1 838 
 
 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Estate of iidwin K. Coughra: 
 
Cornell University Library 
 PS 2864.C14 1898 
 
 Caleb West, master diver.Wlth ilustrati 
 
 3 "■■i'924 022 179 836 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis bool< is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022179836 
 
IS 
 
 
CALEB WEST 
 
 MASTER DIVER 
 
 BY 
 
 F. HOPKINSON SMITH 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY 
 
 MALCOLM ERASER AND 
 
 ARTHUR I. KELLER 
 
 THE REGENT PRESS 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
Copyright, 1897 and 189S, 
 By HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND CO. 
 
 Copyright, 1898, 
 By F. HOPKINSON SMITH 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
 j5'2o2>C=. 
 
 Ji 
 
 Printed and Bound by 
 
 J. J. Little & Ives Co. 
 
 New York 
 
CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE CAPE ANN SLOOP 
 
 The rising sun burned its way through a 
 low-lying mist that hid the river, and flashed 
 its search-light rays over the sleeping city. The 
 blackened tops of the tall stacks caught the 
 signal, and answered in belching clouds of gray 
 steam that turned to gold as they floated up- 
 wards in the morning air. The long rows of 
 the many-eyed tenements cresting the hill 
 blinked in the dazzling light, threw wide their 
 shutters, and waved curling smoke flags from 
 countless chimneys. 
 
 Narrow, silent alleys awoke. Doors opened 
 and shut. Single figures swinging dinner- 
 pails, and groups of girls with baskets, hurried 
 to and fro. The rumbling of carts was heard 
 and shrill street cries. 
 
 Suddenly the molten ball swung clear of the 
 purple haze and flooded the city with tremu- 
 lous light. The vanes of the steeples flashed 
 
2 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 and blazed. The slanting roofs, wet with the 
 night dew, glistened like silver. The budding 
 trees, filling the great squares, flamed pink and 
 yellow, their tender branches quivering in the 
 rosy light. 
 
 Now long, deep-toned whistles — reveille of 
 forge, spindle, and press — startled the air. 
 Surging crowds filled the thoroughfares ; pant- 
 ing horses tugged at the surface cars ; cabs 
 rattled over the cobblestones, and loaded trucks 
 began to block the crossings. 
 
 The great city was astir. 
 
 At the sun's first gleam, Henry Sanford had 
 waked with joyous start. Young, alert, full 
 of health and courage as he was, the touch of 
 its rays never came too early for him. To-day 
 they had been like the hand of a friend, rousing 
 him with promises of good fortune. 
 
 Dressing with eager haste, he had hurried 
 into the room adjoining his private apartments, 
 which served as his uptown business office. 
 Important matters awaited him. Within a few 
 hours a question of vital moment had to be 
 decided, — one upon which the present success 
 of his work depended. 
 
 As he entered, the sunshine, pouring through 
 the wide windows, fell across a drawing-table 
 covered with the plans of the lighthouse he 
 was then building ; illumined a desk piled high 
 with correspondence, and patterned a wall upon 
 which were hung photographs and sketches of 
 
THE CAPE ANN SLOOP 3 
 
 the various structures which had marked the 
 progress of his engineering career. 
 
 But it was toward a telegram lying open on 
 his desk that Sanford turned. He took it in 
 his hand and read it with the quiet satisfaction 
 of one who knows by heart every line he 
 studies. It was headed Keyport, and ran as 
 follows : — 
 
 To Henry Sanford, C. E., Washington 
 Square, New York. 
 Cape Ann sloop arrived and is a corker. 
 Will be at your uptown office in the morning. 
 
 Joseph Bell. 
 
 " Dear old Captain Joe, he 's found her at 
 last ! " he said to himself, and laughed aloud. 
 
 With a joyous enthusiasm that lent a spring 
 and vitality to every movement, he stepped 
 to the window and raised the sash to let in the 
 morning air. 
 
 It was a gala-day for the young engineer. 
 For months Captain Joe had been in search of 
 a sloop of peculiar construction, — one of so 
 light a draught that she could work in a rolling 
 surf, and yet so stanch that she could sustain 
 the strain of a derrick-boom rigged to her mast. 
 Without such a sloop the building of the light- 
 house Sanford was then constructing for the 
 government on Shark Ledge, lying eight miles 
 from Keyport, and breasting a tide running six 
 
4 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 miles an hour, could not go on. With such a 
 sloop its early completion was assured. 
 
 The specifications for this lighthouse pro- 
 vided that the island which formed its base 
 — an artificial one made by dumping rough 
 stones over the sunken rock known as Shark's 
 Ledge — should be protected not only from 
 sea action, but from the thrust of floating ice. 
 This Sanford was to accomplish by paving its 
 under-water slopes with huge granite blocks, 
 to form an enrockment, — each block to be 
 bedded by a diver. 
 
 The engineer-in-chief of the Lighthouse 
 Board at Washington had expressed grave 
 doubts as to the practicability of the working 
 methods submitted by Sanford for handling 
 these blocks, questioning whether a stone 
 weighing twelve tons could be swung over- 
 board, as suggested by him, from the deck of a 
 vessel and lowered to a diver while the boat 
 was moored in a six-mile current. As, how- 
 ever, the selection of the means to be employed 
 lay with the contracting engineer, and not with 
 the Board, Sanford's working plans had finally 
 been approved. He had lacked only a sloop to 
 carry them out. This sloop Captain Joe had 
 now found. 
 
 No wonder, then, that the splendor of the 
 early sunshine had seemed a harbinger of suc- 
 cess, nor that as the minutes flew his eagerness 
 increased to grasp the captain's hand. 
 
THE CAPE ANN SLOOP S 
 
 At the first sound of his heavy step in the 
 hall outside, Sanford sprang from his desk and 
 threw the door wide open to welcome the big, 
 hurly fellow, — comrade and friend for years, 
 as well as foreman and assistant engineer on 
 his force. 
 
 " Are you sure she '11 handle the stones ? " 
 were the first words he addressed to the cap- 
 tain, — there were no formalities between these 
 men. "Nothing but a ten-horse engine, re- 
 member, will lift them from the dock. What 's 
 the sloop's beam ? " 
 
 " Thirty foot over all, an' she 's stiff as a 
 church," answered Captain Joe, all out of breath 
 with his run up the stairs, — pushing his 
 Derby hat back from his forehead as he spoke, 
 " An' her cap'n ain't no slouch, nuther. I see 
 him yesterday 'fore I come down. Looks 's ef 
 he hed th' right stuff in him. Says he ain't 
 afeard o' th' Ledge, an' don't mind layin' her 
 broadside on, even ef she does git a leetle mite 
 scraped." 
 
 " How 's her boiler ? " Sanford asked, with 
 sudden earnestness. 
 
 "I ain't looked her b'iler over yit, but her 
 cylinders is big enough. If her steam gives 
 out, I '11 put one of our own aboard. She '11 
 do, sir. Don't worry a mite ; we '11 spank that 
 baby when we git to 't," — and his leathery, 
 weather-tanned face cracked into smiles. 
 
 Sanford laughed again. The cheerful humoj 
 
6 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 of this man, whose judgment of men never 
 failed him, and whose knowledge of sea-things 
 mad^ him invaluable, was always a tonic to 
 him. 
 
 " I 'm glad you like her skipper," he said, 
 taking from a pigeonhole in his perfectly ap- 
 pointed desk, as he spoke, the charter-party of 
 the sloop. " I see his name is Brandt, and the 
 sloop's name is the Screamer. Hope she '11 
 live up to her name. The charter-party, I 
 think, ought to contain some allusion to the 
 coast-chart, in case of any protest Brandt may 
 make afterwards about the shoaliness of the 
 water. Better have him put his initials on the 
 chart," he added, with the instinctive habit of 
 caution which always distinguished his busi- 
 ness methods. " Do you think the shallow 
 water round the Ledge will scare him ? " he 
 continued, as he crossed the room to a row 
 of shelves filled with mechanical drawings, in 
 search of a round tin case holding the various 
 charts of Long Island Sound. 
 
 Captain Joe did not answer Sanford's ques- 
 tion at once. His mind was on something else. 
 He took off his hat and pea-jacket, hung them 
 on a hook, moved back the pile of books from 
 the middle of the table, with as little consider- 
 ation as he would have shown to so many bricks, 
 corked a bottle of liquid ink for safety, flattened 
 with his big hands the chart which Sanford 
 had unrolled, weighted its four corners with a 
 
THE CAPE ANN SLOOP ^ 
 
 T square and some color-pans, and then, bend- 
 ing his massive head, began studying its details 
 with all the easy confidence of a first officer 
 on a Cunarder. 
 
 As he leaned over the chart the sunlight 
 played about his face and brought into stronger 
 relief the few gray hairs which silvered the 
 short brown curls crisped about his neck and 
 temples. These hairs betrayed the only change 
 seen in him since the memorable winter's day 
 when he had saved the lives of the passengers 
 on the sinking ferry-boat near Hoboken by 
 calking with his own body the gash left in her 
 side by a colliding tug. But time had touched 
 him nowhere else. He was still the same 
 broad-as-he-was-long old sea-dog ; tough, sturdy, 
 tender-eyed, and fearless. His teeth were as 
 white, his mouth was as firm, his jaw as strong 
 and determined. 
 
 The captain placed his horn-tipped finger on 
 a dot marked " Shark's Ledge Spindle," oblit- 
 erating in the act some forty miles of sea- 
 space ; repeated to himself in a low voice, 
 " Six fathoms — four — one and a half — hum, 
 't ain't nothin' ; that Cape Ann sloop can do 
 it ;" and then suddenly remembering Sanford's 
 question, he answered, with quick lifting of his 
 head and with a cheery laugh, " Skeer him > 
 Wait till ye see him, sir. And he won't make 
 no/w-test, nuther. He ain't that kind." 
 
 When the coast -chart had been rolled up 
 
8 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 and replaced in the tin case, to be taken to 
 Keyport for the skipper's initials, both men 
 resumed their seats by Sanford's desk. By this 
 time some of the young engineer's enthusiasm 
 over the finding of the sloop had begun to cool. 
 He seemed, as he sat there, a different man, as 
 with businesslike address he turned to the dis- 
 cussion of various important details connected 
 with the work. 
 
 " Anything left of the old house, captain ? " 
 he asked, taking from the table a rough sketch 
 of the new shanty to be built on the Ledge, 
 
 — the one used while the artificial island was 
 being built having been injured by the winter 
 storms. 
 
 " Not much, sir : one side 's stove in an' the 
 roof's smashed. Some o' the men are in it 
 now, gittin' things in shape, but it 's purty 
 rickety. I 'm a-goin' to put the new one here," 
 
 — his finger on the drawing, — " an' I 'm goin' 
 to make it o' tongue-an'-grooved stuff an' tar 
 the roof to git it water-tight. Then I '11 hev 
 some iron bands made with turnbuckles to go 
 over the top timbers an' fasten it all down in 
 the stone-pile. Oh, we '11 git her so she '11 stay 
 put when hell breaks loose some night down 
 Montauk way ! " and another hearty laugh rang 
 out, shaking the captain's brawny chest, as he 
 rolled up the drawing and tucked it in the case 
 for safety. 
 
 . "There's no doubt we'll have plenty of 
 
THE CAPE ANN SLOOP 9 
 
 that," said Sanford, with a slight touch of aiuc- 
 iety in his tones. " And now about the work- 
 ing force. Will you make many changes.'" 
 he asked. 
 
 " No, sir. We '11 put Caleb West in charge 
 of the divin' ; ain't no better man 'n Caleb in 
 er out a dress. Them enrockments is mighty 
 ugly things to set under water, an' I won't 
 trust nobody but Caleb to do it. Lonny 
 Bowles '11 help tend derricks ; an' there 's our 
 regular gang, — George Nickles an' the rest of 
 'em. I only got one new man so far : that 's a 
 young feller named Bill Lacey. He looks like 
 a skylarkin' chap, but I kin take that out o' 
 him. He kin climb like a cat, an' we want 
 a man like that to shin the derricks. He's 
 tended divers, too, he says, an' he '11 do to look 
 after Caleb's life-line an' hose when I can't. 
 By the way, sir, I forgot to ask ye about them 
 derricks. We got to hev four whackin' big 
 sticks to set them big stone on top o' the con- 
 crete when we git it finished, an' there ain't 
 no time to lose on 'em. I thought maybe 
 ye 'd order 'em to-day from Medford .■' " 
 
 While Sanford was writing a telegram to a 
 shipbuilder at Medford ordering "four clean, 
 straight, white pine masts not less than twenty 
 inches at the butt," and delivering it to his 
 negro servant, Sam, whom he called from the 
 adjoining room, Captain Joe had arisen from his 
 chair and had taken down his pea-jacket and 
 
10 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 Derby hat, without which he never came to New 
 York, — it was his one concession to metro- 
 politan exactions : the incongruity between the 
 pea-jacket and the Derby hat always delighted 
 Sanford. 
 
 "But, Captain Joe," said Sanford, looking 
 up, " you must n't go ; breakfast will be ready 
 in a minute. Young Mr. Hardy is coming, 
 whom you met here once before. He wants 
 to meet you again." 
 
 " Not this momin', sir. I 've got a lot o' 
 things to look after 'fore I catch the three-ten. 
 I'm obleeged to ye all the same," and he 
 humped his arms and shoulders into his 
 weather-beaten pea-jacket and picked up the 
 tin case. 
 
 " Well, I wish you would," said Sanford, 
 with a hand on the captain's shoulder, and 
 real disappointment in his tone, "but you 
 know best, I suppose." 
 
 With the big brown hand of the captain in 
 his own he followed him to the top of the stairs, 
 where he stood watching the burly figure de- 
 scending the spiral staircase, the tin case un- 
 der his arm, spy-glass fashion. 
 
 " You '11 see me in the morning, captain," 
 Sanford called out, not wanting him to go with- 
 out another word. " I '11 come by the midnight 
 train." 
 
 The captain looked up and waved his hand 
 cheerily in lieu of a reply. 
 
THE CAPE ANN SLOOP n 
 
 Sanford waited until the turn of the staircase 
 hid him from view, then turned, and, drawing 
 the heavy curtains of the vestibule, passed 
 through it to his private apartments, flooded 
 with the morning light 
 
CHAPTER II 
 A morning's mail 
 
 Sanford dropped into a brown leather 
 chair, and Sam, with the fawning droop of a 
 water-spaniel, placed the morning paper before 
 him, moved a small table nearer, on which his 
 master could lay the morning's mail as it was 
 opened, adjusted the curtains so as to keep the 
 glare from his paper, and with noiseless tread 
 withdrew to the kitchen. Whatever the faults 
 of this product of reconstruction might have 
 been, — and Sam had many, — neglect of 
 Sanford's comfort was not one of them. 
 
 According to his lights he was scrupulously 
 honest. Although he dressed with more care 
 on Sunday afternoons than his master, — gen- 
 erally in that gentleman's cast-off clothes, and 
 always in his discarded neckties and gloves, 
 — smoked his tobacco, purloined his cigars, 
 and occasionally drank his wine, whenever the 
 demands of his social life made such inroads 
 on Sanford's private stock necessary to main- 
 tain a certain prestige among his ebonized 
 brethren, he invariably drew the line at his mas- 
 ter's loose change and his shirt-studs. This 
 
A MORNING'S MAIL 13 
 
 was due, doubtless, to some drops of blood, 
 trickling through his veins and inherited from 
 an old family butler of an ancestor, which, 
 while they permitted him the free use of every- 
 thing his master ate, drank, and wore, — a com- 
 mon privilege of the slave days, — debarred him 
 completely from greater crimes. 
 
 His delinquencies — all of them perfectly 
 well known to Sanford — never lost him his 
 master's confidence : he knew the race, and 
 never expected the impossible. Not only did 
 he place Sam in charge of his household ex- 
 penditures, but he gave him entire supervision 
 as well of his rooms and their contents. 
 
 In these apartments Sam took the greatest 
 pride. They were at the top of one of those 
 old-fashioned, hip -roofed, dormer - windowed 
 houses still to be found on Washington Square, 
 and consisted of five rooms, with dining-room 
 and salon. 
 
 Against the walls of the salon stood low book- 
 cases, their tops covered with curios and the 
 hundred and one knickknacks that encumber 
 a bachelor's apartment. Above these again 
 hung a collection of etchings and sketches in 
 and out of frames, many of them signed by fel- 
 low members of the Buzzards, a small Bohemian 
 club of ten who often held their meetings here. 
 
 Under a broad frieze ran a continuous shelf, 
 holding samples of half the pots of the uni- 
 verse, from a Heidelberg beer-mug to an East 
 
14 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 Indian water-jar ; and over the doors were 
 grouped bunches of African arrows, spears, 
 and clubs, and curious barbaric shields ; while 
 the centre of the room was occupied by a square 
 table covered with books and magazines, ash- 
 trays, Japanese ivories, and the like. Set in 
 among them was an umbrella - lamp with a 
 shade of sealing-wax red. At intervals about 
 the room were smaller tables, convenient for 
 decanters and crushed ice, and against the 
 walls, facing the piano, were wide divans piled 
 high with silk cushions, and near the window 
 which opened on a balcony overlooking the 
 square stood a carved Venetian wedding-chest, 
 which Sanford had picked up on one of his 
 trips abroad. 
 
 Within easy reach of reading-lamp and chair 
 rested a four-sided bookcase on rollers, filled 
 with works on engineering and books of refer- 
 ence ; while a high, narrow case between two 
 doors was packed with photographs and engrav- 
 ings of the principal marine structures of our 
 own and other coasts. It was at once the room 
 of a man of leisure and a man of work. 
 
 Late as was the season, a little wood fire 
 smouldered in the open fireplace, — one of the 
 sentiments to which Sanford clung, — while 
 before it stood the brown leather chair in which 
 he sat. 
 
 " I forgot to say that Captain Bell will not 
 be here to breakfast, Sam, but Mr. Hardy is 
 
A MORNING'S MAIL 15 
 
 'Coming," said Sanford, suddenly recollecting 
 himself. 
 
 " Yaas, sah ; everything 's ready, sah," re- 
 plied Sam, who, now that the telegram had 
 been dispatched and the morning papers and 
 letters delivered, had slipped into his white 
 jacket again. 
 
 Sanford picked up the package of letters, a 
 ■dozen or more, and began cutting the en- 
 velopes. Most of them were read rapidly, 
 marked in the margin, and laid in a pile 
 beside him. There were two which he had 
 placed by themselves without opening: one 
 from his friend Mrs. Morgan Leroy, and the 
 other from Major Tom Slocomb, of Pocomoke, 
 Maryland. 
 
 Major Slocomb wrote to inform him of his 
 approaching visit to New York, accompanied 
 by his niece. Miss Helen Shirley, of Kent 
 County, — "a daughter, sir, of Colonel Talbot 
 Shirley, one of our foremost citizens, whom I 
 believe you had the honor of meeting during 
 your never-to-be-forgotten visit among us." 
 
 The never-to-bc'forgotten visit was one that 
 Sanford had made the major the winter before, 
 when he was inspecting the site for a stone 
 and brush jetty he was about to build for the 
 government, in the Chesapeake, hear those 
 famous estates which the Pocomokian inherited 
 from his wife, "the widow of Major Talbot, 
 suh." 
 
i6 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 During this visit the major had greatly en- 
 deared himself to the young engineer. Under 
 all the Pocomokian's veneer of delightful 
 mendacity, utter shiftlessness, and luxurious 
 extravagance, Sanford had discovered certain 
 qualities of true loyalty to those whom he loved, 
 and a very tender sympathy for the many in the 
 world worse off than himself. He had become 
 convinced too that the major's conversion from 
 a vagabond with gentlemanly instincts to a 
 gentleman with strong Bohemian tendencies 
 might easily be accomplished were a little 
 more money placed at the Pocomokian's dis- 
 posal. With an endless check-book and un- 
 limited overdrafts, settlements to be made 
 every hundred years, the major would be a 
 prince among men. 
 
 The niece to whom the major referred in 
 his letter lived in an adjoining county with a 
 relative much nearer of kin. Like many other 
 possessions of this acclimated Marylander, she 
 was really not his niece at all, but another her- 
 'itage from his deceased wife. The major first 
 saw her on horseback, in a neat-fitting riding- 
 habit which she had made out of some blue 
 army kersey bought at the country store. 
 One glance at her lovely face, the poise of 
 her Ijead, the easy grace of her seat, and her 
 admirable horsemanship decided him at once. 
 Henceforward her name was to be emblazoned 
 on the scroll of his family tree ! 
 
A MORNING'S MAIL 17 
 
 It was not until Sanford had finished the 
 major's letter that he turned to that from Mrs. 
 Leroy. He looked first at the circular post- 
 mark to see the exact hour at which it had 
 been mailed ; then he rose from the big chair, 
 threw himself on the divan, tucked a pillow 
 under his head, and slowly broke the seal. 
 The envelope was large and square, decorated 
 with the crest of the Leroys in violet wax, and 
 addressed in a clear, round, almost masculine 
 hand. "My dear Henry," it began, "if you 
 are going to the Ledge, please stop at Medford 
 and see how my new dining-room is getting 
 on. Be sure to come to luncheon to-morrow, 
 so we can talk it over," etc., and ended with 
 the hope that he had not taken cold when he 
 left her house the night before. 
 
 It had contained but half a dozen lines, and 
 was as direct as most of her communications ; 
 yet Sanford held it for a long time in his 
 hands, read and re-read it, looked at the head- 
 ing, examined the signature, turned it over 
 carefully, and, placing it in its envelope, thrust 
 it under the sofa-pillow. With his hands be- 
 hind his head he lay for some time in thought. 
 Then taking Mrs. Leroy's letter from under 
 the pillow, he read it again, put it in his pocket, 
 and began pacing the room. 
 
 The letter had evidently made him restless. 
 He threw wide the sashes of the French win- 
 dow which opened on the iron balcony, and 
 
l8 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 looked for a moment over the square below, 
 where the hard, pen-line drawing of its trees 
 was blurred by the yellow-green bloom of the 
 early spring. He turned back into the room, 
 rearranged a photograph or two on the mantel, 
 and, picking up a vase filled with roses, inhaled 
 their fragrance and placed them in the centre 
 of the dainty breakfast-table, with its snowy- 
 linen and polished silver, that Sam had just 
 been setting near him. Reseating himself in 
 his chair, he called again to the ever watchful 
 darky, who had been following his movements 
 through the crack of the pantry door. 
 
