.
Betty was already at the oars and Louise took the
injured head of the man in her lap. He began to
struggle back to life again.
" I—I'm all right," he muttered. " Sorry-
made such a—a fool—of—myself."
" Hush up, you! " snapped Betty. " I'd ought
to have seed to this skiff. Then you wouldn't have
got battered like you did." A tear ran frankly
down Betty's nose and dripped off its end. " If
anything really bad had happened to you, Law
ford, I'd a-never forgive myself. I thought you
was a goner for sure."
" Thanks to you, I'm not, I guess, Betty," he
186 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
said more cheerfully. He did not know who had
jumped overboard to his rescue.
For some reason the girl was suddenly embar
rassed by this fact.
The skiff reached the plunging sloop and Louise
got inboard and aided Betty to get Law ford over
the rail. Then she slipped on her skirt.
Law ford slumped down in the cockpit, saying he
was all right but looking all wrong.
" Going to get him back to Tapp Point just as
quick as I can," declared the " able seaman " to
Louise. " Doctor ought to see that cut."
"Oh, Betty!"
" Now, now, Miss Lou," murmured the old
woman with the light of sudden comprehension in
her eyes. " Don't take on now ! You've been a
brave gal so fur."
" And I will keep my courage," Louise said with
tremulous smile.
" Go right over there an' hold his head, Miss
Lou. Pet him up a leetle bit; 'twon't hurt a
mite."
The vivid blush that dyed the girl's cheeks sig
naled the fact that Betty had guessed more of the
truth than Louise cared to have her or anybody
know. She shook her head negatively to the keen-
eyed old woman; nevertheless she went forward,
found one of Lawford's handkerchiefs and bound
up his head. The cut did not seem very deep; yet
 A Tragedy of Errors 187
the shock of the blow he had suffered certainly
had dulled the young man's comprehension.
" Thank you—thank you," he muttered and laid
his head down on his arms again.
Betty rounded the end of the Neck where the
lighthouse stood. One of the lightkeepers was on
the gallery just under the lamp chamber and had
been watching them through his glasses. He waved
a congratulatory hand as the Merry Andrew shot
along, under the " able seaman's " skillful guidance.
" I'm goin' to put you ashore in the skiff right
there by the store, Miss Lou," Betty said.
" Shouldn't I get a doctor and send him over to
the Point?"
" They've got a telephone there," Betty told her.
" I—I hope they'll take good care of him."
" They ought to," sniffed Betty. " I'll see to it
he's all right, Miss Lou, before I leave him."
" Thank you, Betty," returned the girl, too hon
est to make any further attempt to deny her deep
interest in the man.
When the sail rattled down and Louise tossed
over the anchor, Law ford roused a bit. " Sorry
the trip turned out so rotten bad, Miss Grayling,"
he mumbled. " I—I don't feel just right yet."
Louise patted his shoulder. "You poor boy!"
she said tenderly. " Don't mind about me. It's
you we are worrying about. But I am sure you
cannot be seriously injured. Betty will take you
188 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
directly over to the Point and the folks there will
get a doctor for you. Next time we'll have a much
nicer fishing trip, Mr. Tapp. Good-bye."
He muttered his adieu and watched her get into
the skiff after Betty and the baskets. The " able
seaman " rowed quickly to the beach. The sharp
eyes of Mr. Bane noted their arrival, and he strode
over to the spot where the skiff came in, to help
Louise out of the boat and bring the baskets ashore.
" You need a handy man, I see," the actor ob
served. " What a fine catch you have had—black-
fish, snappers, and fluke, eh? I'll carry the baskets
up to your uncle's store for you. Fine old man,
your uncle, Miss Grayling. And what stories he
can tell of his adventures—my word ! "
" Come over to-night and tell me how he is,
Betty, won't you? " the girl whispered to the " able
seaman " and the latter, nodding her comprehen
sion, pulled back to the sloop. Neither of them
saw that Lawford was watching the little group
on shore and that when Bane and the girl turned
toward the store the young man looked after them
with gloomy visage.
The girl's replies to Bane's observation were most
inconsequential. Her mind was upon Lawford and
his condition. She was personally uncomfortable,
too; for although the sun and wind had dried her
hair and her blouse, beneath the dry skirt her cloth
ing was wet.
 A Tragedy of Errors 189
As they came to the Shell Road the long, gray
roadster Louise had seen before came down from
town. L'Enfant Terrible was at the wheel while
her two older sisters sat in the narrow seat behind.
Cecile tossed a saucy word over her shoulder, indi
cating Louise and Bane, and her older sisters
smiled superciliously upon the two pedestrians.
Louise was too deeply occupied with thoughts of
the injured man to note this by-play.
 CHAPTER XVII

THE ODDS AGAINST HIM

" Horrid taste she has, I must say," drawled

Marian. Marian was the eldest of the Tapp girls.
To tell the truth (but this is strictly in confidence
and must go no further!) she had been christened
Mary Ann after Israel Tapp's commonplace mother.
That, of course, was some time before I. Tapp, the
Salt Water Taffy King, had come into his kingdom
and assumed the robe and scepter of his present
financial position.
" Oh ! " ejaculated Cecile. " That's Judson Bane,
the Broadway star, she's walking with. I'd like to
know him myself."
" You coarse little thing ! " drawled Marian.
" And you not out yet! " Prue, the second sister,
observed cuttingly. " You're only a child. I wish
you'd learn your place and keep it."
" Oh, fudge! " responded L'Enfant Terrible, not
deeply impressed by these sisterly admonitions.
Marian was twenty-six—two years Law ford's
senior. She was a heavy, lymphatic girl, fast be
coming as matronly of figure as her mother. She
still bolstered up her belief that she had matri
190
 The Odds Against Him 191
monial prospects; but the men who wanted to marry
her she would not have while those she desired to
marry would not have her. Marian Tapp was be
coming bored.
Prue was a pretty girl. She was but nineteen.
However, she had likewise assumed a bored air
after being in society a single season.
" That big actor man will put poor Fordy's nose
out of joint with the film lady," Prue said. " Look
out for that dog, Cis. It's the Perritons'. If you
run over him "
" Nasty little thing! " grumbled Cecile.
" And the apple of Sue Perriton's eye," drawled
Marian. " Be careful what you are about, Cecile.
It all lies with the Perritons whether we get into
society this season or not."
" And that Mrs. Conroth who is with them," put
in Prue. " She is the real thing—the link between
the best of New York and Albany society. Old
family—away back to the patroons—so old she has
to keep moth balls hung in her family tree. My!
if mother could once become the familiar friend of
miladi Conroth "
" No such luck," groaned Marian. " After all's
said and done, mother can't forget the candy
kitchen. She always looks to me, poor dear, as
though she had just been surreptitiously licking her
fingers."
" We do have the worst luck ! " groaned the sec
192 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
ond sister. " There's that Dot Johnson coming.
Mother says daddy insists, and when I. Tapp does
put down his foot Well ! "
" We'll put her off on Fordy," suggested the
brighter-witted Cecile. " She rather fancies Ford,
I think."
" Dot Johnson! " chorused the older girls, in hor
ror. "Not really?" Marian continued. "The
Johnsons are impossible."
" They've got more money than daddy has," said
Prue.
" But they have no aspirations—none at all,"
murmured Marian, in horror. "If Law ford mar
ried Dot Johnson it would be almost as bad as his
being mixed up with that picture actress."
" For him ; not for us," said Prue promptly.
" Of course, as far as the Johnsons go, they are too
respectable for anything. Poor Fordy ! "
" Goodness! " snapped Cecile. " It's not all set
tled. The banns aren't up."
The girls wheeled into the grounds surrounding
the Tapp villa just as Betty Gallup guided the
Merry Andrew to the dock and leaped ashore with
the mooring rope.
Tapp Point consisted of about five acres of bluff
and sand. At great expense the Taffy King had
terraced the bluff and had made to grow several
blades of grass where none at all had been able to
gain root before.
 The Odds Against Him 193
The girls saw the queer-looking Betty Gallup
helping their brother out of the sloop.
" Say ! something's happened to Ford, I guess,"
Cecile cried, stopping the car short of the porte-
cochere.
" Run down and see," commanded Marian
languidly.
But Prue hopped out of the roadster and started
down the path immediately. She and Law ford still
had a few things in common. Mutual affection was
one of them.
" What's happened to him ? " she cried. " You're
Mrs. Gallup, aren't you? "
" I'm Bet Gallup—yes. You run call up Doc
Ambrose from over to Paulmouth. Your brother's
got a bad knock on the head."
" And he's been overboard ! " gasped Prue.
" I—I'm all right," stammered Lawford. " Let
me lie down for a little while. Don't need a doctor."
" You're as wet as a drowned rat," his sister said.
" Come on up and get some dry clothes, Ford. I'm
sure you're awful kind, Mrs. Gallup. I will tele
phone for the doctor at once."
" You bet she's kind ! Good old soul ! " mur
mured Lawford. " I'd have been six fathoms deep
if it hadn't been for Betty."
" She hauled you into the boat, did she? " Prue
said in a sympathetic tone. " Well, we won't for
get that."
194 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
Betty had stepped aboard the sloop again to reef
down and make all taut. Her sailor-soul would not
allow her to leave the lapstreak in a frowsy con
dition.
Meanwhile Cecile came flying down from the
garage, and between his two sisters Law ford was
aided up to the house. Despite the young man's
protests, Dr. Ambrose was called and he rattled
over in what the jolly medical man termed his " one-
horse shay." That rattletrap of a second-hand car
was known in every town and hamlet for miles
around. Sometimes he got stalled, for the engine
of the car was one of the crankiest ever built, and
the good physician had to get out and proceed on
foot. When this happened the man who owned a
horse living nearest to the unredeemed automobile
always hitched up and dragged the car home. For
Dr. Ambrose was beloved as few men save a
physician is ever loved in a country community.
" You got a hard crack and no mistake, young
man," the physician said, plastering his patient's
head in a workmanlike manner. " But you've a
good, solid cranium as I've often told you. Not
much to get hurt above the ears—mostly bone
all the way through. Not easy to crack, like some
of these eggshell heads."
Law ford felt the effects of the blow, however,
for the rest of the evening. His father was away
and so he had no support against the organized
 The Odds Against Him 195
attack of the women of the family. Although it is
doubtful if I. Tapp would have sided with his son.
" It really serves you right, Ford, for taking
that movie actress sailing," drawled Marian.
" It is a judgment upon him," sighed their
mother, wiping her eyes. " Oh, Ford, if you only
would settle down and not be so wild ! "
"'Wild!' Oh, bluey!" murmured L'Enfant
Terrible, who considered her brother a good deal
of a tame cat.
" At least," Marian pursued, " you might carry
on your flirtation in a less public manner."
"'Flirtation!'" ejaculated Lawford, with a
spark of anger—and then settled back on the couch
with a groan.
" My goodness me, Ford ! " gasped Prue.
" You're surely not in earnest? "
" I should hope not," drawled Marian.
" Oh, Ford, my boy "
" Now, mother, don't turn on the sprinkler
again," advised L'Enfant Terrible. " It will do you
no good. And, anyway, I guess Ford hasn't any
too bright a chance with the Grayling. You ought
to have seen that handsome Judson Bane lean over
her when they were walking up to Cap'n Abe's. I
thought he was going to nibble her ear ! "
"Decile!"
" Horrid thing ! " Prue exclaimed. " I don't
know where she gets such rude manners."
196 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
" That boarding school last winter completely
spoiled her," complained the mother. " And I sent
her to it because Sue Perriton and Alice Bozewell
go there."
" And I had a fine chance to get chummy with
them! " snapped Cecile. " They were both seniors."
" But really," Marian went on, " your entangle
ment with that movie actress is sure to make
trouble for us, Ford. You might be a little more
considerate. Just as we are getting in with the Per-
ritons. And their guest, Mrs. Conroth, was really
very nice to mother this morning on the beach.
She has the open sesame to all the society there is
on this side of the Atlantic. It's really a wonder
ful chance for us, Ford."
" And—he's bound—to spoil—it all ! " Mrs. Tapp
sobbed into an expensive bit of lace.
" You might be a good sport, Fordy, dear,"
urged Prue.
" Yes, Fordy ; don't crab the game," added the
vulgar Cecile.
" You know very well," said the elder sister,
" how hard we have tried to take our rightful place
here at The Beaches. We have the finest home
by far; daddy's got the most money of any of them,
and let's us spend it, too. And still it's like rolling
a barrel up a sand bank. Just a little thing will
spoil our whole season here."
" Do, do be sensible, Ford ! " begged his mother.
 The Odds Against Him 197
" Sacrifice yourself for the family's good," said
Prue.
" Dear Ford," began Mrs. Tapp again, " for
my sake— for all our sakes—take thought of what
you are doing. This—this actress person cannot
be a girl you could introduce to your sisters "
"No more of that, mother!" exclaimed the
young man, patience at last ceasing to be a virtue.
" Criticise me if you wish to; but I will hear noth
ing against Miss Grayling."
" Oh, dear ! Now I have offended him again ! "
sobbed the matron.
" You are too utterly selfish for words ! " de
clared Marian.
" You're a regular pig! " added Prue.
" If you get mixed up with an actress, Fordy,
I'll have a fine time when / come out, won't I ? "
complained Cecile.
" Caesar's ghost ! " burst from the lips of the
badgered young man. " I wish Betty Gallup had
let me drown instead of hauling me inboard this
afternoon ! "
 CHAPTER XVIII

SOMETHING BREAKS

AN express wagon, between the shafts of which

was a raw-boned gray horse leaning against one
shaft as a prop while he dozed, stood before Cap'n
Abe's store as Louise and Mr. Judson Bane came
up from the shore front. She thanked the actor as
he set the heavy baskets on the porch step.
“Those blackfish look so good I long for a fish
supper,” he said, smiling in open admiration upon
her.
Louise was quick to establish a reputation for
hospitality. Perhaps it was the Silt blood that in
fluenced her to say: “Wait till I speak to Uncle
Amazon, Mr. Bane.”
There was a tall gaunt man in overalls and
jumper, who, somehow, possessed a family resem
blance to the gray horse, leaning against the door
frame, much as his beast leaned against the wagon
shaft. Perry Baker and the gray horse had trav
eled so many years together about Paulmouth and
Cardhaven that it was not surprising they looked
alike.
198
 Something Breaks 199
When Louise mounted the porch steps she could
not easily pass the expressman, who was saying, in
drawling tones :
" Well, I brought it over, seeing I had a light
load. I didn't know what else to do with it. Of
course, it was Cap'n Abe give it to me to ship. Let's
see, I didn't happen to see you here that night you
came, an' I brought the young lady's trunks over,
did I?"
" Not as I know on," barked Cap'n Amazon with
brevity.
" Funny how we didn't meet then," drawled
Perry Baker.
There seemed to be a tenseness to the atmosphere
of the old store. Louise saw the usual idlers gath
ered about the cold stove—Washy Gallup on his
nail-keg, his jaw wagging eagerly; Milt Baker and
Amiel Perdue side by side with their elbows on the
counter; Cap'n Joab Beecher leaning forward on
his stick—all watching Cap'n Amazon, it seemed,
with strained attention.
It was like a scene set for a play— for the taking
of a film, perhaps. The whimsical thought came
to Louise that the director had just shouted : " Get
set!" and would immediately add: "Action!
Camera! Go! "
" Course," Perry Baker drawled, " I sent it to
Boston as consigner, myself; so when the chest
warn't called for within a reasonable time they
200 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
shipped it back to me, knowin' I was agent. Funny
Cap'n Abe didn't show up for to claim it."
Cap'n Amazon, grim as a gargoyle, leaned upon
the counter and stared the expressman out of
countenance, saying nothing. Perry shifted un
easily in the doorway. The captain's silence and
his stare were becoming irksome to bear.
"Well!" he finally ejaculated, "that's how 'tis.
I'd ha' waited till—till Cap'n Abe come home—if
he ever does come; but my wife, Huldy, got fidgety.
She reads the papers, and she's got it into her head
there's something wrong 'bout the old chest. She
dreamed 'bout it. An' ye know, when a woman
gets to dreamin' she'll drag her anchors, no matter
what the bottom is. She says folks have been mur
dered 'fore now and their bodies crammed into a
chest "
" Why, you long-winded sculpin ! " exclaimed
Cap'n Amazon, at length goaded to speech. " Bring
that chest in and take a reef in your jaw-tackle. I
knew a man once't looked nigh enough like you to
be your twin; and he was purt nigh a plumb
idiot, too."
Louise had never before heard her uncle's voice
so sharp. It was plain he had not seen his niece
until after Perry Baker turned and clumped out
upon the porch, thus giving the girl free entrance
to the store. She turned, smiling a little whim
sically, and said to Bane;
 Something Breaks 201
" The moment is not propitious, I fear. Uncle
Amazon seems to be put out about something."
" Don't bother him now, I beg," urged the actor,
lifting his hat. " I will call later—if I may."
" Certainly, Mr. Bane," she said with seriousness.
" Uncle Amazon and I will both be glad to see
you."
The expressman came heavily up the steps with
a green chest on his shoulder. It had handles of
tarred rope and had plainly seen much service; in
deed, it was brother to the box in the storeroom
which Louise had found filled with nautical
literature.
The girl entered the store ahead of the stagger
ing expressman, but stepped aside for him to pre
cede her, for she wished to beckon to Amiel to come
out for the baskets of fish.
" Watch out where you're putting your foot,
Perry ! " Cap'n Joab suddenly exclaimed.
His warning was too late. Some youngster,
eager to peel his banana, had flung its treacherous
skin upon the floor. The expressman set his
clumsy boot upon it.
" Whee ! 'Ware below ! " yelled Amiel Perdue.
To recover his footing Perry let go of the chest.
It fell to the floor with a mighty crash, landing
upon one corner and bursting open. During the
long years it had stood in Cap'n Abe's storeroom
the wood had suffered dry rot.
202 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
" Land o' Liberty an' all han's around! " bawled
the irrepressible Milt Baker. " There ain't no
corpse in that chist, for a fac' ! "
" What kind of a mess d'ye make that out to
be, I want to know ? " cackled Washy Gallup.
The hinges had torn away from the rotting wood
so that the lid lay wide open. Tumbled out upon
the floor were several ancient garments, including
a suit of quite unwearable oilskins, and with them
at least a wheelbarrow load of bricks!
"Well, I vum!" drawled the expressman, at
length recovering speech. " I hope Huldy'll be
satisfied."
But Cap'n Joab Beecher was not. He stood up
and pointed his stick at the heap of rubbish on
the floor and his voice quavered as he shrilly asked :
" Then, where's Cap'n Abe? "
They all turned to stare again at Cap'n Amazon.
That hardy mariner seemed to be quite as self-
possessed as usual. His grim lips opened and in
caustic tone he said :
" You fellers seem to think that I'm Abe Silt's
keeper. I ain't. Abe's old enough—and ought to
be seaman enough—to look out for Abe Silt. What
tomfoolery he packed into that chest is none o' my
consarn. I l'arnt years ago that Moses an' them
old fellers left the chief commandment out o' the
Scriptures. That's ' Mind your own business.'
Abe's business ain't mine. Here, you Amiel! clear
His voice quavered as he shrilly asked: “Then, where's
Cap'n Abe.”
 Something Breaks 203
up that clutter an' let's have no more words
about it."
The decisive speech of the master mariner closed
the lips of even Cap'n Joab. The latter did not
repeat his query about Cap'n Abe but, with a baffled
expression on his weather-beaten countenance, de
parted with Perry Baker.
That a trap had been set for Cap'n Amazon, that
it had been sprung and failed to catch the master
mariner, seemed quite plain to Louise. Betty Gal-
lup's oft-expressed suspicions and Washy Gallup's
gossip suddenly impressed the girl. With these
vague thoughts was connected in her mind the dis
covery she had made that one of Cap'n Amazon's
. thrilling stories was pasted into the old scrapbook.
Why she should think of that discovery just now
mystified her; but it seemed somehow to dovetail
into the enigma.
Cap'n Amazon lifted the flap in the counter for
Louise and in his usual kindly tone said:
"Good fishin', Niece Louise? Bring home a
mess? "
" Yes, indeed," she told him. " The baskets are
outside. Let Amiel bring them around to the
back."
"Aye, aye!" returned the captain briskly.
"Tautog? We'll have 'em for supper," and let her
pass as though nothing extraordinary had oc
curred.
^04 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
But to Louise's troubled mind the bursting of
the old chest was like the explosion of a bomb in
Cap'n Abe's store.
What was the meaning of it all? Why had the
chest been filled with bricks and useless garments?
And by whom?
If by Cap'n Abe, what was his object in doing
such a perfectly incomprehensible thing? He had
deliberately, it seemed, shipped a quite useless chest
to Boston with no expectation of calling for it at
the expresss office. Then, where had he gone?
Cap'n Joab's query was the one uppermost in
Louise Grayling's thought. All these incompre
hensible things seemed to lead to that most impor
tant question. Had Cap'n Abe gone to sea, or had
he not? If not, what had become of him?
And how much more regarding his brother's dis
appearance did Cap'n Amazon know than the neigh
bors or herself? In her room Louise sat and faced
the problem. She deliberated upon each incident
connected with Cap'n Abe's departure as she knew
them.
From almost the first moment of her arrival at
the store on the Shell Road, the storekeeper had
announced the expected arrival of Cap'n Amazon
and his own departure for a sea voyage if his
brother would undertake the conduct of the store.
The incidents of the night of Cap'n Amazon's
coming and of Cap'n Abe's departure seemed rea
 Something Breaks 205
sonable enough. Here had arisen the opportunity
long desired by the Shell Road storekeeper. His
brother would remain to look out for his business
while he could go seafaring. Cap'n Amazon knew
just the craft for the storekeeper to sail in, clearing
from the port of Boston within a few hours.
There was not much margin of time for Cap'n
Abe to make his preparations. Perry Baker was
at hand with Louise's trunks, and the storekeeper
had sent off his chest, supposedly filled with an
outfit for use at sea. Just what he had intended
to do with useless clothing and a hod of bricks it
was impossible to understand.
Cap'n Abe had come to her bedroom door to bid
Louise good-bye, and she had seen him depart in
the fog just at dawn. Yet nobody had observed
him at the railroad station and he had not called
for the chest at the Boston express office.
The chest! That was the apex of the mystery.
Never in this world had Cap'n Abe intended to take
the chest with him to sea—or wherever else he had
it in his mind to go.
Nor was the chest intended to be returned to the
store until Cap'n Abe himself came back from his
mysterious journey. The fact that Perry Baker had
shipped it in his own name instead of that of the
owner had brought about this unexpected incident.
Washy Gallup's gossip—his doubt regarding
Cap'n Abe's shipping on a sea voyage—now came
206 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
home to Louise with force. Washy suggested that
the storekeeper was afraid of the sea; that in all
his years at Cardhaven he had never been known
to venture out of the quiet waters of the bay.
To the girl's mind, too, came the remembrance
of that talk she had had with Cap'n Abe on the
evening of her arrival at the store. Was there
something he had said then that explained this
mystery ?
He had told her of the wreck of the Bravo and
the drowning of Captain Joshua Silt, his father,
in sight of his mother's window. She had been
powerfully affected by that awful tragedy; this
could not be doubted.
And the son, Cap'n Abe, a posthumous child,
might indeed have come into the world with that
horror of the sea which must have filled his poor
mother's soul.
" It would explain why Uncle Abram never be
came a sailor—the only Silt for generations who
remained ashore. Yet, he spoke that night as
though he loved the sea—or the romance of it, at
least," Louise thought.
" Perhaps, too, his own inability to sail to foreign
shores and his terror of the sea made him so wor
ship Cap'n Amazon's prowess. For they say he
was continually relating stories of his brother's ad
ventures—even more marvelous tales than Cap'n
Amazon himself has related.
 Something Breaks 207
" Such a misfortune as Cap'n Abe's fear of the
sea may easily explain his brother's good-natured
scorn of him. Uncle Amazon doesn't say much
about him ; but I can see he looks upon Cap'n Abe
as a weakling.
" But," sighed the girl in conclusion, " even this
does not explain the mystery of the chest, or
where Cap'n Abe can be hiding. I wonder if Uncle
Amazon knows ? "
 CHAPTER XIX

