第101章

"There, by godfreys!" he exclaimed."I could see it comin'! That feller's for all the world like a cook I had once aboard the Ezry H.Jones.That cook was the biggest numskull that ever drawed the breath of life.Always forgettin' somethin', he was, and always at the most inconvenient time.Once, if you'll believe it, I had a skipper of another vessel come aboard and, wishin' to be sort of hospitable, as you might say, I offered him a glass of rum.""Joshua!"

"Oh, it's all right, Betsy.This was years ago.I'm as good a teetotaler now as you be, and I never was what you'd call a soak.

But I've SEEN fellers-- Why, I knew one once that used to go to bed in the dark.He was so full of alcohol he didn't dast to light a match fear he'd catch a-fire.Fact! He was eighty-odd then, and he lived to be nigh a hundred.Preserved, you understand, same as one of them specimens in a museum.He'd kept forever, I cal'late, if he hadn't fell off the dock.The water fixed him; he wasn't used to it.He was the wust--""Never mind him.Stick to the cook."

"Yes, yes.Well, I sent that cook for the rum and when he fetched it, I thought it smelt funny.And when I TASTED it--godfreys!

'Twas bay rum; yes, sir, bay rum! same as they put on your hair.

You see, he'd forgot to buy any rum when we was in our last port and, havin' the bay rum along he fetched that.'Twas SOME kind of rum and that was enough for him.I WAS mad, but that visitin'

skipper, he didn't care.Drank it down and smacked his lips.'I'm a State of Maine man,' he says, 'and that's a prohibition state.

This tastes like home,' he says.'If you don't mind I'll help myself to another.' 'I don't mind,' says I, 'but I'm sorry I ain't got any hair-ile.If I had you might have a barber-shop toddy.'

Yes, sir! Ho-ho! that's what I said.But he didn't mind.He was--"And so on.The yarns were not elegant, but, as he told them, they were funny.Mabel Colton laughed as heartily as the rest of us.

She appeared to be in fine spirits.She talked with the Atwoods, answered their questions, and ate the hot "spider bread" and butter as if she had never tasted anything as good.But with me she would not talk.Whenever I addressed a remark to her, she turned it with a laugh and her next speech was pretty certain to be addressed to the lightkeeper or his wife.As for our adventure in the launch, that she treated as a joke.

"Wan't you awful scared when that squall struck so sudden?"inquired Mrs.Atwood.

"Dreadfully."

"Humph!" this from Joshua; "I cal'late Mr.Paine was some scart too.What did you do, Mr.Paine?""I rigged that canvas on the oar as soon as possible," I answered.

"Um-hm.That was good judgment."

"Tell me, Mr.Atwood," asked the young lady innocently, "are all seafaring men very dictatorial under such circumstances?""Very--which?"

"I mean do they order people about and make them do all sorts of things, whether they wish to or not?""Sartin.Godfreys! I never asked nobody what they wished aboard the Ezry H.Jones.""And do they tell them to 'sit down and keep still'?""Gen'rally they tell 'em to get up and keep movin'.If they don't they start 'em pretty lively--with a rope's end.""I see.Even when they are--ladies?"

"Ladies? Godfreys! we never had but one woman aboard the Ezry.

Had the skipper's wife one v'yage, but nobody ever ordered her around any to speak of.She was six feet tall and weighed two hundred.All hands was scart to death of her.""Suppose she had been ordered to 'sit down and keep still'; what do you think would have happened?""Don't know.If 'twas one of the hands I guess likely she'd have hove him overboard.If 'twas the skipper I shouldn't wonder if she'd have knocked him down--after she got over the surprise of his darin' to do such, a thing.She had HIM trained, I tell ye!""Miss Colton thinks me rather a bully, I am afraid," I said."Idid order her about rather roughly."

Mr.Atwood burst into a laugh."That Ezry Jones woman was the skipper's wife," he declared."Makes a lot of diff'rence, that does.I was considerable of a bully myself afore Betsy got me on the parson's books.Now I'm the most peaceable critter ever you see.Your turn's comin', Miss Colton.All you got to do is be patient.""Joshua!" said Mrs.Atwood, in mild reproof."You mustn't mind his talk, Miss Colton.He's a terrible joker."Miss Colton changed the subject.She did not so much as look at me again during the meal and, after it was over, she went to her room, explaining that she was very tired and would try to get a little sleep.

I had discovered that the lighthouse, being close to the mainland, was equipped with a telephone.Now I begged permission to use it.

I called up Denboro and asked to be connected with the Colton home.

I felt very sure that there would be no sleep in the big house that night and I wished to relieve their anxiety and to send word to Mother.Mr.Colton himself answered my call.

I announced my identity and explained where I was and that his daughter was in my care and perfectly safe.

"Thank God!" was the fervent exclamation at the other end of the wire, and the voice which uttered it was shaking with emotion.

"Stay where you are a moment, Paine.Let me tell my wife.She is almost crazy.Hold the wire."I held the wire and waited.The next voice which reached my ears was Mrs.Colton's.She asked a dozen questions, one after the other.Was Mabel safe? Was I sure she was safe? Wasn't the poor child almost dead after all she'd been through? What had happened?

What was she doing away over there in that dreadful place? Why had I taken her there?

I answered as well as I could, telling briefly of the collision in the fog and what followed.The explanation appeared to be rather unsatisfactory.