 "Sam." 
 
 "Yaas, 'r," came a voice apparently from 
 the far end of the pantry; "comin', sah." 
 
 " Look over the balcony again and see if 
 Mr. Hardy is on his way across the square. 
 Why ! what 's become of the fellow ? " he said 
 to himself, consulting the empire clock with 
 broken columns which decorated the mantel. 
 " It 's after ten now. I '11 wager Helen wrote 
 him by the same mail. No wonder he 's late. 
 Let me see ! She gets here in three days. Jack 
 will be out of his head." And Sanford sighed. 
 
 "I 'spec's dat's him a-comin' up now, sah," 
 Sam called. " I yeared de downstairs do' 
 click a minute ago. Here he is, sah," drawing 
 aside the curtain that hid the entrance to the 
 outer hall. 
 
 " Sorry, old man," came a voice increasing 
 
A MORNING'S MAIL 19 
 
 in distinctness as the speaker approached, 
 " but I could n't help it. I had a lot of letters 
 to answer this morning, or I should have been 
 on time. It don't make any difference to you; 
 it's your day off." 
 
 " My day off, is it ? I was out of bed this 
 morning at six o'clock. Captain Joe stopped 
 here on his way from the train ; he has just 
 left ; and if you had stayed away a minute more, 
 I 'd have breakfasted without you. And that 
 is n't all. That sloop I 've been looking for 
 has arrived, and I go to Keyport to-night." 
 
 "The devil you do!" said Jack, a shade of 
 disappointment crossing his face. " That 
 means, I suppose, you won't be back this 
 spring. How long are you going to be build- 
 ing that lighthouse, anyhow, Henry .' " 
 
 "Two years more, I 'm afraid," said Sanford 
 thoughtfully. '^Breakfast right away, Sam. 
 Take the seat by the window. Jack. I thought 
 we 'd breakfast here instead of in the dining- 
 room ; the air's fresher." 
 
 Jack opened his coat, topk a rose from the 
 vase, adjusted it in his buttonhole, and spread 
 his napkin over his knees. 
 
 He was much the younger of the two men, 
 and his lot in life had been far easier. Junior 
 partner in a large banking-house down town, 
 founded and still sustained by the energy and 
 business tact of his father, with plenty of time 
 for all the sports and pastimes popular with 
 
20 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 men of his class, he had not found it a difficult 
 task to sail easily through life without a jar. 
 
 " What do you hear from Crab Island, 
 Jack ? " asked Sanford, a sly twinkle in his eye, 
 as he passed him the muffins. 
 
 " They 've started the new club-house," said 
 Jack, with absolute composure. " We are go- 
 ing to run out that extension you suggested 
 when you were down there last winter." He 
 clipped his egg lightly, without a change of 
 countenance. 
 
 " Anything from Helen Shirley ? " 
 
 " Just a line, thanking me for the magazines," 
 Jack answered in a casual tone, not the faint- 
 est interest betraying itself in the inflections 
 of his voice. Sanford thought he detected a 
 slight increase of color on his young friend's 
 always rosy cheeks, but he said nothing. 
 
 " Did she say anything about coming to 
 New York .' " Sanford asked, looking at Jack 
 quizzically out of the corner of his eye. 
 
 " Yes ; now I come to think of it, I believe 
 she did say something about the major's com- 
 ing, but nothing very definite." 
 
 Jack spoke as if he had been aroused from 
 some reverie entirely foreign to the subject 
 under discussion. He continued to play with 
 his egg, flecking off the broken bits of shell 
 with the point of his spoon. With all his pre- 
 tended composure, however, he could not raise 
 his eyes to those of his host. 
 
A MORNING'S MAIL 21 
 
 " What a first-class fraud you are, Jack ! " 
 said Sanford, laughing at last. He leaned back 
 in his chair and looked at Hardy good-hu- 
 moredly from under his eyebrows. " I would 
 have read you Slocomb's letter, lying right be- 
 fore you, if I had n't been sure you knew every- 
 thing in it. Helen and the major will be here 
 next week, and you know the very hour she '11 
 arrive, and you have staked out every moment 
 of her time. Now don't try any of your high- 
 daddy tricks on me. What are you going to do 
 next Tuesday night ? " 
 
 Jack laughed, but made no attempt to parry a 
 word of Sanford's thrust. He looked up at last 
 inquiringly over his plate and said, " Why ? " 
 
 " Because I want you to dine here with them. 
 I '11 ask Mrs. Leroy to chaperon Helen. Le- 
 roy is still abroad, and she can come. We '11 
 get Bock, too, with his 'cello. What other 
 ladies are in town ? " 
 
 Jack's face was aglow in an instant. The 
 possibility of dining in Sanford's room, with 
 its background of rich color and with all its 
 pretty things that Helen he knew would love 
 so well, lent instant interest to Sanford's pro- 
 position. He looked about him. He made up 
 his mind just where he would seat her aftef 
 dinner : the divan nearest the curtains was the 
 best. How happy she would be, and how new 
 it would all be to her ! He could have planned 
 nothing more delightful. Then remembering 
 
22 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 that Sanford had asked him a question, he 
 recovered himself and nonchalantly gave the 
 names of several young women he knew who 
 might be agreeable guests. But after a mo- 
 ment's reflection he suggested as a second 
 thought that Sanford leave these details to Mrs. 
 Leroy. Jack knew her tact, and he knew to a 
 nicety just how many young girls Mrs. Leroy 
 would bring. The success of bachelor dinners, 
 from Hardy's present standpoint, was not de- 
 pendent upon the attendance of half a dozen 
 extra young women and two men ; quite the 
 reverse. 
 
 The date for the dinner arranged, and the 
 wisdom of leaving the list of guests to Mrs. 
 Leroy agreed upon, the talk drifted into other 
 channels : the Whistler pastels at Klein's ; the 
 garden-party to be given at Mrs. Leroy's 
 country-seat near Medford when the new din- 
 ing-room was finished and the roses were in. 
 bloom ; the opportunity Sanford might now 
 enjoy of combining business with pleasure, 
 Medford being a short run from Shark Ledge ;, 
 the success of Smearly's last portrait at the 
 Academy, a photograph of which lay on the 
 table ; the probable change in Slocomb's for- 
 tunes, now that, with the consent of the insur- 
 ance company who held the mortgage, he had 
 rented what was left of the Widow Talbot's 
 estate to a strawberry planter from the North, 
 in order to live in New York ; and finally. 
 
A MORNING'S MAIL 23 
 
 under Jack's guidance, back to Helen Shirley's 
 visit. 
 
 When the two men, an hour later, passed 
 into the corridor, Sanford held two letters in 
 his hand ready to mail : one addressed to 
 Major Slocomb, with an inclosure to Miss 
 Shirley, the other to Mrs. Morgan Leroy. 
 
 Sam watched them over the balcony until 
 they crossed the square, cut a double shuffle 
 with both feet, admired his black grinning face 
 in the mirror, took a corncob pipe from the 
 shelf in the pantry, filled it with some of San- 
 ford's best tobacco, and began packing his 
 master's bag for the night train to Keyport. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 CAPTAIN BRANDT AT TJIE THROTTLE 
 
 The sun was an hour high when Sanford 
 arrived at Keyport and turned quickly toward 
 the road leading from the station to Captain 
 Joe's cottage, a spring and lightness in his step 
 which indicated not only robust health, but an 
 eagerness to reach at once the work absorbing 
 his mind. When he gained the high ground 
 overlooking the cottage and dock, he paused 
 for a view that always charmed him with its 
 play of light and color over sea and shore, and 
 which seemed never so beautiful as in the early 
 morning light. 
 
 Below him lay Keyport Village, built about 
 a rocky half-moon of a harbor, its old wharves 
 piled high with rotting oil-barrels and flanked 
 by empty warehouses, behind which crouched 
 low, gray-roofed cabins, squatting in a tangle 
 of streets, with here and there a white church, 
 spire tipped with a restless weather-vane. 
 Higher, on the hills, were nestled some old 
 homesteads with sloping roofs and wide porches, 
 and away up on the crest of the heights, over- 
 looking the sea, stood the more costly struc- 
 
CAPTAIN BRANDT AT THE THROTTLE 25 
 
 tures with well -shaved lawns spotted with 
 homesick trees from a warmer clime, their 
 arms stretched appealingly toward the sea. 
 
 At his feet lay the brimming harbor itself, 
 dotted with motionless yachts and various fish- 
 ing-craft, all reflected upside down in the still 
 sea, its glassy surface rippled now and then by 
 the dipping buckets of men washing down the 
 decks, or by the quick water-spider strokes of 
 some lobster-fisherman, — the click of the row- 
 locks pulsating in the breathless morning air. 
 
 On the near point of the half-moon stood Key- 
 port Light, — an old-fashioned factory chimney 
 of a Light, — built of brick, but painted snow- 
 white with a black cigar band around its middle, 
 its top surmounted by a copper lantern. This 
 flashed red and white at night, over a radius 
 of twenty miles. Braced up against its base, 
 for a better hold, was a little building hiding a 
 great fog-horn, which on thick days and nights 
 bellowed out its welcome to Keyport's best. 
 
 On the far point of the moon — the one 
 opposite the Light, and some two miles away 
 — stretched sea-meadows broken with clumps 
 of rock and shelter-houses for cattle, and be- 
 tween these two points, almost athwart the 
 mouth of the harbor, like a huge motionless 
 whale lay Crotch Island, its backbone knotted 
 with summer cottages. Beyond the island 
 away out under the white glare of the risen sun 
 could be seen a speck of purplish-gray fringed 
 
26 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 with bright splashes of spray glinting in the 
 dazzling light. This was Shark's Ledge. 
 
 As Sanford looked toward the site of the 
 new Light a strange sensation came over him. 
 There lay the work on which his reputation 
 would rest and by which he would hereafter 
 be judged. Everything else he had so far 
 accomplished was, he knew, but a preparation 
 for this his greatest undertaking. Not only 
 were the engineering problems involved new 
 to his experience, but in his attitude in regard 
 to them he had gone against all precedents as 
 well as against the judgments of older heads, 
 and had relied almost exclusively upon Captain 
 Joe's personal skill and pluck. While it was 
 true that he never doubted his ultimate success, 
 there always came a tugging at his heartstrings 
 and a tightening of his throat whenever he 
 looked toward the site of the lighthouse. 
 
 Turning from the scene with a long drawn 
 breath, he walked with slackened step down 
 the slope that led to the long dock fronting the 
 captain's cottage. As he drew nearer he saw 
 that the Screamer had been moored between 
 the captain's dock (always lumbered with para- 
 phernalia required for sea-work) and the great 
 granite-wharf, which was piled high with enor- 
 mous cubes of stone, each as big as two pianos. 
 
 On her forward deck was bolted a hoisting- 
 engine, and thrust up through the hatch of the 
 forecastle was the smoke-stack of the boiler. 
 
CAPTAIN BRANDT AT THE THROTTLE 27 
 
 already puffing trial feathers of white steam into 
 the morning air. She had, too, the heavy boom 
 and stout mast used as a derrick. Captain Joe 
 had evidently seen no reason to change his mind 
 about her, for he was at the moment on her 
 after-deck, overhauling a heavy coil of manilla 
 rope, and reeving it in the block himself, the 
 men standing by to catch the end of the line. 
 
 When Sanford joined the group there was 
 no general touching of hats, — outward sign 
 of deference that a group of laborers on land 
 would have paid their employer. In a certain 
 sense, each man here was chief. Each man 
 knew his duty and did it, quietly, effectually, 
 and cheerfully. The day's work had no limit 
 of hours. The pay was never fixed by a board 
 of delegates, one half of whom could not tell a 
 marlinespike from a monkey-wrench. These 
 men had enlisted for a war with winds and 
 storms and changing seas, and victory meant 
 something more to them than pay once a month 
 and plum duff once a week. It meant hours 
 of battling with the sea, of tugging at the lines, 
 waist-deep in the boiling surf that rolled in from 
 Montauk. It meant constant, unceasing vigi- 
 lance day and night, in order that some exposed 
 site necessary for a bedstone might be captured 
 and held before a southeaster could wreck it, 
 and thus a vantage-point be lost in the laying 
 of the masonry. 
 
 Each man took his share of wet and cold 
 
28 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 and exposure without grumbling. When, by 
 some accident, a cowardly and selfish spirit 
 joined the force. Captain Joe, on the first word 
 of complaint, handed the man his money and 
 put him ashore. The severity of the work was 
 never resented. It was only against their com- 
 mon enemies, the winds and the seas, that 
 murmurs were heard, " Drat that wind ! " 
 one would say. " Here she 's a-haulin' to the 
 east'rd agin, an' we ain'.t got them j'ints [in 
 the masonry] p'inted." Or, "It makes a man 
 sick to see th' way this month 's been a-goin' 
 on, — not a decent day since las' Tuesday." 
 
 Sanford liked these men. He was always 
 at home with them. He loved their courage, 
 their grit, their loyalty to one another and to 
 the work itself. The absence of ceremony 
 among them never offended him. His cheery 
 " Good-morning " as he stepped aboard was as 
 cheerily answered, but no other demonstration 
 took place. 
 
 Captain Joe stopped work only long enough 
 to shake Sanford' s hand and to present him 
 to the newcomer. Captain Bob Brandt of the 
 Screamer. 
 
 " Cap'n Bob ! " he called, waving his hand. 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir ! " came the ready response of 
 his early training. 
 
 "Come aft, sir. Mr. Sanford wants ye." 
 The "sir" was merely a recognition of the 
 captain's rank. 
 
CAFTAIN BRANDT AT THE THROTTLE 29 
 
 A tall, straight, blue-eyed young fellow of 
 twenty-two, with a face like an open book, 
 walked down the deck, — one of those perfectly 
 simple, absolutely fearless, alert men found so 
 often on the New England coast, with legs 
 and arms of steel, body of hickory, and hands 
 of whalebone : cabin-boy at twelve, common 
 sailor at sixteen, first mate at twenty, and full 
 captain the year he voted. 
 
 Sanford looked him all over, from his shoes 
 to his cap. He knew a round full man when 
 he saw him. This one seemed to be without 
 a flaw. Sanford saw too that he possessed that 
 yeast of good nature without which ths best of 
 men are heavy and dull. 
 
 " Can you lift these blocks. Captain Brandt ? " 
 he asked in a hearty tone, more like that of a 
 comrade than an employer, his hand extended 
 in greeting. 
 
 " Well, I can try, sir," came the modest 
 reply, the young man's face lighting up as he 
 looked into Sanford's eyes, where he read with 
 equal quickness a ready appreciation, so encour- 
 aging to every man who intends to do his best. 
 
 Captain Brandt and every member of the 
 gang knew that it was not the mere weight of 
 these enrockment blocks which made the hand- 
 ling of them so serious a matter ; twelve tons 
 is a light lift for many boat-derricks. It was 
 the fact that they must be loaded aboard a ves- 
 sel not only smdl enough to be easily handled 
 
30 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 in any reasonable weather, but with a water- 
 draught shoal enough to permit her lying safely 
 in a running tide alongside the Ledge while 
 the individual blocks were being lowered over 
 her side. 
 
 The hangers-on about the dock questioned 
 whether any sloop could do this work. All 
 winter, in fact, they had discussed it about the 
 tavern stoves. 
 
 " Billy," said old Marrows, an assumed au- 
 thority on stone-sloops, but not in Sanford's 
 employ, although a constant applicant, " I ain't 
 sayin' nothin' agin her beam, mind, but she 's 
 too peaked forrud. 'Nother thing, when she's 
 got them stones slung, them chain-plates won't 
 hold 'er shrouds. I wouldn't be s'prised to 
 see that mast jerked clean out'er her." 
 
 Bill Lacey, the handsome young rigger to 
 whom the remark was addressed, leaned over 
 the sloop's rail, scanned every bolt in her 
 plates, glanced up at the standing rigging, 
 tried it with his hand as if it were a tight-rope, 
 and with a satisfied air answered, "Them 
 plates is all right, Marrows, — it 's her b'iler 
 that's a-worryin' me. What do you say, Ca- 
 leb ? " turning to Caleb West, a broad-shoul- 
 dered, grizzled man in a sou'wester, who was 
 mending a leak in a diving-dress, the odor of 
 the burning cement in a pan beside him min- 
 gling with the savory smell of frying pork 
 coming up from the galley. 
 
CAPTAIN BRANDT AT THE THROTTLE 31, 
 
 "Wall, I ain't said, Billy," replied Caleb in 
 a cheery voice, stroking his bushy gray beard/ 
 "Them as don't know better keep shet." 
 
 There was a loud laugh at the young rigger's, 
 expense, in which everybody except Lacey and 
 Caleb joined. Lacey's face hardened under, 
 the thrust, while Caleb still smiled, a quainfr 
 expression overspreading his features, — one 
 that often came when something pleased him, 
 and which by its sweetness showed how little 
 venom lay behind his reproofs. 
 
 "These 'ere sloops is jes' like women," said 
 George Nickles, the cook, a big, oily man, with 
 his sleeves rolled up above his elbows, a greasy 
 apron about his waist. He was dipping a 
 bucket overboard. "Ye can't tell nothin' 
 about 'em till ye tries 'em." 
 
 The application of the simile not being im- 
 mediately apparent, — few of Nickles' similes 
 ever were, — nobody answered. Lacey stole a 
 look at Nickles and then at Caleb,, to see if the 
 shot had been meant for him, and meeting the 
 diver's unconscious clear blue eyes, looked sea- 
 ward again. 
 
 ' Lonny Bowles, a big derrickman from Noank 
 quarries, in a red shirt, discolored on the back 
 with a pink Y where his , suspenders had 
 crossed, now moved nearer and joined in the 
 discussion. 
 
 " She kin h'ist any two on 'em, an' never 
 wet 'er deck combin's. I seen these Cape Ann 
 
32 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 sloops afore, when we wuz buildin' Stonin'ton 
 bfeakwater. Ye would n't believe they had it 
 in 'em till ye see 'em work; Her b'iler 's all 
 right." 
 
 "Don't you like the sloop, Caleb ? " said 
 Sanford, who had been listening, f Don't you 
 think she '11 do her work .■• " he continued, mov- 
 ing a rebellious leg of the rubber dress to sit 
 the closer. 
 
 " Well, of course, sir, I ain't knowed 'er long 
 'nough to swear by yit. She 's fittin' for loadin' 
 'em on land, maybe, but she may have some 
 trouble- gittin' rid of 'em at the Ledge. Her 
 b'iler looks kind o' weak to me," and the mas- 
 ter diver bent over the pan, stirring the boiling 
 cement with his sheath-knife, the rubber suit 
 sprawled out over his knees, the awkward, 
 stiff, empty legs and arms of the dress flopping 
 about as he patched its many leaks. Then he 
 added with a quaint smile, " But if Cap'n Joe 
 says she's. all right, ye can pin to her." 
 
 Sanford moved a little closer to Caleb, hold- 
 ing the pan of cement for him, and watching 
 him at work. He had known him for years as 
 a fearless diver of marvelous pluck and endur- 
 ance ; one capable of working seven consecu- 
 tive hours under water. When an English bark 
 had run on top of Big Spindle Reef and backed 
 off into one hundred and ten feet of water, the 
 captain and six of the crew were saved, but 
 the captain's wife, helpless in the cabin, had 
 
CAPTAIN BRANDT AT THE THROTTLE 33, 
 
 been drowned. Caleb had gone below, cleared 
 away the broken deck that pinned her down, 
 and had brought her body up in his arms. His 
 helmet was spattered inside with the blood 
 that trickled from his ears, owing to the enor- 
 mous pressure of the sea This had been not-. 
 a twelvemonth since. 
 
 The constant facing of dangers had made of 
 the diver a quiet, reticent man. There was, too, 
 a gentleness and restful patience about him; 
 that always appealed to Sanford, and next to 
 Captain Joe he was the one man on the work- 
 ing force whom he trusted most. Of late his. 
 pale blue eyes had shone with a softer light> 
 as if he were perpetually hugging some happi- 
 ness to himself. Those who knew him best 
 said that all this happy gentleness had come 
 with the girl wife. Since he had entered San- 
 ford's employment he had married a second, 
 and a younger wife, — a mere child, the men 
 said, young enough to be his daughter, too 
 young for a man of forty-five. 
 
 And yet Caleb was not an old man, if the 
 possession of vigor and energy meant anytihing. 
 His cheeks had the rosy hue of perfect health,; 
 and his step was lighter and more agile than 
 that of many men half his years. Only his 
 beard was gray. Yet he was called by his 
 shipmates old, for in the hard working world 
 in which he lived none but the earlier years 
 of a man's life counted as youth. 
 
34 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 His cabin, a small, two-story affair, bought 
 with the money he had saved during his fifteen 
 years on the Lightship and after his first wife's 
 death, lay a short distance up the shore above 
 that of Captain Joe, and in plain sight of the 
 Screamer. 
 
 When Caleb rose to wash his hands, he 
 caught sight of a blue apron tossing on its dis 
 tant porch. Bill Lacey saw the apron too, and 
 had answered it a moment later with a little 
 wave of his own. i Caleb did not notice Billy's 
 signal, but Captain Joe did, and a peculiar look 
 filled his eye that the men did not often see. 
 In his confusion Lacey flushed scarlet, and 
 upset the pari of cement. • 
 
 When Nickles announced breakfast, Captain 
 Joe soused a bucket overboard, rested it on the 
 rail and plunged in his hands, the splashing 
 drops glistening in the sunlight, and called 
 out : — 
 
 "Come, Mr. Sanford, — breakfast's ready, 
 men." Then, waving his hand to Caleb and the 
 others who had been discussing the Screamer, 
 he said, laughing, " All you men what 's gittin' 
 skeery 'bout this sloop kin step ashore. I 'm 
 a-goin' to load three o' them stone aboard here 
 after breakfast, if I roll her over bottom side 
 up." 
 
 Sanford sat at the head of the table, his 
 back to the companionway, the crew's bunks 
 within reach of his hand. He was the only 
 
CAPTAIN BRANDT AT THE THROTTLE y 
 
 man who wore a coat. Set out Before him 
 were fried eggs sizzling in squares of porkj 
 hashed potatoes, browned in what was left of 
 the sizzle ; saleratus biscuit, full of dark spots ; 
 and coffee in tin cups. There was also a small 
 jug of molasses, protected by a pewter top, and 
 there was, too, a bottle of tomato catsup, whose 
 contents were indiscriminately spattered over 
 every plate. 
 