MUCH ADO

As on previous occasions, Louise Grayling was

deterred from putting a searching question to Cap'n
Amazon because of his look and manner. The lit
tle she had seen of Cap'n Abe assured her that she
would have felt no hesitancy in approaching the
mild-mannered storekeeper upon any subject.
But the master mariner seemed to be an entirely
different personality. The way he had overawed
the idlers in the store that afternoon when the old
chest was broken open, and his refusal to make
any further explanation of Cap'n Abe's absence,
pinched out Louise's courage as one might pinch
out a candle wick.
That suspicion was rife in the community, and
that the story of the strange contents of Cap'n
Abe's chest had spread like a prairie fire, Louise
was sure. Yet at supper time Cap'n Amazon was
as calm and cheerful as usual and completely ig
nored the accident of the afternoon.
" Hi-mighty likely mess of tautog you caught,
Louise," he said, ladling the thick white gravy
dotted with crumbly yellow egg yolk upon her plate
206

•
 Much Ado 209
with lavish hand. " That Lawford Tapp knows
where the critters school, if he doesn't know much
else."
" Oh, Uncle Amazon ! I think he is a very in
telligent young man. Only he wastes his time so ! "
" He knows enough book l'arnin', I do allow,"
agreed Cap'n Amazon. " But fritters away his time
as you say. They all do that over to Tapp P'int,
I cal'late."
" I wonder how it came to be called Tapp
Point? " Louise asked, with a suddenly sharpened
curiosity.
" 'Cause it's belonged to the Tapps since away
back,—or, so Cap'n Joab says. That sand heap
never was wuth a punched nickel a ton till these
city folks began to build along The Beaches."
Louise, in her own mind, immediately constructed
another theory about Lawford Tapp, " the fisher
man's son." The sandy point had been sold to the
builder of the very ornate villa now crowning it,
and the proceeds of that sale had paid for the
Merry Andrctv sloop and the expensive fishing
rod and the clothes of superquality which the
young man wore.
She shrank, however, from commenting upon
this extravagant and spendthrift trait in his char
acter, even to Uncle Amazon. Nor would she have
spoken to anybody else upon the subject.
Something had happened to Louise Grayling on
210 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
this adventurous afternoon—something of which
she scarcely dared think, let alone talk!
The grip of fear at her heart when she thought
Law ford was drowning had startled her as much
as the accident itself. She had seen men in peril
before—in deadly peril—without feeling any per
sonal terror for their fate.
In that moment when Lawford was sinking and
she was preparing to leap to his aid, Louise had
realized this fact. And in her inmost soul she ad
mitted—with a thrill that shook her physically as
well as spiritually—that her interest in this Cape
Cod fisherman's son was an interest rooted in her
inmost being.
The incident of the wrecked sea chest held her
attention in only a secondary degree. All through
supper she was listening for Betty Gallup's heavy
step. She knew she could not sleep that night with
out knowing how Lawford was.
For the very reason that she felt so deeply re
garding it, she shrank from talking with Cap'n
Amazon of the accident that had happened to
Lawford. She was glad the substitute store
keeper had " gone for'ard " again to attend to
customers when Betty came clumping up the back
steps.
" He's all right, Miss Lou," said the kindly
woman, patting the girl's hand. " I waited to see
Doc Ambrose when he come back from the P'int.
 Much Ado 211
He says there ain't a thing the matter with him that
vinegar an' brown paper won't cure.
" But land sakes! Miss Lou, ain't this an awful
thing 'bout your Uncle Abe's chest? That old
pirate knows more'n he'd ought to 'bout what's
come o' Cap'n Abe, even if they ain't brought it
home to him yit."
" Now, Betty, I wish you wouldn't," begged the
girl. " Why should you give currency to such fool
ish gossip? "
" What foolish gossip? " snapped the woman.
" Why, about my Uncle Amazon."
"How d'ye know he's your uncle at all?" de
manded Betty. " You never seen him before he
come here. You never knowed nothin' 'bout him,
so you said, 'fore you come here to Cardhaven."
" But, Betty "
" Ain't no ' buts ' about it! " fiercely declared the
" able seaman." " Cap'n Abe's gone—disappeared.
We don't know what's become of him. Course,
Huldy Baker was a silly to think Cap'n Abe had
been murdered and cut up like shark bait and
shipped away in that old chest."
"Oh!"
"Yes. 'Cause Perry seen Cap'n Abe himself
that night when he took the chest away. That was
ridic'lous. But then, Huldy Baker ain't got right
good sense, nor never had.
" But it stands to reason Cap'n Abe had no intent
212 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
of shipping aboard any craft with sich dunnage in
his chest as they say was in it."
" No-o. I suppose that is so," admitted Louise.
" Then, what's become of the poor man ? " Betty
ejaculated.
" Why, nobody seems to know. Not even Uncle
Amazon."
"Have you axed him?" demanded the other
bluntly.
" No. I haven't done that."
" Humph ! " was the rejoinder. " You're just as
much afeared on him as the rest on us. You take
it from me, Miss Lou, he's been a hard man on his
own quarter-deck. He ain't no more like Cap'n Abe
than buttermilk's like tartaric acid.
" Cap'n Abe warn't no seafarin' man," pursued
Betty, " though he had the lingo on his tongue and
'peared as salt as a dried pollock. It's in my mind
that he wouldn't never re'lly go to sea—'nless he
was egged on to it."
Here it was again! That same doubt as ex
pressed by Washy Gallup—the suggestion that
Cap'n Abe Silt possessed an inborn fear of the sea
that he had never openly confessed.
" Why do you say that, Betty? " Louise hesitat
ingly asked the old woman.
" 'Cause I've knowed Cap'n Abe for more'n
twenty year, and in all that endurin' time he's stuck
as close to shore as a fiddler. With all his bold
 Much Ado 213
talk about ships and sailin', I tell you he warn't a
seafarin' man."
" But what has Uncle Amazon to do with the
mystery of his brother's absence ? " demanded
Louise.
"Humph! If he is Cap'n Abe's brother. Now,
now, you don't know no more about this old pirate
than I do, Miss Lou. He influenced Cap'n Abe
somehow, or someway, so't he cut his hawser and
drifted out o' soundings—that's sure! Here this
feller callin' himself Am'zon Silt has got the store
an' all it holds, an' Cap'n Abe's money, and ev'ry-
thing."
" Oh, Betty, how foolishly you talk," sighed the
girl.
" Humph ! Mebbe. And then again, mebbe it
ain't foolish. Them men to-day thought they
could scare that old pirate into admittin' something
if they sprung Cap'n Abe's chest on him. Oh, I
knowed they was goin' to do it," admitted Betty.
" Course, they had no idee what was in the chest.
Bustin' it open was an accident. Perry Baker's
as clumsy as a cow. But you see, Miss Lou, just
how cool that ol' pirate took it all. Washy was
tellin' me. He just browbeat 'em an' left 'em with
all their canvas slattin'.
" Oh, you can't tell me ! That old pirate's han
dled a crew without no tongs, you may lay to that!
And what he's done to poor old Cap'n Abe "
214 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
She went away shaking a sorrowful head and
without finishing her sentence. Louise was unable
to shake off the burden of doubt of Cap'n Ama
zon's character and good intentions. She felt that
she could not spend the long evening in his com
pany, and bidding him good-night through the open
store door she retired to the upper floor.
She felt that sleep was far from her eyelids on
this night; therefore she lit a candle and went into
the storeroom to get something to read. She
selected a much battered volume, printed in an early
year of the nineteenth century, its title being:

LANDSMEN'S TALES:
Seafaring Yarns of a Lubber.

Louise became enthralled by the narratives of

perilous adventure and odd happenings on ship
board which the author claimed to have himself
observed. She read for an hour or more, while the
sounds in the store below gradually ceased and she
heard Cap'n Amazon close and lock the front door
for the night.
Silence below. Outside the lap, lap, lap of the
waves on the strand and the rising moan of the
surf over Gulf Rocks.
Louise turned a page. She plunged into another
yarn. Breathlessly and almost fearfully she read
it to the end—the very story of the murdered alba
 Much Ado 215
tross and the sailors' superstitious belief in the
bird's bad influence, as she had heard Cap'n Ama
zon relate it to Aunt Euphemia Conroth.
She laid down the book at last in amazement and
confusion. There was no doubt now of Cap'n
Amazon's mendacity. This book of nautical tales
had been written and printed long before Amazon
Silt was born!
And if the falseness of his wild narratives was
established, was it a far cry to Betty Gallup's sus
picions and accusations? What and who was this
man, who called himself Amazon Silt who had
taken Cap'n Abe's place in the store on the Shell
Road?
Louise lay with wide-open eyes for a long time.
Then she crept out of bed and turned the key in
the lock of her door—the first time she had thought
to do such a thing since her arrival at Cardhaven.
 CHAPTER XX

THE SUN WORSHIPERS

" Them movin' picture people are hoppin' about

The Beaches like sandpipers," observed Cap'n Ama
zon at the breakfast table. " And I opine they air
pretty average useless, too. They were hurrahin'
around all day yest'day while you was out fishin'.
Want to take a picture of Abe's old store here.
Dunno what to do about it."
Louise was too much disturbed by her discoveries
of overnight to give much attention to this subject.
" It's Abe's store, you see," went on Cap'n
Amazon. " Dunno how he'd feel 'bout havin' it
took in a picture and showed all over the country.
It needs a coat o' paint hi-mighty bad. Ought to
be fixed up some 'fore havin' its picture took—
don't ye think so, Niece Louise?"
The girl awoke to the matter sufficiently to ad
vise him :
" The lack of paint will not show in the picture,
Uncle Amazon. And I suppose they want the store
for a location just because it is weather-beaten and
old-fashioned."
" I want to know ! Well, now, if I was in the
316
 The Sun Worshipers 217
photograftin' business, seems t' me I'd pick out the
nice-lookin' places to make pictures of. I knowed
a feller once that made a business of takin' photo-
grafts in furin' parts. He sailed with me when I
was master of the Blue Sparrow—clipper built she
was, an' a spankin' fine craft. We "
" Oh, Uncle Amazon! " Louise cried, rising from
the table suddenly, " you'll have to excuse me.
I—I forgot something upstairs. Yes—I've finished
my breakfast. Betty can clear off."
She fairly ran away from the table. It seemed
to her as though she could not sit and listen to
another of his preposterous stories. It would be
on the tip of her tongue to declare her disbelief in
his accuracy. How and where he had gained ac
cess to Cap'n Abe's store of nautical romances she
could not imagine; but she was convinced that
many, if not all, of his supposedly personal adven
tures were entirely fictitious in so far as his own
part in them was concerned.
She put on her hat and went out of the back
door in order to escape further intercourse with
Cap'n Amazon for the present. On the shore she
found the spot below the Bozewell bungalow a busy
scene. This was a perfect day for " the sun wor
shipers," as somebody has dubbed motion picture
people. Director Anscomb was evidently planning
to secure several scenes and the entire company
was on hand.
218 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
Louise saw that there were a number of spec
tators besides herself—some from the town, but
mostly young folk from the cottages along The
Beaches.
Law ford Tapp was present, and she waved her
hand to him, yet preserving an air of merely good
comradeship. She was glad that he did not know
that it was she who had leaped to his rescue the
day before. Considering the nature of the feeling
she had for him, into the knowledge of which
his peril had surprised her, the girl could not endure
any intimate conversation with Law ford. Xot just
then, at least.
Tapp was in the midst of a group of girls, and
she remarked his ease of manner. She did not
wonder at it, for he was a gentleman by instinct
no matter what his social level might be. Three
of the girls were those Louise Grayling believed to
be daughters of Law ford's employer.
She saw that he was breaking away from the
group with the intention of coming to her.
L'Enfant Terrible said something to him and
laughed shrilly. She saw Lawford's cheek redden.
So Louise welcomed the approach of Mr. Bane,
who chanced at the moment to be idle.
" Now you will see us grinding them out, Miss
Grayling," the actor said.
Louise broke into a series of questions regarding
the taking of the pictures. Her evident interest in
 The Sun Worshipers 219
the big leading man halted Lawford's approach.
Besides, Miss Louder, who had evidently been in
troduced to the Taffy King's son, attached herself
to him.
She was a pretty girl despite the layers of grease
paint necessary to accentuate the lights and shadows
of her piquant face. Her manner with men was
free without being bold. With a big parasol over
her shoulder, she adapted her step to Lawford's
and they strolled nearer.
Bane was speaking of the script he had previ
ously mentioned as containing a part eminently
fitted for Louise. As Law ford and Miss Louder
passed he said:
" I am sure you can do well in that part, Miss
Grayling. It is exactly your style."
Had Lawford any previous reason for doubting
Louise Grayling's connection with the moving
picture industry this overheard remark would have
lulled such a doubt to sleep.
The young man realized well enough that Louise
was a very different girl from the blithe young
woman at his side. But how could he make I.
Tapp see it?
Money was not everything in the world; Law-
ford Tapp was far from thinking it was. He had
always considered it of much less importance than
the things one could exchange it for.
However, never having felt the necessity for
220 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
working for mere pelf, and being untrained for any
form of industry whatsoever, his father's threat of
disowning him loomed a serious menace to the
young man.
Not for himself did Lawford fear. He felt warm
blood in his veins, vigor in his muscles, a keen edge
to his nerves. He could work—preferably with his
hands. He realized quite fully his limitation of
brain power.
But what right had he to ask any girl to share
his lot—especially a girl like Louise Grayling,
who he supposed won a sufficient livelihood in a
profession the emoluments of which must De far
greater than those of any trade he might seek to
follow?
He saw now that after his somewhat desultory
college course, his months of loafing about on sea
and shore had actually unfitted him for concentra
tion upon any ordinary work. And he was not
sanguine enough to expect an extraordinary situa
tion to come his way.
Then, too, the young man realized that Louise
Grayling had not given him the least encourage
ment to lead him to believe that she thought of him
at all. At this moment her preference for Bane's
society seemed marked. Already Cecile had rasped
Lawford regarding the leading man's attentions to
Louise.
Lawford could not face the taunting glances of
 The Sun Worshipers 221
Marian and Prue. They had come down to the
beach on this particular morning he felt sure to
comment—and not kindly—upon Louise Grayling.
He hoped that she was not included in the director's
plans for the day, and he was glad to see that
she had no make-up on, as had these other young
women.
So he strolled on grimly with Miss Louder, who
would not be called for work for an hour. But the
young man heard little of her chatter.
The tide was at the ebb and the two walked on
at the edge of the splashing surf, where the strand
was almost as firm as a cement walk. The curve
of the beach took them toward the lighthouse and
here, approaching with bucket and clam hoe along
the flats, was the very lightkeeper who had watched
the Merry Andrew and her crew the day before
when Lawford met with his accident.
"There ye be, Mr. Lawford," crowed the man,
" as chipper as a sandpiper. But I swanny, I didn't
ever expect t' hail ye again this side o' Jordan, one
spell yest'day."
" You had your glass on us, did you? " Lawford
said languidly.
" I did, young man—I did. An' when that
bobbin' skiff walloped ye on the side of the head
I never 'spected t' see you come up again. If it
hadn't been for this little lady who Shucks,
now! This ain't her 'tall, is it?"
222 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
" Oh, Mr. Tapp, were you in a boating accident
yesterday?" cried Miss Louder.
" I was overboard—yes," responded Law ford, but
rather blankly, for he was startled by the light-
keeper's statement. " What do you mean, Jonas? "
to the lightkeeper. " Didn't Betty Gallup haul me
inboard?"
"Bet Gallup—nawthin'!" exploded Jonas with
disgust. " She handled that sloop o' yourn all right.
I give her credit for that. But 'twas that there
gal stavin' at Cap'n Abe's. Ye had her out with
ye, eh?"
" Miss Grayling? Certainly."
" She's some gal, even if she is city bred," was
the lightkeeper's enthusiastic observation. " An'
quick ! My soul ! Ye'd ought to seen her kick
off her skirt an' shoes an' dive after ye! I swanny,
she was a sight ! "
" I should think she would have been! " gasped
Miss Louder with some scorn. " Goodness me, she
must be a regular stunt actress! " and she laughed
shrilly.
But Law ford gave her small attention. "Jonas,
do you mean that ? " he asked. " I thought it was
Betty who saved me. Why, dad said this morning
he was going to send the old woman a check. He
doesn't much approve of me," and the heir of the
Taffy King smiled rather grimly, " but as I'm the
last Tapp "
 The Sun Worshipers 223
" He's glad ye didn't git done for com-pletely,
heh ? " suggested Jonas, and giggled. " I wouldn't
for a minute stand in the way of Bet Gallup's
gittin' what's due her. She did pick ye both up,
Lawford. But, land sakes! ye'd been six fathoms
down, all right, if it hadn't been for that gal at
Cap'n Abe's."
" I—I had no idea of it. I never even thanked
her," muttered Lawford. " What can she think
of me? "
But not even Miss Louder heard this. She real
ized, however, that the young man who she had
been told was " the greatest catch at The Beaches "
was much distrait and that her conversation
seemed not to interest him at all.
They went back toward the scene of the film ac
tivities. It was the hour of the usual promenade
on the sands. Everybody in the summer colony
appeared on the beach while the walking along the
water's edge was fine. This promenade hour was
even more popular than the bathing hour which
was, of course, at high tide.
Groups of women, young and old, strolled under
gay parasols, or camped on the sands to chat.
Brilliantly striped marquees were set up below some
of the cottages, in which tea and other refreshments
were served. The younger people fluttered about,
talking and laughing, much like a flock of Mother
Carey's chickens before a storm.
224 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
There were several wagons over from the Haven,
in which the small-fry summer visitors arrived and
joined their more aristocratic neighbors. The
wagons stopped upon the Shell Road and the pas
sengers climbed down to the beach between two
of the larger cottages.
The people at The Beaches had tried on sev
eral occasions to inclose the stretch of shore below
their summer homes, and to make it a private beach.
But even the most acquisitive of the town council-
men (and there were several of the fraternity of
the Itching Palm in the council) dared not estab
lish such a precedent. The right of the public to
the shore at tide-water could not safely be ignored
in a community of fishermen and clam diggers.
So the shore on this morning had become a gay
scene, with the interest centering on the open air
studio of the film company. Lawford saw Louise
walking on alone along the edge of the water.
Bane had been called into conference by the director.
Lawford could not well hasten his steps and
desert Miss Louder, but he desired strongly to do
so. And ere the film actress lingeringly left him
to rejoin her company, Louise was some distance
in advance.
His sisters were near her. Lawford could see
them look at her most superciliously, and the saucy
Cecile said something that made Prue laugh aloud.
Just beyond the Tapp girls was approaching a
 The Sun Worshipers 225
group of women and men. Law ford recognized
them as the Perritons and their friends. Lawford
had no particular interest in the summer crowd
himself; but he knew the Perritons were influential
people in the social world.
With them was a majestic person the young man
had never seen before. Undoubtedly the " Lady
from Poughkeepsie." Her pink countenance and
beautifully dressed gray hair showed to excellent
advantage under the black and white parasol she
carried.
She stepped eagerly before the party, calling:
"Louise!"
Louise Grayling raised her head and waved a
welcoming hand.
" What brings you forth so early in the morn
ing, auntie?" she asked, her voice ringing clearly
across the sands.
There were at least four dum founded spectators
of this meeting, and they were all named Tapp.
Lawford stood rooted to the sands, feeling quite
as though the universe had fallen into chaos. It
was only L'Enfant Terrible who found speech.
" Oh, my ! " she cried. " What a mistake ! The
movie queen turns out to be some pumpkins! "
 CHAPTER XXI

