Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper

ge the silver-bowed spectacles he really did not need, "that them fellers saved from

'n Joab Beecher, "if they se

no. 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 sm

ed longingly through the doorway from which the sea could be observed as well as a strip of that natural breakwater calle

hell Road to which Cap'n Abe's store was a fixture. In sight of The Beaches the wealthy summer residents had built their homes-

ad been built by I. Tap

only son of the house, w

Abe's

e Posy Lass was loaded with lumber and her cargo's 'bout all that kep' her afloat as fur as Ha

f the decks that warn't bolted to 'em. The seas rose up and picked off

up Cap'n Beecher, "if we see

keeper 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 sunshin

re 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 st

hallow box which was sometimes filled with fresh sawdust. The stovepipe,

ts on the brown, hacked plank-the notches of the yard-stick and fathom-st

g sheathing and straining ribs. She was wrung by the seas like a dishrag in a woman's hands. She no

Baker put in hastily. "Gimme a piece

eper said gently, with his hand on the

Milt boldly, fishing in his p

wo others, lashed to the stump o' the fo'mast, ex-isted in a smother of foam an' spume, with the waves p

cried. "For three men? And f

dignation. "Young man," he said tartly, "you should hear Cap'n Am'z

ned his back again. Young

was lashed to that stump of a mast and they lived on them potaters-scraping 'em fine w

taters?" gaspe

squandered a nickel in trying to head off the flow of the storekeeper's

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'

t Gaunt didn't go through nothin' like t

Cap'n Joab, whose deeply tanned, whisker-frin

see this wonderful bro

hed to the post," th

m any of the Cape ports. But you let Abe tell it, Cap'n Am'zon Silt is the greatest navigator

r see him?"

e w

n Ama

Cap'n Abe talk about him-standin' off an'

ver met him

when I was sea-farin'. And he ain't ne

ured Lawford Tapp more

orn and brou

e 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 stuc

ain, then?" Lawford asked, impressed by

er's title longshore. 'Most ev'ry man owns some kind of a boat; and o' course a man's cap

urged L

on the Cape. Why, 'tain't been ten years since the Paulmouth Comp'ny wrecked the Mary Be

in fac', so nat'rally was cap'n. He never headed no crew-not as I ever

an shaven above his whisker, looked very grim indeed, and he wagged his head slowly. "

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 upo

, or sea-going, was too remarkable to be capped by a tale of one of Cap'n Amazon's experiences. Some of these st

had made his crown as bare and polished as a shark's tooth. Under the bulk of his jersey he might have been either thin or deep-chested

life. Twenty years' residence meant little to Cardhaven folk. Cap'n Abe was still an outsider to people who were so closely married and intermarried that

street lamp had been fixed by the town fathers at the Mariner's Chapel, as though they said to

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 fo

conversation, far removed it would seem from any adventu

o, "that them folks cavortin' down on The Beaches for

" the son of the Salt Water Taffy King replied. "They are going to u

it! He had been motorman on a street car in Providence for a couple of winters befor

any will come later. The director is taking what he calls 'stills' of t

due, "that they was hopin' for a storm,

ne time o' year to be lookin'

an' wrack herself to please 'em?" piped up Washy Gallup-no relation to

o the old Morning Star," Milt said. "I read once of a comp'ny putting two locomotives

ers!" mutter

es," Milt chuckled. "Tell ye what, boys,

ilt, 'bout battin' yo

n't lost her eyes

oke through the guffa

a feller and a girl los

re. They was chased by

s tackled 'em-what d'y

ike ringi

ng," sugges

ike the Baptist Meetin' H

'n Abe, leaning on his counter and staring at the tireless fishfly again. "Cap

n't there no place on this green airth tha

bly broke into an appreciative chuckle. It was well known that on the last Four

nt up country with a Dutchman-a trader, I b'lieve he said the man w

aches, I shouldn't wonder," put in Cap'n

d the storekeeper, unruffled, "but thicker'n you'd want sand fl

said. "If that brother of yours has gone through one-half the perils by land and sea I'

man," he said, "if Cap'n Am'zon was here now ye wouldn't darst c

Lawford said lightly, "if only for the

ur wish," returned th

bed up serenely. "Ye don't say Cap'n Am'zon's likely

part. Then he said: "That's exactly what I mean. I

p'n Joab, turning from the door to sta

ttlin' down. He's gettin' along in years like the rest of us. Mebbe I'll let him keep store for me this summ

ut-was it ten year ago?" demanded Cap'n Jo

ting its head against the pane. "That week was when I went to the-'hem-buryin' of my a'nt, Joab

d Cap'n Joab. "I know

your folks, or the like

re'lly meant it. And yo

ll

relate them," laughed Lawford, "Cap'n Amazon shou

Cap'n Am'zon when he does come. He's lived a rough sort o' life. He's nobody's tame cat. Doubt his w

es in some way upon any doubting Thomas that drifted into his shop. Because of hi

ugh. His wit was not of a nimble order. He turned to the

that gi

ook. "See who's come!" he cackled. "I bet

a somewhat angry glance. Yet he

ying the young woman who was approa

at the post-office this noon," Lawford explain

" declared the ol

t traveling bag by a strap over her shoulder. Her trim shoes were

n to this vision of young womanhood; but as he stood at one

im; and he thought his experience with girls had been wide. But he had never seen one just like Lou