 Long years of association had familiarized 
 Sanford with certain rules of etiquette to be 
 observed at a meal like this. Whoever fin- 
 ished first, he knew, must push back his stool 
 out of the way and instantly mount to the 
 deck. In confined quarters, elbow-room is a 
 luxury, and its free gift a courtesy. He also 
 knew that to leave anything on his plate would 
 have been regarded as an evidence of extreme 
 bad manners, suggesting moreover a reflection 
 upon the skill of the cook. It was also a part 
 of the code to wipe one's knife carefully on 
 the last piece of bread, which was to be swal- 
 lowed immediately, thus obliterating all traces 
 of the repast, except, of course, the bones, 
 which must be picked clean and piled on one 
 side of the plate. Captain Joe himself never 
 neglected any of these little amenities. 
 
 Sanford forgot none of them. He wiped his 
 knife and cleared his plate as carefully as any 
 of his men. He drank from his tin cup, and 
 ate his eggs and fried pork too with the same 
 
36 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 zest that he would have felt before one of 
 Sam's choicest breakfasts. He really enjoyed 
 these repasts. To him there was something 
 wonderfully inspiring in watching a group of 
 big, strong, broad-breasted, horny-handed labor- 
 ing men intent on satisfying a hunger born of 
 fresh air and hard work. There was an eager- 
 ness about their movements, a relish as each 
 mouthful disappeared, attended by a good 
 humor and sound digestion that would have 
 given a sallow-faced dyspeptic a new view of 
 life, and gone far toward converting a dilettante 
 to the belief that although forks and napkins 
 were perhaps indispensable luxuries, existence 
 might not be wholly desolate with plain fingers 
 and shirt-cuffs. 
 
 Breakfast over. Captain Joe was the first 
 man on deck. He had left his pea-jacket in 
 the cabin, and now wore his every-day outfit — 
 the blue flannel shirt, long since stretched out 
 of shape in its efforts to accommodate itself 
 to the spread of his shoulders, and a pair of 
 trousers in which each corrugated wrinkle out- 
 lined a knotted muscle twisted up and down a 
 pair of legs sturdy as rudder-posts. 
 
 " Come, men ! " he called in a command- 
 ing voice, with none of the gentler tones heard 
 at the breakfast-table. "Pull yourselves to- 
 gether. . . . Bill Lacey, lower away that hook 
 and git them chains ready, . . . Fire up, Cap'n 
 Brandt, and give 'er every pound o' steam she '11 
 
CAPTAIN BRANDT AT THE THROTTLE 37 
 
 carry. . . . Here, — one or two of ye, run this 
 'ere line ashore anci make her bow fast. . . . 
 Drop that divin'-suit, Caleb; this ain't no. time 
 to patch things." 
 
 These orders were volleyed at the men as he 
 stepped from the sloop to the wharf, each man 
 springing to his place with an alacrity seldom 
 seen among men of other crews. Close asso- 
 ciation with Captain Joe always inspired a pe- 
 culiar confidence and loyalty not only among 
 his own men, but in all the others who heard 
 his voice. His personal magnetism, his enthu- 
 siasm, his seeming reckless fearlessness, and 
 yet extreme caution and watchful care for the 
 safety of his men, had created among his em- 
 ployees a blind confidence in his judgment that 
 always resulted in immediate and unquestioned 
 obedience to his orders, no matter what the 
 risk might seem. 
 
 The sloop was now lying alongside the 
 wharf, with beam and: stern lines made fast to 
 the outlying water-spiles to steady her. When 
 the tacltle was shaken clear, the boom wag 
 lowered at the proper angle ; the heavy chain 
 terminating in an enormous S-hook, which 
 hung directly over the centre of one of the big 
 enrockment blocks. , 
 
 Captain Joe moved down the dock and ad- 
 justed with his own hands the steel "Lewis" 
 that was to be driven into the big trial stone. 
 Important details he never lefti to others.; If 
 
38 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 this Lewis should slip, with the istone suspended 
 over the sloop's deck, the huge block would 
 crush through her timbers, sinking her in- 
 stantly. 
 
 The' Screamer's captain was at the throttle, 
 watching the steadily rising steam-gauge. 
 
 " Give 'er a turn and take up the slack ! " 
 shouted Captain Joe. 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir ! " answered the skipper quickly, 
 as the cogs of the hoisting-engine began to 
 move; winding all the loose slackened "fall" 
 around the drum, until it straightened out like 
 a telegraph wire. 
 
 " What 's she carryin' now, Cap'n Bob } " 
 again shouted Captain Joe. 
 
 " Seventy-six pounds, sir." 
 
 " Give 'er time — don't push 'er." 
 
 A crowd began to gather on the dock : fish- 
 ermen and workmen on their way to the village, 
 idlers along the shore road, and others. They 
 all understood that the trial of the sloop was to 
 be made this morning, and great interest was 
 felt. The huge stones had rested all winter on 
 this wharf, and had been discussed and redis- 
 cussed until each one outweighed the Pyra- 
 mids. Loading such pieces on board a vessel 
 like the Screamer had never been done in Key- 
 port before. 
 
 Old Marrows whispered certain misgivings, 
 as he made fast a line far up on the wharf. 
 Some of the listeners moved back across the 
 
CAPTAIN BRANDT AT THE THROTTLE 39 
 
 road, yielding to the vague fear of the inexpe- 
 rienced. Bets were offered that "her mast 
 would be tore clean out of her ; " or that 
 " she 'd put her starboard rail under water afore 
 she 'd start 'em ; " and that " she 'd sink where 
 she lay." 
 
 The needle of the gauge on the sloop's 
 boiler revolved slowly until it registered ninety 
 pounds. Little puffs of blue vaporless steam 
 hissed from the safety-valve. The boiler was 
 getting ready to do its duty. 
 
 Captain Joe looked aloft, ordered the boom 
 topped a few inches, so that the lift would be 
 plumb, sprang upon the sloop's deck, scruti- 
 nized the steam-gauge, saw that the rope was 
 evenly wound on the drum, emptied an oil-can 
 into the sunken wooden saddle in which the 
 butt of the boom rested, followed with his eye 
 every foot of the manilla fall from the drum 
 through the double blocks to the chain hang- 
 ing over the big stone, called to the people on 
 the dock to get out of harm's way, saw that 
 every man was in his place, and shouted the 
 order, clear and sharp, — 
 
 " Go ahead ! " 
 
 The cogs of the drum of the hoisting-engine 
 spun around until the great weight began to 
 tell ; then the strokes of the steam-pistons 
 slowed down. The outboard mooring-lines were 
 now tight as standing rigging. The butt of 
 the boom in the sunken saddle was creaking 
 
40 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 as it turned, a pungent odor from the friction- 
 heated oil filling the air. The strain increased, 
 and the sloop careened toward the wharf until 
 her bilge struck the water, drawing taut as 
 bars of steel her outboard shrouds. Ominous 
 clicks came from the new manilla as its twists 
 were straightened out. 
 
 Captain Bob Brandt still stood by the throt- 
 tle, one of his crew firing, — sometimes with 
 refuse cotton waste soaked in kerosene. He 
 was watching every part of his sloop then un- 
 der strain to see how she stood the test. 
 
 The slow movement of the pistons continued. 
 
 The strain on the outboard shroud became 
 intense. A dead silence prevailed, broken 
 only by the clicking fall and the creak of the 
 roller blocks. 
 
 Twice the safety-valve blew a hoarse note 
 of warning. 
 
 Slowly, inch by inch, the sloop settled in 
 the water, stopped suddenly, and quivered her 
 entire length. Another turn of the drum on 
 her deck and the huge stone canted a point, 
 slid the width of a dock plank, and with a 
 hoarse, scraping sound turned half round and 
 swung clear of the wharf J 
 
 A cheer went up from the motley crowd on 
 the dock. 
 
 Not a word escaped the men at work. The 
 worst was yet to come. 
 
 The swinging stone must yet be lowered on 
 deck. 
 
CAPTAIN BRANDT AT THE THROTTLE 41 
 
 "Tighten up that guy," said Captain Joe 
 quietly, between his teeth, never taking his 
 eyes from the stone ; his hand meanwhile on 
 the fall, to test its strain. 
 
 Bill Lacey and Caleb ran to the end of the 
 dock, whipped one end of a line around a 
 mooring-post, and with their knees bent to the 
 ground held on with all their strength. The 
 other end of the guy was fastened to the steel 
 S-hook that held the Lewis now securely in 
 the stone. 
 
 " Easy — ea-s-y ! " said Captain Joe, a mo- 
 mentary shadow of anxiety on his face. The 
 guy held by Caleb and Lacey gradually slack- 
 iened. The great stone, now free to swing 
 clear, moved slowly in mid-air over the edge of 
 the wharf, passed a,bove the water, cleared the 
 rail of the sloop, and settled on her deck as 
 gently as a grounding balloon. 
 
 The cheer that broke from all hands brought 
 the fishwives to their porches. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 AMONG THE BLACKFISH AND TOMCODS 
 
 Hardly had the men ceased cheering when 
 the boom was swung back, another huge stone 
 was lifted from the wharf, and loaded aboard 
 the sloop. A third followed, was lowered upon 
 rollers on the deck and warped amidships, to 
 trim the boat. The mooring-lines were cast 
 off, and the sloop's sail partly hoisted for better 
 steering, and a nervous, sputtering little tug 
 tightened a tow-line over the Screamer's bow. 
 
 The flotilla now moved slowly out of the 
 harbor toward the Ledge. Captain Brandt 
 stood at the wheel. His face was radiant. His 
 boat had met the test, just as he knew she 
 would. She had stood by him to" many times 
 before for him to doubt her now. 
 
 There had been one night at Rockport when 
 she lay till morning, bow on to a gale, within a 
 cable's length of the breakwater. This saw- 
 toothed ledge, with the new floating buoys of 
 Captain Joe's, could not frighten him after 
 that. 
 
 Yet not a word of boasting passed !»•« lips. 
 He spun his wheel and held his peace 
 
AMONG THE BLACKFISH 43 
 
 When the open harbor was reached, the 
 men overhauled the boom-tackle, getting ready 
 for the real work of the day. Bill Lacey and 
 Caleb West lifted the air-pump from its case, 
 and oiled the plunger. Caleb was to dive that 
 day himself, — work like this required an expe- 
 rienced hand, — and find a bed for these first 
 three stones as they were lowered under water- 
 Lacey was to tend the life-line. 
 
 As the tug and sloop passed into the broad 
 water, Medford Village could be seen toward 
 the southeast. Sanford adjusted his marine- 
 glass, and focused its lens on Mrs. Leroy's 
 country-house. It lay near the water, and was 
 surmounted by a cupola he had often occupied 
 as a lookout when he had been Mrs. Leroy's 
 guest, and the weather had been too rough for 
 him to land at the Ledge. He saw that the 
 bricklayers were really at work, and that the 
 dining-room extension was already well under 
 way, the scaffolding being above the roof. He 
 meant, if the weather permitted, to stop there 
 on his vipy home. 
 
 Soon the Ledge itself loomed up. The con- 
 crete men were evidently busy, for the white 
 steam from the mixers rose straight into the 
 still air. 
 
 An hour more and the windows on the lee 
 side of the shanty could be distinguished, and 
 a little later, the men on the platform as they 
 gathered to await the approaching flotilla. 
 
44 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 When they caught sight of the big blocks 
 stored on the Screamer's deck, they broke into 
 a cheer that was followed by a shrill saluting 
 whistle from the big hoisting-engine on the 
 Ledge, answered as cheerily by the approach- 
 ing tug. Work on the Ledge could now begin 
 in earnest. 
 
 If Crotch Island was like the back of a 
 motionless whale. Shark's Ledge was like that 
 of a turtle, — a turtle say one hundred and 
 fifty feet long by a hundred wide, lying in 
 a moving sea, and always fringed by a ruffling 
 of surf curls, or swept by great waves that 
 rolled in from Montauk. No landing could 
 ever be made here except in the eddy formed 
 by the turtle itself, and then only in the still- 
 est weather. 
 
 The shell of this rock-incrusted turtle had 
 been formed by dumping on the original 
 Ledge, and completely covering it, thousands 
 of tons of rough stone, each piece as big as a 
 cart-body. Upon this stony shell, which rose 
 above high-water mark, a wooden platform had 
 been erected for the proper storage of gravel, 
 sand, barrels of cement, hoisting-engines, con- 
 crete mixers, tools, and a shanty for the men. 
 It was down by the turtle's side — down below 
 the slop of the surf — that the big enrockment 
 blocks were to be placed, one on the other, 
 their sides touching close as those on a street 
 pavement. The lowest stone of all was to be 
 
AMONG THE BLACKFISH 43 
 
 laid on the bottom of the sea in thirty feet of 
 water ; the top one was to be placed where its 
 upper edges would be thrust above its splash. 
 In this way the loose rough stones of the tur- 
 tle's shell would have an even covering and 
 the finished structure be protected from the 
 crush of floating ice and the fury of winter 
 gales. 
 
 By a change of plan the year before, a deep 
 hole nearly sixty feet in diameter had been 
 made in the back of this turtle by lifting out 
 these rough stones. This hole was now being 
 filled with concrete up to low-water level and 
 retained in form by circular iron bands. On 
 top of this enormous artificial bedstone was 
 to be placed the tower of the lighthouse itself, 
 constructed of dressed stone, many of the sin- 
 gle pieces to be larger than those now on the 
 Screamer's deck. The four great derrick- 
 masts with "twenty-inch butts" which had 
 been ordered by telegraph the day before in 
 Sanford's office were to be used to place these 
 dressed stones in position. 
 
 The situation was more than usually ex- 
 posed. The nearest land to the Ledge was 
 Crotch Island, two miles away, while to the 
 east stretched the wide sea, hungry for fresh 
 victims, and losing no chance to worst the 
 men on the Ledge. For two years it had 
 fought the captain and his men without avail. 
 The Old Man of the Sea hates the warning 
 
46 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 voice of the fog-horn and the cheery light in 
 the tall tower — they rob him of his prey. 
 
 The tug continued on her course for half a 
 mile, steered closer, the sloop following, and 
 gained the eddy of the Ledge out of the racing 
 tide. Four men from the platform now sprang 
 into a whaleboat and pulled out to meet the 
 sloop, carrying one end of a heavy hawser 
 which was being paid out by the men on the 
 Ledge. The hawser was made fast to the 
 sloop's cleats and hauled tight. The tug was 
 cast loose and sent back to Keyport. Out- 
 board hawsers were run by the crew of the 
 whaleboat to the floating anchor-buoys, to keep 
 the sloop off the stone-pile when the enrock- 
 ment blocks were being swung clear of her 
 sides. 
 
 Caleb and Lacey began at once to overhaul 
 the diving-gear. The air-pump was set close 
 to the sloop's rail ; and a short ladder was 
 lashed to her side, to enable the diver to reach 
 the water easily. The air-hose and life-lines 
 were then uncoiled. 
 
 Caleb threw off his coat and trousers, that 
 he might move the more freely in his diving- 
 dress, and with Lonny Bowles's assistance 
 twisted himself into his rubber suit, — body, 
 arms, and legs being made of one piece of air- 
 tight and water-tight rubber cloth. 
 
 By the time the sloop had been securely 
 moored, and the boom-tackle made ready to 
 
AMONG THE BLACKFISH 47 
 
 lift the stone, Caleb stood on the ladder com- 
 pletely equipped, except for his copper helmet, 
 the last thing done to a diver before he sinks 
 under water. Captain Joe always adjusted Ca- 
 leb's himself. On Caleb's breast and between 
 his shoulders hung two lead plates weighing 
 twenty-five pounds each, and on his feet were 
 two iron-shod shoes of equal weight. These 
 were needed as ballast, to overbalance the 
 buoyancy of his inflated dress, and enable him 
 to sink or rise at his pleasure. Firmly tied to 
 his wrist was a stout cord, — his life-linej — 
 and attached to the back of the copper helmet 
 was a long rubber hose, through which a con- 
 stant stream of fresh air was to be pumped 
 inside his helmet and suit. 
 
 In addition to these necessary appointments 
 there was hung over one shoulder a canvas 
 haversack, containing a small cord, a chisel, 
 a water-compass, and a sheath-knife. The 
 sheath-knife is the last desperate resource of 
 the diver when his air-hose becomes tangled or 
 clogged, his signals are misunderstood, and he 
 must either cut his hose in the effort to free 
 himself and reach the surface, or suffocate 
 where he is. 
 
 Captain Joe adjusted the copper helmet, and 
 stood with Caleb's glass face-plate in his hand, 
 thus leaving his helmet open for a final order 
 in his ear, before he lowered him overboard. 
 The cogs of the Screamer's drum began turn- 
 
48 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 ing, followed by the same creaking and snap- 
 ping of manilla and straining of boom that 
 had been heard when she was loaded. 
 
 Meanwhile between the sea and the sloop a 
 fight had already begun. The current which 
 swept by within ten feet of her bilge curled 
 and eddied about the buoy-floats, tugging at 
 their chains, while wave after wave tried to 
 reach her bow, only to fall back beaten and 
 snapping like hungry wolves. 
 
 The Cape Ann sloop had fought these fights 
 before : all along her timber rail were the scars 
 of similar battles. She had only to keep her 
 bow-cheeks from the teeth of these murderous 
 rocks, and she could laugh all day at their open 
 jaws. 
 
 With the starting of the hoisting-engine the 
 steam began to hiss through the safety-valve, 
 and the bow-lines of the sloop straightened 
 like strands of steel. Then there came a 
 slight, staggering movement as she adjusted 
 herself to the shifting weight. Without a 
 sound, the stone rose from the deck, cleared 
 the rail, and hung over the sea. Another 
 cheer went up — this time from both the men 
 on board the sloop and those on the Ledge. 
 Captain Brandt smiled with closed lips. Life 
 was easy for him now. 
 
 " Lower away," said Captain Joe in the 
 same tone he would have used in asking for 
 the butter, as he turned to screw on Caleb's 
 
AMONG THE BLACKFISH 49 
 
 faee-plate, shutting out the fresh air, and giv- 
 ing the diver only pumped air to breathe. 
 
 The stone sank slowly into the sea, the dust 
 and dirt of its long outdoor storage discolor- 
 ing the clear water. 
 
 " Hold her," continued Captain Joe, his hand 
 still on Caleb's face-plate, as he stood erect on 
 the ladder. " Stand by, Billy. Go on with 
 that pump, men, — give him plenty of air." 
 
 Two men began turning the handles of the 
 pump. Caleb's dress filled out like a balloon ; 
 Lacey took his place near the small ladder, the 
 other end of Caleb's life-line having been made 
 fast to his wrist, and the diver sank slowly out 
 of sight, his hammer in his hand, the air bub- 
 bles from his exhaust-valve marking his down- 
 ward course. 
 
 As Caleb sank, he hugged his arms close to 
 his body, pressed his knees together, forcing 
 the surplus air from his dress, and dropped 
 rapidly toward the bottom. The thick lead 
 soles of his shoes kept his feet down and his 
 head up, and the breast-plates steadied him. 
 
 At the depth of twenty feet he touched the 
 tops of the sea-kelp growing on the rocks 
 below, — he could feel the long tongues of 
 leaves scraping his legs. Then, as he sank 
 deeper, his shoes struck an outlying boulder. 
 Caleb pushed himself off, floated around it, 
 measured it with his arms, and settled to the 
 gravel. He was now between the outlying 
 
so CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 boulder and the Ledge. Here he raised him- 
 self erect on his feet and looked about : the 
 gravel beneath him was white and spangled 
 with starfish ; little crabs lay motionless, or 
 scuttled away at his crunching tread ; the sides 
 of the isolated boulder were smooth and clean, 
 the top being covered with waving kelp. In 
 the dim, greenish light this boulder looked like 
 a weird head, — a kind of submarine Medusa, 
 with her hair streaming upward. The jagged 
 rock-pile next it, its top also covered with kelp, 
 resembled a hill of purple and brown corn. 
 swaying in the ceaseless current. 
 
 Caleb thrust his hand into his haversack, 
 grasped his long knife, slashed at the kelp of 
 the rock-pile to see the bottom stones the 
 clearer, and sent a quick signal of " All right 
 — lower away ! " through the life-line, to Lacey,. 
 who stood on the sloop's deck above him. 
 
 Almost instantly a huge square green sha- 
 dow edged with a brilliant iridescent light sank 
 down towards him, growing larger and larger 
 in its descent. Caleb peered upward through 
 his face-plate, followed the course of the stone, 
 and jerked a second signal to Lacey 's wrist. 
 This signal was repeated in words by Lacey to 
 Captain Brandt, who held the throttle, and the 
 shadowy stone was stopped within three feet of 
 the gravel bottom. Here it swayed slowly,, 
 half turned, and touched on the boulder. 
 
 Caleb watched the stone carefully until it 
 
AMONG THE BLACKFISH 51 
 
 was perfectly still, crept along, swimming with 
 one hand, and measured carefully with his eye 
 the distance between the boulder and the 
 Ledge. Then he sent a quick signal of " Lower 
 — all gone," up to Lacey's wrist. The great 
 stone dropped a chain's link ; slid halfway the 
 boulder, scraping the kelp in its course ; ca- 
 reened, and hung over the gravel with one end 
 tilted on a point of the rocky ledge. As it 
 hung suspended, its lower end buried itself in 
 the gravel near the boulder, while the upper 
 lay aslant up the slope of the rock-covered 
 ledge. 
 
 Caleb again swam carefully around the stone, 
 opened his arms, and inflating his dress rose 
 five or six feet through the green water, floated 
 over the huge stone, and grasping with his 
 bare hand the lowering chain by which the 
 stone hung, tested its strain. The chain was 
 as rigid as a bar of steel. This showed that 
 the stone was not fully grounded, and there- 
 fore dangerous, being likely to slide off at any 
 moment. The diver now sent a telegram of 
 short and long jerks aloft, asking for a crow- 
 bar ; hooked his legs around the lowering chain 
 and pressed his copper helmet to the chain 
 links to listen to Captain Joe's answer. A 
 series of dull thuds, long and short, struck by 
 a hammer above — a means of communication 
 often possible when the depth of water is not 
 great — told him that the crowbar he had asked 
 
52 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 for would be sent down at once. While he 
 waited motionless, a blackfish pressed his nose 
 to the glass of his face-plate, and scurried off 
 to tell his fellows living in the kelp how strange 
 a thing he had seen that day. 
 