DISCOVERIES

Louise, knowing Aunt Euphemia so well, was

immediately aware that the haughty lady had some
thing more than ordinarily unpleasant to communi
cate. It was nothing about Uncle Amazon and
the Shell Road store; some other wind of mis
chance had ruffled her soul.
But the girl ignored Aunt Euphemia's signals for
several minutes; until she made herself, indeed,
more familiar with the manner and personal attri
butes of these new acquaintances. There was a
Miss Perriton of about her own age whom she
liked at first sight. Two or three men of the party
were clean-cut and attractive fellows. Despite the
fact that their cottage had been so recently opened
for the season, the Perritons had already assem
bled a considerable house party.
" Louise, I wish to talk to you," at last said Mrs.
Conroth grimly.
" True," sighed her niece. " And how extremely
exact you always are in your use of the language,
auntie. You never wish to talk with me. You
will do all the talking as usual, I fear."
226
 Discoveries 227
" You are inclined to be saucy," bruskly rejoined
Aunt Euphemia. " As your father is away I feel
more deeply my responsibility in this matter. You
are a wayward girl—you always have been."
" You don't expect me to agree with you on that
point, do you, auntie ? " Louise asked sweetly.
Mrs. Conroth ignored the retort, continuing : " I
am not amazed, after seeing your surroundings at
the Silt place, that you should become familiar
with these common longshore characters. But this
that I have just learned—only this forenoon in
fact—astonishes me beyond measure; it does,
indeed ! "
" Let me be astonished, too, auntie. I love a
surprise," drawled her niece.
" Where were you yesterday ? " demanded Aunt
Euphemia sharply.
Louise at once thought she knew what was com
ing. She smiled as she replied : " Out fishing."
" And with whom, may I ask ? "
" With Betty Gallup, Uncle Abram's house
keeper."
"But the man?"
" Oh ! Mr. Tapp, you mean ? A very pleasant
young man, auntie."
" That is what I was told, Louise," her aunt said
mournfully. " With young Tapp. And you have
been seen with him frequently. It is being re
marked by the whole colony. Of course, you can
228 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
mean nothing by this intimacy. It arises from your
thoughtlessness, I presume. You must understand
that he is not—er Well, the Tapps are not
of our set, Louise."
"My goodness, no!" laughed the girl cheer
fully. " The Tapps are real Cape Codders, I
believe."
Aunt Euphemia raised her eyebrows and her
lorgnette together. " I do not understand you, I
fear. What the Tapps are by blood, I do not know.
But they are not in society at all—not at all ! "
" Not in society ? " repeated Louise, puzzled
indeed.
" Scarcely. Of course, as Mrs. Perriton says, the
way the cottagers are situated here at The Beaches,
the Tapps must be treated with a certain friendli
ness. That quite impossible ' I. Tapp,' as he adver
tises himself, owns all the Point and might easily
make it very disagreeable for the rest of the colony
if he so chose."
She stopped because of the expression on her
niece's countenance.
"What do you mean?" Louise asked. "Who
—who are these Tapps?"
" My dear child ! Didn't you know ? Was I
blaming you for a fault of which you were not
intentionally guilty? See how wrong you are to
go unwarned and unaccompanied to strange places
and into strange company. I thought you were
 Discoveries 229
merely having a mild flirtation with that young
man in the full light of understanding."
Louise controlled her voice and her countenance
with an effort. " Tell me, Aunt Euphemia," she
repeated, "just who Lawford Tapp is?"
" His father is a manufacturer of cheap candies.
He is advertised far and wide as ' I. Tapp, the Salt
Water Taffy King.' Fancy! I presume you are
quite right; they probably were nothing more than
clam diggers originally. The wife and daughters
are extremely raw; no other word expresses it.
And that house ! Have you seen it close to ? There
was never anything quite so awful built outside an
architect's nightmare."
"They own Tapp Point? That is Law ford's
home? Those girls are his sisters?" Louise mur
mured almost breathlessly.
" Whom did you take that young man to be,
Louise ? "
" A fisherman's son," confessed her niece, in a
very small voice. And at that Aunt Euphemia all
but fainted.
But Louise would say nothing more—just then.
On the approach of some of her friends, Mrs. Con-
roth was forced to put a cap upon her vexation,
and bid her niece good-day as sweetly as though
she had never dreamed of boxing her ears.
Louise climbed the nearest stairs to the summit
of the bluff. She felt she could not meet Lawford
230 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
at this time, and he was between her and the mov
ing picture actors.
Within the past few hours several things that
had seemed stable in Louise Grayling's life had
been shaken.
She had accepted in the very first of her ac
quaintanceship with Lawford Tapp the supposition
that his social position was quite inferior to her
own. She was too broadly democratic to hold that
as an insurmountable barrier between them.
Her disapproval of the young man grew out of her
belief in his identity as a mere " hired man "of the
wealthy owner of the villa on the Point. She had
considered that a man who was so intelligent and
well educated and at the same time so unambitious
was lacking in those attributes of character neces
sary to make him a success in life.
His love for the open— for the sea and shore
and all that pertained to them—coincided exactly
with Louise's own aspirations. She considered it
all right that her father and herself spent much of
their time as Lawford spent his. Only, daddy-
prof often added to the sum-total of human knowl
edge by his investigations, and sometimes added to
their financial investments through his work as
well.
Until now she had considered Lawford Tapp's
tendencies toward living such an irresponsible
existence as all wrong—for him. The rather ex
 Discoveries 231
citing information she had just gained changed her
mental attitude toward the young man entirely.
Louise gave no consideration whatsoever to Aunt
Euphemia's snobbish stand in the matter of Law-
ford's social position. Professor Grayling had
laughingly said that Euphemia chose to ignore the
family's small beginnings in America. True, the
English Graylings possessed a crest and a pedigree
as long as the moral law. But in America the
family had begun by being small tradespeople and
farmers.
Of course, Louise considered, Aunt Euphemia
would be very unpleasant and bothersome about
this matter. Louise had hoped to escape all that
for the summer by fleeing to Cap'n Abe's store at
Cardhaven.
However (and the girl's lips set firmly) she was
determined to take her own gait—to stand upon
her own opinion—to refuse to be swerved from her
chosen course by any consideration. Law ford
Tapp was in a financial situation to spend his time
in the improvement of his body and mind without
regard to money considerations. Louise foresaw
that they were going to have a delightful time to
gether along the shore here, until daddy-prof came
home in the fall. And then
She saw no such cloud upon the horizon as Law-
ford saw. Louise acknowledged the existence of
nothing—not even Aunt Euphemia's opposition—
232 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
which could abate the happiness she believed within
her grasp.
She admitted that her interest in Law ford had
risen far above the mark of mere friendly feeling.
When she had seen him sinking the day before, and
in peril of his life, she knew beyond peradventure
that his well-being and safety meant more to her
than anything else in the world.
Now she was only anxious to have him learn that
she instead of Betty had leaped into the sea after
him. She would avoid him no more. Only she
did not wish to meet him there on the beach before
all those idlers. Louise feared that if she did so,
she would betray her happiness. She thrilled with
it—she was obsessed with the thought that there
was nothing, after all, to separate Law ford and
herself!
Yet the day passed without his coming to the
store on the Shell Road. Louise still felt some dis
turbance of mind regarding Cap'n Amazon. She
kept away from him as much as possible, for she
feared that she might be tempted to blurt out just
what she thought of his ridiculous stories.
She did not like to hear Betty Gallup utter her
diatribes against the master mariner; although in
secret she was inclined to accept as true many of
the " able seaman's " strictures upon Cap'n Ama
zon's character.
It was really hard when she was in his presence
 Discoveries 233
to think of him as an audacious prevaricator—and
perhaps worse. He was so kindly in his manner
and speech to her. His brisk consideration for her
comfort at all times—his wistful glances for Jerry,
the ancient canary, and the tenderness he showed
the bird—even his desire to placate Diddimus, the
tortoise-shell cat—all these things withstood the
growing ill-opinion being fostered in Louise Gray
ling's mind. Who and what was this mysterious
person calling himself Cap'n Amazon Silt?
She had, too, a desire to know just how many
of those weird stories he told were filched from
Cap'n Abe's accumulation of nautical literature.
When Cap'n Amazon had gained access to the chest
of books Louise could not imagine; but the fact
remained that he had at least two of the stories pat.
Louise had promised to spend the evening at the
Perritons, and did so; but she returned to Cap'n
Abe's store early and did not invite her escort in,
although he was a youth eager to taste the novelty
of being intimate with " one of these old Cape
Codders," as he expressed it.
" No," she told young Malcolm Standish firmly.
" Uncle Amazon is not to be made a peepshow of
by the idle rich of The Beaches. Besides, from
your own name, you should be a descendant of
Miles Standish, and blood relation to these Cape
Codders yourself. And Uncle Amazon and Uncle
Abram are fine old gentlemen." She said it boldly,
234 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
whether she could believe it about Cap'n Amazon
or not. " 1 will not play showman."
" Oh, say ! Ford Tapp comes here. I saw his car
standing outside the other evening."
" Mr. Tapp," Louise explained calmly, " comes
in the right spirit. He is a friend of the—ahem
— family. He is well known to Cap'n Abe who
owns the store and has made himself acquainted
with Cap'n Amazon over the counter."
" And how has he made himself so solid with
you, Miss Grayling?" Standish asked impudently.
" By his gentlemanly behavior, and because he
knows a deal more about boat-sailing and the shores
than I know," she retorted demurely.
" Leave it to me! " exclaimed Malcolm Standish.
" I am going to learn navigation and fishology at
once."
"But—don't you think you may be too late?"
she asked him, running up the steps. " Good
night, Mr. Standish ! "
Upon going indoors she did not find Cap'n Ama
zon. The lamp was burning in the living-room, but
he was not there and the store was dark. Louise
mounted the stairs, rather glad of his absence; but
when she came to the top of the flight she saw the
lamplight streaming through the open door of her
uncle's bedroom. Diddimus, with waving tail, was
just advancing into the " cabin," as Cap'n Amazon
called the chamber he occupied.
 Discoveries 235
Knowing that he particularly objected to having
any of his possessions disturbed, and fearing that
Diddimus might do some mischief there, Louise fol
lowed the tortoise-shell, calling to him :
" Come out of there ! Come out instantly, Did
dimus ! What do you mean by venturing in where
we are all forbidden to enter? Don't you know,
Diddimus, that only fools dare venture where
angels fear to tread? Scat!"
Something on the washstand caught Louise's
glance. In the bottom of the washbowl was the
stain of a dark brown liquid. Beside it stood a
bottle the label of which she could read from the
doorway.
She caught her breath, standing for half a min
ute as though entranced. Diddimus, hearing a dis
tant footstep, and evidently suspecting it, whisked
past Louise out of the room.
There were other articles on the washstand that
claimed the girl's notice; but it was to the bottle
labeled " Walnut Stain " that her gaze returned.
She crept away to her own room, lit her lamp, and
did not even see Cap'n Amazon Silt again that
night.
 CHAPTER XXII

SHOCKING NEWS

" Ford Tapp was here last night," Cap'n Amazon

told Louise at the breakfast table. " I cal'late he
was lookin' for you, though he didn't just up an'
say so. Seemed worried like for fear't you
wouldn't have a good opinion of him."
"Mercy! what has he done?" cried the girl
laughing, for even the sound of Lawford's name
made her glad.
" Seems it's what he ain't done. What's all this
'bout your jumpin' overboard t'other day and
savin' him from drownin' ? " and the mariner fairly
beamed upon her.
" Oh, uncle, you mustn't believe everything you
hear!"
" No ? But Bet Gallup says 'tis so. You air a
hi-mighty plucky girl, I guess. I allus have thought
so—and so did Abe. But I kind of feel as though
I'm sort o' responsible for your safety an' well-bein'
while you air here, and I can't countenance no such
actions."
"Now, uncle!"
" Fellers like Ford Tapp air as plenty as hors«
 Shocking News 237
briers in a sand lot; but girls like you ain't made
often, I cal'late. Next time that feller has to be
rescued, you let Bet Gallup do it."
She knew Cap'n Amazon well enough now to see
that his roughness was assumed. His eyes were
moist as his gaze rested on her face, and he blew
his nose noisily at the end of his speech.
" You take keer o' yourself, Louise," he added
huskily. "If anything should happen to you, what
—what would Abe say ? "
The depth of his feeling for her—so plainly and
so unexpectedly displayed—halted Louise in her
already formed intention. She had arisen on this
morning, determined to " have it out " with Cap'n
Amazon Silt. On several points she wished to be
enlightened—felt that she had a right to demand
an explanation.
For she was quite positive that Cap'n Amazon
was not at all what he claimed to be. His actual
personality was as yet a mystery to her; but she was
positive on this point : He was not Captain Amazon
Silt, master mariner and rover of the seas. He was
an entirely different person, and Louise desired to
know what he meant by this masquerade.
His seamanship, his speech, his masterful man
ner, were assumed. And in the matter of his re
lated adventures the girl was confident that they
were mere repetitions of what he had read.
Now Louise suddenly remembered how Cap'n
238 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
Abe had welcomed her here at the old store, and
how cheerfully and tenderly this piratical looking
substitute for the storekeeper had assumed her care.
No relative or friend could have been kinder to her
than Cap'n Amazon.
How could she, then, stand before him and say :
" Cap'n Amazon, you are an impostor. You
have assumed a character that is not your own.
You tell awful stories about adventures that
never befell you. What do you mean by it all?
And, in conclusion and above all, Where is Cap'n
Abe? "
This had been Louise's intention when she came
downstairs on this morning. The nagging of
Betty Gallup, the gossip of the other neighbors, the
wild suspicions whispered from lip to lip did not
influence her so much. It was what she had her
self discovered the evening before in the captain's
" cabin " that urged her on.
Now Cap'n Amazon's display of tenderness " took
all the wind out of her sails," as Betty Gallup
would have said.
Louise watched him stirring about the living-
room, chirruping to old Jerry and thrusting his
finger into the cage for the bird to hop upon it, and
finally shuffling off into the store. She hesitatingly
followed him. She desired to speak, but could not
easily do so. And now Cap'n Joab Beecher was be
fore her.
 Shocking News 239
Amiel Perdue had been uptown and brought
down the early mail, of which the most important
piece was always the Boston morning paper. Cap'n
Joab had helped himself to this and was already
unfolding it.
" What's in the Globe paper, Joab? " asked Cap'n
Amazon. " You millionaires 'round here git more
time to read it than ever / do, I vum ! "
" It don't cost you nothin' to have us read it,"
said Cap'n Joab easily. " The news is all here
arter we git through."
"Uh-huh! I s'pose so. I'd ought to thank ye,
I don't dispute, for keepin' the paper from feelin'
lonesome.
" I dunno why Abe takes it, anyway, 'cept to
foller the sailin's and arrivals at the port o' Boston
—'nless he finds more time to read than ever I
do. I ain't ever been so busy in my life as I be in
this store—'nless it was when I shipped a menagerie
for a feller at a Dutch Guinea port and his monkeys
broke out o' their cages when we was two days
at sea and they tried to run the ship.
" That was some v'y'ge, as the feller said," con
tinued Cap'n Amazon, getting well under way as
he lit his after-breakfast pipe. " Them monkeys
kep' all the crew on the jump and the afterguard
scurcely got a meal in peace. I was "
"Belay there!" advised Cap'n Joab, with dis
gust. " Save that yarn for the dog watch. What
240 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
was it ye said that craft was named Cap'n Abe
sailed in? "
Cap'n Amazon stopped in his story-telling and was
silent for an instant. Louise, who had stood at the
inner doorway listening, turned to go, when she
heard the substitute storekeeper finally say :
" Curlew, out o' Boston."
The name caught the girl's instant attention and
she felt suddenly apprehensive.
" Here's news o' her," Cap'n Joab said in a
hushed voice. " And it ain't good news, Cap'n
Silt."
" What d'ye mean? " asked the latter.
" Report from Fayal. A Portugee fisherman's
picked up and brought in a boat with ' Curlew '
painted on her stern, and he saw spars and wreckage
driftin' near the empty boat. There's been a hur
ricane out there. It—it looks bad, Cap'n Silt."
Before the latter could speak again Louise was
at his side and had seized his tattooed arm.
" Uncle Amazon ! " she gasped. " Not the Cur
lew? Didn't I tell you before? That is the schooner
daddy-prof's party sailed upon. Can there be two
Curlews? "
" My soul and body ! " exclaimed Cap'n Joab.
It was Cap'n Amazon who kept his head.
" Not likely to be two craft of the same name
and register—no, my dear," he said, patting her
hand. " But don't take this so much to heart. It's
 Shocking News 241
only rumor. A dozen things might have happened
to set that boat adrift. Ain't that so, Cap'n Joab? "
Cap'n Joab swallowed hard and nodded; but his
wind-bitten face displayed much distress. " I had
no idee the gal's father was aboard that schooner
with Cap'n Abe."
" Why, sure ! I forgot it for a minute," Cap'n
Amazon said cheerfully. " There, there, my dear.
Don't take on so. Abe's with your father, if so be
anything has happened the Curlew; and Abe'll take
keer o' him. Sure he will! Ain't he a Silt ? And
lemme tell you a Silt never backed down when
trouble riz up to face him. No, sir ! "
"But if they have been wrecked?" groaned
Louise. " Both father and Uncle Abram. What
shall we do about it, Uncle Amazon ? "
In this moment of trouble she clung to the master
mariner as her single recourse. And impostor or
no, he who called himself Amazon Silt did not
fail her.
" There ain't nothing much we can rightly do at
this minute, Niece Louise," he told her firmly, still
patting her morsel of a hand in his huge one.
" We'll watch the noospapers and I'll send a tele
graph dispatch to the ship news office in N'York
and git just the latest word there is 'bout the
Curlew.
" You be brave, girl—you be brave. Abe an'
Professor Grayling being together, o' course they'll
242 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
get along all right. One'll help t'other. Two
pullin' on the sheet can allus h'ist the sail quicker
than one. Keep your heart up, Louise."
She looked at him strangely for a moment. The
tears frankly standing in his eyes, the quivering
muscles of his face, his expression of keen sorrow
for her fears—all impressed her. She suddenly
kissed him in gratitude, impostor though she knew
him to be, and then ran away. Cap'n Joab hissed
across the counter :
" Ye don't know that Cap'n Abe's on that there
craft, Am'zon Silt ! "
" Well, if I don't—an' if you don't—don't lemme
hear you makin' any cracks about it 'round this
store so't she'll hear ye," growled Cap'n Amazon,
boring into the very soul of the flustered Joab with
his fierce gaze.
Louise did not hear the expression of these
doubts; but she suffered uncertainties in her own
mind. She longed to talk with somebody to whom
she could tell all that was in her thoughts. Aunt
Euphemia was out of the question, of course; al
though she must reveal to her the possible peril
menacing Professor Grayling. Betty Gallup could
not be trusted, Louise knew. And the day dragged
by its limping hours without Law ford Tapp's com
ing near the store on the Shell Road.
This last Louise could not understand. But there
was good reason for Lawford's effacing himself at
 Shocking News 243
this time. In the empire of the Taffy King there
was revolution, and this trouble dated from the hour
on the previous morning when Louise had met and
greeted Aunt Euphemia on the beach.
The Tapp sisters may have been purse-proud and
a little vulgar—from Aunt Euphemia's point of
view, at least—but they did not lack acumen. They
had seen and heard the greeting of Louise by the
Perritons and the extremely haughty Lady from
Poughkeepsie, and knew that Louise must be " a
somebody."
Cecile, young and bold enough to be direct, was
not long in making discoveries. With a rather blank
expression of countenance L'Enfant Terrible, for
once almost speechless, beckoned her sisters to one
side.
" Pestiferous infant," drawled Marian, " tell us
who she is ? "
" Is she a Broadway star ? " asked Prue.
" Oh, she's a star all right," Cecile said, with
disgust in her tone. " We've been a trio of sillies,
ignoring her. Fordy's fallen on both feet—only
he's too dense to know it, I s'pose."
" Tell us! " commanded Prue. " Who is she? "
" She's no screen actress," answered the gloomy
Cecile.
" Who is she, then ? " gasped Marian.
" Sue Perriton says she is Mrs. Conroth's niece,
and Mrs. Conroth is all the Society with a capital
244 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
letter there is. Now, figure it out," said Cecile
tartly. "If you smarties had taken her up right
at the start "
" But we didn't kno-o-ow ! " wailed Marian.
" Go on ! " commanded Prue grimly.
" Why, Miss Grayling's father is a big scientist,
or something, at Washington. Her mother hap
pened to be born here on the Cape ; she was a Card.
This girl is just stopping over there with that old
fellow who keeps the store—her half-uncle—for a
lark. What do you know about that?"
" My word ! " murmured Marian.
" And Ford "
" He's mamma's precious white-haired boy this
time," declared the slangy Cecile.
" Do—do you suppose he knew it all the time ? "
questioned Marian.
" Never ! Just like old Doc Ambrose says, there
isn't much above Fordy's ears but solid bone,"
scoffed L'Enfant Terrible.
" Wait till ma hears of this," murmured Prue,
and they proceeded to beat a retreat for home that
their mother might be informed of the wonder.
Law ford was already out of sight.
" How really fortunate Fordy is," murmured
Mrs. Tapp, having received the shocking news and
been revived after it. " Fancy! Mrs. Conroth's own
niece! "
" It's going to put us in just right with the best
 Shocking News 245
of the crowd at The Beaches," Prue announced.
" We've only been tolerated so far."
" Oh, Prudence ! " admonished Mrs. Tapp.
" That's the truth," her second daughter repeated
bluntly. " We might as well admit it. Now, if
Fordy only puts this over with this Miss Grayling,
they'll have to take us up; for it's plain to be seen
they won't drop Miss Grayling, no matter whom
she marries."
" If Fordy doesn't miss the chance," muttered
Cecile.
"He can't!"
"He mustn't!"
" He wouldn't be mean enough to drop her just
to spite us ! " wailed Marian.
" No," said Prue. " He won't do that. Ford
isn't a butterfly. You must admit that he's as
steadfast as a rock in his likes and dislikes. Once
he gets a thing in that head of his Well! I'm
sure he's fond of Miss Grayling."
" But that big actor? " suggested Cecile.
" Surely," gasped Mrs. Tapp, " the girl cannot
fancy such a person as that? "
" My! you should just see Judson Bane," sighed
Cecile.
" He's the matinee girl's delight," drawled
Marian. " Ford has the advantage, however, if he
will take it. He's too modest."
Mrs. Tapp's face suddenly paled and she clasped
246 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
a plump hand to her bosom. "Oh, girls!" she
gasped.
"Now what, mother?" begged Prue.
"What will I. Tapp say?"
" Oh, bother father! " scoffed L'Enfant Terrible.
" He doesn't care what Ford does," Prue said.
" Does he ever really care what any of us does? "
observed Marian, yet looking doubtfully at her
mother.
"You don't understand, girls!" wailed Mrs.
Tapp, wringing her hands. " You know he made
me write ana invite that Johnson girl here."
" Oh, Dot Johnson! " said Prue. " Well, she is
harmless."
" She's not harmless," declared Mrs. Tapp. " I.
Tapp ordered me to get her here because he wants
Ford to marry her."
" Marry Dot Johnson? " gasped Prue.
" Oh, bluey! " ejaculated the slangy Cecile.
" But of course Ford won't do it," drawled
Marian.
" Then he means to disinherit poor Ford ! Oh,
yes, he will!" sobbed the lady. "They've had
words about it already. You know very well that
when once I. Tapp makes up his mind to do a thing,
he does it." And there she broke down utterly,
with the girls looking at each other in silent horror.
 CHAPTER XXIII

