Cap'n Dan's Daughter

s the pleasure derived from the sense of duty done. Rain, snow, or shine, the committee is on hand at the station-the natives, of course, call it the "deepo"-to consu

e Captain had moored Daniel to a picket in the fence over by the freight-house. He had heard the clock in the belfry of the Methodist church strike eight as he drove by that edifice, but

enthusiasm. "Here's Cap'n Eri!

the calm reply. "Runnin' fair, b

ed "Bluey" Batcheldor. Mr. Batcheldor is called "Bluey" for the same reason tha

dor bit off two-thirds and returned the balance. After adjusting the morsel so t

i. Web Saunders has got his original-pac

ard the speaker. "Is that a fa

ealer and a whole lot more

f the meetings, "what kind of a fit John Baxter would have now. He's been pretty nigh distracted ever sence Web started his billiard room, callin' it a 'ha'nt of sin' and a whole lot more

ession of opinion to walk away. He looked in at the window of the ticket-office, exchanged greetings with Sam Hardy, the stationmaster, and then leaned agai

fice. The stage-driver, a sharp-looking boy of about fourteen, with a disagreeable air of cheap smartness sticking out all over him, left his seat in the shadow of Mr. Batcheldor's manly form, tossed a cigarette stump away and l

in flavor. There was a very stout lady with a canvas extension case and an umbrella in one hand and a bulging shawl-strap and a pasteboard box in the other, who panted and wheezed like the locomotive itself and who asked the brakeman, "What on airth DO they have such high steps for?" There was a slim, not to say gawky, individual with a chin beard and r

ith the suit-case picked up the latter and walked toward the same v

e to the cable st

and there was no Cape Cod twis

d to ride," sai

ou goin' to

f it's

aring with all their might, grinned also. The young man's mention

age-driver. Then he added: "Say, yo

moment. Then he said, "Yes," a

n that for four blocks, then turn to the left, and if

smiled. "I think you

urn off the main road. Git dap! So long, fellers!" He leaned over the wheel, as the stage turned, and bestowed a wink

odd expression of countenance. Then he shrugged his shoulders, pic

ayed a mammoth grin, that grew into a shriek of lau

mighty smart, but if that Joe Bartlett ain't smarter then I'm a skate, that's all! Smartest boy eve

," suggested Smalley,

although Daniel knew his way and did his best to follow it, the cranberry barrels rattled and shook in lively fashion. There are few homes near the station, and the dwellers in them conscientiously refrain from showing lights except in the ends of the buildings furthest from the front. Strangers are inclined to wonder at this, but when they b

and there through the trees, but those on the beaches and at sea shine out plainly. The brilliant yellow gleam a mile away is from the Orham lighthouse on the bluff. The smaller white dot marks the light on B

o notice it at all. It is like the ticking of a clock, so incessant and regular, that one has to listen intently for a moment or two before his accustomed ear will single it out and make it defini

ad by the church to listen to this song of the sea; at any rate he was there, and when Captain Eri steere

e stage-driver told me the way to the cable station, but I've forgotten

held it up. He had seen the stranger when the latter left the

atin' to go to the

intended

llers at the depot th

tain

nd they give you

blocks till I got to the main street, or road, and so ma

r, I guess maybe you'd better not try to walk to the cable station to-night. You see, there's one thing they forgot

led. "You don't mea

with me, and don't mind waitin' till I leave these barrels at the house of the man that owns 'em, I'll drive you dow

t so stubborn as all that," he said. "

. "Give us your satchel. Now your fl

for perhaps a hundred yards, and then, evidently feeling that he had done all that could

ioned it," he observed,

edge," said the stranger

u said you wanted to git to the cable

m Mr. Langley

s place. I guess likely it was one of the operators that told it fust that you was the man, but anyhow

es

lmighty give us M'lissy, I jedge, as a sort of substitute. She can spread a little news over more country than anybody

tation for some years, and the other day the General Manager called me into his office and told me I was

bout the general liveliness o

you speak of it, I remember that he began by asking m

actly a camp-meeting for sociableness," he said. "And the

en of your Cape

e, Cap'n Perez Ryder. Perez, he's a bachelor, but his sister's daughter married a

ch amused, denied

he made Perez promise-he being the only relation the youngster had-to fetch the boy down here and sort of bring him up. Perez knows as much about bringing up a boy as a hen does about the Ten Commandments, and 'Lizabeth made him promise not to lick the youngster and a whole lot more foo

a good many of that kind in N

d the girls ain't fur behind. There's been more deviltry in this village sence he landed than there ever was

N

s the only one of us three that's been through the mill. His wife died twenty year ago. I don't know as I told

broke off and s

e had its ample front yard, and the new arrival could smell the box hedges and see, now and then, the whiteness of the kalsomined stones that bordered a driveway. It was too dark for the big seashells at the front steps to be visible, but they were there, all the same; every third house of res

red Captain Eri, suddenly waking from

etim

ye play

cue, genera

with their mouths. Miss a shot and then spend t

care to play it that way

develops the lungs and strengthens the muscles, as the pa

inion of my predecess

folks in this town swore by him. I understand the felle

ngley i

as, I s'pose! Langley don't play pool much; not

with trees, and drew up at the back door of a good-sized

ain. Then he began to shout, "Shi

stern face, with white eyebrows and a thin-lipped mouth. Just such a face as looked on with approval when the execution

you acquainted with Mr. Hazeltine, the new man at the cable s

ands, and then

as he always does, by the skin of his teeth. Stand by now, 'cause I'v

he "stood by," as directed, and the barrels were quickly unloaded. As they w

to-morrow. I want to talk with you

n Baxter's

at place, Eri Hedge," he shouted,

. "Then the job's in good hands, and

preoccupied until they reached the end of the road by the shore, when he brought t

rn the dory in the morning, but the Captain wouldn't hear of it. The dory slid up on the sand and the passenger climbed out. The sound of the surf on the ocean side of the beach was

indows a quarter of a mile away. "It IS straight ahead this time, and t

d in his pocket, hesitated,

e said. "I'm glad to have made your acquaintan

ext-door neighbors, right across the road, as you might say. That's my berth over yonder, where you see

d himself for