 A quick jerk from Lacey, and the point of 
 the crowbar dangled over Caleb's head. In an 
 instant, to prevent his losing it in the kelp, he 
 had lashed another and smaller cord about its 
 middle, and with the bar firmly in his hand laid 
 himself flat on the stone. The diver now ex- 
 amined carefully the points of contact between 
 the boulder and the hanging stone, inserted 
 one end of the bar under its edge, sent a warn- 
 ing signal above, braced both feet against the 
 lowering chain, threw his whole strength on 
 the bar, and gave a quick, sharp pull. The 
 next instant the chain tightened ; the bar, 
 released from the strain, bounded from his 
 hand ; there was a headlong surge of the huge 
 shadowy mass through the waX^ing kelp, and 
 the great block slipped into its place, stirring 
 up the bottom silt in a great cloud of water- 
 dust. 
 
 The first stone of the system of enrockment 
 had been bedded ! 
 
 Caleb clung with both hands to the lowering 
 chain, waited until the water cleared, knocked 
 out the Lewis pin that held the S-hook, thus 
 freeing the chain, and signaled " All clear — 
 hoist." Then he hauled the crowbar towards 
 
AMONG THE BLACKFISH 53 
 
 him by the cord, signaled for the next stone, 
 moved away from the reach of falling bodies, 
 and sank into a bed of sea-kelp as comfortably 
 as if it had been a sofa-cushion. 
 
 These breathing spells rest the lungs of a 
 diver and lighten his work. Being at rest he 
 can manage his dress the better, inflating it so 
 that he is able to get his air with greater ease 
 and regularity. The relief is sometimes so 
 soothing that in long waits the droning of the 
 air-valve will lull the diver into a sleep, from 
 which he is suddenly awakened by a quick jerk 
 on his wrist. Many divers, while waiting for 
 the movements of those above, play with the 
 fish, watch the crabs, or rake over the gravel 
 in search of the thousand and one things that 
 are lost overboard and that everybody hopes 
 . to find on the bottom of the sea. 
 
 Caleb did none of these things. He was too 
 expert a diver to allow himself to go to sleep, 
 and he had too much to think about to play 
 with the fish. He sat quietly awaiting his call, 
 his thoughts on the day of the week and how 
 long it would be before Saturday night came 
 again, and whether, when he left that morning, 
 he had arranged everything for the little wife, 
 so that she would be comfortable until his re- 
 turn. Once a lobster moved slowly up and 
 nipped his red fingers with its claw, thinking 
 them some tidbit previously unknown. (The 
 dress terminates at the wrist with a waterproof 
 
54 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 and air-tight band, leaving the hands bare.) At 
 another time two tomcods came sailing past, 
 side by side, flapped their tails on his helmet, 
 and scampered off. But Caleb, sitting comfort- 
 ably on his sofa-cushion of seaweed thirty feet 
 under water, paid little heed to outside things. 
 His eyes only saw a tossing apron and a trim 
 little figure on a cabin porch, as she waved 
 him a last good-by. 
 
 In the world above, a world of fleecy clouds 
 and shimmering sea, some changes had taken 
 place since Caleb sank out of the sunlight. 
 Hardly had the second stone been made ready 
 to be swung overboard, when there came a sud- 
 den uplifting of the sea. One of those tramp 
 waves preceding a heavy storm had strayed in 
 from Montauk and was making straight for the 
 Ledge. 
 
 Captain Joe sprang on the sloop's rail and 
 looked seaward, and a shade of disappointment 
 crossed his face. 
 
 " Stand by on that outboard ha'sser ! " he 
 shouted in a voice that was heard all over the 
 Ledge. 
 
 The heavy outboard hawser holding the 
 sloop whipped out of the sea with the sudden 
 strain, thrashed the spray from its twists, and 
 quivered like a fiddle-string. The sloop stag- 
 gered for an instant, plunged bow under, 
 careened to her rail, and righted herself within 
 
AMONG THE BLACKFISH 55 
 
 oar's touch of the Ledge. Three feet from 
 her bilge streak crouched a grinning rock with 
 its teeth set ! 
 
 Captain Joe smiled and looked at Captain 
 Brandt. 
 
 " Ain't nothin' when ye git used to 't, Cap'n 
 Bob. I ain't a-goin' ter scratch 'er paint. Got 
 to bank yer fires. Them other two stone '11 
 have to wait till the tide turns." 
 
 "Ay, ay, sir," replied the skipper, throwing 
 the furnace door wide open. The danger was 
 passed for the second time, and in the final 
 test his boat had proved, herself. Yet again 
 he did not boast. There was only a fearless 
 ready-to-meet-anything air about him as, with 
 shoulders squared and bead up, he walked 
 down the deck and said to Captain Joe, in a 
 tone as if he were only asking for information, 
 but without the slightest shade of anxiety, 
 " If that 'ere ha'sser 'd parted, Cap'n Joe, when 
 she give that plunge, it would 'a' been all up 
 with us, — eh .^ " 
 
 "Yes, — 'spec' so," answered the captain, 
 his mind, now that the danger had passed, 
 neither on the question nor on the answer. 
 Then suddenly awakening with a look of in- 
 tense interest, "That line was a new one, 
 Cap'n Bob. I picked it out a-purpose ; them 
 kind don't part." 
 
 Sanford, who had been standing by the til- 
 ler, anxiously watching the conflict with the 
 
56 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 sea, walked forward and grasped the skipper's 
 hand. 
 
 " I want to congratulate you," he said, " on 
 your sloop and on your pluck. It is not every 
 man can lie around this stone-pile for the first 
 time and keep his head." 
 
 Captain Brandt flushed like a bashful girl, 
 and turned away his face. "Well, sir — ye 
 see" — He never finished the sentence. The 
 compliment had upset him more than the 
 escape of the sloop. 
 
 All was bustle now on board the Screamer. 
 The boom was swung in aboard, lowered, and 
 laid on the deck. Caleb had been hauled up 
 to the surface, his helmet unscrewed, and his 
 shoes and breast-plate taken off. He still wore 
 his dress, so that he could be ready for the 
 other two stones when the tide turned. Mean- 
 while he walked about the deck looking like a 
 great bear on his hind legs, his bushy beard 
 puffed out over his copper collar. 
 
 During the interval of the change of tide 
 dinner was announced, and the Screamer's 
 crew went below to more sizzle and dough- 
 balls, and this time a piece of corned beef, 
 while Sanford, Captain Joe, Caleb, and Lacey 
 sprang into the sloop's yawl and sculled for 
 the shanty and their dinner, keeping close to 
 the hawser still holding the sloop. 
 
 The unexpected made half the battle at the 
 
AMONG THE BLACKFISH 57 
 
 Ledge. It was not unusual to see a southeast 
 roll, three days old, cut down in an hour to the 
 smoothness of a mill-pond by a northwest gale, 
 and before night to find this same dead calm 
 followed by a semi-cyclone. Only an expert 
 could checkmate the consequences of weather 
 manoeuvres like these. Before Captain Joe, 
 sitting at the head of the table, had filled each 
 man's plate with his fair proportion of cabbage 
 and pork, a whiff of wind puffed in the bit of 
 calico that served as a curtain for the shanty's 
 pantry window, — the one facing east. Cap- 
 tain Joe sprang from his seat, and, bareheaded 
 as he was, mounted the concrete platforms and 
 looked seaward. Off towards Block Island he 
 saw a little wrinkling line of silver flashing out 
 of the deepening haze, while toward Crotch 
 Island scattered flurries of wind furred the 
 glittering surface of the sea with dull splotches, 
 — as when one breathes upon a mirror. The 
 captain turned quickly, entered the shanty, and 
 examined the barometer. It had fallen two 
 points. 
 
 " Finish yer dinner, men," he said quietly. 
 "That's the las' stone to-day, Mr. Sanford. 
 It's beginnin' ter git lumpy. It'll blow a 
 livin' gale o' wind by sundown." 
 
 A second and stronger puff now swayed the 
 men's oilskins, hanging against the east door. 
 This time the air was colder and more moist. 
 The sky overhead had thickened. In the 
 
j8 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 southeast lay two sun-dog clouds, their backs 
 shimmering like opals, while about the feverish 
 eye of the sun itself gathered a reddish circle 
 like an inflammation. 
 
 Sanford was on the platform, reading the 
 signs of the coming gale. It was important 
 that he should reach Keyport by night, and he 
 had no time to spare. As the men came out 
 one after another, each of them glanced to- 
 ward the horizon, and quickening his move- 
 ments fell to work putting the place in order. 
 The loose barrow planks were quickly racked 
 up on the shanty's roof, out of the wash of the 
 expected surf; an extra safety-guy was made 
 fast to the platform holding the hoisting-en- 
 gine, and a great tarpaulin drawn over the 
 cement and lashed fast. Meanwhile Captain 
 Joe busied himself in examining the turn- 
 buckles of the holding-down rods, which bound 
 the shanty to the Ledge, and giving them 
 another tightening twist, ordering the heavy 
 wooden shutters for the east side of the shanty 
 to be put up, and seeing that the stove-pipe 
 that stuck through the roof was taken down 
 and stored inside. 
 
 All this time the Screamer tugged harder 
 at her hawser, her bow surging as the ever- 
 increasing swell raced past her. 
 
 Orders to man the yawl were now given 
 and promptly obeyed. 
 
 "Keep everything snug, Caleb, while I'm 
 
AMONG THE BLACKFISH S9 
 
 gone ! " Captain Joe shouted, as he stepped into 
 the boat, " It looks soapy, but it may be out 
 to the nor'ard an' clear by daylight. Sit astern, 
 Mr. Sanford. Pull away, men, we ain't got a 
 minute." 
 
 When the Screamer, with two unset stones 
 still on her deck, bore away from the Ledge 
 with Sanford, Captain Joe, and Lacey on 
 board, the spray was flying over the shanty 
 roof. 
 
 Caleb stood on the platform waving his 
 hand. He was still in his diving-dress. His 
 helmet only had been removed, and his bushy 
 beard was flying in the wind. 
 
 "Tell Betty I '11 be home for Sunday," the 
 men hear(J him call out, as they flew by under 
 close reef. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 AUNTY bell's kitchen 
 
 The storm was still raging, the wind beating 
 in fierce gusts against the house and rattling 
 the window-panes, when Sanford awoke in the 
 low-ceiled room always reserved for him at Cap- 
 tain Joe's. 
 
 " Turrible dirty, ain't it ? " the captain called, 
 as he came in with a hearty good-morning and 
 threw open the green blinds. " I guess she '11 
 scale off ; it 's hauled a leetle s'uth'ard since 
 daylight. The glass is a-risin', too. Aunty 
 Bell says breakfas' 's ready jes' 's soon 's you 
 be." 
 
 " All right, captain. Don't wait. I '11 come 
 in ten minutes," replied Sanford. 
 
 Outside the little windows a wide-armed tree 
 swayed in the storm, its budding branches tap- 
 ping the panes. Sanford went to the window 
 and looked out. The garden was dripping, and 
 the plank walk that ran to the swinging-gate 
 was glistening in the driving rain. 
 
 These changes in the weather did not affect 
 his plans. Bad days were to be expected, and 
 the loss of time at an exposed site like that of 
 
AUNTY BELL'S KITCHEN 6i 
 
 the Ledge was always considered in the origi- 
 nal estimate of the cost of the structure. If 
 the sea prevented the landing of stone for a 
 day or so, the sloop, as he knew, could load a 
 full cargo of blocks from the wharf across the 
 road, now hidden by the bursting lilacs in the 
 captain's garden; or the men could begin on 
 the iron parts of the new derricks, and if it 
 cleared, as Captain Joe predicted, they could 
 trim the masts and fit the bands. Sanford 
 turned cheerfully from the window, and picked 
 up his big sponge that lay by the tin tub Aunty 
 Bell always filled for him the night before. 
 
 The furniture and appointments about him 
 were of the plainest. There were a bed, a 
 wash-stand and a portable tub, three chairs, and 
 a small table littered with drawing materials. 
 Dimity curtains, snow-white, hung at the win- 
 dows, and the bureau was covered with a 
 freshly laundered white Marseilles cover. On 
 the walls were tacked mechanical drawings, 
 showing cross-sections of the several courses 
 of masonry, — prospective views of the con- 
 crete base and details of the cisterns and cellars 
 of the lighthouse. Each of these was labeled 
 "Shark Ledge Lighthouse. Henry Sanford, 
 Contractor," and signed, " W. A. Carleton, Asst, 
 Supt. U. S. L. Estb't." In one comer of the 
 room rested a field transit, and a pole with its 
 red-and-white target. 
 
 The cottage itself was on the main shore 
 
62 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 road leading from the village to Keyport Light, 
 and a little removed from the highway. It had 
 two stories and a narrow hall with rooms on 
 either side. In the rear were the dining-room 
 and kitchen. Overlooking the road in front 
 was a wide portico with sloping roof. 
 
 There were two outside doors belonging to 
 the house. These were always open. They 
 served two purposes, — to let in the air and to 
 let in the neighbors. The neighbors included 
 everybody who happened to be passing, from 
 the doctor to the tramp. This constant stream 
 of visitors always met in the kitchen, — a low- 
 ceilfed, old-fashioned interior, full of nooks and 
 angles, that had for years adapted itself to 
 everybody's wants and ministered to every- 
 body's comfort, — and was really the cheeriest 
 and cosiest room in the house. 
 
 Its fittings and furnishings were as simple as 
 they were convenient. On one side, opposite 
 the door, were the windows, looking out upon 
 the garden, their sills filled with plants in win- 
 ter and sou'wester hats in summer. In the far 
 corner stood a pine dresser painted bright green, 
 decorated with rows of plates and saucers set 
 up on edge, besides various dishes and platters, 
 all glistening from the last touch of Aunty 
 Bell's hand polish. Next to the dresser was a 
 broad, low settle, also of pine and also bright 
 green, except where countless pairs of overalls 
 had worn the paint away. Chairs of all kinds 
 
AUNTY BELL'S KITCHEN 63 
 
 Stood about, — rockers for winter nights, and 
 more ceremonious straight-backs for meal-times. 
 There was a huge table, too, with always a place 
 for one more, and a mantel-rest for pipes and 
 knickknacks, — never known to be without a 
 box of matches or a nautical almanac. There 
 were rows of hooks nailed to the backs of the 
 doors, especially adapted to rubber coats and 
 oilskins. And tucked away in a corner under 
 the stairs was a fresh, sweet-smelling, brass- 
 hooped cedar bucket with a cocoanut dipper 
 that had helped to cool almost every throat 
 from Keyport Village to Keyport Light. 
 
 But it was the stove that made this room 
 unique : not an ordinary, commonplace cooking- 
 machine, but a big, generous, roomy arrange- 
 ment, pushed far back out of everybody's way, 
 with out -riggers for broiling, and capacious, 
 ovens for baking, and shelves for keeping things 
 hot, besides big and little openings on top for 
 pots and kettles and frying-pans, of a pattern 
 unknown to the modern chef ; each and every- 
 one dearly prized by the cheery little soul who 
 burnt her face to a blazing red in its service. 
 This cast-iron embodiment of all the hospitable 
 virtues was the special pride of Aunty Bell, the 
 captain's wife, a neat, quick, busy little woman, 
 about half the size of the captain in height, 
 width, and thickness. Into its recesses she 
 poured the warmth of her heart, and from out 
 of its capacious receptacles she took the pro- 
 
64 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 ducts of her bounty. Every kettle sang and 
 every griddle " sizzed " to please her, and every 
 fire crackled and laughed at her bidding. 
 
 When Sanford entered there was hardly room 
 enough to move. A damp, sweet smell of 
 fresh young grass came in at an open window. 
 Through the door could be seen the wet grav- 
 eled walks, washed clean by the storm, over 
 which hopped one or more venturesome robins 
 in search of the early worm. 
 
 Carleton, the government superintendent, sat 
 near the door, his chair tilted back. In the 
 doorway itself stood Miss Mary Peebles, the 
 schoolmistress, an angular, thin, mild-eyed wo- 
 man, in a rain - varnished waterproof. Even 
 while she was taking it off, she was protesting 
 that she was too wet to come in, and could not 
 stop. Near the stove stooped Bill Lacey, dry- 
 ing his jacket. Around the walls and on the 
 window-sills were other waifs, temporarily home- 
 less, — two from the paraphernalia dock (regu- 
 lar boarders these), and a third, the captain of 
 the tug, whose cook was drunk. 
 
 All about the place — now in the pantry, now 
 in the kitchen, now with a big dish, now with 
 a pile of plates or a pitcher of milk — bustled 
 Aunty Bell, with a smile of welcome and a 
 cheery word for every one who came. 
 
 Nobody, of course, had come to breakfast, ^ 
 that was seen from the way in which everybody 
 insisted he had just dropped in for a moment 
 
AUNTY BELL'S KITCHEN 65 
 
 out of the wet to see the captain, hearing he 
 was home from the Ledge, and from the alac- 
 rity with which everybody, one after another, 
 as the savory smells of fried fish and soft clams 
 filled the room, forgot his good resolutions and 
 drew up his chair to the hospitable board. 
 
 Most of them told the truth about wanting 
 to see the captain. Since his sojourn among 
 them, and without any effort of his own, he 
 had filled the position of adviser, protector, and 
 banker to half the people along the shore. He 
 had fought Miss Peebles's battle, when the 
 school trustees wanted the girl from Norwich 
 to have her place. He had recommended the 
 tug captain to the towing company, and had 
 coached him over-night to insure his getting a 
 license in the morning. He had indorsed Caleb 
 West's note to make up the last payment on 
 the cabin he had bought to put his young wife 
 Betty in; and when the new furniture had 
 come over from Westerly, he had sent two of 
 his men to unload it, and had laid some of the 
 carpets himself on a Saturday when Betty ex' 
 pected Caleb in from the Ledge, and wanted to 
 have the house ready for his first Sunday a1 
 home. 
 
 When Mrs. Bell announced breakfast. Cap- 
 tain Joe, in his shirt-sleeves, took his seat at the 
 head of the table, and with a hearty, welcoming 
 wave of his hand invited everybody to sit down, 
 — Carleton first, of course, he being the man 
 
66 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 of authority, and representing to the working- 
 man that mysterious, intangible power known 
 as the "government." 
 
 The superintendent generally stopped in at 
 the captain's if the morning were stormy ; it 
 was nearer his lodgings than the farmhouse 
 where he took his meals — and then breakfast 
 at the captain's cost nothing. He had come in 
 on this particular day ostensibly to protest about 
 the sloop's having gone to the Ledge without a 
 notification to him. He had begun by saying, 
 with much bluster, that he did n't know about 
 the one stone that Caleb West was " reported " 
 to have set ; that nothing would be accepted 
 unless he was satisfied, and nothing paid for by 
 the department without his signature. But he 
 ended in great good humor when the captain 
 invited him to breakfast and placed him at his 
 own right hand. Carleton liked little distinc- 
 tions when made in his favor ; he considered 
 them due to his position. 
 
 The superintendent was a type of his class. 
 His appointment at Shark Ledge Light had 
 been secured through the efforts of a brother- 
 in-law who was a custom-house inspector. Be- 
 fore his arrival at Keyport he had never seen a 
 stone laid or a batch of concrete mixed. To 
 this ignorance of the ordinary methods of con- 
 struction was added an overpowering sense of 
 his own importance coupled with the knowledge 
 that the withholding of a certificate — the super- 
 
AUNTY BELL'S KITCHEN 67 
 
 mtendent could choose his own time for giving 
 it — might embarrass everybody connected with 
 the work. He was not dishonest, however, and 
 had no faults more serious than those of igno- 
 rance, seK-importance, and conceit. This last 
 broke out in his person : he wore a dyed mus- 
 tache, a yellow diamond shirt-pin, and on Sun- 
 days patent leather shoes one size too small. 
 
 Captain Joe understood the superintendent 
 thoroughly. "Ain't it cur'us," he would some- 
 times say, " that a man 's old 's him is willin' ter 
 set round all day knowin' he don't know nothin', 
 never larnin', an' yit alius afeard some un '11 
 find it out .' " Then, as the helplessness of the 
 man rose "in his mind, he would add, "Well, 
 poor critter, somebody 's got ter support him ; 
 guess the guv'ment 's th' best paymaster fur 
 him." 
 
 When breakfast was over, the skipper of the 
 Screamer dropped in to make his first visit, 
 shaking the water from his oilskins as he 
 entered. 
 
 " Pleased to meet yer, Mis' Bell," he said in 
 his bluff, wholesome way, acknowledging the, 
 captain's introduction to Mrs. Bell, then casting 
 his eyes about for a seat, and finally taking an 
 edge of a window-sill among the sou'westers. 
 
 "Give me your hat an' coat, and do have 
 breakfast. Captain Brandt," said Mrs. Bell in a 
 tone as hearty as if it were the first meal she 
 had served that day. 
 
68 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 " No, thank ye, I had some 'board sloop," 
 replied Captain Brandt. 
 
 "Here, cap'n, take my seat," said Captain 
 Joe. " I 'm goin' out ter see how the weather 
 looks." He picked up the first hat he came to, 
 — as was his custom, — and disappeared through 
 the Open door, followed by nearly all the sea- 
 faring men in the room. 
 
 As the men passed out, each one reached for 
 his hat and oilskins hanging behind the wooden 
 door, and waddling out stood huddled together 
 in the driving rain like yellow penguins, their 
 eyes turned skyward. 
 
 Each man diagnosed the weather for himself. 
 Six doctors over a patient with a hidden disease 
 are never so impressive nor so obstinate as six 
 seafaring men over a probable change of wind. 
 The drift of the cloud-rack scudding in from 
 the sea, the clearness of the air, the current of 
 the upper clouds, were each silently considered. 
 No opinions were given. It was for Captain 
 Joe to say what he thought of the weather. 
 Breaking clouds meant one kind of work for 
 them, — fitting derricks, perhaps, — a con- 
 tinued storm meant another. 
 
