The Woman-Haters

eral times caught the lightkeeper looking intently at him with the distrustful, half-suspicious gaze of the night before.

right; you

demanded Atkins,

d me to explode at any minute

is coat of sunburn, a

about," he stammered. "Have the

ght, and I want to keep them so. That's why

at you? I don't k

. I don't know anything and I'm not curious. Th

, young f

n't any ambitions that way. I don't know anythin

he upset his chair. "Done?" he cried; "what do you m

is a

r-whatever

o s

t-that said what y

anyone had s

by-by hintin'? Hey? W

he breakfast dishes. Brown leaned ba

senses," he drawled wearily. "This deli

-air, opened, and was drawn

"this is-is- . . . I guess I BE crazy. If I ain't, you are

loquy; "there are no mosquitoes at present. It must be the other thin

request, but an order.

ing me?" he asked

would I be ad- . . . There! there! Now I cal'

dee

ompany with a Bedlamite may have some effect, I shouldn't wonder.

e, which I neither doubt nor believe, not being

the job of assistant keeper here at th

d

Well, YOU must b

nd I meant it.

looked at Seth. At length t

say the job's yours, even if we do; but we can't even think of it unless we understand each other plain. To begin with, I want to tell you

t interested, but I'll believe it

ness. I won't have any hints or questions about me-from you nor nobody else. 'Mind your own business,' that's the motto of Eastboro

d for his overturned chair, set it on its legs, and threw himself int

lied Mr. Brow

ou talk sensible, if you try real hard and set

estness, "I like your motto. It suits me. 'Mind your own business' suits me down to the

y? I want

ely innocent-and we want to forget it. I agree not to ask you how old you are, nor why you wear yo

ou asked some

e, also, if you will remember, and I didn't answer them, eith

you I ain't d

ght. I believe you are; I really do. But we don't care to talk about ourselves, that's all. And, fortunately, kind Providence has bro

self. "Young man," he observed, "you ain't c

eal assistant lightkeeper. Give me a trial, at any rate. I need an employer; you need a

perintendent, matters might have been different. But the Eastboro lights were unimportant, merely a half-way mark between Orham on the one hand and the powerful Seaboard Heights beacon on the other. It was the beginning of summer, when wrecks almost never occurred. And the superintendent liked Seth, and Seth liked him. So, although Mr. Atkins still scoffed at his gu

't think of a man anywhere that can be spared. If you can get on for a day or tw

o the transmitter, in order that the "likely young chap" might not hear; "but he's purty green yet. He wants the reg'lar job and, give me time enough,

d he come from?" ask

ere a ways," was the strictly truthful

esponsibility, I'll take the rest. And, as

ith the lights, except to clean up around and such. If you want to stay a spell, until an assistant's app'inted, I'll undertake to be responsible for your keep. And if you need some new

would take it with bells on. Others may yearn for the strenuous life, bu

l whom Seth had found asleep on the beach, the lightkeeper's suspicions were ended. It was true that Brown was as mysterious and secretive as ever concerning his own past, but that had been a part of their bargain. Atkins, who prided himself on being a judge of human nature, decided that his helper was a young gentleman in trouble, but that the trouble, whatever it might be, involved nothing crimi

d them when they were pointed out to him. He was, for the most part, good-natured and willing to talk, though there were periods when he seemed depressed and wandered off by himself along the beach or sat by the edge of the bluff, staring out to sea. The lightkeeper made no comment on thi

old horse, attached to the antique "open wagon"-both steed and vehicle a part of the government property-over to Eastboro to purchase tobacco and newspapers at the store. On his return he found everything

and quaintly amusing. But now he really liked the man. Seth Atkins was a countryman, and a marked contrast to any individual Brown had ever met, but he was far from being a fool. He possessed a fund of dry common sense, and his comments on people and happenings in the world-a knowledge of which he derived from the newspapers and magazines obtained on his trips to Eastboro-

Sundays and on the occasions of his excursions to the village-Atkins would rise from the table, saunter to the door to look at the weather, and then, without excuse or explanation, start slowly down the road. For the first hundred yards he sauntered, then the saunter became a brisk walk, and when he reached the edge of the grove he was hurrying almost at a dog trot. Sometimes he carried a burden with him, a brown paper parcel brought from Eastboro, a hammer, a saw, or a coil of rope. Once he descended to the boathouse at the foot of the bluff by the

the village one afternoon and returned with literature, smoking

nted today," he observed, as a preli

resume," suggested the assistant, who kn

f the season or behind it in that store. When it's so cold that the snow birds get chilblains they'll have the shelves chuck full of fly paper. Now, when it's hotter t

