The Woman-Haters

te, but his helper would cheerfully have sacrificed a whole hog to quiet the wails from the box in the yard. He pushed the ham bone between the slats, and Job

he door and, while waiting for the water to heat, separated a dozen sheets of the sticky fly paper and placed them in conspicuous places. He wondered as he did so what some of his former acquaintances would say if they could see him. He-HE-a cook, and a roustabout, a dishwasher and a scrubb

ulge in some curious speculations. Then he fell to wondering about Seth himself. What was it that the light-keeper was hiding from the world? Odd that two people, each posse

do the most good, and had the satisfaction of seeing a number of the tormenting insects caught

swallowed the bone whole, began once more to howl lugubriously. Brown decided to let him howl for t

denly ceased. A moment later there was a thump and a mighty scratching at the kit

he exclaimed;

o the cause of the racket at the door they were dispelled by a howl like a f

crack. The pup-he looked like a scrawny young lion-hailed his appearance with a series of wild yelps.

u brute!" or

ed to have grown out of proportion to the rest of him; they were enormous. Down the length of his yellow

ightkeeper's helper. "Ni

and made a charge at the door. B

, from behind it. "Go

ult on the door which threatened to shatter the panels. Jo

unded a protest and again commanded the dog to go and lie down. Job, without, thumped and scratched and howled louder than ever. He ha

ared. "Get out o

that Job knew a shovel when he saw it, had encountered other shovels in the

ob retreated a corresponding distance. When the assistant stopped, he stopped. Brown l

ess you're not as dangerous as you lo

He lifted the shovel, and Job jumped frantically out of reach, sat down in a clump of bea

wled once more and gazed at him with sorrowful appeal. The situation was so ridiculous that the young man began to laugh. This merri

d boy?" inquired Brown

lf the center of a s

I'm not going to hurt you. Stay wher

ted to cross the threshold the dog started to follow. When Brown halted, he fol

if you want to. Come in! but for goo

with his muzzle across the sill, evidently not yet certain that his victory was com

ut not yet at the boiling point. He pushed the boiler aside, lifted a lid of the range and inspected the fire. From behind him came a

ked off a sheet of the fly paper. This had fallen "butter side down" upon his back, and stuck fast. He reached aft to pull it loose with his teeth and had encountered a second sheet laid on a chair. This had stuck to his neck. Job was an apprehensive animal by nature and as the result of experience, and his nerves

. Another chair, also loaded with fly paper, upset, and Job added a third sheet to his collection. This one plastered itself across his nose and eyes. He ceased running forward and began to le

ay leaped, or flew, an object steaming and dripping, fluttering with fly paper, and with a giant lobster clamped firmly to its tail. The lobster was knocked off against the door post, bu

ing when he reached the back yard, but there he stopped laug

was not anxious about the dog. What caused him to shout and then break into a run was the sight of Joshua, the old horse, galloping at top speed along the road to the south. Even his sedate and ancien

r to keep an eye on Joshua, "'cause if anything happened to him I'd have to hunt a mighty long spell to find another that could tech him." Brown accepted this trust with co

He had laughed until running seemed an impossibility, but run he must, and did, after a fashion. But Joshua was run

ong habit, kept to the roadway and never tried short cuts. His pursuer did, and, therefore, just as Joshua entered the grove on the bluff abov

nimal had a distinct advantage. Not until the outer edge of the grove was reached did the

e shouted

the tail of his eye, caught a glimpse of the winding channel of the Slough beneath him, of a smal

once more. "Whoa,

r. Joshua heard it, jumped sidewise, jerked at the halter and, as if playing "snap the whip," sent his would-be captor heels over head over the edge of the bank and rolling down the

aid: "Wel

nd and a dripping brush in the other, was standing b

Seth again, and with

back with one hand, and then, turning, sat in the sand and return

by George! it's you, isn't

r put down the

changed to suspicion and wrath. "Never you mind what I'm doin'," he went o

the sand ou

tly what I am doin

I can help you to remember. Sneakin' after me, wa'

at his helper. Brown looked at him fo

, was you?" r

s was part of our dicker if you was goin' to sta

us shrug. Turning on his heel, he starte

"Didn't I say you'd got t

id," c

d! And was yo

rs-like a fool. Now yo

ere! Where

l, or anywhere else that suits your convenience

th? Say, hold on! Mer

yelps. Through the thicket of beachplum bushes was thrus

manded the astoni

ng apparition in the bush

observed,

OB

"is Joshua, I presume. If there are more Old Testament patriarchs in the vicinity, I don't know where they are, an

op of the bank, started to follow, but a

I made a mistake. Perhaps you wa'n't spy

Seth stared after him. From the grove, where his halter had caug

owled Job, fr

nted with remnants of the fly paper, slunk at his heels. Seth stabled the horse and, after some manoeuvering, managed to decoy

e giant lobster was cooking. Of the substitute assistant keeper t

gruffly, "we might 's wel

supper is ready, I think," he answe

ems to be. Come o

eaten, t

ave? A

th emphasis, "is a p

f cold scraps from the pantry. He wandered uneasily about the premises, quieted Job's wails for the time by a gift of eatable odds and ends tossed into the

the ungracio

, hesitatingly. "I'd like to sp

busi

beg your pardon again. I cal'late I've made another mistake. I

is good this ti

I apologize and take it al

ered, looking sheepish, and sat do

d your pardon and all-tellin' me what did happen while I was away. I imagine, judgin' by the

to be serious, but was o

f course you know where that

row afternoon me and Job take a trip back to Eastboro, and one of us stays there. It may be me, but I have my doubts. I agreed to take a DOG on trial, not a yeller-jaundiced cow with a church organ inside of it. Hear the c

his experience as a lobster catcher. Seth smiled, then chuckled, an

utch beat. Ha, ha! ho, ho! Brown, I apologize all over again. I don't wonder you was put out when I accused you of spyin'. Wonder you hadn't ri

apology, i

must have been sort of surprise

whi

e name of that old scho

ow is the weathe

st fall. Bought her for eight dollars of the feller that owned her, and she was a hulk for sartin then. I've caulked her up and rigged her, after a fashion. Now she might float, if she had a c

, you know. I ask no questions, and you ar

wondered, just the same. I bought that craft because-well, because she reminded me of old times, I cal'late. I used to command a schooner like her once; bigger and lots more able, of course, but a fish

Seth continued to rock and to ta

of doin' it. She'll never float again. It would take a tide like a flood to get her off them flats. But when I'm aboard or putterin' around her, I'm happy-happier, I mean. It makes me forget I'm a good-for-nothin' derelict, stra

h. His fist descended upon

d. "By George, don't

tkins started and c

likely you do. . . . Well, good night. I've