 If the captain arrived at any conclusion, it 
 was not expressed. He had walked down to 
 the gate and leaned over the palings, looking 
 up at the sky across the harbor, and then 
 behind him toward the west. The rain trickled 
 unheeded down the borrowed sou'wester and 
 
AUNTY BELL'S KITCHEN 69 
 
 fell upon his blue flannel shirt. He looked up 
 and down the road at the passers-by tramping 
 along in the wet : the twice-a-day postman, 
 wearing an old army coat and black rubber 
 cape ; the little children crowding together 
 under one umbrella, only the child in the mid- 
 dle keeping dry ; and the butcher in the meat 
 wagon with its white canvas cover and swing- 
 ing scales. Suddenly he gave a quick cry, 
 swung back the gate with the gesture of a rol- 
 licking boy, and threw both arms wide open in 
 a mock attempt to catch a young girl who 
 sprang past him and dashed up the broad walk 
 with a merry ringing laugh that brought every 
 one to the outer door. 
 
 " Well, if I live ! " exclaimed Mrs. Bell. 
 " Mary Peebles, you jes' come here an' see 
 Betty West. Ain't you got no better sense, 
 Betty, than to come down in all this soakin' 
 rain .? Caleb '11 be dreadful mad, an' I don't 
 blame him a mite. Come right in this minute 
 and take that shawl off." 
 
 "I ain't wet a bit. Aunty Bell," laughed 
 Betty, entering the room. " I got Caleb's high 
 rubber boots on. Look at 'em. Ain't they 
 big ! " showing the great soles with all the ani- 
 mation of a child. " An' this shawl don't let no 
 water through nowhere. Oh, but did n't it blow 
 round my porch las' night ! " Then turning to 
 the captain, who had followed close behind, ", I 
 think you 're real mean, Cap'n Joe, to keep 
 
70 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 Caleb out all night on the Ledge. I was that 
 <lead lonely I could' er cried. Oh, is Mr. San- 
 ford here ? " she asked quickly, and with a little 
 shaded tone of deference in her voice, as she 
 caught sight of him in the next room. "I 
 thought he 'd gone to New York. How do you 
 do, Mr. Sanford ? " with another laugh and a nod 
 of her head, which Sanford as kindly returned. 
 
 "We come purty nigh leavin' everybody on 
 the Ledge las' night, Betty, an' the sloop too," 
 said Captain Joe, "cutting" his eye at the 
 skipper as he spoke. Then in a more serious 
 tone, " I lef Caleb a-purpose, child. We got 
 some stavin' big derricks to set, an' Mr. Sanford 
 wants 'em up week arter next, an' there ain't 
 nobody kin fix the anchor sockets but me an' 
 Caleb. He 's at work on 'em now, an' I had to 
 come back to git th' bands on 'em. He '11 be 
 home for Sunday, little gal." 
 
 " Well, you jes' better, or I '11 lock up my 
 place an' come right down here to Aunty BelL 
 Caleb was n't home but two nights last week, 
 and it 's only the beginnin' of summer. I ain't 
 like Aunty Bell, — she can't get lonely. Don't 
 make no difference whether you're home or 
 not, this place is so chuck-full of folks you 
 can't turn round in it ; but 'way up where I 
 live, you don't see a soul sometimes all day but 
 a peddler. Oh, I jes' can't stand it, an' I won't 
 Land sakes, Aunty Bell, what a lot of folks 
 you 've had for breakfast ! " 
 
AUNTY BELL'S KITCHEN 71- 
 
 With another laugh she turned to the table/ 
 picked up a pile of plates, and carried them 
 into the pantry to Miss Peebles, who was there 
 helping in the wash-up. 
 
 Lacey, who had stopped to look after his 
 drying coat when the men went out, watched 
 'her slender, graceful figure, and bright, cheery, 
 joyous face, full of dimples and color and 
 sparkle, the hair in short curls all over her head, 
 the throat plump and white, the little ears nes- 
 tling and half hidden. 
 
 She had been brought up in the next village, 
 two miles away, and had come over every morn- 
 ing, when she was a girl, to Miss Peebles's 
 school. Almost everybody knew her and loved 
 her ; Captain Joe as much as if she had been 
 his own child. She filled a place in his heart 
 of which he seldom spoke, — never to Aunty 
 Bell, — a place empty until Betty came, and al- 
 ways aching since he and his wife had laid 
 away, on the hill back of the village church, 
 the only child that had ever come to them. 
 
 When Caleb gave up the lightship Captain 
 Joe had established him with Betty's mother 
 as boarder, and that was how the marriage 
 came about. 
 
 When Betty returned to the room again, her 
 arms loaded with plates, Carleton and Lacey 
 were standing. 
 
 " Take this seat ; you must be tired walking 
 down so far," said Carleton, with a manner 
 
n CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 never seen in him except when some pretty 
 woman was about. 
 
 " No, I 'm not a bit tired, but I 'U set down 
 till I get these boots off. Aunty Bell, can you 
 lend me a pair of slippers ? One of these plaguy 
 boots leaks." 
 
 " I '11 take 'em off," offered Carleton, with a 
 gesture of gallantry. 
 
 " You '11 do nothin' of the kind ! " she ex- 
 claimed, with a toss of her head. " I '11 take 
 'em off myself," and she turned her back, and 
 slipped the boots from under her dress. " But 
 you can take 'em to Aunty Bell an' swap 'em 
 for her slippers," she added, with a merry 
 laugh at the humor of her making the immacu- 
 late Carleton carry off Caleb's old boots. The 
 slippers on, she thanked him, with a nod, and, 
 turning her head, caught sight of Lacey. 
 
 " What are you doing here. Bill Lacey ? " 
 she asked. " Why ain't you at the Ledge .■' " 
 
 Although the young rigger had been but a 
 short time on the captain's force, he had em- 
 ployed every leisure moment of it in making 
 himself agreeable to the wives of the men. To 
 Betty his attentions had been most marked. 
 
 He had saved her the best of the long thin 
 shavings that curled from his spoke-shave when 
 he was planing the huge derrick masts on the 
 wharf. And when she came to gather them as 
 kindling for her stove, he had done ever3rthing 
 .in his power to win her confidence, detaining 
 
AUNTY BELL'S KITCHEN 73 
 
 her in talk long after the other women had de- 
 parted with their loads. 
 
 When he answered her sally to-day, his white 
 teeth gleamed under his curling mustache. 
 
 " Captain wants me," he said, " to fit some 
 bands round the new derricks. We expect 'em 
 over from Medford to-day, if it clears up." 
 
 "An' there ain't no doubt but what ye '11 get 
 yer job, Billy," burst out the captain ; " it 's 
 breakin' now over Crotch Island," and he 
 bustled again out of the open door, the men 
 who had followed him turning back after him. 
 
 Carleton waited until he became convinced 
 that no part of his immaculate personality 
 burdened Betty's mind, and then, a little dis- 
 concerted by her evident preference for Lacey, 
 joined Sanford in the next room. There he 
 renewed his complaint about the enrockment 
 block having been placed without a notification 
 to him, and it was not until Sanford invited 
 him on the tug for a run to Medford to inspect 
 Mrs. Leroy's new dining-room that he became 
 pacified. 
 
 As Mrs. Bell and the schoolmistress. Miss 
 Peebles, were still in the pantry, a rattling of 
 china marking their progress, the kitchen was 
 empty except for Lacey and Betty. The young 
 rigger, seeing no one within hearing, crossed 
 the room, and, bending over Betty's chair, said 
 in a low tone, "Why didn't you come down 
 to the dock yesterday when we was a-hoistin' 
 
74 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 the stone on the Screamer? 'Most everybody 
 'longshore was there. I had some chips saved 
 for ye." 
 
 "Oh, I don't know," returned Betty indif- 
 ferently. 
 
 " Ye ought'er seen the old man yesterday," 
 continued Lacey ; " me an' him held the guy, 
 and he was a-blowin' like a porpoise." 
 
 Betty did not answer. She knew how old 
 Caleb was. 
 
 " Had n't been for me it would'er laid him 
 out." 
 
 The girl started, and her eyes flashed. " Bill 
 Lacey, Caleb knows more in a minute than 
 you ever will in your whole life. You shan't 
 talk that way about him, neither." 
 
 "Well, who 's a-talkin' ? " said Lacey, looking 
 down at her, more occupied with the curve of 
 her throat than with his reply. 
 
 " You are, an' you know it," she answered 
 sharply. 
 
 " I did n't mean nothin', Betty. I ain't got 
 nothin' agin him 'cept his gittin' you." Then 
 in a lower tone, " You need n't take my head 
 off, if I did say it." 
 
 "I ain't takin' your head off, Billy." She 
 looked into his eyes for the first time, her voice 
 softening. She was never angry with any one 
 for long; besides, she felt older than he, and 
 a certain boyishness in him appealed to her. 
 
 "You spoke awful cross," he said, bending 
 
AUNTY BELL'S KITCHEN 75 
 
 until his lips almost touched her curls, "an' you 
 know, Betty, there ain't a girl, married or single, 
 up 'n' down this shore nor nowheres else, that I 
 think as much of as I do you, an' if " — 
 
 " Here, now. Bill Lacey J " some one shouted. 
 
 The young rigger stepped back, and turned 
 his head. 
 
 Captain Joe was standing in the doorway, with 
 one hand on the frame, an ugly, determined 
 expression filling his eyes. 
 
 "They want ye down ter the dock, young 
 feller, jes' 's quick 's ye kin get there." 
 
 Lacey's face was scarlet. He looked at Cap- 
 tain Joe, picked up his hat, and walked down 
 the garden path without a word. 
 
 Betty ran in to Aunty Bell. 
 
 When the two men reached the swinging-gate, 
 Captain Joe laid his hand on Lacey's shoulder, 
 whirled him round suddenly, and said in a calm, 
 decided voice that carried conviction in every 
 tone, " I don't say nothin', an' maybe ye don't 
 mean nothin', but I 've been a-watchin' ye lately, 
 an' I don't like yer ways. One thing, howsom- 
 ever, I '11 tell ye, an' I don't want ye ter forgit 
 it : if I ever ketch ye a-foolin' round Caleb 
 West's lobster-pots, I '11 break yer damned 
 head. Do ye hear ? " 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 A LITTLE DINNER FOR FIVE 
 
 Sanford's apartments were in gala-dress. 
 Everywhere there was a suggestion of spring 
 in all its brightness and promise. The divans 
 of the salon were gay with new cushions of 
 corn-yellow and pale green. The big table was 
 resplendent in a new cloth, — a piece of richly 
 colored Oriental stuff that had been packed 
 away and forgotten in the Venetian wedding- 
 chest that stood near the window. All the pipes, 
 tobacco pouches, smoking - jackets, slippers, 
 canes, Indian clubs, dumb-bells, and other bach- 
 elor belongings scattered about the rooms had 
 been tucked out of sight, while books and 
 magazines that had lain for weeks heaped up 
 on chairs and low shelves, and unframed prints 
 and photographs that had rested on the floor 
 propped up against the wall and furniture, had 
 been hidden in dark corners or hived in their 
 several portfolios. 
 
 On the table stood a brown majolica jar 
 taller than the lamp, holding a great mass of 
 dogwood and apple blossoms, their perfume 
 filling the room. Every vase, umbrella jar, 
 
A LITTLE DINNER FOR FIVE 77 
 
 jug, and bit of pottery that could be pressed 
 into service, was doing duty as flower-holder, 
 while over the mantel and along the tops of 
 the bookcases, and even over the doors them- 
 selves, streamed festoons of blossoms inter- 
 twined with smilax and trailing vines. 
 
 Against the tapestries covering the walls of 
 the dining-room hung big wreaths of laurel tied 
 with ribbons. One of these was studded with 
 violets, forming the initials H. S. The mantel 
 was a bank of flowers. From the four antique 
 silver church lamps suspended in the four cor- 
 ners of the room swung connecting festoons of 
 smilax and blossoms. The dinner-table itself 
 was set with the best silver, glass, and appoint- 
 ments that Sanford possessed. Some painted 
 shades he had never seen before topped the tall 
 wax candles. 
 
 Sanford smiled when he saw that covers had 
 been laid for but five. That clever feUow Jack 
 Hardy had carried his point, — all those deli- 
 cate questions relating to the number and the 
 selection of the guests had been left to Mrs. 
 Leroy. She had proved her exquisite tact : Bock 
 had been omitted, there were no superfluous 
 women, and Jack could have his tete-i-tete with 
 Helen undisturbed. It was just as well, San- 
 ford thought. With these two young persons 
 happy, the dinner was sure to be a success. 
 
 Upon entering his office, he foimd that the 
 decorative raid had extended even to this his 
 
78 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 most private domain. The copper helmet of a 
 diving-dress — one he sometimes used himself 
 when necessity required — had been propped 
 up over his desk, the face-plate unscrewed, and 
 the hollow opening filled with blossoms, their 
 leaves curling about the brass buttons of the 
 collar. The very drawing-boards had been 
 pushed against the wall, and the rows of shelves 
 holding his charts and detailed plans had been 
 screened from sight by a piece of Venetian 
 silk exhumed from the capacious interior of the 
 old chest. 
 
 The corners of Sam's mouth touched his 
 ears when Sanford looked at him, and every 
 tooth was lined up with a broad grin. 
 
 "Doan' ask me who done it, sah. I ain't 
 had nuffin to do wid it, — wid nuffin but de 
 table. I sot dat." 
 
 "Has Mrs. Leroy been here.'" Sanford 
 asked, coming into the dining-room, and looking 
 again at the initials on the wall. He knew that 
 Jack could never have perfected the delicate 
 touch alone. 
 
 "Yaas'r, an' Major Slocomb an' Mr. Hardy 
 done come too. De gen'lemen bofe gone ober 
 to de club. De major say he comin' back 
 soon 's ever you gets here. But I ain't ter tell 
 nuffin 'bout de flowers, sah. Massa Jack say 
 ef I do he brek my neck, an' I 'spec's he will. 
 But Lord, sah, dese ain't no flowers. Look at 
 dis," he added, uncovering a great bunch of 
 
A LITTLE DINNER FOR FIVE 79 
 
 American Beauties, — "dat's ter go 'IbngsitJe 
 tie lady's plate. An' dat ain't ha'f of 'em. I 
 got mos' a peck of dese yer rose-water roses in 
 de pantry. Massa Jack gwine ter ask yer to 
 sprinkle 'em all ober de table-cloth ; says dat 's 
 de way dey does in de fust famblies South." ' 
 
 " Have the flowers I ordered come ? " San- 
 ford asked, as he turned towards the sideboard 
 to fill his best decanter. 
 
 "Yaas 'r, got 'em in de ice-chest. But 
 Massa Jack say dese yer rose-water roses on 
 de table-cloth 's a extry touch ; don't hab dese 
 Mgh-toned South'n ladies ebery day, he say." 
 
 Sanford reentered the salon and looked 
 about. Every trace of its winter dress too had 
 gone. Even the heavy curtains at the windows 
 had been replaced by some of a thin yellow silk. 
 "That 's so like Kate," he said to himself. 
 "She means that Helen and Jack shall be 
 happy, at any rate. She 's missed it herself, 
 poor girl. It 's an infernal shame. Bring in 
 the roses, Sam : I '11 sprinkle them now before 
 I dress. Any letters except these .' " he added, 
 looking through a package on the table, a 
 shade of disappointment crossing his face as 
 he pushed them back unopened. 
 
 " Yaas 'r, one on yo' bureau dat 's jus' 
 come." 
 
 Sanford forgot Jack's roses, and with a quick 
 movement of his hand drew the curtains of his 
 bedroom and disappeared inside. The letter 
 
8o CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 was there. He seldom came home from any 
 journey without finding one of these little mis- 
 sives to greet him. He broke the seal and was 
 about to read the contents when the major's 
 cheery, buoyant voice was heard in the outside 
 room. The next instant he had pushed the 
 curtains aside and peered in. 
 
 " Where is he, Sam .' In here, did you say ? " 
 
 Not to have been able to violate the seclusion 
 of Sanford's bedroom at all times, night or day, 
 would have grievously wounded the sensibilities 
 of the distinguished Pocomokian ; it would have 
 implied a reflection on the closeness of their 
 friendship. It was true he had met Sanford 
 but half a dozen times, and it was equally true 
 that he had never before crossed the threshold 
 of this particular room. But these trifling 
 drawbacks, mere incidental stages in a rapidly 
 growing friendship, were immaterial to him. 
 
 " My dear boy," he cried, as he entered the 
 room with arms wide open, "but it does my 
 heart good to see you ! " and he hugged Sanford 
 enthusiastically, patting his host's back with his 
 fat hands over the spot where the suspenders 
 crossed. Then he held him at arm's length. 
 
 " Let me look at you. Splendid, by gravy ! 
 fresh as a rose, suh, handsome as a picture ! 
 Just a trace of care under the eyes, though. I 
 see the nights of toil, the hours of suffering. 
 I wonder the brain of man can stand it. But 
 the building of a lighthouse, the illumining of 
 
A LITTLE DINNER FOR FIVE 8l 
 
 a pathway in the sea for those buffeting with 
 the waves, — it is gloriously humane, suh ! " 
 
 Suddenly his manner changed, and in a tone 
 as grave and serious as if he were full partner 
 in the ente:.-prise and responsible for its success, 
 the major laid his hand, this time confidingly, 
 on Sanford's shirt-sleeve, and said, " How are 
 we getting on at the Ledge, suh ? Last time 
 we talked it over, we were solving the problem 
 of a colossal mass of — of — some stuff or other 
 that " — 
 
 " Concrete," suggested Sanford, with an air 
 as serious as that of the major. He loved to 
 humor him. 
 
 " That 's it, — concrete ; the name had for 
 the moment escaped me, — concrete, suh, that 
 was to form the foundation of the lighthouse." 
 
 Sanford assured the major that the concrete 
 was being properly amalgamated, and discussed 
 the laying of the mass in the same technical 
 terms he would have used to a brother engineer, 
 smiling meanwhile as the stream of the Poco- 
 mokian's questions ran on. He liked the major's 
 glow and sparkle. He enjoyed most of all the 
 never ending enthusiasm of the man, — that 
 spontaneous outpouring which, like a bubbling 
 spring, flows unceasingly, and always with the 
 coolest and freshest water of the heart. 
 
 " And how is Miss Shirley } " asked the young 
 engineer, throwing the inquiry into the shallows 
 of the talk as a slight temporary dam. 
 
82 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 " Like a moss rosebud, suh, with the dew on 
 it. She and Jack have gone out for a drive in 
 Jack's cyart. He left me at the club, and I 
 went over to his apartments to dress. I am 
 staying with Jack, you know. Helen is with a 
 school friend. I know, of co'se, that yo'r dinner 
 is not until eight o'clock, but I could not wait 
 longer to grasp yo'r hand. Do you know, San- 
 ford," with sudden animation and in a rising 
 voice, " that the more I see of you, the more 
 I" — 
 
 " And so you are coming to New York to 
 live, major," said Sanford, dropping another 
 pebble at the right moment into the very middle 
 of the current. 
 
 The major recovered, filled, and broke through 
 in a fresh place. The new questions of his host 
 only varied the outlet of his eloquence. 
 
 " Coming, suh .' I have come. I have leased 
 a po'tion of my estate to some capitalists from 
 Philadelphia who are about embarking in a 
 strawberry enterprise of very great magnitude. 
 I want to talk to you about it later." (He had 
 rented one half of it — the dry half, the half a 
 little higher than the salt-marsh — to a huckster 
 from Philadelphia, who was trying to raise early 
 vegetables, and whose cash advances upon the 
 rent had paid the overdue interest on the mort- 
 gage, leaving a margin hardly more than suffi- 
 cient to pay for the suit of clothes he stood in, 
 and his traveling expenses.) 
 
A LITTLE DINNER FOR FIVE 83 
 
 By this time the constantly increasing pres- 
 sure of his caller's enthusiasm had seriously 
 endangered the possibility of Sanford's dress- 
 ing for dinner. He glanced several times un- 
 easily at his watch, lying open on the bureau 
 before him, and at last, with a hurried " Excuse 
 me, major," disappeared into his bathroom, and 
 closed its flood-gate of a door, thus effectually 
 shutting off the major's overflow, now perilously 
 near the danger-line. 
 
 The Pocomokian paused for a moment, looked 
 wistfully at the blank door, and, recognizing the 
 impossible, called to Sam and suggested a cock- 
 tail as a surprise for his master when he appeared 
 again. Sam brought the ingredients on a tray, 
 and stood by admiringly (Sam always regarded 
 him as a superior being) while the major mixed 
 two comforting concoctions, — the one already 
 mentioned for Sanford, and the other designed 
 for the especial sustenance and delectation of 
 the distinguished Pocomokian himself. 
 
 This done he took his leave, having infused 
 into the apartment, in ten short minutes, more 
 sparkle, freshness, and life than it had known 
 since his last .visit. 
 
 Sanford saw the cocktail on his bureau when 
 he entered the room again, but forgot it in his 
 search for the letter he had laid aside on the 
 major's entrance. Sam found the invigorat- 
 ing compound when dinner was over, and im- 
 mediately emptied it into his own person. 
 
84 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 " Please don't be cross, Henry, if you can't 
 find all your things," the letter read. "Jack 
 Hardy wanted me to come over and help him 
 arrange the rooms as a surprise for the Mary- 
 land girl. He says there's nothing between 
 them, but I don't believe him. The blossoms 
 came from Newport. I hope you had time to 
 go to Medford and find out about my dining- 
 room, and that everything is going on well at 
 the Ledge. I will see you to-night at eight. 
 
 K. P. L." 
 
 Sanford, with a smile of pleasure, shut the 
 letter in his bureau drawer, and entering the 
 dining-room, picked up the basket of roses and 
 began those little final touches about the room 
 and table which he never neglected. He lighted 
 the tapers in the antique lamps that hung from 
 the ceiling, readjusting the ruby glass holders ; 
 he kindled the wicks in some quaint brackets 
 over the sideboard ; he moved the Venetian 
 flagons and decanters nearer the centrepiece of 
 flowers, — those he had himself ordered for his 
 guests and their chaperon, — and cutting the 
 stems from the rose-water roses sprinkled them 
 over the snowy linen. 
 
 With the soft glow of the candles the room 
 took on a mellow, subdued tone ; the pink roses 
 on the cloth, the rosebuds on the candle-shades, 
 and the mass of Mermets in the centre being 
 the distinctive features, and giving the key-note 
 of color to the feast. To Sanford a dinner-table 
 
A LITTLE DINNER FOR FIVE Sj 
 
 with its encircling guests was always a palette. 
 He knew just where the stronger tones of black 
 coats and white shirt-fronts placed beside the 
 softer tints of fair shoulders and bright faces 
 must be relieved by blossoms in perfect har- 
 mony, and he understood to a nicety the exact 
 values of the minor shades in linen, glass, and 
 silver, in the making of the picture. 
 