BETWEEN THE FIRES

The discovery of Louise's identity was but a mild

shock to Law ford after all. His preconceived
prejudice against the ordinary feminine member
of " The Profession " had, during his intercourse
with Cap'n Abe's niece, been lulled to sleep. Miss
Louder and Miss Noyes more nearly embodied
his conception of actresses—nice enough young
women, perhaps, but entirely different from Louise
Grayling.
Law ford forgave the latter for befooling him in
the matter of her condition in life; indeed, he
realized that he had deceived himself. He had ac
cepted the gossip of the natives—Milt Baker was
its originator, he remembered—as true, and so had
believed Louise Grayling was connected with the
moving picture company.
Her social position made no difference to him.
At first sight Law ford Tapp had told himself she
was the most charming woman he had ever seen.
For a college graduate of twenty-four he was,
though unaware of the fact, rather unsophisticated
regarding women.
247
248 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
He had given but slight attention to girls. Per
haps they interested him so little because of his
three sisters.
He remembered now that he and Dot Johnson
had been pretty good " pals " before he had gone
to college, and while Dot was still in middy blouse
and wore her hair in plaits.
Now, as he walked along the beach and thought
of the daughter of his father's partner, he groaned.
He, as well as the women of the family, knew well
the Taffy King's obstinacy.
His streak of determination had enabled I. Tapp
to reach the pinnacle of business wealth and influ
ence. When he wanted a thing he went after it,
and he got it!
If his father was really determined that Law-
ford should marry Dot Johnson, and her parents
were willing, the young man had an almost uncanny
feeling that the candy manufacturer's purpose
would be accomplished.
And yet Law ford knew that such was a coward-
feeling. Why should he give up the only thing he
had ever really wanted in life—so it seemed to him
now—because of any third person's obstinacy?
" Of course, she won't have me anyway," an in
ner voice told him. And, after a time, Law ford
realized that that, too, was his coward-nature
speaking.
On the other hand : " Why should I give her up?
 Between the Fires 249
Further, why should I marry Dot Johnson against
my will, whether I can get Louise Grayling or not? "
This thought electrified him. His easy-going,
placid disposition had made a coward of him. In
his heart and soul he was now ready to fight for
what he desired. It was now not merely the ques
tion of winning Louise's love. Whether he could
win her or not his determination grew to refuse to
obey his father's command. He revolted, right then
and there. Let his father keep his money. He,
Law ford Tapp, would go to work in any case and
would support himself.
This was no small resolve on the part of the
millionaire's son. He could not remember of ever
having put his hand into an empty pocket. His
demands on the paternal purse had been more rea
sonable than most young men of his class perhaps,
because of his naturally simple tastes and the life
he had led outside the classroom. Without having
" gone in " for athletics at Cambridge he was es
sentially an out-of-door man.
Nevertheless, to stand in open revolt against
I. Tapp's command was a very serious thing to do.
Lawford appreciated his own shortcomings in the
matter of intellect. He knew he was not brilliant
enough to make his wit entirely serve him for daily
bread—let alone cake and other luxuries. If his
father disinherited him he must verily expect to earn
his bread by the sweat of his brow.
250 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
It was that evening, after his fruitless call at
Cap'n Abe's store, that the young man met his
father and had it out. Lawford came back to Tapp
Point in the motor boat. As he walked up from
the dock there was a sudden eruption of voices
from the house, a door banged, and the Taffy King
began exploding verbal fireworks as he crunched
the gravel under foot.
"I'll show him! Young upstart! Settin' the
women on me! Ha! Thinks he can do as he
pleases forever and ever, amen ! I'll show him ! "
Just then he came face to face with " the young
upstart." I. Tapp seized his son's arm with a
vicious if puny grasp and yelled:
" What d'you mean by it? "
" Mean by what, dad? " asked the boy with that
calmness that always irritated I. Tapp.
" Settin' your ma and the girls on me ? They all
lit on me at once. All crying together some fool
ishness about your marrying this Grayling girl and
putting the family into society."
"Into society?" murmured Lawford. "I—I
don't get you."
" You know what they're after," cried the candy
manufacturer. " If a dynamite bomb would blow
in the walls of that exclusive Back Bay set, they'd
use one. And now it turns out this girl's right in
the swim I thought you said she was a pic-i
ture actress? "
 Between the Fires 251
" I thought she was," stammered Law ford.
" Bah ! You thought ? You never thought a
thing in your life of any consequence."
The young man was silent at this thrust. His
silence made I. Tapp even angrier.
" But it makes no difference—no difference at
all, I tell you. If she was the queen of Sheba
I'd say the same," went on the candy manufacturer
wildly. " I've said you shall marry Dorothy John
son—I've always meant you should; and marry her
you shall ! "
" No, dad, I'm not going to do any such thing."
Suddenly the Taffy King quieted down. He
struggled to control his voice and his shaking hands.
A deadly calm mantled his excitement and his eyes
glittered as he gazed up at his tall son.
"Is this a straight answer, Lawford? Or are
you just talking to hear yourself talk?" he asked
coldly.
" I am determined not to marry Dot."
" And you'll marry that other girl? "
"If she'll have me. But whether or no I won't
be forced into marriage with a girl I do not
love."
" Love ! " exploded the Taffy King. Then in a
moment he was calm again, only for that inward
glow of rage. " People don't really love each other
until after marriage. Love is born of propinquity
and thrives on usage and custom. You only
252 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
think you love this girl. It's after two people have
been through a good deal together that they learn
what love means."
Lawford was somewhat startled by this philos
ophy ; but he was by no means convinced.
" Whether or no," he repeated, " I think I should
have the same right that you had of choosing a
wife."
His father brushed this aside without comment.
" Do you understand what this means—if you are
determined to disobey me? " he snarled.
" I suppose you won't begrudge me a bite and
sup till I find a job, dad? " the son said with just
a little tremor in his voice. " I know I haven't
really anything of my own. You have done every
thing for me. Your money bought the very clothes
I stand in. You gave me the means to buy the
Merry Andrew. I realize that nothing I have called
my own actually belongs to me because I did not
earn it "
" As long as you are amenable to discipline," put
in his father gloomily, " you need' not feel this
way."
" But I do feel it now," said Lawford simply.
" You have made me. And, as I say, I'll need to
live, I suppose, till I get going for myself."
His father winced again. Then suddenly burst
out:
" D'you think for a minute that that society
 Between the Fires 253
girl will stand for your getting a job and trying
to support her on your wages? "
" She will if she loves me."
" You poor ninny ! " burst out I. Tapp. " You've
got about as much idea of women as you have of
business. And where are you going to work ? "
" Well," and Law ford smiled a little whimsically,
serious though the discussion was, " I've always felt
a leaning toward the candy business. I believe I
have a natural adaptability for that. Couldn't I
find a job in one of your factories, dad? "
" You'll get no leg-up from me, unless you show
you're worthy of it."
" But you'll give me a job? "
" I won't interfere if the superintendent of any
of the factories takes you on," growled I. Tapp.
" But mind you, he'll hire you on his own respon
sibility—he'll understand that from me. But I tell
you right now this is no time to apply for a job in
a candy factory. We're discharging men—not hir
ing them."
" I will apply for the first opening," announced
the son.
I. Tapp stamped away along the graveled walk,
leaving the young man alone. Law ford's calmness
was as irritating to him as sea water to a raw
wound.
 CHAPTER XXIV

GRAY DAYS

Those days were dark for Louise Grayling; on

her shoulders she bore double trouble. Anxiety for
her father's safety made her sufficiently unhappy;
but in addition her mind must cope with the mys
tery of Cap'n Amazon's identity and Cap'n Abe's
whereabouts.
For she was not at all satisfied in her heart that
the storekeeper had sailed from the port of Boston
on the Curlew; and the status of the piratical look
ing Amazon Silt was by no means decided to her
satisfaction. Her discoveries in his bedroom had
quite convinced the young woman that Cap'n Ama
zon was in masquerade.
His comforting words and his thought fulness
touched her so deeply, however, that she could not
quarrel with the old man; and his insistence that
Cap'n Abe had sailed on the Curlew and would be
at hand to assist Professor Grayling if the schooner
had been wrecked was kindly meant, she knew.
He scoffed at the return of Cap'n Abe's chest as
being of moment; he refused to discuss his brother's
254
 Gray Days 255
reason for stuffing the old chest with such useless
lumber as it contained.
" Leave Abe for knowing his own business,
Niece Louise. 'Tain't any of our consarn," was
the most he would say about that puzzling circum
stance.
Louise watched the piratical figure of Cap'n
Amazon shuffling around the store or puttering
about certain duties of housekeeping that he in
sisted upon doing himself, with a wonder that never
waned.
His household habits were those which she sup
posed Cap'n Abe to have had. She wondered if
all sailors were as neat and as fussy as he. He
still insisted upon doing much of the cooking; it
was true that he had good reason to doubt Betty
Gallup's ability to cook.
When there were no customers in the store
Louise often sat there with Cap'n Amazon, with
either a book or her sewing in her hand. Some
times they would not speak for an hour, while the
substitute storekeeper " made up the books," which
was a serious task for him.
He seemed normally dexterous in everything
else, but he wrote with his left hand—an angular,
upright chirography which, Louise thought, showed
unmistakably that he was unfamiliar with the use
of the pen. " Writing up the log " he called this
clerkly task, and his awkward looking characters

"
256 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
in the ledger were in great contrast to Cap'n Abe's
round, flowing hand.
For several days following the discovery in the
" Globe paper " of the notice about the Curlew,
Louise Grayling and Cap'n Amazon lived a most
intimate existence. She would not allow Betty
Gallup to criticise the captain even slightly within
her hearing.
They received news from New York which was
no news at all. The Boston Chamber of Com
merce had heard no further word of the schooner.
Louise and the captain could only hope.
The world of seafaring is so filled with mysteries
like this of the Curlew, that Louise knew well that
no further word might ever be received of the
vessel.
Cap'n Amazon rang the changes daily—almost
hourly—upon sea escapes and rescues. He related
dozens of tales (of course with the personal note
in most), showing how ships' companies had
escaped the threat of disaster in marvelous and al
most unbelievable ways.
Louise had not the heart now to stop this flow
of narrative by telling him bluntly that she doubted
the authenticity of his tales. Nor would she look
into the old books again to search out the originals
of the stories which flowed so glibly from his lips.
Who and what he could really be puzzled Louise
quite as much as before; yet she had not the heart
 Gray Days 257
to probe the mystery with either question or per
sonal scrutiny. The uncertainty regarding the
Curlew and those on board filled so much of the
girl's thought that little else disturbed her.
Save one thing. She desired to see Lawford
Tapp and talk with him. But Lawford did not
appear at the store on the Shell Road.
Mr. Bane came frequently to call. He was an
eager listener to Cap'n Amazon's stories and evi
dently enjoyed the master mariner hugely. Sev
eral of the young people from the cottages along
The Beaches called on Louise; but if the girl de
sired to see Aunt Euphemia she had to go to the
Perritons, or meet the Lady from Poughkeepsie in
her walks along the sands. Aunt Euphemia could
not countenance Cap'n Amazon in the smallest
particular.
" It is a mystery to me, Louise—a perfect mys
tery—how you are able to endure that awful crea
ture and his coarse stories. That dreadful tale of
the albatross sticks in my mind—I cannot forget
it," she complained. " And his appearance ! No
more savage looking man did I ever behold. I
wonder you are not afraid to live in the same house
with him."
Louise would not acknowledge that she had ever
been fearful of Cap'n Amazon. Her own qualms
of terror had almost immediately subsided. The
news from the Curlew, indeed, seemed to have
258 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
smothered the neighborhood criticism of the cap
tain, if all suspicions had not actually been lulled
to rest.
Cap'n Amazon spoke no more of his brother,
save in connection with Professor Grayling's peril,
than he had before. He seemed to have no fears
for Cap'n Abe. " Abe can look out for himself,"
was a frequent expression with him. But Cap'n
Amazon never spoke as though he held the danger
of Louise's father in light regard.
" I'll give 'em a fortnight to be heard from,"
Cap'n Joab Beecher said confidently. " Then if ye
don't hear from Cap'n Abe, or the noospapers don't
print nothin' more about the schooner, I shall write
her down in the log as lost with all hands."
" Don't you be too sartain sure 'bout it," growled
Cap'n Amazon. " There's many a wonder of the
sea, as you an' I know, Joab Beecher. Look at
what happened the crew of the Mailfast, clipper
built, out o' Baltimore—an' that was when you an'
I, Cap'n Joab, was sharpenin' our milk teeth on
salt hoss."
"What happened her, Cap'n Am'zon?" queried
Milt Baker, reaching for a fresh piece of Brown
Mule, and with a wink at the other idlers. " Did
she go down, or did she go up ? "
" Both," replied Cap'n Amazon unruffled. " She
went up in smoke an' flame, an' finally sunk when
she'd burned to the Plimsol mark.
 Gray Days 259
" Every man of the crew and afterguard got
safely into two boats. This wasn't far to the west
ward of Fayal—in mebbe somewhere near the same
spot where that Portugee fisherman reports pickin'
up the Curlew's boat.
" When the Mailfast burned the sea was calm ;
but in six hours a sudden gale came up and drove
the two boats into the southwest. They wasn't
provisioned or watered for a long v'y'ge, and they
had to run for it a full week, cv'ry mile reeled off
takin' them further an' further from the islands,
and further and further off the reg'lar course of
shipping."
" Where'd they wind up at, Cap'n Am'zon?"
asked Milt.
" Couldn't hit nothin' nearer'n the Guineas on
that course," growled Cap'n Joab.
" There you're wrong," the substitute storekeeper
said. " They struck seaweed—acres an' acres of
it—square miles of it—everlastin' seaweed!"
" Sargasso Sea ! " exploded Washy Gallup, wag
ging his toothless jaw. " I swanny! "
" I've heard about that place, but never seen it,"
said Cap'n Joab.
" And you don't want to," declared the narrator
of the incident. " It ain't a place into which no
sailorman wants to venture. The Mailfast's com-
p'ny—so 'tis said—was driven far into the pulpy,
grassy sea. The miles of weed wrapped 'em
260 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
around like a blanket. They couldn't row because
the weed fouled the oars; and they couldn't sail
'cause the weed was so heavy. But there's a drift
they say, or a suction, or something that grad
ually draws a boat toward the middle of the
field."
" Then, by golly! " exclaimed Milt Baker, " how
in tarnation did they git aout? I sh'd think any
body that every drifted into the Sargasso Sea would
be there yit."
" P'r'aps many a ship an' many a ship's comp'ny
have found their grave there," said Cap'n Amazon
solemnly. " 'Tis called the graveyard of derelicts.
But there's the chance of counter-storms. Before
the two boats from the Mailfast were sucked down,
and 'fore the crew was fair starved, a sudden shift
of wind broke up the seaweed field and they escaped
and were picked up.
"The danger of the Sargasso threatens all
sailin' ships in them seas. Steam vessels have a
better chance; but many a craft that's turned up
missin' has undoubtedly been swallowed by the
Sargasso."
Louise, who heard this discussion from the door
way of the store, could not fail to be impressed by
it. Could the Curlew, with her father and Cap'n
Abe aboard, have suffered such a fate? There was
an element of probability in this tale of Cap'n
Amazon's that entangled the girl's fancy. How
 Gray Days 261
ever, the idea colored the old man's further imagina
tion in another way.
" Sargasso Sea," he said reflectively, between
puffs of his pipe, after the idlers had left the store.'
" Yes, 'tis a fact, Niece Louise. That's what Abe
drifted in for years—a mort of seaweed and pulp."
"What do you mean, Uncle Amazon?" gasped
the girl, shocked by his words.
" This," the master mariner said, with a wide
sweep of his arm taking in the cluttered store.
" This was Abe's Sargasso Sea—and it come nigh
to smotherin' him and bearin' him down by the
head."
" Oh! you mean his life was so confined here? "
Cap'n Amazon nodded. " I wonder he bore it
so long."
" I am afraid Uncle Abram is getting all he wants
of adventure now," Louise said doubtfully.
Cap'n Amazon stared at her unwinkingly for a
minute. Then all he said was:
"I wonder?"
 CHAPTER XXV