peated Brown

oday. Didn't pay nothin' for him, you understand. Henry G., the storekeepe

ou're going to

, told me that somebody busted into the station henhouse one night a week ago and got away with four of their likeliest pullets. He cal'lates 'twas tramps or boys. We don't

uld never come

a miracle of itself. You'd say so, too, if you knew Henry. I was so surprised that I said I'd take it right off; felt 'twould be flyin' in the face of Providence n

kind of a

This one he's givin' me ain't a whole dog, you see; just a half-grown pup. The varioloid all over again-hey? Ho, h

ad departed on one of his mysterious excursions, carrying a coil of rope, a pulley and a gallon c

er tonight," he said. "Eve

had never co

u've got to do is bile him. Bile

sistant was not enthusiast

ed if he was boiled at all, it

bilin' hot when you put him in," he explained. "Wa

w do you know w

t to your instinct, I cal'late. When he look

t. Would you mind hintin' as t

DONE, of

looks done, and when he looks done he is done. Any chi

when you put him in the kittle, and when you take

ight, I'll boil him till he's re

about six or so. Put him in when the water's

will, but I have my

. Pick out the biggest one you can find, 'cause I'm likely to be hungry when I get back, and your appetite ain't

e had said more than he intended. At th

areful when you dip him out

ha

lot I got from my pots, so you want to handle 'em careful like, else they'll nip you.

at the sea. He gazed and thought until he could bear to think no longer; then he rose and entered the kitchen, where he kindled a fire in the range and fi

under the wharf, to which it was attached by a rope. Brown knelt on the string-piece and peered down at it. It floated

the button and throw back the leather-hinged cover. Through the square opening the water beneath looked darkly gree

thrust the business end of the contrivance through the opening and i

but at least ten minutes elapsed before he managed to get one in it. At length, when his arms were weary and his patience almost exhausted, the subm

edge, rose on one knee, tried to stand erect, stumbled, lost his hold on the handle and shot the lobster neatly out of the mes

away. The third, however, he dragged pantingly to the wharf and sat beside it, gloating. It was his for keeps, and it was a big

nd cruel, when Seth Atkins first ordered him to do it. Now he didn't mind; it would serve the thing right for being so hard to catch. Entering the kitchen, he balanced the ne

he did. When he removed the kettle he decided at once that it was much too small for the purpose required of it. To boil a lobster of that size in a kettle of that size would necessitate boiling one end at a time, and that, both for th

e netted lobster was balanced, but another-he became aware of curious sounds from without. Distant sounds th

-ow! Aa

wn, and ran out of the kitchen an

rse, picketted to a post in the back yard and grazing, or trying to graze, on the stub

oo! Ow-o

. A moment later the driver became visible, a freckled faced boy grinning like a pumpkin lantern. The horse trotted through the sand up to the lights. Joshua whinnied

OOO! Oo

lightkeeper's helper, running to me

orse he was driving. The animal stopped in his tracks, evidently glad of

triumphant nod and a jerk of his thum

Who?

since he finished his bone, and that was over two mile back. Sa

nd Fancy Goods and Notions, Eastboro," and peered in over the tailboard. The interior of the wagon was well nigh filled by a big box with strips of board nailed acros

y. "Hi, there, Job, tune up n

the box, accompanied by a mighty scr

emanded. "Ought to be in

o the post of the wagon cover, looked down into the box.

g," he exclaimed.

og when he grows up. Nothin' but a

r. Atkins; h

? Where's

n't k

his last was a command to the prisoner in the

u want to see him personally? Won't I d

s of fly paper Seth ordered. Here!" lowering the tailboard and climbing into the wagon, "you catch aholt of t'other end of the bo

he wagon. The dog's whines and screams and scratc

shouted Brown. "What are you putting th

made him a present of Job last time Seth

grown pup" Atkins had said was to be brought over by the groc

ge!" he exclai

ell ye?" asked

es, I believe

d him. Here he comes now. H'

hook the breath from the prisoner within. But the breath came back again and furnished motive power for

nds, thank the mercy! Here's your fly paper. Five dozen sheets. You must have pretty

do with this-er-blessed dog? Is he savage? W

an elephant. Besides, he won't stay tied up nowheres. Busted more clotheslines than I've got fingers and toe

earthquake obliged with a renew

assistant smiled i

him Job?"

he land with roarin's, like Job in the Bible. So, bein' as he hadn't no name except cu

his-did he see his presen

ing up the reins, "I've got five mile of sand and moskeeters to navigate, so

o, for the

acrost that he's started most of the nails in them slats over top of him. I tell ye what you do: Give him a bone or a chunk of tough meat to ch

after him. Also, he "humped us his back," and the nails holding the slats in plac