 The guests arrived within a few minutes of 
 one another. Mrs. Leroy, in yellow satin with 
 "big black bows caught up on her shoulder, a 
 string of pearls about her throat, came first : 
 she generally did when dining at Sanford's ; it 
 gave her an opportunity to have a chance word 
 with him before the arrival of the other guests, 
 and to give a supervising glance over the ap- 
 pointments of his table. And then Sanford 
 always deferred to her in questions of taste. It 
 was one of the nights when she looked barely 
 twenty-five, and seemed the fresh, joyous girl 
 Sanford had known before her marriage. The 
 ever present sadness which her friends often 
 read in her face had gone. To-night she was 
 all gayety and happiness, and her eyes, under 
 their long lashes, were purple as the violets 
 which she wore. Helen Shirley was arrayed in 
 white muslin, — not a jewel, — her fair cheeks 
 rosy with excitement. Jack was immaculate 
 in white tie and high collar, while the self-in- 
 stalled, presiding genial of the feast, the major, 
 appeared in a costume that by its ill-fitting 
 
86 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 wrinkles betrayed its pedigree, — a velvet-col- 
 lared sTvallow-tail coat that had lost its one- 
 time freshness in the former service of some 
 friend, a skin-tight pair of trousers, and a shoe- 
 string cravat that looked as if it had belonged 
 to Major Talbot himself (his dead wife's first 
 husband), and that was now so loosely tied it 
 had all it could do to keep its place. 
 
 " No one would have thought of all this but 
 you, Kate," said Sanford, lifting Mrs. Leroy's 
 cloak from her shoulders. 
 
 "Don't thank me, Henry. All I did," she 
 answered, laughing, " was to put a few flowers 
 about, and to have my maid poke a lot of man- 
 things under the sofas and behind the chairs, 
 and take away those horrid old covers and cur- 
 tains. I know you'll never forgive me when 
 you want something to-morrow you can't find, 
 but Jack begged so hard I could n't help it. 
 How did you like the candle-shades ? I made 
 them myself," she added, tipping her head on 
 one side like a wren. 
 
 "I knew you did, and I recognized your 
 handiwork somewhere else," Sanford answered, 
 with a significant shrug of his shoulders towards 
 the dining-room, where the initial wreath was 
 hung. 
 
 " It is a bower of beauty, my dear madam ! " 
 exclaimed the major, bowing like a French, 
 dancing-master of the old school when Sanford 
 presented him, one hand on his waistcoat 
 
 \ 
 
A LITTLE DINNER FOR FIVE 87 
 
 buttons, the right foot turned slightly out. "I 
 did not know when I walked through these 
 rooms this afternoon whose fair hands had 
 wrought the wondrous change. Madam, I 
 salute you," and he raised her hand to his lips. 
 
 Mrs. Leroy looked first in astonishment as 
 she drew back her fingers. Then as she saw 
 his evident sincerity, she made him an equally 
 old-fashioned curtsy, and broke into a peal of 
 laughter. 
 
 While this bit of comedy was being enacted, 
 Jack, eager to show Helen some of Sanford's 
 choicest bits, led her to the mantelpiece, over 
 which hung a sketch by Smearly, — the ori- 
 ginal of his Academy picture ; pointed out the 
 famous wedding-chest and some of the accou- 
 trements over the door ; and led her into the 
 private office, now lighted by half a dozen can- 
 dles, one illuminating the copper diving-helmet 
 with its face-plate of flowei;s. Helen, who had 
 never been in a bachelor's apartment before, 
 thought it another and an enchanted world. 
 Everything suggested a surprise and a mystery. 
 
 But it was when she entered the dining-room 
 on Sanford's arm that she gave way completely. 
 " I never saw anything so charming ! " she ex« 
 claimed. " And H. S. all in a lovely wreath — 
 why, these are jour initials, Mr. Sanford," look- 
 ing up innocently into his eyes. 
 
 Sanford smiled quizzically, and a shade of 
 cruel disappointment crossed Jack's face. Mrs. 
 
88 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 Leroy broke into another happy, contagious 
 laugh, and her eyes, often so impenetrable in 
 their sadness, danced with merriment. 
 
 The major watched them all with ill-disguised 
 delight, and, beginning to understand the vary- 
 ing expressions flitting over his niece's face, 
 said, with genuine emotion, emphasizing his 
 outburst by kissing her rapturously on the 
 cheek, " You dear little girlyyou, don't you know 
 your own name? H. S. stands for Helen 
 Shirley, not Henry Sanford." 
 
 Helen gave a little start, avoiding Jack's 
 gaze, and blushed scarlet. She might have 
 known, she said to herself, that Jack would do 
 something lovely, just to surprise her. Why 
 did she betray herself so easily .■• 
 
 When, a moment later, in removing her 
 glove, she brushed Jack's hand, lying on the 
 table-cloth beside her own, the slightest possi- 
 ble pressure of her little finger against his own 
 conveyed her thanks. 
 
 Everybody was brimful of happiness : Helen 
 radiant with the inspiration of new surround- 
 ings so unlike those of the simple home she 
 had left the day before ; Jack riding in a chariot 
 of soap-bubbles, with butterflies for leaders, 
 and drinking in every word that fell from 
 Helen's lips; the major suave and unctuous, 
 with an old-time gallantry that delighted his 
 admirers, boasting now of his ancestry, now of 
 his horses, now of his rare old wines at home ; 
 
A LITTLE DINNER FOR FIVE 89 
 
 Sanford leading the distinguished Pocomokian 
 into still more airy flights, or engaging him in 
 assumed serious conversation whenever that 
 obtuse gentleman insisted on dragging Jack 
 down from his butterfly heights with Helen, to 
 discuss with him some prosaic features of the 
 club-house at Crab Island ; while Mrs. Leroy, 
 happier than she had been in weeks, watched 
 Helen and Jack with undisguised pleasure, or 
 laughed at the major's good-natured egotism, 
 his wonderful reminiscences and harmless pre- 
 tensions, listening between pauses to the young 
 engineer by her side, whose heart was to her an 
 open book. 
 
 Coffee was served on the balcony, the guests 
 seating themselves in the easy-chairs. Mrs. 
 Leroy selected a low camp-stool, resting her 
 back against the railing, where the warm tones 
 of the lamp fell upon her dainty figure. She 
 was at her best to-night. Her prematurely 
 gray hair, piled in fluffy waves upon her head 
 and held in place by along jewel-tipped pin, gave 
 an indescribable softness and charm to the rosy 
 tints of her skin. Her blue-gray eyes, now 
 deep violet, flashed and dimmed under the 
 moving shutters of the lids, as the light of her 
 varying emotions stirred their depths. About 
 her every movement was that air of distinction, 
 and repose, and a certain exquisite grace which 
 never left her, and which never ceased to have 
 its fascination for her friends. Added to this 
 
90 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 were a sprightliness and a vivacity which, 
 although often used as a mask to hide a heavy 
 heart, were to-night inspired by her sincere, 
 enjoyment of the pleasure she and the others, 
 had given to the young Maryland girl and her 
 lover. 
 
 When Sam brought the cofTee-tray she in- 
 sisted on filling the cups herself, dropping in 
 the sugar with a dainty movement of her fingers- 
 that was bewitching, laughing as merrily as if. 
 there had never been a sorrow in her life. At 
 no time was she more fascinating to her ad- 
 mirers than when at a task like this. The. 
 very cup she handled was instantly invested 
 with a certain preciousness, and became a thing 
 to be touched as delicately and as lightly as the 
 fingers that had prepared it. 
 
 The only one who for the time was outside 
 the spell of her influence was Jack Hardy. He. 
 had taken a seat on the floor of the balcony^ 
 next the wall — and Helen. 
 
 "Jack, you lazy fellow," said Mrs. Leroy,. 
 with mock indignation, as she rose to her feet,, 
 "get out of my way, or I '11 spill the coffee. 
 Miss Shirley, why don't you make him go 
 inside .' He 's awfully in the way here." 
 
 One of Jack's favorite positions, when Helen 
 was near, was at her feet. He had learned 
 this one the summer before at her house on 
 Crab Island, when they would sit for hours on 
 the beach. 
 
A LITTLE DINNER FOR FIVE 91 
 
 " I 'm not in anybody's way, my dear Mrs. 
 Leroy. My feet are tied in a Chinese knot 
 under me, and my back has grown fast to the 
 rain-spout. Major, will you please say some- 
 thing nice to Mrs. Leroy and coax her inside ? " 
 
 Sam had rolled a small table, holding a flagon 
 of cognac and some crushed ice, beside the 
 major, who sat half buried in the cushions of 
 one of Sanford's divans. The Pocomokian 
 struggled to his feet. 
 
 " You must n't move, major," Mrs. Leroy 
 called. " I 'm not coming in. I 'm going to 
 stay out here in this lovely moonlight, if one of 
 these very polite young gentlemen will bring 
 me an armchair." With a look of pretended 
 dignity at Jack and Sanford. 
 
 "Take my seat," said Jack, with a laugh, 
 springing to his feet, suddenly realizing Mrs. 
 Leroy's delicate but pointed rebuke. "Come, 
 Miss Helen," a better and more retired corner 
 having at this moment suggested itself to 
 him, "we won't stay where we are abused. 
 Let us join the major." And with an arm to 
 Miss Shirley and a sweeping bow to Mrs, 
 Leroy, Jack walked straight to the divan near- 
 est the curtains. 
 
 When Helen and Jack were out of hearing, 
 Mrs. Leroy looked toward the major, and, 
 reassured of his entire absorption in his own 
 personal comfort, turned to Sanford, and said 
 in low, earnest tones, in which there was not a 
 
92 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 trace of the gayety of a moment before, " Can 
 the new sloop lay the stones, Henry? You 
 have n't told me a word yet of what you have 
 been doing for the last few days at the Ledge." 
 
 "I think so, Kate," replied Sanford in an 
 equally serious voice. " We laid one yester- 
 day before the easterly gale caught us. You 
 got my telegram, did n't you .■' " 
 
 " Of course ! but I was anxiQus for all that. 
 Ever since I had that talk with General Barton 
 I 've felt nervous over the laying of those stones. 
 He frightened me wben he said no one of the 
 Board at Washington believed you could do 
 it. It would be so awful if your plan should 
 fail." 
 
 " But it 's not going to fail, Kate. I can do 
 it, and will." There was a decided tone in his 
 voice, and his eyebrows were knitted in the way 
 she loved : she read his determination in every 
 word and look. " All I wanted was a proper 
 boat, and I 've got that. I watched her day 
 before yesterday. I was a little nervous until I 
 saw her lower the first stone. Her captain is 
 a plucky fellow, — Captain Joe likes him im- 
 mensely. I wish you could have been there 
 to see how cool he was, — not a bit flustered 
 when he saw the rocks under the bow of his 
 sloop." 
 
 Kate handed him her empty coffee-cup, and 
 going to the edge of the balcony rested her 
 elbows on the railing, a favorite gesture of 
 
A LITTLE DINNER FOR FIVE 93 
 
 hers, and looked down on the treetops of the 
 square. 
 
 " Caleb West, of course, went down with the 
 first stone, did n't he ? " she asked when he 
 joined her again. She knew Caleb's name as 
 she did those of all the men in Sanford's em- 
 ploy. There was no detail of the work he had 
 not explained to her. 
 
 " And was the sea-bottom as you expected to 
 find it ? " she added. 
 
 "Even better," he answered, eager to discuss 
 his plans with her. " Caleb reports that as 
 soon as he gets the first row of enrockment 
 stones set, the others will lie up like bricks. 
 And it 's all coming out exactly as we have 
 planned it, too, Kate." 
 
 He went over with her again, as he had done 
 so many times before, all of his plans for carry- 
 ing on the work and the difficulties that had 
 threatened him. He talked of his hopes and 
 fears, of his confidence in his men, his admira- 
 tion for them, and his love for the work itself. 
 To Sanford, as to many men, there were times 
 when the sympathy and understanding of a 
 woman, the generous faith and ready belief of 
 one who listens only to encourage, became a 
 necessity. To have talked to a man as he did 
 to Kate would not only have bored his listener, 
 but might have aroused a suspicion of his own 
 professional ability. 
 
 "I wonder what General Barton will think 
 
94 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 when he finds your plan succeeds ? He says 
 everywhere that you cannot do it," Kate con- 
 tinued, with a certain pride in her voice, after 
 listening to some further details of Sanford's 
 plans for placing the enrockment blocks. 
 
 "I don't know and I don't care. It's hard 
 to get these old-time engineers to believe in 
 anything new, and this foundation is new. But 
 all the same, I 'd rather pin my faith to Captain 
 Joe than to any one of them. What we are 
 doing at the Ledge, Kate, requires mental pluck 
 and brute grit, — nothing eiie. Scientific en- 
 gineering won't help us a bit." 
 
 Sanford now stood erect, with face aglow 
 and kindling eyes, his back to the balcony rail. 
 Every inflection of his voice showed a keen 
 interest in the subject. 
 
 " And yet, after all, Kate, I realize that my 
 work is mere child's play. Just see what other 
 men have had to face. At Minot's Ledge, you 
 know, — the light off Boston, — they had to 
 chisel down a submerged rock into steps, to get 
 a footing for the tower. But three or four men 
 could work at a time, and then at dead low 
 water. They got only one hundred and thirty 
 hours' work the first year. The whole Atlantic 
 rolled in on top of them, and there was no shel- 
 ter from the wind. Until they got the bottom 
 courses of their tower bolted to the steps they 
 had cut in the rock, they had no footing at all, 
 and had to do their work from a small boat. 
 
A LITTLE DINNER FOR FIVE 95 
 
 Our artificial island helps us immensely; we 
 have something to stand on. And it was even 
 worse at Tillamook Rock, on the Pacific coast. 
 There the men were landed on a precipitous 
 crag sticking up out of the sea, from breeches 
 buoys slung to the masthead of a vessel. For 
 weeks at a time the sea was so rough that no 
 one could reach them. They were given up 
 for dead once. All that time they were lying 
 in canvas tents lashed down to the sides of the 
 crag to keep them from being blown into rags. 
 All they had to eat and drink for days was raw 
 salt pork and the rain-water they caught from 
 the tent covers. And yet those fellows stuck 
 to it day and night until they had blasted off a 
 place large enough to put a shanty on. Every 
 bit of the material for that lighthouse, except- 
 ing in the stillest weather, was landed from the 
 vessel that brought it, by a line rigged from 
 the masthead to the top of the crag; and all 
 this time, Kate, she was thrashing around under 
 steam, keeping as close to the edge as she dared. 
 Oh, I tell you, there is something stunning to 
 me in such a battle with the elements ! " 
 
 Kate's cheeks burned as Sanford talked on. 
 She was no longer the dainty woman over the 
 coffee-cups, nor the woman of the world she 
 had been a few moments before, eager for the 
 pleasure of assembled guests. 
 
 Her eyes flashed with the intensity of her 
 feelings. "When you tell me such things, 
 
96 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 Henry, I am all on fire," she cried. Then she 
 stopped as suddenly as if some unseen hand 
 had been laid upon her, chilling and shriveling 
 the hot burning words. " The world is full of 
 such great things to be done," she sighed, "and 
 I lead such a mean little life." 
 
 Sanford looked at her in undisguised admira- 
 tion. Then, as he watched her, his heart smote 
 him. He had not intended to wound her by 
 his enthusiasm over his own work, nor to 
 awaken in her any sense of her own disap- 
 pointments ; he had only tried to allay her 
 anxieties over his affairs. He knew' by the 
 force of her outburst that he had unconsciously 
 stirred those deeper emotions, the strength of 
 which really made her the help she was to him. 
 But he never wanted them to cause her suffer- 
 ing. 
 
 These sudden transitions in her moods were 
 not new to him. She was an April day in her 
 temperament, and would often laugh the sun- 
 niest of laughs when the rain of her tears was 
 falling. These were really moods he loved. 
 
 It was the present frame of mind, however, 
 that he dreaded, and from which he always 
 tried to save her. It did not often show itself. 
 She was too much a woman of the world to 
 wear her heart upon her sleeve, and too good 
 and tactful a friend to burden even Sanford with 
 sorrows he could not lighten. He knew what 
 had inspired the outburst, for he had known 
 
A LITTLE DINNER FOR FIVE 97 
 
 her for years. He had witnessed the long 
 years of silent suffering which she had borne 
 so sweetly, — even cheerfully at times, — had 
 seen with what restraint and seK-control she 
 had cauterized by silence and patient endur- 
 ance every fresh wound, and had watched day 
 by day the slow coming of the scars that drew 
 all the tighter the outside covering of her 
 heart. 
 
 As he looked at her out of the corner of his 
 eye, — she leaning over the balcony at his side, 
 — he could see that the tears had gathered 
 under her lashes. It was best to say nothing 
 when she felt like this. He recognized that to 
 have made her the more dissatisfied, even by 
 that sympathy which he longed to give, would 
 have hurt in her that which he loved and hon- 
 ored most, — her silence, and her patient loy- 
 alty to the man whose name she bore. " She 's 
 had a letter from Leroy," he said to himself, 
 " and he 's done some other disgraceful thing, I 
 suppose ; " but to Kate he said nothing. 
 
 Gradually he led the talk back to Keyport, 
 this time telling her of his men and their pecu- 
 liarities and humors ; of Caleb and his young 
 and pretty wife ; and of Aunty Bell's watchful 
 care over his comfort whenever he spent the 
 night at Captain Joe's. 
 
 Nothing had disturbed the other guests. 
 The clink of the major's glass and the inter- 
 mittent gurgle of the rapidly ebbing decanter 
 
98 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 as Sam supplied his wants could still be heard 
 from the softly lighted room. On the fore- 
 ordained divan, half hidden by a curtain, sat 
 Jack and Helen, their shoulders touching, 
 studying the contents of a portfolio, — some 
 of the drawings upside down, their low talk 
 broken now and then by a happy, irrelevant 
 laugh. 
 
 By this time the moon had risen over the 
 treetops, the tall buildings far across the quad- 
 rangle breaking the sky-line. Below could be 
 seen the night life of the Park : miniature fig- 
 ures strolling about under the trees, flashing in 
 brilliant light or swallowed up in dense shadow, 
 as they passed through the glare of the many 
 •lamps scattered among the budding foliage ; a 
 child romping with a dog, or a belated woman 
 wheeling a baby carriage home. The night 
 was still, the air soft and balmy ; only the hum 
 •of the busy street a block away could be heard 
 where they stood. 
 
 Suddenly the figure of a boy darted across 
 the white patch of pavement below them. San- 
 iord leaned far over the railing, a strange, un- 
 reasoning dread in his heart. 
 
 "What is it, Henry.'" asked Mrs. Leroy. 
 
 " Looks like a messenger," Sanford answered. 
 
 Mrs. Leroy bent over the railing, and watched 
 the boy spring up the low steps of the street 
 door, ring the bell violently, and beat an im- 
 patient tattoo with his foot. 
 
A LITTLE DINNER FOR FIVE 99 
 
 " Whom do you want ? " Sanford called gently. 
 
 The boy looked up, and, seeing the two fig- 
 ures on the balcony, answered, "Mr. Henry 
 Sanford. Got a death message." 
 
 " A death message, did he say .' " gasped Mrs. 
 Leroy. Her voice was almost a whisper. 
 
 " Yes ; don't move." He laid a hand on her 
 arm and pointed toward the group inside. A 
 quick, sharp contraction rose in his throat. 
 " Sam," he called in a lowered tone. 
 
 " Yaas 'r, — comin' direc'ly." 
 
 " Sam, there 's a boy at the outside door with 
 a telegram. , He says it 's a death message. 
 Get it, and tell the boy to wait. Go quietly, 
 now, and let no one know. You will find me 
 here." 
 
 Mrs. Leroy sank into a chair, her face in her 
 hands. Sanford bent over her, his voice still 
 calm. 
 
 " Don't give way, Kate ; we shall know in a 
 moment." 
 
 She grasped his hand and held on. "Oh, 
 who do you suppose it is, Henry.' Will Sam 
 never come } " 
 
 WhUe he was comforting her, urging her to 
 be patient and not to let Helen hear, Sam re- 
 entered the room, — his breath gone with the 
 dash down and up three flights of stairs, — 
 walked slowly toward the balcony, and handed 
 Sanford a yellow envelope. Its contents were 
 as follows : — 
 
loo CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 Screamer's boiler exploded 7.40 to-night 
 Mate killed ; Lacey and three men injured. 
 
 Joseph Bell. 
 
 Sanford looked hurriedly at his watch, for^ 
 getting, in the shock, to hand Mrs. Leroy the 
 telegram. 
 
 Mrs. Leroy caught his arm. " Tell me quick ! 
 Who is it .? " 
 
 " Forgive me, dear Kate, but I was so knocked 
 out. It is no one who belongs to you. It is the 
 boiler of the Screamer that has burst. Three 
 men are hurt," reading the dispatch again me- 
 chanically. "I wonder who they are.'" as if 
 he expected to see their names added to its 
 brief lines. 
 
 For a moment he leaned back against the 
 balcony, absorbed in deep thought. 
 
 " Twenty-three minutes left," he said to him- 
 self, consulting his watch again. " I must go 
 at once ; they will need me." 
 
 She took the telegram from his hand. " Oh, 
 Henry, I am so sorry, — anfl the boat, too, you 
 counted upon. Oh, how much trouble you have 
 had over this work ! I wish you had never 
 touched it ! " she exclaimed, with the momentary 
 weakness of the woman. " But look ! read it 
 again." Her voice rose with a new hope in it. 
 " Do you see ? Captain Joe signs it, — he 's not 
 hurt ! " 
 
 Sanford patted her hand abstractedly, and 
 
A LITTLE DINNER FOR FIVE loi 
 
 said, "Dear Kate," but without looking at her 
 or replying further. He was calculating whe- 
 ther it would be possible for him to catch the 
 midnight train and go to the relief of the men. 
 
 " Yes, I can just make it," he said, half aloud, 
 to himself. Then he turned to Sam, who stood 
 trembling before him, looking first at Mrs. 
 Leroy and then at his master, and said in an 
 undertone, " Sam, send that boy for a cab, and 
 get my bag ready. I will change these clothes 
 on the train. Ask Mr. Hardy to step here ; not 
 a word, remember, about this telegram." 
 