AUNT EUPHEMIA MAKES A POINT

Lawford Tapp did not appear at the store and

Louise continued to wonder about it ; but she shrank
from asking Betty Gallup, who might have been
able to inform her why the young man did not
come again. However, on one bright morning the
gray roadster stopped before the door and Louise,
from her window, saw that the three Tapp girls
were in the car.
She thought they had come to make purchases,
for the store on the Shell Road was often a port
of call for the automobiles of the summer colonists.
Suddenly, however, she realized that L'Enfant Ter
rible was standing up in the driver's seat and beck
oning to her.
"Oh, Miss Grayling!" shrilled Cecile. "May
I come up? I want to speak to you."
" No," commanded Prue firmly, preparing to
step out of the car. " I will speak to Miss Gray
ling myself."
" I don't see why she can't come down," drawled
Marian, the languid. " / have a message for her."
"Why!" ejaculated the surprised Louise, "if
263
 Aunt Euphemia Makes a Point 263
you all wish to see me I'd better come down, hadn't
I?" and she left the window at once.
She had remarked on the few occasions during
the last few days that she had met the Tapp sisters
on the beach, that they had seemed desirous of
being polite to her—very different from their
original attitude; but so greatly taken up had
Louise's mind been with more important matters
that she had really considered this change but
little.
Therefore it was with some curiosity that she
descended the stairs and went around by the yard
gate to the side of the automobile.
" Dear Miss Grayling," drawled Marian, putting
out a gloved hand. " Pardon the informality.
But mother wants to know if you will help us pour
tea at our lawn fete and dance Friday week? It
would be so nice of you."
Louise smiled quietly. But she was not a stickler
for social proprieties ; so, although she knew the in
vitation savored of that " rawness " of which her
aunt had remarked, she was inclined to meet Law-
ford's family halfway. She said:
"If you really want me I shall be glad to do
what I can to make your affair a success. Tell
your mother I will come—and thank you."
" So kind of you," drawled Marian.
But Cecile was not minded to let the interview
end so tamely—or so suddenly.
264 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
" Say ! " she exclaimed, " did Ford see you, Miss
Grayling, before he went away? "
"He has gone away, then?" Louise repeated,
and she could not keep the color from flooding into
her cheeks.
" He wanted to see you, I'm sure," Cecile said
bluntly. " But he started off in a hurry. Had a
dickens of a row with dad."
" Cecile ! " admonished Prue. " That sounds
worse than it is."
Louise looked at her curiously, though she did
not ask a question.
" Well, they did have a shindy," repeated
L'Enfant Terrible. " When daddy gets on his high
horse——"
" Ford wished to see you before he went away,
Miss Grayling," broke in Prue, with an admonitory
glare at her young sister. " He told us he was so
confused that day he fell overboard from the Merry
Andrew, that he did not even thank you for fishing
him out of the sea. It was awfully brave of you."
"Bully, / say!" cried Cecile.
" Really heroic," added Marian. " Mother will
never get over talking about it."
"Oh! I wish you wouldn't," murmured Louise.
" I'm glad Betty and I saved him. Mrs. Gallup
did quite as much as I "
" We know all that," Prue broke in quickly.
"And daddy's made it up to her,"
 Aunt Euphemia Makes a Point 265
" Yes. I know. He was very liberal," Louise
agreed.
"But mercy!" cried Prue. He can't send you
a check, Miss Grayling. And we all do feel deeply
grateful to you. Ford is an awfully good sort of
a chap— for a brother."
Louise laughed outright at that. " I suppose,
though never having had a brother, I can appreciate
his good qualities fully as much as you girls," she
said. "Will he be long away?"
" That we don't know," Marian said slowly.
Louise had asked the question so lightly that Miss
Tapp could not be sure there was any real interest
behind it. But Cecile, who had alighted to crank
up, whispered to Louise :
" You know what he's gone away for? No? To
get a job! He and father have disagreed dread
fully."
" Oh ! I am so sorry," murmured Louise. She
would not ask any further questions. She was
troubled, however, by this information, for
L'Enfant Terrible seemed to have said it signifi
cantly. Louise wondered very much what had
caused the quarrel between Law ford and his
father.
She got at the heart of this mystery when she
appeared at the lawn fete to help the Tapp girls and
their mother entertain. She was introduced at that
time to the Taffy King. Louise thought him rather
266 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
a funny little man, and his excitability vastly
amused her.
She caught him staring at her and scowling
more than once; so, in her direct way, she asked
him what he meant by it.
"Don't you approve at all of me, Mr. Tapp?"
she asked, presenting him with a cup of tea that he
did not want.
"Ha! Beg pardon!" ejaculated the candy
manufacturer. " Did you think I was watching
you?"
" I know you were," she rejoined. " And your
disapproval is marked. Tell me my faults. Of
course, I sha'n't like you if you do; but I am
curious."
"Huh! I'd like to see what that son of mine
sees in you, Miss Grayling," he blurted out.
"Does he see anything particular in me?"
Louise queried, her color rising, but with a twinkle
in her eye.
" He's crazy about you," said I. Tapp.
" Oh ! Is that why you and he disagreed ? "
" It's going to cost him his home and his patri
mony," the candy manufacturer declared fiercely.
" I won't have it, I tell you ! I've other plans for
him. He's got to do as I say, or "
Something in the girl's face halted him at the
very beginning of one of his tirades. Positively
she was laughing at him!
 Aunt Euphemia Makes a Point 267
" Is that the reef on which you and Lawford
have struck?" Louise asked gently. "If he
chooses to address attentions to me he must become
self-supporting? "
" I'll cut him off without a cent if he marries
you!" threatened I. Tapp.
" Why," murmured Louise, " then that will be
the making of him, I have no doubt. It is the lack
I have seen in his character from the beginning.
Responsibility will make a man of him."
"Ha!" snarled I. Tapp. "How about you?
Will you marry a poor man—a chap like my son
who, if he ever makes twenty dollars a week, will
be doing mighty well ? "
" Oh! This is so—so sudden, Mr. Tapp! " mur
mured Louise, dimpling. " You are not seriously
asking me to marry your son, are you? "
"Asking you to?" exploded the excitable Taffy
King, with a wild gesture. " I forbid it ! Forbid
it! do you hear?" and he rushed away from the
scene of the festivities and did not appear again
during the afternoon.
Mrs. Tapp, all of a flutter, appeared at Louise's
elbow.
"Oh, dear, Miss Grayling! What did he say?
He is so excitable." She almost wept. " I hope
he has said nothing to offend you ? "
Louise looked at her with a rather pitying
smile.
2G8 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
" Don't be worried, Mrs. Tapp," she assured her.
" Really, I think your husband is awfully amuring."
Naturally disapproval was plainly enthroned upon
Aunt Euphemia's countenance when she saw her
niece aiding in the entertainment of the guests at
the Tapp lawn fete. The Lady from Poughkeepsie
had come with the Perritons because, as she ad
mitted, the candy manufacturer's family must be
placated to a degree.
" But you go too far, Louise. Even good nature
cannot excuse this. I am only thankful that young
man is not at home. Surely you cannot be really
interested in Lawford Tapp?"
" Do spare my blushes," begged Louise, her palms
upon her cheeks but her eyes dancing. " Really, I
haven't seen Lawford for days."
"Really, Louise?"
" Surely I would not deceive you, auntie," she
said. " He may have lost all his interest in me, too.
He went away without bidding me good-bye."
"Well, I am glad of that!" sighed Aunt Eu-
phemia. " I feared it was different. Indeed, I
heard something said Oh, well, people will
gossip so! Never mind. But these Tapps are so
pushing."
" I think Mrs. Tapp is a very pleasant woman;
and the girls are quite nice," Louise said demurely.
" You need not have displayed your liking for
them in quite this way," objected Aunt Euphemia.
 Aunt Euphemia Makes a Point 269
" You could easily have excused yourself—the un
certainty about your poor father would have been
reason enough. I don't know—I am not sure, in
deed, but that we should go into mourning. Of
course, it would spoil the summer "
"Oh! Aunt Euphemia!"
" Yes. Well, I only mentioned it. For my own
part I look extremely well in crepe."
Louise was shocked by this speech ; yet she knew
that its apparent heartlessness did not really denote
the state of her aunt's mind. It was merely bred
of the lady's shallowness, and of her utterly self-
centered existence.
That evening, long after supper and after the
store lights were out, and while Cap'n Amazon and
Louise were sitting as usual in the room behind the
store, a hasty step on the porch and a rat-tat-tat
upon the side door announced a caller than whom
none could have been more unexpected.
" Aunt Euphemia ! " cried Louise, when the mas
ter mariner ushered the lady in. " What has hap
pened ? "
"Haven't you heard? Did you not get a let
ter?" demanded Mrs. Conroth. But she kept a
suspicious eye on the captain.
"From daddy-prof?" exclaimed Louise, jump
ing up.
" Yes. Mailed at Gibraltar. Nothing has hap
pened to that vessel he is on. That was all a
270 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
ridiculous story. But there is something else,
Louise."
" Sit down, ma'am," Cap'n Amazon was saying
politely. " Do sit down, ma'am."
" Not in this house," declared the lady, with
finality. " I do not feel safe here. And it's not
safe for you to be here, Louise, with this—this
man. You don't know who he is; nobody knows
who he is. I have just heard all about it from one
of the—er—natives. Mr. Abram Silt never had
a brother that anybody in Cardhaven ever saw.
There is no Captain Amazon Silt—and never was ! "
"Oh!" gasped Louise.
" Nor does your father say a word in his letter
to me about Abram Silt being with him aboard that
vessel, the Curlew. Nobody knows what has be
come of your uncle—the man who really owns this
store. How do we know but that this—this crea
ture," concluded Aunt Euphemia, with dramatic
gesture, " has made away with Mr. Silt and taken
over his property? "
" It 'ud be jest like the old pirate ! " croaked a
harsh voice from the kitchen doorway, and Betty
Gallup appeared, apparently ready to back up Mrs.
Conroth physically, as well as otherwise.
 *

CHAPTER XXVI

AT LAST

THAT hour in the old-fashioned living-room be

hind Cap'n Abe's store was destined to be marked
indelibly upon Louise Grayling's memory. Aunt
Euphemia and Betty Gallup had both come armed
for the fray. They literally swept Louise off her
feet by their vehemence.
The effect of the challenge on Cap'n Amazon was
most puzzling. As Mrs. Conroth refused to sit
down—she could talk better standing, becoming
quite oracular, in fact—the captain could not, in
politeness, take his customary chair. And he had
discarded his pipe upon going to the door to let the
visitor in.
Therefore, it seemed to Louise, the doughty cap
tain seemed rather lost. It was not that he dis
played either surprise or fear because of Aunt Eu
phemia's accusation. Merely he did not know what
to do with himself during her exhortation.
The fact that he was taxed with a crime—a double
crime, indeed—did not seem to bother him at all.
But the clatter of the women's tongues seemed to
annoy him.
271
272 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper

His silence and his calmness affected Mrs. Con-

roth and Betty Gallup much as the store idlers had
been affected when they tried to bait him—their ex
asperation increased. Cap'n Amazon's utter dis
regard of what they said (for Betty did her share
of the talking, relieving the Lady from Poughkeep-
sie when she was breathless) continued unabated.
It was a situation that, at another time, would have
vastly amused Louise.
But it was really a serious matter. Mrs. Conroth
was quite as excited as Betty. Both became vocifer
ous in acclaiming the captain's irresponsibility, and
both accused him of having caused Cap'n Abe's dis
appearance.
" Mark my word," declared Aunt Euphemia, with
her most indignant air, " that creature is guilty—
guilty of an awful crime!"
" The old pirate! That he is! " reiterated Betty.
" Louise, my child, come away from here at once.
This is no place for a young woman—or for any
self-respecting person. Come."
For the first time since the opening of this scene
Cap'n Amazon displayed trouble. He turned to look
at Louise, and she thought his countenance expressed
apprehension—as though he feared she might go.
" Come ! " commanded Mrs. Conroth again.
" This is no fit place for you; it never has been fit! "
" Avast, there, ma'am ! " growled the captain, at
last stung to retort.
 At Last 273
" You are an old villain ! " declared Aunt Euphe-
mia.
" He's an old pirate! " concluded Betty Gallup.
Here Louise found her voice—and she spoke with
decision.
" I shall stay just the same, aunt. I am satisfied
that you all misjudge Captain Amazon." His face—
the sudden flash of gratitude in it—thanked her.
" Louise ! " cried her aunt.
" You better come away, Miss Lou," said Betty.
"The constable'll git that old pirate; that's what'll
happen to him."
" Stop ! " exclaimed Louise. " I'll listen to no
more. I do not believe these things you say. And
neither of you can prove them. I'm going to bed.
Good-night, Aunt Euphemia," and she marched out
of the room.
That closed the discussion. Cap'n Amazon bowed
Mrs. Conroth politely out of the door and Betty
went with her. Louise did not get to sleep in her
chamber overhead for hours; nor did she hear the
captain come upstairs at all.
In the morning's post there was a letter for Louise
from her father—a letter that had been delayed. It
had been mailed at the same time the one to Aunt
Euphemia was sent. The Curlew would soon turn
her bows Bostonward, the voyage having been suc
cessful from a scientific point of view. Professor
Grayling even mentioned the loss of a small boat in
274 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper

a squall, when it had been cast adrift from the taff-

rail by accident.
Betty, with face like a thundercloud, had brought
the letter up to Louise. When the girl had hastily
read it through she ran down to show it to Cap'n
Amazon. She found him reading an epistle of his
own, while Cap'n Joab, Milt Baker, Washy Gallup,
and several other neighbors hovered near.
" Yep. I got one myself," announced Cap'n Ama
zon.
" Oh, captain ! "
" Yep. From Abe. Good reason why your fa
ther didn't speak of Abe in his letter to your a'nt.
Didn't in yours, did he? "
Louise shook her head.
"No? Listen here," Cap'n Amazon said. "'I
haven't spoke to Professor Grayling. He don't
know Abe Silt from the jib-boom. Why should he?
I am a foremast hand and he lives abaft. But he is
a fine man. Everybody says so. We've had some
squally weather '
" Well ! that's nothin'. Ahem ! "
He went on, reading bits to the interested listen
ers now and then, and finally handed the letter to
Cap'n Joab Beecher. The latter, looking mighty
queer indeed, adjusted his spectacles and spread out
the sheet.
" Ye-as," he admitted cautiously. " That 'pears
to be Cap'n Abe's handwritin', sure 'nough."
 At Last 275
" Course 'tis ! " squealed Washy Gallup. " As
plain, as plain ! "
" Read it out," urged Milt while the captain went
to wait upon a customer.
Louise listened with something besides curiosity.
The letter was a rambling account of the voyage of
the Curlew, telling little directly or exactly about
the daily occurrences; but nothing in it conflicted
with what Professor Grayling had written Louise—
save one thing.
The girl realized that the arrival of this letter
from Cap'n Abe had finally punctured that bubble
of suspicion against the captain that had been blown
overnight. It seemed certain and unshakable proof
that the substitute storekeeper was just whom he
claimed to be, and it once and for all put to death
the idea that Cap'n Abe had not gone to sea in the
Curlew.
Yet Louise had never been more puzzled since
first suspicion had been roused against Cap'n Ama
zon. A single sentence in her father's letter could
not be made to jibe with Cap'n Abe's epistle, and
therefore she folded up her own letter and thrust it
into her pocket. In speaking of his companions on
shipboard, the professor had written:

" I am by far the oldest person aboard the Curlew,

skipper included. They are all young fellows, both
for'ard and in the afterguard. Yet they treat me
276 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
like one of themselves and I am having a most en
joyable time."

Cap'n Abe was surely much older than her daddy-

prof ! It puzzled her. It troubled her. There was
not a moment of that day when it was not the upper
most thought in her mind.
People came in from all around to read Cap'n
Abe's letter and to congratulate Cap'n Amazon and
Louise that the Curlew was safe. The captain took
the matter as coolly as he did everything else.
Louise watched him, trying to fathom his manner
and the mystery about him. Yet, when the solu
tion of the problem was developed, she was most
amazed by the manner in which her eyes were
opened.
Supper time was approaching, and the cooler
evening breeze blew in through the living-room
windows. Relieved for the moment from his store
tasks, Cap'n Amazon appeared, rubbing his hands
cheerfully, and briskly approached old Jerry's cage
as he chirruped to the bird.
" Well ! well ! And how's old Jerry been to-day ? "
Louise heard him say. Then : " Hi-mighty ! What's
this?"
Louise glanced in from the kitchen. She saw him
standing before the cage, his chin sunk on his breast,
the tears trickling down his mahogany face.
That hard, stern visage, with its sweeping pirati
 At Last 277

cal mustache and the red bandana above it, was a

most amazing picture of grief.
" Oh ! What is it ? " cried the girl, springing to his
side.
He pointed with shaking index finger to the bird
within the cage.
" Dead ! " he said brokenly. " Dead, Niece
Louise! Poor old Jerry's dead—and him and me
shipmates for so many, many years."
" Oh ! " screamed the girl, grasping his arm.
"You are Cap'n Abe! "
 CHAPTER XXVII

SARGASSO

After all, when she considered it later, Louise

wondered only that she had not seen through the
masquerade long before.
From the beginning—the very first night of her
occupancy of the pleasant chamber over the store
on the Shell Road—she should have understood the
mystery that had had the whole neighborhood by
the ears during the summer.
She, more than anybody else, should have seen
through Cap'n Abe's masquerade. Louise had been
in a position, she now realized, to have appreciated
the truth.
" You are Cap'n Abe," she told him, and he did
not deny it. Sadly he looked at the dead canary in
the bottom of the cage, and wiped his eyes.
" Poor Jerry! " her uncle said, and in that single
phrase all the outer husk of the rough and ready
seaman—the character he had assumed in playing
his part for so many weeks—sloughed away. He
was the simple, tender-hearted, almost childish Cap'n
Abe that she had met upon first coming to Card-
haven.
278
 Sargasso 279

Swiftly through her mind the incidents of that

first night and morning flashed. She remembered
that he had prepared her—as he had prepared his
neighbors—for the coming of this wonderful Cap'n
Amazon, whose adventures he had related and whose
praises he had sung for so many years.
Cap'n Abe had taken advantage of Perry Baker's
coming with Louise's trunk to send off his own chest,
supposedly filled with the clothes he would need on
a sea voyage.
Then, the house clear of the expressman and
Louise safe in bed, the storekeeper had proceeded to
disguise himself as he had long planned to do.
Not content with the shaving of his beard only,
he had dyed his hair and the sweeping piratical mus
tache left him. Walnut juice applied to his face
and body had given him the stain of a tropical sun.
Of course, this stain and the dye had to be occa
sionally renewed.
The addition of gold rings in his ears (long before
pierced for the purpose, of course) and the wearing
of the colored handkerchief to cover his bald crown
completed a disguise that his own mother would
have found hard to penetrate.
Cap'n Abe was gone; Cap'n Amazon stood in his
place.
To befool his niece was a small matter. At day
break he had come to her door and bidden Louise
good-bye. But she had not seen him—only his fig
280 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper

ure as he walked up the road in the fog. Cap'n Abe

had, of course, quickly made a circuit and come
back to re-enter the house by the rear door.
From that time—or from the moment Law ford
Tapp had first seen him on the store porch that
morning—the storekeeper had played a huge game
of bluff. And what a game it had been !
In his character of Cap'n Amazon he had com
manded the respect—even the fear—of men who for
years had considered Cap'n Abe a butt for their poor
jests. It was marvelous, Louise thought, when one
came to think of it.
And yet, not so marvelous after all, when she
learned all that lay behind the masquerade. There
had always been, lying dormant in Cap'n Abe's na
ture, characteristics that had never before found
expression.
Much she learned on this evening at supper, and
afterward when the store had been closed and they
were alone in the living-room. Diddimus, who still
had his doubts of the piratical looking captain, lay
in Louise's lap and purred loudly under the minis
tration of her gentle hand, while Cap'n Abe talked.
It was a story that brought to the eyes of the sym
pathetic girl the sting of tears as well as bubbling
laughter to her lips. And in it all she found some
thing almost heroic as well as ridiculous.
" My mother marked me," said Cap'n Abe.
" Poor mother ! I was born with her awful horror
 Sargasso 281
of the ravenin' sea as she saw the Bravo an' Cap'n
Josh go down. I knew it soon—when I was only
a little child. I knew I was set apart from other
Silts, who had all been seafarin' men since the be-
ginnin' of time.
" And yet I loved the sea, Niece Louise. The
magic of it, its mystery, its romance and its won
ders; all phases of the sea and seafarin' charmed me.
But I could not step foot in a boat without almost
swoonin' with fright, and the sight of the sea in its
might filled me with terror.
" Ah, me ! You can have no idea what pains I
suffered as a boy because of this fear," said Cap'n
Abe. " I dreamed of voyagin' into unknown seas—
of seein' the islands of the West and of the East—
of visitin' all the wonderful corners of the
world—of facin' all the perils and experiencin' all
the adventures of a free rover. And what was
my fate?
" The tamest sort of a life," he said, answering
his own question. " The flattest existence ever man
could imagine. Hi-mighty! Instead of a sea rover
—a storekeeper ! Instead of romance—Sargasso ! "
and he gestured with his pipe in his hand. " You
understand, Louise? That's what I meant when I
spoke of the Sargasso Sea t'other day. It was my
doom to live in the tideless and almost motionless
Sea of Sargasso.
" But my mind didn't stay tame ashore," pursued
282 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
Cap'n Abe. " As a boy I fed it upon all the ro
mances of the sea I could gather. Ye-as. I sup
pose I am greatly to be blamed. I have been a hi-
mighty liar, Louise!
" It began because I heard so many other men
tellin' of their adventoors, an' I couldn't tell of none.
My store at Rocky Head where I lived all my life
till I come here (mother came over to Cardhaven
with her second husband; but I stayed on there till
twenty-odd year ago) —my store there was like
this one. There's allus a lot of old barnacles like
Cap'n Joab and Washy Gallup clingin' to such
reefs as this.
"So I heard unendin' experiences of men who
had gone to sea. And at night I read everything
I could get touchin' on, an' appertainin' to, sea-
farin'. In my mind I've sailed the seven seas,
charted unknown waters, went through all the perils
I tell 'bout. Yes, sir, I don't dispute I'm a hi-mighty
liar," he repeated, sighing and shaking his head.
" But when I come here to the Shell Road, where
there warn't nobody knowed me, it struck me forci
ble," pursued Cap'n Abe, " that my fambly bein' so
little known I could achieve a sort of vicarious reper-
tation as a seagoin' man.
"Ye see what I mean? I cal'lated if I'd had a
brother—a brother who warn't marked with a fear
of the ocean—he would ha' been a sailor. Course
he would ! All us Silts was seafarin' men !
 Sargasso 283