 Jack came out laughing, and was about to 
 break into some raillery, when he saw Mrs. 
 Leroy' s face. 
 
 Sanford touched his shoulder, and drew him 
 one side out of sight of the inmates of the room. 
 " Jack, there has been an explosion at the work, 
 and some of the men are badly hurt. Say no- 
 thing to Helen until she gets home. I leave 
 immediately for Keyport. Will you and the 
 major please look after Mrs. Leroy ? " 
 
 Sanford's guests followed him to the door of 
 the corridor : Helen radiant, her eyes still dan- 
 cing ; the major bland and courteous, his face 
 without a ruffle; Jack and Mrs. Leroy appar- 
 ently unmoved. 
 
 " Oh, I 'm so sorry you must go ! " exclaimed 
 Helen, holding out her hands. "Mr. Hardy 
 says you do nothing but live on the train. Thank 
 
102 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 you ever so much, dear Mr. Sanford ; I 've had 
 stcch a lovely time." 
 
 " My dear suh," said the major, "this is posi- 
 tively cruel ! This Hennessy " — he was hold- 
 ing his glass — " is like a nosegay ; I hoped you 
 would enjoy it with me. Let me go back and 
 pour you out a drop before you go." 
 
 " Why not wait until to-morrow ">. " said Jack 
 in perfunctory tones, the sympathetic pressure 
 of his hand in Sanford's belying their sincerity. 
 "This night traveling will kill you, old man." 
 
 Sanford smiled as he returned the pressure, 
 and, with his eyes resting on Helen's joyous 
 face, replied meaningly, " Thank you. Jack ; it 's 
 all right, I see. Not a word until she gets 
 home." 
 
 Helen's evening had not been spoiled, at all 
 events. 
 
 Once outside in the corridor, — Sam down one 
 flight of steps with Sanford's bag and coat, — • 
 Mrs. Leroy half closed the door, and laying her 
 hand on Sanford's shoulder said, with a force 
 and an earnestness that carried the keenest 
 comfort straight to his heart, " I 've seen you 
 in worse places than this, Heniry; you always 
 get through, and you will now. I shall not 
 worry, and neither will you. I know it looks 
 dark to you, but it will be brighter when you 
 reach Keyport and get all the facts. I will 
 come up myself on the early morning train, and 
 see what can be done for the men," 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 Betty's first patient 
 
 The wounded men lay in an empty warehouse 
 which in the whaling-days had been used for 
 the storing of oil, and was now owned by an 
 old whaler living back of the village. 
 
 Captain Joe had not waited for permission 
 and a key when the accident occurred and the 
 wounded men lay about him. He and Captain 
 Brandt had broken the locks with a crowbar, 
 improvised an operating-table for the doctors 
 out of old barrels and planks, and dispatched 
 messengers up and down the shore to pull mat- 
 tresses from the nearest beds. 
 
 The room he had selected for the temporary 
 hospital was on the ground floor of the building. 
 It was lighted by four big windows, and pro- 
 tected by solid wooden shutters, now slightly 
 ajar. Through these openings timid rays of 
 sunlight, strangers here for years, stole down 
 slanting ladders of floating dust to the grimy 
 floor, where they lay trembling, with eyes alert, 
 ready for instant retreat. From the overhead 
 beams hung long strings of abandoned cobwebs 
 encrusted with black soot, whirh the bolder 
 
104 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 breeze from the open door and windows swayed 
 back and forth, the startled soot falling upon 
 the white cots below. In one corner was a 
 heap of rusty hoops and mouldy staves, — un- 
 buried skeletons of old whaling-days. But for 
 the accumulation of years of dust and mould 
 the room was well adapted to its present use. 
 
 Lacey's cot was nearest the door. His head 
 was bound with bandages ; only one eye was 
 free. He lay on his side, breathing heavily. 
 The young rigger had been blown against the 
 shrouds, and the iron foot-rest had laid open his 
 cheek and forehead. The doctor said that if 
 he recovered he would carry the scar the rest 
 of his life. It was feared, too, that he had been 
 injured internally. 
 
 Next to his cot were those of two of the 
 sloop's crew, — one man with ribs and ankle 
 broken, the other with dislocated hip. Lonny 
 Bowles, the quarryman, came next. He was 
 sitting up in bed, his arm in a sling, — Captain 
 Brandt was beside him ; he had escaped with a 
 gash in his arm. 
 
 Captain Joe was without coat or waistcoat. 
 His sleeves were rolled up above the elbows, 
 his big brawny arms black with dirt. He had 
 been up all night ; now bending over one of 
 the crew, lifting him in his arms as if he had 
 been a baby, to ease the pain of his position, 
 now helping Aunty Bell with the beds. 
 
 Betty sat besidie Lacey, fanning him. Her 
 
BETTY'S FIRST PATIENT 105 
 
 eyes were red and heavy, her pretty curls 
 matted about her head. She and Aunty Bell 
 had not had their clothes oif . Their faces were 
 smudged with the soot and grime that kept fall- 
 ing from the ceiling. Aunty Bell had taken 
 charge of the improvised stove, heating the 
 water, and Betty had assisted the doctors — 
 there were two — with the bandages and lint. 
 
 " It ain't as bad as I thought when I wired 
 ye," said Captain Joe to Sanford, stopping him 
 as he edged a way through the group of men 
 outside. " It 's turrible hard on th' poor mate, 
 jes' been married. Never died till he reached 
 th' dock. There warn't a square inch 0' flesh 
 onto him, the doctor said, that warn't scalded 
 clean off. Poor feller," and his voice broke, 
 •' he ain't been married but three months ; she 's 
 a-comin' down on the express. Telling her's 
 the wust thing we 've got to do to-day. Cap'n 
 Bob 's goin' ter meet 'er. The other boys is 
 tore up some," he went on, " but we '11 have 'em 
 crawlin' 'round in a week or so. Lacey 's got 
 th' worst crack. Doctor sez he kin save his 
 eye if he pulls through, but ye kin lay yer three 
 fingers in th' hole in his face. He won't be as 
 purty as he was," with an effort at a smile, " but 
 maybe that '11 do him good." 
 
 Sanford crossed at once to Lacey' s bed, and 
 laid his hand tenderly on that of the sufferer. 
 The young fellow opened his well eye, and a 
 smile played for an instant about his mouth, 
 
lo6 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 the white teeth gleaming. Then it faded with 
 the pain. Betty bent over him still closer; and 
 adjusted the covering about his chest. 
 
 "Has he suffered much during the night, 
 Betty .' " asked Sanford. 
 
 "He did n't know a thing at first, sir. He 
 did n't come to himself till the doctor got 
 through. He's been easier since daylight." 
 Then, with her head turned toward Sanford, 
 and with a significant gesture, pointing to her 
 own forehead and cheek, she noiselessly de- 
 scribed the terrible wounds, burying her face 
 in her hands as the awful memory rose before 
 her. " Oh, Mr. Sanford, I never dreamed any- 
 body could suffer so." 
 
 " Where does he suffer most ? " asked San- 
 ford in a whisper. 
 
 Lacey opened his eye. "In my back, Mr. 
 Sanford." 
 
 Betty laid her fingers on his hand. "Don't 
 talk, Billy ; doctor said ye were n't to talk." 
 
 The eye shut again wearily, and the brown, 
 rough, scarred hand with the blue tattoo marks 
 under the skin closed over the little fingers and 
 held on. 
 
 Betty sat fanning him gently, looking down 
 upon his bruised face. As each successive 
 pain racked his helpless body she would hold 
 her breath until it passed, tightening her fin- 
 gers that he might steady himself the better : 
 a>l her heart went out to him in his pain. 
 
BETTY'S FIRST PATIENT io» 
 
 Aunty Bell watched her for a moment ; then 
 gomg to her side, she drew her hand with a 
 caressing stroke under the girl's chin, a favorite 
 love-touch of hers, and said : — 
 
 " Cap'n says we got to go home, child, both 
 of us. You're tuckered out, an' I got some 
 chores to do. We can't do no more good here. 
 You come 'long an' get washed up 'fore Caleb 
 comes. You don't want to let him see ye 
 bunged up like this, an' all smudged and dirty 
 with th' soot a-droppin' down. He'll be here 
 in half an hour. They 've sent the tug to the 
 Ledge for him an' the men. Come, Betty, 
 that 's a good child." 
 
 " I ain't a-goin' a step, Aunty Bell. I ain't 
 sleepy a bit. There ain't nobody to change 
 these cloths but me. Caleb knows how to get 
 along," she answered, her eyes watching the 
 quick, labored breathing of the injured man. 
 
 The mention of Caleb's name brought her 
 back to herself. Since the moment when she 
 had left her cottage, the night before, and in 
 all her varying moods since, she had not once 
 thought of her husband. At the sound of the 
 explosion she had run out of her house bare- 
 headed, and had kept on down the road, over- 
 taking Mrs. Bell and the neighbors. She had 
 not stopped even to lock her door. She only 
 knew that the men were hurt, and that she had 
 seen Captain Joe and the others working on 
 the sloop's deck but an hour before. She still 
 
lo8 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 saw Lacey's ghastly face as the lantern's light 
 fell upon it, and his limp body carried on the 
 barrow plank and laid outside the warehouse 
 door, and could still hear the crash of Captain 
 Joe's iron bar when he forced off the lock. 
 She would not leave the sufferer, now that he 
 had crawled back to life and needed her, — not, 
 at least, until he was out of all danger. When 
 Captain Joe passed a few minutes later with a 
 cup of coffee for one of the sufferers, she 
 was still by Lacey's side, fanning gently. He 
 seemed to be asleep. 
 
 " Now, little gal," the captain called out, 
 " you git along home. You done fust-rate, an' 
 the men won't forgit ye for it. Caleb 'U be 
 mighty proud when I tell 'im how you stood by 
 las' night when they all piled in on top o' me. 
 You run 'long now after Aunty Bell, an' git 
 some sleep. I 'm goin' 'board the sloop to see 
 how badly she 's hurted." 
 
 Betty only shook her head. Then she rested 
 her face against Captain Joe's strong arm and 
 said, "No, please don't, Captain Joe. I can't 
 go now." 
 
 She was still there, the fan moving noise- 
 lessly, when Mrs. Leroy, her maid, and Major 
 Slocomb entered the hospital. The major had 
 escorted Mrs. Leroy from New York, greatly 
 to Sanford's surprise, and greatly to Mrs. 
 Leroy' s visible annoyance. All her protests 
 the night before had only confirmed him in his 
 
BETTY'S FIRST PATIENT 109 
 
 determination to meet her at the train in the 
 morning. 
 
 "Did you suppose, my dear suh," he said, 
 in answer to Sanford's astonished look, as he 
 handed that dainty woman from the train on 
 its arrival at Keyport, "that I would permit a 
 lady to come off alone into a God - forsaken 
 country like this, that raises nothin' but rocks 
 and scrub pines ? " 
 
 Mrs. Leroy seemed stunned when she saw 
 the four cots upon which the men lay. She 
 advanced a step toward Lacey's bed, and then, 
 as she caught sight of the bandages and the 
 ghastly face upon the blood-stained pillow, she 
 stopped short and grasped Sanford's arm, and 
 said in a tremulous whisper, "Oh, Henry, is 
 that his poor wife sitting by him .-• " 
 
 "No; that's the wife of Caleb West, the 
 master diver. That 's Lacey lying there. He 
 looks to be worse hurt than he is, Kate," anx- 
 ious to make the case as light as possible. 
 
 Her eyes wandered over the room, up at 
 the cobwebbed ceiling and down to the black- 
 ened floor. 
 
 " What an awfully dirty place ! Are you 
 going to keep them here .' " 
 
 "Yes, until they can get to work again. 
 The building is perfectly dry and healthy, 
 with plenty of ventilation. We will have it 
 cleaned up, — it needs that." 
 
 Betty merely glanced at the group as she 
 
no CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 sat fanning the sleeping man. Their entrance 
 had made but little impression upon her ; she 
 was too tired to move, and too much absorbed 
 in her charge to offer the fine lady a chair. 
 
 Something in the girl's iace touched the 
 visitor. 
 
 "Have you been here all the morning.'" 
 she asked, crossing to Betty's side of the cot, 
 and laying a hand on her shoulder. With the 
 passing of the first shock the natural tender- 
 ness of her heart had overcome her. She 
 wanted to help. 
 
 Betty raised her eyes, the rims red with her 
 long vigil, and the whites all the whiter because 
 of the fine black dust that had sifted down and 
 discolored her pale cheeks. 
 
 " I 've been here all night, ma'am," she said 
 sweetly and gently, drawn instinctively by Mrs. 
 Leroy's sympathetic face. 
 
 " How tired you must be ! Can I do any- 
 thing to help you .? Let me fan him while you 
 rest a little." 
 
 Betty shook her head. 
 
 The major crossed over to the cot occupied 
 by Lonny Bowles, the big Noank quarryman, 
 whose arm was in a sling, and sat down on the 
 edge of the bed. No one had yet thought of 
 bringing in chairs, except for those nursing the 
 wounded. As the Pocomokian looked into 
 Bowles's bronzed, ruddy face, at the wrinkles 
 about his neck, as seamy as those of a young 
 
BETTY'S FIRST PATIENT ill 
 
 bull, the great broad hairy chest, and the arms 
 and hands big and strong, he was filled with 
 astonishment. Ever)rthing about the quarry- 
 man seemed to be the exact opposite of what 
 he himself possessed. This almost racial dis- 
 tinction was made clearer when, in the kind- 
 ness of his heart, he tried to comfort the unfor- 
 tunate man. 
 
 " I 'm ve'y sorry," the major began, with 
 an embarrassment entirely new to him, and 
 which he could not account for in himself, " at 
 finding you injured in this way, suh. Has the 
 night been a ye'y painful one? You seem 
 better off than the others. How did you feel 
 at the time ? " 
 
 Bowles looked him all over with a curious 
 expression of countenance. He was trying to 
 decide in his mind, from the major's white tie, 
 whether he was a minister, whose next remark 
 would be a request to kneel down and pray 
 with him, or whether he were a quack doctor 
 who had come to do a little business on his 
 own account. The evident sincerity and ten- 
 derness of the speaker disconcerted him for 
 the moment. He hesitated for a while, and 
 finally formulated a reply in his mind that 
 would cover the case if his first surmise as to 
 his being a minister were correct, and might at 
 the same time result in his being let alone if 
 the second proved to be the case. 
 
 " Wall, it was so ^amn sudden. Fust thing 
 
112 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 I knowed I wuz in the water with th' wind 
 knocked out'er me, an' the next wuz when I 
 come to an' they hed me in here an' the doctor 
 a-fixin' me up. I 'm all right, ye see, only I 'm 
 drier 'n a lime-kiln. Say, cap," — he looked 
 over toward the water-bucket, and called to one 
 of the men standing near the door, — " fetch 
 me a dipper." 
 
 To call a landsman " cap " around Keyport 
 is to dignify him with a title which he probably 
 does not possess, but which you think would 
 please him if he did. 
 
 " Let me get you a drink," said the major, 
 rising from the bed with a quick spring indica- 
 tive of his hearty desire to serve him. He 
 dipped the floating tin in the bucket and 
 brought it to the thirsty man. 
 
 Bowles drained the contents to its last drop. 
 "He ain't no preach an' he ain't no sawbones," 
 he said to himself, as he returned the empty 
 tin to Slocomb with a " Thank ye, — much 
 obleeged." 
 
 Somehow the reply satisfied the major far 
 more than the most elaborately prepared speech 
 of thanks which he remembered ever to have 
 received. 
 
 Then the two men continued to talk freely 
 with each other, the one act of kindness hav- 
 ing broken down the barrier between them. 
 The Pocomokian, completely forgetting himself, 
 told of his home on thei Chesapeake, of his 
 
BETTY'S FIRST PATIENT 113 
 
 acquaintance with Sanford, of his coming up 
 to look after Mrs. Leroy. The major's tone 
 of voice was as natural and commonplace as 
 if he had been conversing with himself alone. 
 " Could n't leave a woman without protection, 
 you know," to which code of etiquette Bowles 
 bobbed his head in reply; the genuine, unaf- 
 fected sympathy of the rough man before him 
 seemed to have knocked every fictitious prop 
 from under his own personality. 
 
 The quarryman, in turn, talked about the 
 Ledge, and what a rotten season it had been, 
 — nothing but southeasters since work opened ; 
 last week the men only got three days' work. 
 It was terrible rough on the boss (the boss was 
 Sanford), paying out wages to the men and get- 
 ting so little back; but it was n't the men's 
 fault, — they were standing by day and night, 
 catching the lulls when they came ; they 'd 
 make it up before the season was over ; he and 
 Caleb West had been up all the night before 
 getting ready for the big derricks that Captain 
 Joe was going to set up as soon as they were 
 ready ; did n't know what they were going to 
 do now with that Screamer all tore up : a rec- 
 ord of danger, unselfishness, loyalty, pluck, hard 
 work, and a sense of duty that was a complete 
 revelation to Slocomb, whose whole life had 
 been one prolonged loaf, and whose ideas of 
 the higher type of man had heretofore been 
 somehow inseparably interwoven with a veranda. 
 
114 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 a splint-bottomed chair, a palm-leaf fan, and 
 somebody within call to administer to his per- 
 sonal wants. • 
 
 When Captain Joe returned from an inspec- 
 tion of the sloop's injuries, — strange to say, 
 they were very slight compared to the force of 
 the explosion, — Mrs. Leroy was still talking 
 to Sanford, suggesting comforts for the men, 
 and planning for mosquito nettings to be placed 
 over their cots. The maid, a severe-looking 
 woman in black, who had never relaxed her 
 grasp of the dressing-case, had taken a seat on 
 an empty nail-keg which somebody had brought 
 in, and which she had carefully dusted with her 
 handkerchief before occupying. It was evident 
 from her manner that there was absolutely 
 nothing she could do for anybody. 
 
 Captain Joe looked at the party for a moment, 
 noted Mrs. Leroy' s traveling costume of blue 
 foulard and dainty bonnet, ran his eye over the 
 maid, glanced at the major, in an alpaca coat, 
 with white waistcoat and necktie and gray 
 slouch hat, and said in his calm, forceful, yet 
 gentle way to Mrs. Leroy, " It was very nice 
 of ye to come an' bring yer friend," pointing to 
 the maid, "an' any o' Mr. Sanford's folks is 
 allers welcome at any time ; but we be a rough 
 lot, an' the men 's rough, and ye kin see for yer- 
 self we ain't fixed up fur company. They '11 be 
 all right in a week or so. Ef ye don't mind now, 
 ma'am, I 'm goin' to shet them shetters to keep 
 
BETTY'S FIRST PATIENT 115 
 
 the sun out o' their eyes an' git th' men quiet, 
 — some on 'em ain't slep' any too much. The 
 tug '11 be here to take ye all over to Medford 
 whenever ye 're ready ; she 's been to th' Ledge 
 fur th' men. Mr. Sanford said ye 'd be goin' 
 over soon." He glanced about the room as he 
 spoke, until his eye rested on Sanford. " Ye 're 
 goin' 'long, did n't I hear ye say, sir ? " Then 
 addressing Slocomb, whose title he tried to 
 remember, " We 've done th' best we could, 
 colonel. It ain't like what ye 're accustomed 
 to, mebbe, — kind'er ragged place, — but we 
 got th' men handy here where we kin take care 
 on 'em, an' still look after th' work, an' we ain't 
 got no time to lose this season ; it 's been back- 
 'ard, blowin' a gale half the time. There 's the 
 tug whistle now, ma'am," turning again to Mrs. 
 Leroy. 
 
 Mrs. Leroy did not answer. She felt the 
 justice of the captain's evident want of confi- 
 dence in her, and realized at once that all of 
 her best impulses could not save her from being 
 an intrusion at this time. None of her former 
 experience had equipped her for a situation of 
 such gravity as this. With a curious feeling of 
 half contempt for herself, she thought, as she 
 looked around upon the great strong men suf- 
 fering there silently, how little she had known 
 of what physical pain must be. She had once 
 read to a young blind girl in a hospital, during 
 a winter, and she had sent delicacies for years 
 
ii6 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 to a poor man with some affliction of the spine. 
 She remembered that she had been quite satis- 
 fied with herself and her work at the time ; and 
 so had the pretty nurses in their caps, and the 
 young doctors whom she met, the head surgeon 
 even escorting her to her carriage. But what 
 had she done to prepare herself for a situation 
 like this .'' Here was the reality of suffering, 
 and yet with all her sympathy she felt within 
 herself a fierce repugnance to it. After all her 
 aspirations, how weak she was, and how heartily 
 she despised herself ! 
 
 As she turned to leave the building, holding 
 her skirts in her hand to avoid the dirt, the 
 light of the open door was shut out, and eight 
 or ten great strong fellows in rough jackets and 
 boots, headed by Caleb West, just landed by a 
 tug from the Ledge, walked hurriedly into the 
 room, with an air as if they belonged there and 
 knew they had work to do, and at once. 
 
 Caleb strode straight to Lacey's bed. His 
 cap was off, his hands were clasped behind his 
 back. He felt his eyes filling, and a great lump 
 rose in his throat as he stood looking down at 
 him. He never could see suffering unmoved. 
 
 The young rigger opened his well eye, and 
 the pale cheek flushed scarlet as he saw Caleb's 
 face bending over him. 
 
 " Where did it hit ye, sonny ? " asked Caleb, 
 bending closer, and slipping one hand into 
 Betty's as he spoke. 
 
BETTY'S FIRST PATIENT iij 
 
 Betty pointed to her own cheek. Lacey, she 
 said, was too weak to answer for himself. 
 
 " I 've been afeard o' that b'iler," Caleb said, 
 turning to one of the men, " ever sence I see it 
 work." 
 
 Betty shook her head warningly, holding a 
 finger to her lips. Caleb and the men stopped 
 talking. 
 
 " You been here all night, Betty .' " whis- 
 pered Caleb, putting his mouth close to her 
 ear, and one big hand on her rounded shoulder. 
 
 Betty nodded her head. 
 
 " Ye ought'er be mighty proud o' her, Caleb," 
 said Captain Joe, joining the group, and speak- 
 ing in a lowered tone. "Ain't many older 
 women 'longshore would' er done any better. I 
 tried ter git 'er to go home with Aunty Bell two 
 hours ago, but she sez she won't." 
 