" An' I thought so much 'bout this brother that

I might ha' had, and what he would ha' done sailin'
up an' down the world, learnin' to be a master ma
riner, an' finally pacin' his own quarter-deck, that
he grew like he was real to me, Niece Louise—he
re'lly did. I give him a name. ' Am'zon ' has been
a name in our fambly since Cap'n Reba Silt first
put the nose of his old Tigris to the tidal wave of
the Am'zon River—back in seventeen-forty. He
come home to New Bedford and named his first boy,
that was waitin' to be christened, ' Am'zon Silt.'
" So I called this—this dream brother of mine—
' Am'zon.' These Cardhaven folks warn't likely to
know whether I had a brother or not. And I made
up he went to sea when he was twelve—like I told
ye, my dear. Ye-as. I did hate to lie to ye, an'
you just new-come here. But I'd laid my plans for
a long while back just to walk out, as it were, an'
let these fellers 'round here have a taste o' Cap'n
Am'zon Silt that they'd begun to doubt was ever
comin' to Cardhaven. An' hi-mighty ! " exploded
Cap'n Abe, with a great laugh, " I have give 'em a
taste of him, I vum! "
"Oh, you have, Uncle Abram! You have!"
agreed Louise, and burst into laughter herself. " It
is wonderful how you did it ! It is marvelous ! How
could you?"
" Nothin' easier, when you come to think on't,"
replied Cap'n Abe. " I'd talked so much 'bout Cap'n
 284 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
Am'zon that he was a fixed idea in people's minds.
I said when he come I'd go off on a v'y'ge. I'd fixed
ev'rything proper for the exchange when you lit
down on me, Niece Louise. Hi-mighty!" grinned
Cap'n Abe, " at first I thought sure you'd spilled the
beans."
Louise rippled another appreciative laugh. " Oh,
dear ! " she cried, clapping her hands together. " It's
too funny for anything ! How you startled Betty !
Why, even Law ford Tapp was amazed at your ap
pearance. You—you do look like an old pirate,
Uncle Abram."
" Don't I ? " responded Cap'n Abe, childishly de
lighted.
" That awful scar along your jaw—and you so
brown," said the girl. " How did you get that scar,
Uncle Abram ? "
" Fallin' down the cellar steps when I was a kid,"
said the storekeeper. " But these fellers think I must
ha' got it through a cutlass stroke, or somethin'. Oh,
I guess I've showed 'em what a real Silt should look
like. Yes, sir ! I cal'Iate I look the part of a feller
that's roved the sea for sixty year or so, Niece
Louise."
" You do, indeed. That red bandana—and the
earrings—and the mustache—and stain. Why,
uncle! even to that tattooing "
He looked down at his bared arm and nodded
proudly.
-
 Sargasso 285
" Ye-as. That time I went away ten year ago and
left Joab to run the store (and a proper mess he
made of things !) I found a feller down in the South
End of Boston and he fixed me up with this tattoo
work for twenty-five dollars. Course, I didn't dare
show it none here—kep' my sleeves down an' my
throat-latch buttoned all winds and weathers. But
now "
He laughed again, full-throated and joyous like
a boy. Then, suddenly, he grew grave.
" Xiece Louise, I wonder if you can have any
idea what this here dead-and-alive life all these years
has meant to me ? Lashed hard and fast to this here
store, and to a stay-ashore life, when my heart an'
soul was longin' to set a course for 'way across't the
world ? Sargasso—that's it. This was my Sargasso
Sea—and I was smothered in it ! "
" I think I understand, Cap'n Abe," the girl
said softly, laying her hand in his big palm.
" An' now, Louise, that I've got a taste of ro
mance, I don't want to come back to humdrum things
—no, sir! I want to keep right on bein' Cap'n
Am'zon, and havin' even them old hardshells like
Cap'n Joab and Washy Gallup look on me as a fel
ler-salt."
"But how ?"
" They never re'lly respected Cap'n Abe," her
uncle hurried on to say. " I find my neighbors did
love him, an' I thank God for that ! But they knew
286 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper

he warn't no seaman, and a man without salt water

in his blood don't make good with Cardhaven folks.
" But Cap'n Am'zon—he's another critter entirely.
They mebbe think he's an old pirate or the like," and
he chuckled again, " but they sartin sure respect
him. Even Bet Gallup fears Cap'n Am'zon; but, to
tell ye the truth, Niece Louise, she used to earwig
Cap'n Abe ! "
"But when the Curlew arrives home?" queried
the girl suddenly.
" Hi-mighty, ye-as! I see that," he groaned.
" Looks to me as though somethin'll have to happen
to Abe Silt 'twixt Boston and this port. And you'll
have to stop your father's mouth, Louise. I depend
upon you to help me. Otherwise I shall be undone—
completely undone."
" Goodness ! " cried the girl, choked with laugh
ter again. " Do you mean to do away with Cap'n
Abe ? I fear you are quite as wicked as Betty Gal
lup believes you to be—and Aunt Euphemia."
He grinned broadly once more. " I got Cap'n
Abe's will filed away already—if somethin' should
happen," said the old intriguer. " Everything's
fixed, Niece Louise."
" I'll help you," she declared, and gave him her
hand a second time.
 CHAPTER XXVIII

STORM CLOUDS THREATEN

The next week Gusty Durgin made her debut as

a picture actress. She had pestered Mr. Bane morn,
noon, and night at the hotel until finally the leading
man obtained Mr. Anscomb's permission to work
the buxom waitress into a picture.
" But nothin' funny, Mr. Bane," Gusty begged.
" Land sakes ! It's the easiest thing in the world to
get a laugh out of a fat woman fallin' clown a sand
bank, or a fat man bein' busted in the face with a
custard pie. I don't want folks to laugh at my fat.
I want 'em to forget that I am fat."
" Do you know, Miss Grayling," said Bane, re
counting this to Louise, " that is art. Gusty has the
right idea. Many a floweret is born to blush un
seen, the poet says. But can it be we have found
in Gusty Durgin a screen artist in embryo ? "
Louise was interested enough to go to the beach
early to watch Gusty in a moving picture part.
" A real sad piece 'tis, too," the waitress confided
to Louise. " I got to make up like a mother—old, you
know, and real wrinkled. And when my daughter
(she's Miss Noyes) is driv' away from home by her
887
288 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
father because she's done wrong, I got to take on
like kildee 'bout it. It's awful touchin'. I jest cried
about it ha'f the night when this Mr. Anscomb told
me what I'd have to do in the picture.
" Land sakes ! I can cry re'l tears with the best
of 'em—you see if I can't, Miss Grayling. You
ought to be a movie actress yourself. It don't seem
just right that you ain't."
" But I fear I could not weep real tears," Louise
said.
" No. Mebbe not. That's a gift, I guess," Gusty
agreed. " There ! I got to go now. He's callin'
me. The boss's sister will have to wait on all the
boarders for dinner to-day. An' my ! ain't she sore !
But if I'm a success in these pictures you can just
believe the Cardhaven Inn won't see me passin' bis
cuits and clam chowder for long."
In the midst of the rehearsal Louise saw a figure
striding along the shore from the direction of Tapp
Point, and her heart leaped. Already there seemed
to be a change in the appearance of Law ford.
His sisters, who came frequently to see Louise
at Cap'n Abe's, had told her their brother was ac
tually working in one of his father's factories. He
had not even obtained a position in the office, but
in the factory itself. He ran one of the taffy cut
ting machines, for one thing, and wore overalls !
" Poor Ford ! " Cecile said, shaking her head.
" He's up against it. I'm going to save up part of
 Storm Clouds Threaten 289
my pocket money for him—if he'll take it. I think
daddy's real mean, and I've told him so. And when
Dot Johnson comes I'm not going to treat her nice
at all."
Lawford, however, did not look the part of the
abused and disowned heir. He seemed brisker than
Louise remembered his being before and his smile
was as winning as ever.
" Miss Grayling! " he exclaimed, seizing both her
hands.
"Lawford! I am so glad to see you," she re
joined frankly. And then she had to pull her hands
away quickly and raise an admonitory finger.
" Walk beside me—and be good," she commanded.
" Do you realize that two worlds are watching us—
the world of The Beaches and the movie world as
well?"
" Hang 'em!" announced Lawford with empha
sis, his eyes shining. " Think ! I've never even
thanked you for what you did for me that day. I
thought Betty Gallup hauled me out of the sea till
Jonas Crabbe at the lighthouse put me wise."
" Never mind that," she said. " Tell me, how
do you like your work ? And why are you at home
again? "
" I'm down here for the week-end—to get some
more of my duds, to tell the truth. I'm going to
be a fixture at the Egypt factory—much to dad's
surprise, I fancy."
290 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
" Do you like it?" she asked him, watching his
face covertly.
" I hate it ! But I can stick, just the same. I have
a scheme for improving the taffy cutting machines,
too. I think I've a streak in me for mechanics. I
have always taken to engines and motors and other
machinery."
" An inventor ! "
"Yes. Why not?" he asked soberly. "Oh!
I'm not going to be one of those inventors who let
sharp business men cheat them out of their eye-
teeth. If I improve that candy cutter it will cost
I. Tapp real money, believe me ! "
Louise's eyes danced at him in admiration and
she dimpled. " I think you are splendid, Law-
ford ! " she murmured.
It was a mean advantage to take of a young man.
They were on the open beach and every eye from
the lighthouse to Tapp Point might be watching
them. Law ford groaned deeply—and looked it.
" Don't," she said. " I know it's because of me
you have been driven to work."
" You know that, Miss Grayling? Louise! "
" Yes. I had a little talk with your father. He's
such a funny man ! "
"If you can find anything humorous about I.
Tapp in his present mood you are a wonder! " he
exclaimed. " Oh, Louise ! " He could not keep his
hungry gaze off her face.
 Storm Clouds Threaten 291
" You're a nice boy, Lawford," she told him, nod
ding. " I liked you a lot from the very first. Now
I admire you."
"Oh, Louise!"
" Don't look like that at me," she commanded.
" They'll see you. And—and I feel as though I were
about to be eaten."
" You will be," he said significantly. " I am com
ing to the store to-night. Or shall I go to see your
aunt first?"
" You'd better keep away from Aunt Euphemia,
Lawford," she replied, laughing gayly. " Wait till
my daddy-prof comes home. See him."
"And you really love me? Do you? Please
. . . dear!"
She nodded, pursing her lips.
"But eighteen dollars a week!" groaned Law
ford. " I think the super would have made it an
even twenty if it hadn't been for dad."
" Never mind," she told him, almost gayly.
" Maybe the invention will make our fortune."
At that speech Law ford's cannibalistic tendencies
were greatly and visibly increased. Louise was no
coy and coquettish damsel without a thorough
knowledge of her own heart. Having made up her
mind that Lawford was the mate for her, and being
confident that her father would approve of any choice
she made, she was willing to let the young man
know his good fortune.
292 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
Nor was Lawford the only person to learn her
mind. Cap'n Abe said :
" Land sakes ! you come 'way down here to the
Cape to be took in by a feller like Ford Tapp, Niece
Louise? I thought you was a girl with too much
sense for that! "
" But what has love to do with sense, uncle ?"
she asked him, dimpling.
" Hi-mighty ! I s'pect that's so. An', anyway, he
does seem to improve. He's really gone to
work, they tell me, in one of his father's candy
factories."
" But that's the one thing about him I'm not sure
I approve of," sighed Louise. " We could have so
much better times if he and I could play along the
shore this summer and not have to think about hate
ful money."
" My soul an' body ! " gasped the storekeeper, as
though she had spoken irreverently about sacred
things. " Money ain't never hateful, Niece
Louise."
On Sunday I. Tapp did not accompany his family
to church at Paulmouth. Returning, the big car
stopped before Cap'n Abe's store and Mrs. Tapp
came in to call on Louise. The good woman hugged
the girl and wept on her bosom.
" I'm so happy and so sorry, both together, that
I'm half sick," she said. " Lawford is so proud and
joyful that I could cry every time I look at him.
 Storm Clouds Threaten 293
And his father's so cross and unhappy that I have
to cry for him, too."
Which seemed to prove that Mrs. Tapp was being
kept in a moist state most of the time.
" But I know I. Tapp is sorry for what he's done.
Only there's no use expectin' him to admit it, or
that he'll change. If Fordy won't marry Dot John
son I. Tapp will never forgive him. I don't know
what I shall say to her when she does come."
" Maybe she will not appear at all," Louise sug
gested comfortingly.
" I don't know. I got a letter from her mother
putting the visit off till later. But it can't be put off
forever. Anyhow, when she comes Law ford says
he won't be at home. I hope the girls will act nice
to her."
" / will," Louise assured her. " And I'll make
Mr. Tapp like me yet; you see if I don't."
" Oh, I can't hope for that much, my dear," sighed
the lachrymose lady, shaking her head; but she
kissed Louise again.
Law ford waved a hand to her at her chamber win
dow early on Monday morning as L'Enfant Terrible
drove him in the roadster to Paulmouth to catch
the milk train. All the girls were proud of their
brother because, as Cecile said, he was proving him
self to be " such a perfectly good sport after all."
And perhaps I. Tapp himself admired his son for
the pluck he was showing.
294 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
They corresponded after that—Louise and Law-
ford. As she could not hope to hear from the Cur
lew again until the schooner made the port of Bos
ton, Lawford's letters were the limit of her corre
spondence. Louise had always failed to make many
close friends among women.
Her interests aside from those at the store and
with the movie people were limited, too. The but
terfly society of The Beaches did not much attract
Louise Grayling.
Aunt Euphemia manifestly disapproved of her
niece at every turn. The Lady from Poughkeepsie
had remained on the Cape for the full season in the
hope of breaking up the intimacy between Louise
and Lawford Tapp. His absence, which she had
believed so fortunate, soon proved to be merely pro
vocative of her niece's interest in the heir of the
Taffy King.
Nor could she wean Louise from association with
the piratical looking mariner at Cap'n Abe's store.
The girl utterly refused to be guided by the older
woman in either of these particulars.
" You are a reckless, abandoned girl ! " Aunt Eu
phemia declared. " I am sure, no matter what others
may say, that awful sailor is no fit companion for
you.
" And as for Lawford Tapp Why, his peo
ple are impossible, Louise. Wherever you have your
establishment, if you marry him, his people, when
 Storm Clouds Threaten 295
they visit you will have to be apologized for," the
indignant woman continued.
" Let—me—see," murmured Louise. " How
large an ' establishment ' should you think, auntie,
we could keep up on eighteen dollars a week? "
" Eighteen dollars a week ! " exclaimed Aunt Eu-
phemia, aghast.
" Yes. That is Lawford's present salary. Wages,
I think they call it at the factory. He gets it in cash
—in a pay envelope."
" Mercy, Louise ! You are not in earnest? "
" Certainly. My young man is going to earn our
living. If he marries me his father will cut him off
with the proverbial shilling. I. Tapp has other mat
rimonial plans for Lawford."
"What?" gasped the horrified Mrs. Conroth.
" He does not approve of you? "
" Too true, auntie. I have driven poor Lawford
to work in a candy factory."
" That—that upstart ! " exploded the lady. But
she did not refer to Lawford.
It was evident that Aunt Euphcmia saw nothing
but the threat of storm clouds for her niece in the
offing. Trouble, deep and black, seemed to her mind
to be hovering upon the horizon of the future.
As it chanced, the weather about this time seemed
to reflect Aunt Euphemia's mood. The summer had
passed with but few brief tempests. Seldom had
Louise seen any phase of the sea in its wrath.
296 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
September, however, is an uncertain month at
best. For several days a threatening haze shrouded
the distant sea line. The kildees fluttered and
shrieked over the booming surf.
Washy Gallup, meeting Louise as she strolled on
the beach, prognosticated :
" Shouldn't be surprised none, Miss Lou, if we
had a spell of weather. Mebbe we'll have an airly
equinoctooral. We sometimes do.
" Then ye'll hear the sea sing psalms, as the feller
said, an' no mistake. Them there picture folks'll
mebbe git a show at a re'l storm. That's what they
been wishin' for—an a wreck off shore. Land
sakes! if they'd ever seed a ship go to pieces afore
their very eyes they wouldn't ask for a second help-
in"—no, ma'am ! "
That evening threatening clouds rolled up from
seaward and mantled the arch of the sky. The fish
ing boats ran to cover in the harbor before dark.
The surf rumbled louder and louder along the shore.
And all night the sea mourned its dead over Gull
Rocks.
 CHAPTER XXIX

THE SCAR

Another fishfly (or was it the same that had

droned accompaniment to Cap'n Abe's story-telling
upon a former occasion?) boomed against the dusty
panes of the window while the fretful, sand-laden
wind swept searchingly about the store on the Shell
Road.
It was early afternoon; but a green and dreary
light lay upon sea and land as dim as though the
hour was that of sunset. In the silence punctuat
ing the desultory conversation, the sharp swish,
srvish of the sand upon the panes almost drowned
the complaint of the fishfly.
" We're going to have a humdinger of a gale,"
announced Milt Baker, the last to enter and bang the
store door. " She's pullin' 'round into the no'th-
east right now, and I tell Mandy she might's well
make up her mind to my lyin' up tight an' dry for
a while. Won't be no clams shipped from these flats
to-morrow."
" High you'll likely be," agreed the storekeeper.
" How dry ye'll be, Milt, remains to be seen."
" In-side, or aout ? " chuckled Cap'n Joab, for
297
298 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
Milt Baker's failing was not hidden under a bushel.
Amiel hastened to toll attention away from his
side partner. " This wind's driv' them picture folks
to cover," he said. " They was makin' some fillums
over there on the wreck of the Goldrock, that's laid
out four year or so in Ham Cove "
" Nearer five year," put in Cap'n Joab, a stickler
for facts.
" You air right, cap'n," agreed Washy Gallup.
" Well," said Amiel, " four or five. The heave
of her made ha'f of 'em sick, and that big actor
man, Bane, got knocked off into the water an' 'twas
more by good luck than good management he warn't
drowned. I cal'late he's got enough."
" The gale that brought the Goldrock ashore had
just such another beginning as this," Cap'n Joab
said reflectively. " But she'd never been wrecked
on a lee shore if her crew had acted right. They
mutineed, you know."
" The sculpins ! " ejaculated the storekeeper
briskly. " Can't excuse that. Anything but a crew
that'll turn on the afterguard that they've signed on
for to obey ! "
" That's right, Cap'n Am'zon," said Cap'n Joab.
" Ye say a true word."
" An' for good reason," declared the mendacious
storekeeper. " I've had experience with such
sharks," and he ran his finger reflectively down the
old scar upon his jaw.
 The Scar 299
" I always wanted to ask you 'bout that scar, Cap'n
Am'zon," put in Milt Baker encouragingly. " Did
you get it in a mutiny?"
" Yep."
" I didn't know but ye got it piratin'," chuckled
Milt. " Bet Gallup, she swears you sailed under the
Jolly Roger more'n once."
" So I did," declared the captain boldly. " This
crew o' mutineers I speak of turned pirates, and
they held me—the only one of the afterguard left
alive—to navigate the ship.
" Guess mebbe you've heard tell, Cap'n Joab, of
the mutiny of the Galatea?" went on the narrator
unblushingly.
His fellow skipper nodded. " I've heard of it—
yes. But you don't mean to say you sailed on her,
Am'zon ? "
" Yes, I did," the storekeeper declared. " I was
third aboard her—she carried a full crew. She sailed
out o' N'York for Australia and home by the way
of the Chile ports and the Horn—a hermaphrodite
brig she was; and—she—could—sail!
" But she warn't well found. The grub was
wuss'n a Blue-nose herrin' smack's. Weevilly bread
and rusty beef. The crew had a sayin' that the
doc didn't have to call 'em to mess; the smell of it
was sufficient.
"They was a hard crew I allow—them boys;
many of 'em dock rats and the like. Warn't scurcely
300 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
half a dozen able seamen in the whole crew. And
the skipper and mate was master hard on 'em. In
the South Atlantic we got some bad weather and
the crew was worked double tides, as you might say.
" The extry work on top o' the poor grub finished
'em," said the storekeeper. " One day in the mornin'
watch the whole crew come boilin' aft and caught
the skipper and the mate at breakfast. They lived
well. The second was in his berth and I had the
deck.
" I got knocked out first thing—there's the scar
of it," and the captain put a finger again on the
mark along his jaw which actually was a memento
of contact with the cellar step when he was a child.
" Belayin' pin. Knocked me inside out for Sun
day. But I cal'late they didn't put the steel to me
'cause I'd been fairly decent to 'em comin' down
from N'York.
" Then, after the fight was over and they'd hove
the others overboard, they begun to see they needed
me to navigate the Galatea. They give me the choice
of four inches of cold steel or actin' as navigator—
the bloody crew o' pirates! "
"And what did ye do?" demanded Amiel Per
due, his mouth ajar.
" Well," snorted the storekeeper, " ye can see I
didn't choose a knife in my gizzard. We sailed
up an' down the coast of Brazil and the Guineas
for two months, sellin' the cargo piecemeal to dirty
 The Scar 301
little Portugee traders an' smugglers. Then we
h'isted the black flag and took our first prize—an
English barque goin' down to Rio. It was me saved
her crew's lives and give 'em a chance't in their
longboat. They made Para all right, I heard after
ward.
" We burned that barque," proceeded the store
keeper dreamily, " after we looted her of every
thing wuth while. Then "
The door was flung open with a gust of wind be
hind it. A lanky, half-grown lad stuck his head in
at the opening to shrill :
"Hi! ain't ye heard 'bout it?"
" 'Bout what? " demanded Milt Baker.
" There's a schooner drivin' in on to the Gull
Rocks," cried the news vender. " Somethin's gone
wrong with her rudder, they say. She's goin' spang
onto the reef. Ev'rybody's down there, an' the
life-savers are comin' around from Wellriver with
their gear."
" Gale out o' the no'theast, too ! " exclaimed Cap'n
Joab, starting for the door.
The story-teller saw his audience melt away in
a minute. He went out on the porch. Fluttering
across the fields and sand lots from all directions
were the neighbors—both men and women. The
possibility of a wreck—the great tragedy of long
shore existence—would bring everybody not bed
ridden to the sands.
302 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
He saw Betty Gallup in high boots, her pea-coat
buttoned tightly across her flat bosom, her man's
hat pulled down over her ears, already halfway to
the shore. From the cottage on the bluffs above
The Beaches the summer visitors were trailing down.
Below Bozewell's bungalow the motion picture com
pany were running excitedly about.
" Like sandpipers," muttered the storekeeper.
" Crazy critters. Wonder where that schooner is."
He hesitated to leave the premises. Cap'n Abe
had never been known to follow the crowd to the
beach when an endangered craft was in the offing.
Indeed, he never looked in the direction of the sea
if he could help it when a storm lashed its surface
and piled the breakers high upon the strand.
But suddenly the man remembered that he was not
Cap'n Abe ! He stood here in an entirely different
character. Cap'n Amazon, the rough and ready
mariner, had little in common with the timid crea
ture who had tamely kept store on the Shell Road
for twenty-odd years.
What would the neighbors think of Cap'n Ama
zon if he remained away from the scene of excite
ment at such a time ? He turned back into the store
for his hat and coat and later came out and closed
the door. Then he shuffled down the road.
At first he closed his eyes—squeezing the lids tight
so as not to see the gale-ridden sea. But finally,
stumbling, he opened them. Far away where the
 The Scar 303
pale tower of the lighthouse lifted staunchly against
the greenish gray sky, the surf was rolling in from
the open sea, the waves charging up the strand one
after the other like huge white horses, their manes
of spume tossed high by the breath of the gale.
Black was the sea, and streaked angrily with foam.
Thunderously did it roar and break over the Gull
Rocks. A curtain of spoondrift hung above that
awful reef and almost shut from the view of those
ashore the open sea and what swam on it.
The old storekeeper reached the sands below the
Shell Road. Scattered in groups along the strand
were the people of all classes and degrees brought
together by the word that a vessel was in peril. Here
a group of fishermen in guernseys and high boots,
their sou'westers battened down upon their heads.
Yonder Bane and his fellow actors in natty sum
mer suits stood around the camera discussing with
the director the possibility of making a film of the
scene. Farther away huddled a party of women
from the neighborhood, with shawls over their heads
and children at their skirts. Beyond them the peo
ple from the cottages on the bluff were hurrying to
the spot—women in silk attire and men in the lounge
suits that fashion prescribed for afternoon wear.
The storekeeper saw and appreciated all this. He
stood squarely up to the wind, the ends of the red
bandana over his ears snapping in the rifted airs,
and shaded his eyes with his hand. With his other
304 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
hand he stroked the scar along his jaw. He had
a feeling that he had been cheated. That story of
the mutiny of the Galatea was destined to be one of
his very best narratives.
He had come to take great pride in these tales,
had Cap'n Abe. He had heard enough men relate
personal reminiscences to realize that his achieve
ments in the story-telling line had a flavor all their
own. He could hold his course with any of them,
was his way of expressing it.
And here something had intervened to shut him
off in the middle of a narrative. Cap'n Abe did
not like it.
His keen vision swept the outlook once more.
How darkly the clouds lowered! And the wind,
spray-ridden down here on the open strand, cut
shrewdly. It would be a wild night. Casually he
thought of his cheerful living-room, with his chintz-
cushioned rocker, Diddimus purring on the couch,
and the lamplight streaming over all.
" Lucky chap, you, Abe Silt, after all," he mut
tered. " Lucky you ain't at sea in a blow like this."
It was just then that he saw the laboring schooner
in the offing. Her poles were completely bare and
by the way she pitched and tossed Cap'n Abe knew
she must have two anchors out and that they were
dragging.
She was so far away that she looked like a toy
on the huge waves that rolled in from the horizon
 The Scar 305
line. Now and then a curling wave-crest hid even
her topmasts. Again, the curtain of mist hanging
above Gull Rocks shrouded her.
For the craft was being driven steadily upon the
rocks. Unless the wind shifted—and that soon—
she must batter her hull to bits upon the reef.
The storekeeper, who knew this coast and the
weather conditions so well, saw at once that the
schooner had no chance for salvation. When the
wind backed around into the northeast, as it had
on this occasion, it foreran a gale of more than
usual power and of more than twenty-four hours'
duration.
" She's doomed! " he whispered, and wagged his
head sadly.
The might of the sea made him tremble. The
thought of what was about to happen to the schooner
—a fate that naught could avert—sickened him. Yet
he walked on to join the nearest group of anxious
watchers, the spray beating into that face which was
strangely marred.
 CHAPTER XXX

WHEN THE STRONG TIDES LIFT

It was the tag-end of the season for the sum

mer colony at The Beaches. Mrs. Conroth ex
pected to leave the Perritons that evening—was
leaving lingeringly, for she had desired to hear her
niece off to New York with her. But on that point
Louise had been firm.
" No, Aunt Euphemia," she had said. " I shall
wait for daddy-prof and the Curlew to arrive at
Boston. Then I shall either go there to meet him,
or he will come here. I want him to meet Lawford
just as quickly as possible, for we are not going to
wait all our lives to be married."
" Louise ! " gasped Mrs. Conroth with horror.
" How can you say such a thing !"
" I mean it," said the girl, nodding with pursed
lips.
" You are behaving in a most selfish way," the
Lady from Poughkeepsie declared. " Everybody
here has remarked how you have neglected me for
those Tapps. They have taken full advantage of
your patronage to push themselves into the society
of their betters."
306
 When the Strong Tides Lift 307
" Perhaps," sighed Louise. " But consider,
auntie. This is a free and more or less independent
republic. After all, money is the only recognized
mark of aristocracy."
"Money!"
" Yes. How far would the Perritons' blue blood
get them—or the Standishes'—or the Graylings'—
without money? And consider our own small be
ginnings. Your great, great, great grandfather was
a knight of the yardstick and sold molasses by the
quart."
" You are incorrigible, Louise," cried Aunt Eu-
phemia, her fingers in her ears. " I will not listen
to you. It is sacrilegious."
" It's not a far cry," her niece pursued, " from
molasses to taffy. And it seems to me one is quite
as aristocratic as the other."
So she left Mrs. Conroth in a horrified state of
mind and stepped out to face the gale. Seeing
others streaming down upon the sands, Louise, too,
sought the nearest flight of steps and descended to
the foot of the bluff.
This was Saturday and she hoped that Law ford
would come for the week-end. It was not Law-
ford, however, but his father into whose arms she
almost stumbled as she came out from under the
shelter of the bank into the full sweep of the gale.
" Oh, Mr. Tapp! Why is everybody running so?
What has happened ? "
308 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
The Taffy King had a most puzzling expression
upon his face. He glared at her as though he did
not hear what she said. In his hand he clutched an
envelope.
"Ha! That you, Miss Grayling?" he growled.
"Seen Ford?"
"No. Is he at home?"
" He's here fast enough," was I. Tapp's ungra
cious rejoinder. " I supposed he'd come over to see
you."
" Perhaps he has," she returned wickedly. " He
is a very faithful knight."
" He's a perfect ninny, if that's what you mean,"
snapped the Taffy King. " He's made a fool of
me, too. I shouldn't wonder if he knew this all
along," and he shook the letter in his hand and
scowled.
" You arouse my curiosity," Louise said. " I
hope Law ford has done nothing more to cause you
vexation."
" I don't know whether he has or not. The young
upstart! I feel like punching him one minute, and
then the next I've got to take off my hat to him,
Miss Grayling. D'you know what he's done ? "
" Something really fine, I hope. I do not think
you wholly appreciate Lawford, Mr. Tapp," the girl
told him firmly.
" Ha ! No. I s'pose he's got to go outside his
immediate family to be appreciated," he snarled.
 When the Strong Tides Lift 309
But at that Louise merely laughed. " You don't
tell me what he has done," she urged.
" Why, the young rascal's solved a problem in
mechanics that has puzzled us candy makers for
years. I'm having a new cutting machine built after
his suggestions."
" I hope Law ford will be properly reimbursed for
his idea," she interrupted. " You know, he and I
are going to need the money."
" Ha ! " snorted I. Tapp again. " Ford's no fool,
it seems, when it comes to a contract. He's got me
tied hard and fast to a royalty agreement and a lump
sum down if the machine works the way he says
it will."
" I'm so glad ! " cried Louise.
"You are, eh? What for?"
" Because we need not wait so long to be mar
ried," she frankly told him.
I. Tapp stood squarely in the path and looked
at her.
" So you are going to marry him, whether I agree
or not?"
" Yes, sir."
" Right in my very teeth?"
" I—I hope you won't be very angry, Mr. Tapp,"
Louise said softly. " You see—we love each other."
" Love ! " began I. Tapp. Then he stopped, turn
ing the thick letter over and over in his hand.
" Well ! " and he actually blew a sigh. " Perhaps
310 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
there is something in that. Seems to be. I set my
heart on having my fortune and my partner's joined
by Ford and Dot Johnson—and see what's come
of it.”
He suddenly thrust the missive into Louise's hand.
“Look at that!”
With a growing suspicion of what it meant she
opened the outer envelope and then the inner one,
drawing out the engraved inclosure. Before she
could speak a commotion along the beach drew their
attention.
“What can it be?” Louise cried. “The life
savers!”
“And their gear—lifeboat and all,” Mr. Tapp
agreed. “Must be a wreck 3

His gaze swept the sea and he seized Louise's

arm. “There! Don't you see her? A vessel in
distress sure enough. She's drifting in upon Gull
Rocks. Bad business, Miss Grayling.”
“Oh, there is Lawford!” murmured Louise.
“He’s with the surfmen!”
Two teams of heavy farm horses were dragging
the boat and the surfmen's two-wheeled cart along
the hard sand at the edge of the surf. The burst
ing waves wetted all the crew as they helped push
the wagons, and the snorting horses were sometimes
body deep in the water.
Lawford, in his fishermen's garments, waved his
hand to Louise and his father. The girl smiled upon
 When the Strong Tides Lift 311
him proudly and the Taffy King, seeing the expres
sion on her face, suddenly seized the missive from
her hand.
" I give up! I give up! " he exclaimed. " I said
I'd disown him if he refused to marry Dorothy
Johnson, my partner's daughter. But 'tain't really
Lawford's fault, I s'pose, if Dot won't marry him.
It seems she had other ideas along that line, too,
and I never knew it till we got this invitation to
her wedding."
Louise smiled on the little man with tolerance.
" Of course, I knew you would see it in the right
light in time. But it really has been the making of
Law ford," she said calmly.
" You think so, do you ? " returned the Taffy
King. " I wonder what good it would have done
him if you hadn't been the prize he wanted? I'm
not sure I shouldn't pay you out, Louise Grayling,
by making the two of you live for a year on his
eighteen dollars a week."
',' Are you sure that would be such a great pun
ishment?" she asked him softly.
They moved on with the crowd about the gear
and boat. The patrol had come in good season. It
was not probable that the schooner would hold to
gether long after she struck the reef.
Not until this moment, when she saw the stern
faces of the men and the wan countenances of the
women, did Louise understand what the incident
312 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
really meant. A few children, clinging to their
mother's skirts, whimpered. The men talked in low
voices, the women not at all.
Her heart suddenly shorn of its happiness, Louise
Grayling stared out at the distant, laboring craft.
Death rode on the gale, and lurked where the bil
lows roared and burst over Gull Rocks. The
schooner was doomed.
That might be the Curlew out there—the schooner
her father was aboard—instead of this imperiled
vessel. Only the night before she and her uncle
had figured out the Curlczv's course homeward-
bound from her last port of call. She might pass
in sight of Cardhaven Head and the lighthouse any
day now.
The thought sobered Louise. Clinging to I.
Tapp's arm she went nearer to the spot where the
surfmen had brought their gear and boat.
The sea beyond the line of surf—between the
strand and the reef—was foam-streaked and broken,
a veritable cauldron of boiling water. The cap
tain of the life-saving crew shrank from launching
the boat into that wild waste.
If the line could be shot as far as the reef the
moment the schooner struck, a breeches buoy could
be rigged with less danger and, perhaps, with a
better chance of bringing the ship's company safely
ashore.
" 'Tis a woeful pickle of water," Washy Gallup
 When the Strong Tides Lift 313
shrieked in Louise's ear. " And the wind a-risin'.
Tis only allowed by law to shoot a sartain charge
o' powder in the pottery little gun. Beyond that,
is like to burst her. But mebbe they can make it.
Cap'n Jim Trainor knows his work; and 'tis cut out
for him this day."
Gradually the seriousness of the situation began
to affect all the lighter-minded spectators. Louise
saw the group of moving picture actors at one side.
The men dropped their cigarettes and strained for
ward as they watched the schooner drive in to cer
tain destruction.
It was like a play. The schooner, rearing on each
succeeding wave, drew nearer and nearer. A hawser
parted and they saw her bows swing viciously shore
ward, the jib-boom' thrusting itself seemingly into
the very sky as she topped a huge breaker.
The crew had to slip the cable of the second
anchor. The foremast came crashing down before
she struck. Then, with a grinding thud those on
the shore could not hear, but could keenly sense, the
fated craft rebounded on the reef.
A gasping cry—the intake of a chorused breath
—arose from the throng of spectators. The fisher
men and sailors recoiled from the cart and left an
open space in which the life-saving crew could han
dle their gear.
Cap'n Trainor, the grizzled veteran of the crew,
had already loaded the gun and now aimed it. The
314 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
shot to which was attached the line was slipped into
the muzzle.
" Back ! " the old man ordered, and waved his
hand. Then he pulled the lanyard.
The line fled out of the box with a speed that
made it smoke. But the shot fell short.
" 'Tis too much wind, skipper," squealed Washy
Gallup. " You be a-shootin' into the wind's eye.
An' she's risin' ev'ry minute."
His only answer was a black look from Cap'n
Trainor. The latter loaded the gun again, and yet
again. The last time he waited for every one to
get well back before he fired the cannon. When she
went off she did not burst as they half expected—
she turned a double back somersault.
" 'Tis no use, boys ! " the captain roared at them,
smiting his hands together. " We must try the boat.
But that's a hell's broth out there, and no two ways
about it."
The stranded schooner, all but hidden at times
in the smother of flying spume and jumping waves,
hung halfway across the reef. They could see men,
like black specks, lashed to her after rigging. Louise,
between bursting waves, counted twenty of these
figures.
" It may be the Curlew! " she cried to the Taffy
King. " Father told me in his letter there were
twenty people aboard her afore and abaft. He may
be out there ! " and the girl shuddered,
 When the Strong Tides Lift 315
" No, no," said I. Tapp. " Not possible. Don't
think of such a thing, my girl. But whoever they
are, they are to be pitied."
There rose a shout at the edge of the surf. The
fringe of fishermen had rushed in to aid in launch
ing the boat. Anscomb and his camera man had
taken up a good position with the machine. The
director was going to get some " real stuff."
Louise saw that Lawford was foremost among
the volunteers. The lifeboat crew, their belts
strapped under their arms, had taken their places in
the boat. Captain Trainor stood in the stern with
his steering oar. On its truck the lifeboat was run
into the surf.
" Now ! " shrieked the excited moving picture di
rector. " Action ! Camera ! Go ! "
There was something unreal about it—it was like
a play. And yet out there on that schooner her
crew faced bitter death, while the men of the Coast
Patrol took their lives in their hands as the lifeboat
was run through the bursting surf.
The volunteers ran in till those ahead were neck
deep in the sea. Then the boat floated clear and,
with a mighty shove from behind, the surfmen
pulled out.
Lawford and his mates staggered back with the
gear. The lifeboat lifted to meet the onrolling
breakers. The men tugged at the oars.
Somebody screamed. Those ashore saw the white

^
316 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
gash of a split oar. The man in the bow went over
board, not being strapped to the seat. His mate
reached for him and the banging broken oar handle
hit him on the head.
The boat swung broadside and the next instant
was rolling over and over in the surf, the crew half
smothered.
The spectators ran together in a crowd. But
Lawford and some of the men who had helped to
launch the boat rushed into the surf and dragged
the overturned craft and her crew out upon the
beach.
"One of the crew with a broken arm; another
knocked out complete with that crack on the head,"
sputtered Cap'n Jim Trainor. " Two of my very
best men. Come on, boys! Who'll take their
places? "
Lawford was already putting on the belt he had
unbuckled from about one of the injured surfmen.
The Taffy King, seeing what his son was about,
shouted :
"Ford! Ford! Don't dare do that! I forbid
you ! "
Lawford turned a grim face upon his father. " I
earn eighteen a week, dad. I am my own boss."
A soft palm was placed upon I. Tapp's lips before
he could reply. Louise was weeping frankly, but
she urged:
" Don't stop him, Mr. Tapp. Don't say another
Louise saw that Lawford was foremost among the
volunteers
 When the Strong Tides Lift 317
word to him. My—my heart is breaking; but T am
glad—oh, I am so glad!—that he is a real man."
Cap'n Trainor's hard gaze swept the circle of
strained faces about him. After all, the men here
were mostly " second raters "—weaklings like Milt
Baker and Amiel Perdue, or cripples like Cap'n Joab
and Washy Gallup.
Suddenly the captain's gaze descried a figure well
back in the crowd—one who had not pushed for
ward during these exciting moments, but who had
been chained to the spot by the fascination of what
was happening.
"Ain't that Cap'n Am'zon Silt back there?" de
manded the skipper of the lifeboat crew. "You
pull a strong oar, I know, Cap'n Am'zon. We need
you."
 CHAPTER XXXI

AN ANCHOR TO THE SOUL

The storekeeper had stretched no point when he

told his niece that the thought of setting foot in a
boat made him well-nigh swoon. His only ventures
aboard any craft were in quiet waters.
He could pull as strong an oar, despite his years,
as any man along the Cape, but never had he
gripped the ash save in the haven or in similar
land-locked water.
His heart was wrung by the sight of those men
clinging to the shrouds of the wrecked schooner.
And he rejoiced that the members of the Coast
Patrol crew displayed their manhood in so noble an
attempt to reach the wreck.
But his very soul was shaken by the spectacle of
the storm-fretted sea, and terror gnawed at his vitals
when the lifeboat was thrust out into that awful
maelstrom of tumbling water.
Relating imaginary events of this character or
repeating what mariners had told or written about
wreck and storm at sea in the safe harbor of the
old store on the Shell Road was different from being
an eyewitness of this present catastrophe.
318
 An Anchor to the Soul 319
Trembling, the salt tears stinging his eyes more
sharply than the salt spray stung his cheeks, the
storekeeper had ventured into the crowd of specta
tors on the sands. So enthralled were his neighbors
by what was going forward that they did not notice
his appearance.
And well they did not. This character of the
bluff and ready master mariner that Cap'n Abe had
builded—a new order of Frankenstein—and with
which he had deceived the community for these
many weeks, came near to being wrecked right here
and now.
He all but screamed aloud in fear when the life
boat was overturned. Pallid, shaking, panting for
every breath he drew, he was slipping out of the
unnoticing crowd when Cap'n Jim Trainor of the
lifeboat crew called to him.
" You pull a strong oar, I know, Cap'n Am'zon.
We need you."
For the space of a breath the storekeeper " hung
in the wind." He had been poised for flight and
the shock of the lifeboat captain's call almost star
tled him into running full speed up the beach.
Then the thought smote upon his harassed mind
that Cap'n Trainor was not speaking to Cap'n Abe,
storekeeper. The call for aid was addressed to
Cap'n Amazon Silt.
It was to Cap'n Amazon, the man who had been
through all manner of perils by sea and land, who
320 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
had suffered stress of storm and shipwreck him
self, whose reputation for courage the Shell Road
storekeeper had builded so long.
Should all this fall in a moment? Should he
show the coward's side of the shield after all his
effort toward vicarious heroism? Another moment
of hesitancy and as Cap'n Amazon Silt he would
never be able to hold up his head in the company of
Cardhavcn folk again.
Cursed by the horror his mother had felt for the
cruel sea that had taken her husband before her very
eyes, Cap'n Abe had ever shrunk from any actual
venture upon deep water. But Cap'n Amazon must
be true to his manhood—must uphold by his actions
the character the storekeeper had builded for him.
He buttoned his coat tightly across his chest and
pushed through the group. Men and women alike
made way for him, and in his ringing ears he heard
such phrases as :
" He's the man to do it ! "
" That's Cap'n Am'zon for ye!"
" There's one Silt ain't afraid of salt water, what
ever Cap'n Abe may be! "
"Will you come, Cap'n Am'zon?" called the
skipper of the life-saving crew.
" I'm coming." mumbled the storekeeper, and held
up his arms that Milt Baker might fasten the belt
about his body.
Afterward Milt was fond of declaring that the
 An Anchor to the Soul 321
look on Cap'n Amazon's face at that moment prophe
sied the tragedy that was to follow. " He seen death
facin' him—an' he warn't afraid," Milt said rever
ently.
" In with you, boys ! " shouted the skipper. " And
hook your belts—every man of you! If she over
turns again I want to be able to count noses when
we come right side up. Now ! "
A shuddering cry from the women, in which
Louise found herself joining; a "Yo! heave-ho!"
from the men who launched the craft. Then the
lifeboat was in the surf again, her crew laboring like
the sons of Hercules they were to keep her head
to the wind and to the breakers.
The storekeeper was no weakling; rowing was
an accomplishment he had excelled in from child
hood. It was the single activity in any way con
nected with the sea that he had learned and main
tained.
At first he kept his eyes shut—tight shut. A
strange thrill went through him, however. All these
years he had shrunk from an unknown, an unex
perienced, peril. Was it that Cap'n Abe had been
frightened by a bogey, after all?
He opened his eyes, pulling rhythmically with the
oar—never missing a stroke. His gaze rested on
the face of that old sea-dog. Cap'n Jim Trainor.
The fierce light of determination dwelt there. The
skipper meant to get to the wrecked schooner. He
322 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
had no doubt of accomplishing this, and Cap'n Abe
caught fire of courage from the skipper's transfig
ured countenance.
As for Lawford Tapp, no member of Cap'n
Trainor's crew pulled a better oar than he. With
the bow ash he drove on like a young giant. Fear
did not enter into his emotions.
There was nobody to notice the pallor of the
storekeeper's visage. Every man's attention was
centered on his own oar, while the skipper gazed
ahead at the wave-beaten schooner grounded hard
and fast upon the reef.
There was no lull in the gale. Indeed, it seemed
as though the strength of the wind steadily rose.
The lifeboat only crept from the shore on its course
to Gull Rocks. Each yard must be fought for by
the earnest crew.
Occasionally Cap'n Trainor called an encouraging
sentence at them. For the most part, however, only
the ravening sea roared malice in their ears.
Around them the hungry waves leaped and fought
for their lives; but the buoyant boat, held true to her
course by the skipper, bore up nobly under the strain.
They won on, foot by foot.
The thunder of the breakers over the reef finally
deafened them. The rocking schooner, buffeted by
waves that could not drive her completely over the
reef, towered finally above the heads of the men in
the lifeboat.
 An Anchor to the Soul 323
Cap'n Trainor's straining eyes deciphered her
name painted on the bow. He threw a hand up
ward in a surprised gesture, still clinging to the
steering oar with his other hand, and shrieked
aloud :
" The Curlew! By mighty ! who'd ha' thought
it? Tis the Curlew." He, too, knew of Cap'n
Abe's supposed voyage on the seaweed ship.
The oarsmen read the word upon the skipper's
lips rather than heard his voice. Two, at least, were
shocked by the announcement—Law ford and the
storekeeper. There was no opportunity for com
ment upon this wonder.
Skillfully the lifeboat was brought around under
the lee of the wreck. Already most of her crew
had crept down to the rail and were waiting, half
submerged, to drop into the lifeboat. But one figure
was still visible high up in the shrouds.
When the waves sucked out from under her the
keel of the lifeboat almost scratched the reef. Then
it rose on a swell to the very rail of the wreck,
wedged so tightly on the rock.
The castaways came inboard rapidly, bringing
their injured skipper with them. The lifeboat was
quickly overburdened with human freight.
" No more! No more! " shouted Cap'n Trainor.
" We'll have to make another trip."
"Where's the professor? Bring down the pro
fessor! There he is!" yelled the mate of the Cur
324 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
lew, who had given his attention to the injured mas
ter of the wrecked craft. " Who lashed him fast
up there? "
There was a movement forward. The storekeeper
had got up and pulled a stout-armed member of the
Curlew's crew into his place.
" Take my oar ! " commanded Cap'n Abe. " I got
a niece—he's her father. Hi-mighty! I just got
to get him aboard ! "
With an agility that belied his years he leaped for
the schooner's rail as the next surge rose. He
swarmed inboard and started up the shrouds. Those
below remained silent while he climbed.
He reached the helpless man, whipped out his
knife, cut the lashings. Slight as the storekeeper
seemed, his muscles were of steel. As though the
half-conscious professor were a child, he lowered
him to the slanting deck.
" Only room for one o' you ! " roared Cap'n
Trainor. " Only one ! We're overloaded as 'tis.
Better wait."
"You'll take him!" shouted Cap'n Abe, and
dropped his burden at Lawford Tapp's feet.
The next moment the lifeboat shot away from the
side of the wreck, leaving the Man Who Was
Afraid marooned upon her deck.
That was a perilous journey for the overladen
boat. Only the good management of Cap'n Trainor
could have brought her safely to shore. And when
 An Anchor to the Soul 325
she banged upon the beach it was almost a miracle
that she did not start all her bottom boards.
Many willing hands hauled the heavy boat up
upon the sands. The rescued crew of the schooner
tumbled out and lifted their injured captain ashore.
But it was Law ford who brought in Professor Gray
ling. Louise had watched with the Taffy King all
through the battle of the lifeboat with the sea, suf
fering pangs of terror for Lawford's safety, yet
feeling, too, unbounded pride in his achieve
ment.
Now she pressed down to meet him at the edge
of the sea and found that the drenched, dazed
man Law ford bore up in his arms was her own
father !
The meeting served to rouse the professor. He
stared searchingly over the group of rescued men.
" Where's the man who cut my lashings and
helped me down to the deck? I don't see him," he
said. " Louise, my dear, this is a very, very strange
homecoming. And all my summer's work gone for
nothing! But that man "
" Cap'n Amazon Silt," said Lawford. " He stayed
behind. There wasn't room in the boat."
" Cap'n Am'zon ! " exclaimed several excited
voices. But only one—and that Louise Grayling's—
uttered another name:
" Cap'n Abe ! Isn't he with you ? Didn't you
bring him ashore ? "
326 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
" By heaven ! that's so, Louise ! " groaned Law-
ford. " They must both be out there. The two
brothers are marooned on that rotten wreck! "
Already the kindly neighbors were hurrying the
castaways in groups of twos and threes to the nearer
dwellings. Anscomb was getting foot after foot
of " the real stuff." The moving picture actors and
the cottagers hung on the outskirts of the throng
of natives, wide-eyed and marveling. They had all,
on this day, gained a taste of the stern realities of
life as it is along the shore.
Louise was desirous of getting her father to the
store, for he was exhausted. Lawford turned back
toward the group of life-saving men standing about
the beached boat.
"If they can get her launched again they'll need
me," he shouted back over his shoulder. " Poor
Cap'n Abe and Cap'n Amazon "
" You've done enough, boy," his father declared,
clinging to the sleeve of Lawford's guernsey.
" Don't risk your life again."
" Don't worry, dad. A fellow has to do his bit,
you know."
Betty Gallup came to the assistance of Louise and
helped support the professor. The woman's coun
tenance was all wrinkled with trouble.
" He must be out there, too," she murmured to
Louise. " Ain't none o' these chaps off the Curlew
jest right yet—scar't blue, or suthin'. They don't
 An Anchor to the Soul 327
seem to rightly sense that Cap'n Abe was with 'em
all the time aboard that schooner."
" Poor Cap'n Abe ! " groaned Louise again.
" And that old pirate's with him," said Betty.
But her tone lacked its usual venom in speaking of
Cap'n Amazon. " Who'd ha' thought it ? I reck
oned he was nothing but a bag o' wind, with all his
yarns of bloody murder an' the like. But he is a
Silt; no gettin' around that. And Cap'n Abe allus
did say the Silts were proper seamen."
" Poor, poor Cap'n Abe ! " sobbed Louise.
" Now, now ! " soothed Betty. " Don't take on
so, deary. They'll get 'em both. Never fear."
But the rising gale forbade another launching of
the lifeboat for hours. The night shut down over
the wind-ridden sea and shore, and by the pallid
light fitfully playing over the tumbling waters the
watchers along the sands saw the stricken Curlew
being slowly wrenched to pieces by the waves that
wolfed about and over her.
 CHAPTER XXXII

ON THE ROLL OF HONOR

Stretched upon the couch in the living-room

behind the store, with Diddimus purring beside him,
Professor Grayling heard that evening the story of
Cap'n Abe's masquerade. Betty Gallup had gone
back to the beach and Louise could talk freely to
her father.
" And he saved me, for your sake! " murmured
the professor. " He gave me his place in the life
boat ! Ah, my dear Lou ! there is something besides
physical courage in this world. And I don't see but
that your uncle has plenty of both kinds of bravery.
Really, he is a wonderful man."
" He was a wonderful man," said Louise brokenly.
" I do not give up hope of his ultimate safety, my
dear. The gale will blow itself out by morning.
Captain Ripley is so badly hurt that he is being taken
to Boston to-night, and the crew go with him. But
if there is interest to be roused in the fate of the
last man left upon the wreck "
" Oh, I am sure the neighbors will do everything
in their power. And Lawford, too!" she cried.
328
 On the Roll of Honor 329
" The schooner is not likely to break up before
morning. The departure of her crew to-night will
make it all the easier for Mr. Abram Silt's secret to
be kept," the professor reminded her.
" Yes. We will keep his secret," sighed Louise.
" Poor Uncle Abram ! After all, he can gain a
reputation for courage only vicariously. It will be
Cap'n Amazon Silt who will go down in the annals
of Cardhaven as the brave man who risked his life
for another, daddy-prof."
Aunt Euphemia did not leave The Beaches on this
evening, as she had intended. Even she was shaken
out of her usual marble demeanor by the wreck and
the incidents connected with it. She came to the
store after dinner and welcomed her brother with
a most subdued and chastened spirit.
" You have been mercifully preserved, Ernest,"
she said, wiping her eyes. " I saw young Law ford
Tapp bring you ashore. A really re-mark-able
young man, and so I told Mrs. Perriton just now.
So brave of him to venture out in the lifeboat as a
volunteer.
" I have just been talking to his father. Quite a
re-mark-able man—I. Tapp. One of these rough
diamonds, you know, Ernest. And he is so enthusi
astic about Louise. He has just pointed out to me
the spot on the bluff where he intends to build a
cottage for Lawford and Louise."
"What's this?" demanded Professor Grayling,
330 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
sitting up so suddenly on the couch that Diddimus
spat and jumped off in haste and anger.
" I—I was just going to tell you about Lawford,"
Louise said in a small voice.
" Oh, yes ! A little thing like your having a lover
slipped your mind, I suppose?" demanded her
father.
" And a young man of most excellent character,"
put in the surprising Mrs. Conroth. " Perhaps his
family is not all that might be desired; but I. Tapp
is e-«or-mously wealthy and I understand he will
settle a good income upon Ford. Besides, the young
man has some sort of interest in the manufacturing
of candies."
Trust the Lady from Poughkeepsie to put the
best foot forward when it became necessary to do
so. The professor was gazing quizzically at the
flushed face of his daughter.
" So that is what you have been doing this sum
mer, is it? " he said.
" That—and looking after Cap'n Abe," confessed
Louise.
" I'll have to look into this further."
"Isn't it terrible?" interrupted Mrs. Conroth.
" They say the two brothers are out on that wreck
and they cannot be reached until the gale subsides.
And then it will be too late to save them. Well,
Louise, that old sailor was certainly a brave man.
I am really sorry I spoke so harshly about him.
 On the Roll of Honor 331
They tell me it was he who put your father in the
boat. I hope there is some way you can fittingly
show your appreciation, Ernest."
" I hope so," said Professor Grayling grimly.
Lawford came to the store before bedtime—very
white and serious-looking. He had tried with the
patrol crew to launch the boat again and go to the
rescue of the two old men supposed to be upon the
wreck. But the effort had been fruitless. Until
the gale fell and the tide turned they could not pos
sibly get out to Gull Rocks.
" A brave man is Cap'n Amazon," Lawford Tapp
said. " And if Cap'n Abe was in the schooner's
crew Why, Professor Grayling! surely you
must remember him? Not a big man, but with
heavy gray beard and mustache—and very bald.
Mild blue eyes and very gentle-spoken. Don't you
remember him in the crew of the Curlew? "
" It would seem quite probable that he was
aboard," Professor Grayling returned, " minding his
p's and q's," as Louise had warned him. " But you
see, Mr. Tapp, being only a passenger, I had really
little association with the men forward. You know
how it is aboard ship—strict discipline, and all that."
"Yes, sir; I see. And, after all, Cap'n Abe
was a man that could easily be overlooked. Not
assertive at all. Not like Cap'n Amazon. Quite
timid and retiring by nature. Don't you say so,
Louise?"
332 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper

"Oh, absolutely!" agreed the girl. "And yet,

when you come to think of it, Uncle Abram is a
wonderful man."
" I don't see how you can say so," the young man
said. " It's Cap'n Amazon who is wonderful.
There were other men down on the beach better
able to handle an oar than he. But he took the
empty seat in the lifeboat when he was called with
out saying ' yes or no' ! And he pulled with the
best of us."
" He is no coward, of that I am sure," said Pro
fessor Grayling. " He gave me his place in the
boat. We can but pray that the lifeboat will get
to him in the morning."
That hope was universal. All night driftwood
fires burned on the sands and the people watched
and waited for the dawn and another sight of the
schooner on the reef.
The tide brought in much wreckage; but it was
mostly smashed top gear and deck lumber. There
fore they had reason to hope that the hull of the
wreck held together.
It was just at daybreak that the wind subsided
and the tide was so that the lifeboat could be
launched again. Wellriver station owned no motor-
driven craft at this time, or Cap'n Jim Trainor and
his men would have been able to reach the wreck at
the height of the gale.
It was no easy matter even now to bring the life
 On the Roll of Honor 333
boat under the lee of the battered schooner. Her
masts and shrouds were overside, anchoring her
to the reef. Not a sign of life appeared anywhere
upon her.
One of the crew of the lifeboat leaped for the rail
and clambered aboard. Down in the scuppers, in
the wash of each wave that climbed aboard the
wreck, he spied a huddled bundle.
" Here's one of 'em, sure 'nough ! " he sang out.
Making his way precariously down the slanting
deck, he reached in a minute the spot where the un
fortunate lay. The man had washed back and forth
in the sea water so long that he was all but parboiled.
The rescuer seized him by the shoulders and drew
him out of this wash.
He was a very bald man with gray hair, a stubble
of beard on his cheeks, and a straggling gray
mustache.
" Why, by golly ! " yelled the surfman. " This
here's Cap'n Abe Silt ! "
" Ain't his brother Am'zon there? "
" No, I don't see his brother nowhere."
" Take a good look."
" Trust me to do that," answered the surfman.
But the search was useless. Nobody ever saw
Cap'n Amazon again. He had gone, as he had come
—suddenly and in a way to shock the placid thoughts
of Cardhaven people. A stone in the First Church
graveyard is all the visible reminder there remains
334 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
of Cap'n Amazon Silt, who for one summer amazed
the frequenters of the store on the Shell Road.
The life-savers brought Cap'n Abe, the store
keeper, back from the wreck, the last survivor of
the Curlew's crew. He was in rather bad shape, for
his night's experience on the wreck had been serious
indeed.
They put him to bed, and Louise and Betty Gallup
took turns in nursing him, while Cap'n Joab Beecher
puttered about the store, trying to wait on customers
and keep things straight.
At first, as he lay in his " cabin," Cap'n Abe did
not have much to say—not even to Louise. But
after a couple of days, on an occasion when she was
feeding him broth, he suddenly sputtered and put
away the spoon with a vexed gesture.
" What's the matter, Uncle Abram?" she asked
him. " Isn't it good ? "
" The soup's all right, Niece Louise. 'Tain't so
fillin' as chowder, I cal'late, but it'll keep a feller on
deck for a spell. That ain't it. I was just
a-thinkin'."
"Of what?"
" Hi-mighty! It's all over, ain't it?" he said in
desperation. " Can't never bring for'ard Cap'n
Am'zon again, can I ? I got to be Cap'n Abe here
after, whether I want to be or not. It's a turrible
dis'pointment, Louise—turrible !
" I ain't sorry I went out there in that boat. No.
 On the Roll of Honor 335
For I got your father off, an' he'd been carried over
board if he'd been let stay in them shrouds.
" But land sakes ! I did fancy bein' Cap'n Am'zon
'stead o' myself. And the worst of it is, Niece
Louise, I can't have nothin' new to tell 'bout Cap'n
Am'zon's adventures. He's drowned, an' he can't
never go rovin' no more."
" But think of what you've done, Cap'n Abe,"
Louise urged. " You feared the sea—and you over
came that fear. All your life you shrank from ven
turing on the water; yet you went out in that life
boat and played the hero. Oh, I think it is fine,
Cap'n Abe! It's wonderful! "
"Wonderful?" repeated Cap'n Abe. " P'r'aps
'tis. Mebbe I've been too timid all my li fe. P'r'aps
I could ha' been a sailor and cruised in foreign seas
if I'd just had to.
" But mother allus was opposed. She kept talkin'
against it when I was a boy—and later, too. She
told how scar't she was when Cap'n Josh and the
Bravo went down in sight of her windows. And
mebbe I ketched it more from her talkin' than aught
else.
" But I never realized that stress of circumstances
could push me into it an' make a man of me. I had
a feelin' that I'd swoon away an' fall right down in
my tracks if I undertook to face such a sea as that
was t'other day.
" And see ! Nothing of the kind happened ! I
336 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
knew I'd got to make good Cap'n Am'zon's char
acter, or not hold up my head in Cardhaven again.
I don't dispute I've been a hi-mighty liar, Niece
Louise. But—but it's sort o' made a man o' me for
once, don't ye think?
" I dunno. Good comes out o' bad sometimes.
Bitter from the sweet as well. And when a man's
got a repertation to maintain There was that
feller Hanks, on the Lunette, out o' Nantucket. I've
heard Cap'n Am'zon tell it "
" Cap'n Abe ! " gasped Louise.
" Hi-mighty! There I go again," said the store
keeper mournfully. " You can't teach an old dog
new tricks—nor break him of them he's l'arned! "
Louise and her father remained at the store on
the Shell Road until Cap'n Abe was up and about
again. Then they could safely leave him to the min
istrations of Betty Gallup.
" Somehow," confessed that able seaman, " he
don't seem just like he used to. He speaks quicker
and sharper—more like that old pirate, Am'zon Silt,
though I shouldn't be sayin' nothin' harsh of the
dead, I s'pose. I don't dispute that Cap'n Am'zon
was muchly of a man, when ye come to think on't.
" But Cap'n Abe's more to my taste. Now the
place seems right again with him in the house.
Cap'n Abe's as easy as an old shoe. And, land
sakes! I ain't locked out o' his bedroom when I
want to clean !
 On the Roll of Honor 337
" One thing puzzles me, Miss Lou. I thought
Cap'n Abe would take on considerable about Jerry.
But when I told him the canary was dead he up and
said that mebbe 'twas better so, seein' the old bird
couldn't see no more. Now, who would ha' told
him Jerry was blind? "
There were a few other things about the returned
Cap'n Abe that might have amazed his neighbors.
He seemed to possess an almost uncanny knowledge
of what had happened during the summer. Besides,
he seemed to have achieved Cap'n Amazon's manner
of " looking down" a too inquisitive inquirer into
personal affairs and refusing to answer.
Because of this, perhaps, nobody was ever known
to ask the storekeeper why he had filled his sea chest
with bricks and useless dunnage when he shipped it
to Boston. That mystery was never explained.
Before Louise and her father were ready to leave
Cardhaven most of the summer residents along The
Beaches, including Aunt Euphemia, had gone. And
the moving picture company had also flown.
With the latter went Gusty Durgin, bravely refus
ing to have her artistic soul trammeled any longer
by the claims of hungry boarders at the Cardhaven
Inn.
" I don't never expect to be one of these stars on
the screen," she confided to Louise. " But I can
make a good livin', an' ma's childern by her second
husband, Mr. Vleet, has got to be eddicated.
338 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
" I'm goin' to make me up a fancy name and
make a repertation. They ain't goin' to call me
' Dusty Gudgeon ' no more. Miss Louder tells me
I can ' bant '—whatever that is—to take down my
flesh, and mebbe you'll see me some day, Miss Lou,
in a re'l ladylike part. An' I can always cry. Even
Mr. Bane says I'm wuth my wages when it comes
to the tearful parts."
The Tapps were flitting to Boston, Mrs. Tapp
and the girls sure of " getting in " with the proper
set at last. Their summer's campaign, thanks to
Louise, had been successful to that end.
Louise and Law ford walked along the strand be
low the cottages. The candy cutting machine had
proved a success and Lawford was giving his atten
tion to a new " mechanical wrapper " for salt water
taffy that would do away with much hand labor.
On the most prominent outlook of Tapp Point
were piles of building material and men at work.
The pudgy figure of I. Tapp was visible walking
about, importantly directing the workmen.
" It's going to be a most wonderful house,
Louise dear," sighed Lawford. " Do you suppose
you can stand it? The front elevation looks like
a French chateau of the Middle Ages, and there
ought to be a moat and a portcullis to make it look
right."
" Never mind," she responded cheerfully. " We
won't have to live in it—much. See. We have all
 On the Roll of Honor 339
this to live in," with a wide gesture. " The sea
and the shore. Cape Cod forever ! I shall never be
discontented here, Lawford."
They wandered back to the store on the Shell
Road. There was a chill in the fall air and Cap'n
Abe had built a small fire in the rusty stove. About
it were gathered the usual idlers. A huge fishfly
droned on the window pane.
" It's been breedin' a change of weather for a
week," said Cap'n Joab.
" Right ye air, sir," agreed Washy Gallup, wag
ging his head.
" I 'member hearin' Cap'n Am'zon tell 'bout a
dry spell like this," began Cap'n Abe, leaning his
hairy fists upon the counter. " 'Twas when he was
ashore once at Teneriffe "
" Don't I hear Mandy a-callin' me ? " Milt Baker
suddenly demanded, making for the door.
" I gotter git over home myself," said Cap'n Joab
apologetically.
" Me, too," said Washy, rising. " 'Tis chore
time."
Cap'n Abe clamped his jaws shut for a minute and
his eyes blazed. Only the mild and inoffensive Amiel
was left of his audience.
" Huh ! " he growled. " Ain't goin' to waste my
breath on you, Amiel Perdue. Go git me a scuttle
of coal."
Then, when the young fellow had departed, the
340 Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper
storekeeper grinned ruefully and whispered in his
niece's ear:
"Hi-mighty! Cap'n Am'zon's cut the sand out
from under my feet. They think he told them yarns
so much better'n I do that they won't even stay to
hear me. Hard lines, Niece Louise, hard lines. But
mebbe I deserve it ! "

THE END.
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