 Caleb's face glowed and his heart gave a 
 quick bound as he listened to Captain Joe's 
 praise of the girl wife that was all his own. 
 His rough hand pressed Betty's shoulder the 
 closer. He had always known that the first 
 great sorrow or anxiety that came into her life 
 would develop all her nature and make a woman 
 of her. Now the men about him would see the 
 strong womanly qualities which had attracted 
 him. 
 
 "Lemme take hold now, Betty," said Caleb, 
 still whispering, and stooping over her again. 
 "Ye 're nigh beat out, little woman." 
 
ii8 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 He slipped his arm around her slender waist 
 as if to lift her from the chair. Betty caught 
 his fingers and loosened his hand from its hold. 
 
 " I 'm all right, Caleb. You go home. I '11 
 be 'long in a little while to get supper." 
 
 Caleb looked at her curiously. Her tone of 
 voice was new to him. She had never loosened 
 his arm before, not when she was tired and sick. 
 She had always crept into his lap, and put her 
 pretty white arms around his neck, and tucked 
 her head down on his big beard. 
 
 "What's the matter, little one.?" he asked 
 anxiously. " Maybe it 's hungry ye be ? " 
 
 " Yes, I guess I 'm hungry, Caleb," said Betty 
 wearily. 
 
 " I '11 go out, Betty, an' git ye some soup 
 or somethin'. I '11 be back right away, little 
 woman." He tiptoed past the cot, putting on 
 his cap as he went. 
 
 Two of the men followed him with their eyes 
 and smiled. One looked significantly at Lacey 
 and then toward the retreating figure, and shook 
 his head in a knowing way. 
 
 Betty had not answered Caleb. She did not 
 even turn her head to follow his movements. 
 She saw only the bruised, pale face before her 
 as she listened to the heavy breathing of the 
 sufferer. She would have dropped from her 
 chair with fatigue and exhaustion but for some 
 new spirit within her which seemed to hold her 
 up, and to keep the fan still in her hand. 
 
BETTY'S FIRST PATIENT 119 
 
 When Sanford, after escorting Mrs. Leroy to 
 her home, returned to the improvised hospital, 
 he found the lanterns lighted, and learned that 
 the doctor had dressed the men's wounds, and 
 had reported everybody on the mend, especially 
 Lacey ; at Betty's urgent request he had made 
 a careful examination of the young rigger's 
 wounds, and had pronounced him positively out 
 of danger. Only then had she left her post 
 and gone to her own cottage with Caleb. 
 
 Captain Joe had followed Aunty Bell home 
 for a few hours' rest, and all the watchers had 
 been changed. 
 
 There was but one exception. Beside the 
 cot upon which lay the sailor with the dislo- 
 cated hip sat the major, with hat and coat off, 
 his shirt-cuffs rolled up. He was feeding the 
 sufferer from a bowl of soup which he held in 
 his hand. He seemed to enjoy every phase of 
 his new experience. It might have been that 
 his sympathies were more than usually aroused, 
 or it might have been that the spirit of vaga- 
 bondage within him, which fitted him for every 
 condition in life, making him equally at home 
 among rich and poor, and equally agreeable to 
 both, had speedily brought him into harmony 
 with the r .»n about him. Certainly no newly 
 appointed young surgeon in a charity hospital 
 could have been more entirely absorbed in the 
 proper running of the establishment than was 
 Slocomb in the care of these rough men. He 
 
120 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 had refused point-blank Mrs. Leroy's pressing 
 invitation to spend the night at her house, his 
 refusal causing much astonishment to those 
 who misunderstood his reasons. 
 
 " I 'm going to take charge here to-night, 
 major," said Sanford, walking toward him, real- 
 izing for the first time that he had neglected 
 his friend all day, and with a sudden anxiety as 
 to where he should send him for the night. 
 " Will you go to the hotel and get a room, or 
 will you go to Captain Joe's cottage ? You can 
 have my bed. Mrs. Bell will make you very 
 comfortable for the night." 
 
 The major turned to Sanford with an expres- 
 sion of profound sympathy in his face, hesitated 
 for a moment, and said firmly, with a slight 
 suggestion of wounded dignity in his manner, 
 and in a voice which was sincerity itself, " By 
 gravy, suh, you would n't talk about going to 
 bed if you'd been yere 'most all day, as I 
 have, and seen what these po' men suffer. 
 My place is yere, suh, an' yere I 'm going to 
 stay." 
 
 Sanford had to look twice before he could 
 trust his own eyes and ears. What was the 
 matter with the Pocomokian ? 
 
 "But, major," he continued in pio..est, deter- 
 mining finally in his mind that some quixotic 
 whim had taken possession of him, " there is n't 
 a place for you to lie down. You had better get 
 a good night's rest, and come back in the morn- 
 
BETTY'S FIRST PATIENT 121 
 
 ing. There 's nothing you can do here. I 'm 
 going to sit up with the men myself to-night." 
 
 The major did not even wait for Sanford's 
 reply. He placed the hot soup carefully on the 
 floor, slipped one hand under the wounded man's 
 head that he might swallow more easily, and 
 then raised another spoonful to the sufferer's 
 lips. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE "HEAVE HO " OF LONNY BOWLES 
 
 The accident to the Screamer had delayed 
 work at the Ledge but a few days. Other 
 men had taken the place of those injured, and 
 renewed efforts had been made by Sanford and 
 Captain Joe to complete to low-water mark the 
 huge concrete disk, forming a bedstone sixty 
 feet in diameter and twelve feet thick, on which 
 the superstructure was to rest. This had been 
 accomplished after three weeks of work, and 
 the men stood in readiness to begin the ma- 
 sonry of the superstructure itself so soon as the 
 four great derricks ^required in lifting and set- 
 ting the cut stone of the masonry could be 
 erecter. I'hey were only waiting for Mr. 
 Carleton's acceptance of the concrete disk, the 
 first section of the contract. The superin- 
 tendent s certificate of approval was important, 
 one rule of the Department being that no new 
 section of the work should begin until the pre- 
 ceding section was officially approved. 
 
 Carleton, however, declined to give it. His 
 ostensible reason was that the engineer-in-chief 
 was expected daily at Keyport, and should 
 
"HEAVE HO" OF LONNY BOWLES 123 
 
 therefore pass upon the work himself. His real 
 reason was a desire to settle a score with Cap- 
 tain Joe by impeding the progress of the work 
 This animosity to Captain Joe had been 
 aroused by an article very flattering to the su- 
 perintendent, published in the " Medford Jour- 
 nal," in which great credit had been given to 
 Carleton for his " heroism and his prompt effi- 
 ciency in providing a hospital for the wounded 
 men." The day after its publication, the 
 " Noank Times," a political rival, sent to make 
 an investigation of its own, in the course of 
 which the reporter encountered Captain Joe. 
 The captain had not seen the Medford article 
 until it was shown him by the reporter. He 
 thereupon gave the exact facts in regard to 
 the accident and the subsequent care of the 
 wounded men, generously exonerating the gov- 
 ernment superintendent from all responsibility 
 for the notice; adding with decided emphasis 
 that " Mr. Carleton could n't 'a' said no such 
 thing 'bout bavin' provided the hospital himself, 
 'cause he was over to Medford to a circus the 
 night the accident happened, and did n't git 
 home till daylight next mornin', when every- 
 thing was over an' the men was in their beds." 
 The result of this interview was a double-leaded 
 column in the next issue of the " Noank Times," 
 which not only ridiculed its rival for the manu- 
 factured news, but read a lesson on veracity to 
 Carleton himself. 
 
124 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 The denial made by the "Times" was the 
 thrust that had rankled deepest ; for Carleton, 
 unfortunately for himself, had inclosed the 
 eulogistic article from the " Medford Journal " 
 in his official report of the accident to the De- 
 partment, and had become the proud possessor 
 of a letter from the engineer-in-chief commend- 
 ing his " promptness and efficiency." 
 
 So far the captain had kept his temper, ig- 
 noring both the obstacles Carleton had thrown 
 in his way and the ill-natured speeches the su- 
 perintendent was constantly making. No open 
 rupture had taken place. Those, however, who 
 knew the captain's explosive temperament con- 
 fidently expected that he would break out upon 
 the superintendent, in answer to some brutal 
 thrust, in a dialect so impregnated with ful- 
 minates that the effect on Carleton would be 
 disastrous. But they were never gratified. 
 "'T ain't no use answerin' back," was all he 
 said. " He don't know no better, poor critter." 
 
 Indeed, it was only when a great personal 
 danger threatened his men that the captain's 
 every-day, conventional English seemed inade- 
 quate. On such occasions, when the slightest 
 error on the part of his working force might 
 result in the instant death or the maiming of 
 one of them, certain and it is to be hoped unre- 
 corded outbursts of profanity, soaring into cres- 
 cendos and ending in fortissimos, would often 
 escape from the captain's lips with a vim and 
 
"HEAVE HO" OF LONNY BOWLES I2y 
 
 rush that would have raised the hair of his 
 Puritan ancestors, — rockets of oaths, that 
 kindled mth splutters of dissatisfaction, flamed 
 into showers of abuse, and burst into blas- 
 phemies which cleared the atmosphere like 
 a thunderclap. For these transgressions he 
 never made any apology. In the roar of the 
 sea they seemed sometimes the only ammuni- 
 tion he could depend upon. " Somebody '11 git 
 hurted round here, if ye ain't careful ; somehow 
 I can't make ye understand no other way," he 
 would say. This was as near as he ever came 
 to apologizing for his sinfulness. But he never 
 wasted any of these explosives on such men as 
 Carleton. 
 
 As the superintendent persisted in his re- 
 fusal to give the certificate of acceptance, and 
 as each day was precious, Sanford, whose con- 
 fidence in the stability and correctness of the 
 work which he and Captain Joe had done was 
 unshaken, determined to begin the erection 
 of the four derricks at once. He accordingly 
 gave orders to clear away the mixing-boards 
 and tools ; thus burning his bridges behind him, 
 should the inspection of the engineer-in-chief 
 necessitate any additional work on the concrete 
 disk. 
 
 These derricks, with their winches and chain 
 guys, were now lying on the jagged rocks of 
 the Ledge, where they had been landed the 
 day before by Captain Brandt with the boom 
 
126 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 of the Screamer, — now stanch and sound as 
 ever, a new engine and boiler on her deck. 
 They were designed to lift and set the cut- 
 stone masonry of the superstructure, — the top 
 course at a height of fifty-eight feet above the 
 water-line. These stones weighed from six to 
 thirteen tons each. 
 
 During the delay that followed the accident 
 the weather had been unsually fine. Day after 
 day the sun had risen on a sea of silver reflect- 
 ing the blue of a cloudless sky, with wavy tide- 
 lines engraved on its polished surface. At 
 dawn Crotch Island had been an emerald, and 
 at sunset an amethyst. 
 
 With the beginning of the dog-days, however, 
 the weather had changed. Dull leaden fog- 
 banks dimming the distant horizon had blended 
 into a pearly-white sky. Restless, wandering 
 winds sulked in dead calms, or broke in fitful, 
 pee\ish blasts. Opal-tinted clouds showed at 
 sunrise, and prismatic rings of light surrounded 
 the moon, — all sure signs of a coming storm. 
 
 Captain Joe watched the changing sky where 
 hour by hour were placarded the bulletins of 
 the impending outbreak, and redoubled his ef- 
 forts on the lines of the watch-tackles at which 
 the men were tugging, pulling the derricks to 
 their places. 
 
 By ten o'clock on the 15 th of August, three 
 of the four derricks, their tops connected by 
 heavy wire rope, had been stepped in their 
 
"HEAVE HO" OF LONNY BOWLES 127 
 
 sockets and raised erect, and their seaward 
 guys had been made fast, Caleb securing the 
 ends himself. By noon, the last derrick — the 
 fourth leg of the chair, as it were — was also 
 nearly perpendicular, the men tugging ten deep 
 on the line of the watch-tackles. This derrick, 
 being the last of the whole system and the 
 most difficult to handle, was under the imme- 
 diate charge of Captain Joe. On account of 
 its position, which necessitated the bearing of its 
 own strain and that of the other three derricks 
 as well, its outboard seaward guy was as heavy 
 as that of a ship's anchor-chain. The final 
 drawing taut of this chain, some sixty feet in 
 length, stretching, as did the smaller ones, 
 from the top of the derrick-mast down to the 
 enrockment block, and the fastening of its sea 
 end in the block, would not only complete the 
 system of the four erected derricks, but would 
 make them permanent and strong enough to 
 resist either sea action or any weight that they 
 might be required to lift. The failure to secure 
 this chain guy into the anchoring enrockment 
 block, or any sudden break in the other guys, 
 would result not only in instantly toppling over 
 the fourth derrick itself, but in dragging the 
 three erect derricks with it. This might mean, 
 too, the crushing to death of some of the men ; 
 for the slimy, ooze-covered rocks and concrete 
 disk on which they had to stand and work made 
 hurried escape impossible. 
 
128 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 To insure an easier connection between this 
 last chain and the enrockment block, Caleb had 
 fastened below water, into the Lewis hole of 
 the block, a long iron hook. Captain Joe's 
 problem, which he was now about to solve, was 
 to catch this hook into a steel ring which was 
 attached to the end of the chain guy. The 
 drawing together of this hook and ring was to be 
 done by means of a watch-tackle, which tight- 
 ened the chain guy inch by inch, the gang of 
 men standing in line while Captain Joe, ring in 
 hand, waited to slip it into the hook. A stage 
 manager stretching a tight-rope supported on 
 saw-horses, with a similar tackle, solves, on a 
 smaller scale, just such a problem every night. 
 
 Carleton, who never ran any personal risks, 
 sat on the platform, out of harm's way, sneering 
 at the men's struggles, and protesting that it 
 was impossible to put up the four derricks at 
 once. Sanford was across the disk, some fifty 
 feet from Captain Joe, studying the effect of the 
 increased strain on the outboard guys of the 
 three derricks already placed. 
 
 The steady rhythmic movement of the men, 
 ankle-deep in the water, swaying in unison, close- 
 stepped, tugging at the tackle-line, like a file of 
 soldiers, keeping time to Lonny Bowles's "Heave 
 ho," had brought the hook and ring within six 
 feet of each other, when the foot of one of the 
 men slipped on the slimy ooze and tripped up 
 the man next him. In an instant the whole 
 
"HEAVE HO" OF LONNY BOWLES 129 
 
 gang were floundering among the rocks and in 
 the water, the big fourth derrick swaying un- 
 easily, like a tree that was doomed. 
 
 " Every man o' ye as ye were ! " shouted 
 Captain Joe, without even a look at the superin. 
 tendent, who had laughed outright at their fall. 
 While he was shouting he had twisted a safety- 
 line around a projecting rock to hold the strain 
 until the men could regain their feet. The 
 great derrick tottered for a moment, steadied 
 itself like a drunken man, and remained stilL 
 The other three quivered, their top connecting 
 guys sagging loose. 
 
 " Now make fast, an' two 'r three of ye come 
 here ! " cried the captain again. In the easing 
 of the strain caused by the slipping of the men, 
 the six feet of space between hook and ring had 
 gone back to ten. 
 
 Two men scrambled like huge crabs over the 
 slippery rocks, and relieved Captain Joe of the 
 end of the safety-line. The others stood firm 
 and held taut the tug-lines of the watch-tackle. 
 The slow, rhythmic movement of the gang to 
 the steady " Heave ho " began again. The 
 slack of the tackle was taken up, and the ten 
 feet between the hook and the ring were re- 
 duced to five. Half an hour more, and the four 
 great derricks would be anchored safe against 
 any contingency. 
 
 The strain on the whole system became once 
 more intense. The seaward guy of the opposite 
 
t30 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 derrick — the one across the concrete disk — 
 shook ominously under the enormous tension. 
 Loud creaks could be heard as the links of the 
 chain untwisted and the derricks turned on their 
 rusty pintles. 
 
 Then a sound like a pistol-shot rang out clear 
 and sharp. 
 
 Captain Joe heard Sanford's warning cry, but 
 before the men could ease the strain one of the 
 seaward guys that fastened the top of its der- 
 rick to its enrockment-block anchorage snapped 
 with a springing jerk, writhed like a snake in 
 the air, and fell in a swirl across the disk of con- 
 crete, barely missing the men. 
 
 The gang at the tug-line turned their heads, 
 and the bravest of them grew pale. The oppo- 
 site derrick, fifty feet away, was held upright 
 by but a single safety-rope. If this should 
 break, the whole system of four derricks, with 
 its tons of chain guys and wire rope, would be 
 down upon their heads. 
 
 Carleton ran to the end of the platform, 
 ready to leap. Sanford ordered him back. 
 Two of the men, in the uncertainty of the mo- 
 ment, slackened their hold. A third, a new- 
 comer, turned to run towards the concrete, as the 
 safer place, when Caleb's viselike hand grasped 
 his shoulder and threw him back in line. 
 
 There was but one chance left, — to steady 
 the imperiled derrick with a temporary guy 
 strong enough to stand the strain. 
 
« HEAVE HO" OF LONNY BOWLES 13k 
 
 " Stand by on that watch-tackle, every 
 
 man o' ye I Don't one o' ye move ! " 
 
 shouted Captain Joe in a voice that drowned 
 all other sounds. 
 
 The men sprang into line and stood together 
 in dogged determination. 
 
 " Take a man, Caleb, as quick 's God '11 let 
 ye, an' run a wire guy out on that derrick." 
 The order was given in a low voice that showed 
 the gravity of the situation. 
 
 Caleb and Lonny Bowles stepped from the 
 line, leaped over the slippery rocks, splashed, 
 across the concrete disk, now a shallow lake 
 with the rising tide, and picked up another 
 tackle as they plxmged along to where Sanford 
 stood, the water over his rubber boots. They 
 dragged a new guy towards the imperiled der- 
 rick. Lonny Bowles, in his eagerness to catch . 
 the dangling end of the parted guy, began to 
 scale the derrick-mast itself, climbing by the 
 foot-rests, when Captain Joe's crescendo voice 
 overhauled him. He knew the danger better 
 than Bowles. 
 
 " Come down out'er that, Lonny ! " (Gentle 
 oaths.) " Come down, I tell ye ! " (Oaths cres- 
 cendo.) " Don't ye know no better 'n to " — 
 (Oaths fortissimo.) " Do ye want to pull that 
 derrick clean over > " (Oaths fortissimisso.) 
 
 Bowles slid from the mast just as Sanford's 
 warning cry scattered the men below him. 
 There came a sudden jerk ; the opposite der- 
 
Ij2 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 rick trembled, staggered for a moment, and 
 swooped through the air towards the men, 
 dragging in its fall the two side derricks with all 
 their chains and guys. 
 
 " Down between the rocks, heads under, every 
 man o' ye ! " shouted the captain. 
 
 The captain sprang last, crouching up to his 
 neck in the sea, his head below the jagged 
 points of two rough stones, just as the huge 
 fourth derrick, under which he had stood, 
 lunged wildly, and with a ringing blow struck 
 a stone within three feet of his head, — the 
 great anchor-chain guy twisting like a cobra 
 over the slimy rocks. 
 
 When all was still, Sanford's anxious face 
 rose cautiously from behind a protecting rock 
 near where the first derrick had struck. There 
 came a cheer of safety from Caleb and Bowles, 
 answered by another from Captain Joe, and 
 Sanford and the men crawled out of their 
 holes, and clambered upon the rocks, the water 
 dripping from their clothing. 
 
 Not a man had been hurt ! 
 
 " What did I tell you > " called out Carleton 
 sneeringly, more to hide his alarm than any- 
 thing else. 
 
 " That 's too bad, Mr. Sanford, but we can't 
 help it," said Captain Joe in his customary 
 voice, paying no more attention to Carleton's 
 talk than if it had been the slop of the waves 
 at his feet. "All hands, now, on these der- 
 
"HEAVE HO" OF LONNY BOWLES 133 
 
 ricks. We gofer git 'em up, boys, if it takes 
 all night." 
 
 Again the men sprang to his orders, and 
 again and again the crescendos of oaths culmi- 
 nated in fortissimos of profanity as the risks for 
 the men increased. 
 
 For five consecutive hours they worked with- 
 out a pause. 
 
 Slowly and surely the whole system, begin- 
 ning with the two side derricks, whose guys 
 still held their anchorage, was raised upright, 
 Sanford still watching the opposite derrick, a 
 new outward guy having replaced the broken 
 one. 
 
 It was six o'clock when the four derricks 
 were again fairly erect. The same gang was 
 tugging at the watch-tackle:, and the distance 
 between the hook and the ring was once more 
 reduced to five feet. The hook gained inch by 
 inch towards its anchorage. Captain Joe's eyes 
 gleamed with suppressed satisfaction. 
 
 All this time the tide had been rising. IV^ost 
 of the rough, above -water rocks were sub- 
 merged, and fully three feet of water washed 
 over the concrete disk. Only the tops of the 
 rough stones where Sanford stood, and the plat- 
 form where Carleton sat, out of all danger from 
 derricks or sea, were clear of the incoming 
 wash. 
 
 Meanwhile the Screamer's life -boat — the 
 only means the men had that day of leaving 
 
134 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 the Ledge and boarding the sloop, moored in 
 the lee of the Ledge — had broken from her 
 moorings, and lay dangerously near the rocks. 
 The wind too had changed to the east. With 
 it came a long, rolling swell that broke on the 
 eastern derrick, — the fourth one, the key-note 
 of the system, the one Captain Joe and the 
 men were tightening up. 
 
 Suddenly a window was opened somewhere 
 in the heavens, and a blast of wet air heaped 
 the sea into white caps, and sent it bowling 
 along towards the Ledge and the Screamer 
 lying in the eddy. 
 
 Captain Joe, as he stood with the hook in his 
 haiid, watched the sea's carefully planned at- 
 tack, and calculated how many minutes were 
 left before it would smother the Ledge in a 
 froth and end all work. He could see, too, the 
 Screamer's mast rocking ominously in the ris- 
 ing sea. If the wind and tide increased, she 
 must soon shift her position to the eddy on 
 the other side of the Ledge. But no shade of 
 anxiety betrayed him. 
 
 The steady movement of the tugging men 
 continued, Lonny's "Heave ho" ringing out 
 cheerily in perfect time. Four of the gang, for 
 better foothold, stood on the concrete, their 
 feet braced to the iron mould band, the water 
 up to their pockets. The others clung with 
 their feet to the slippery rocks. 
 
 The hook was now within two feet of the 
 
"HEAVE HO" OF LONNY BOWLES 135 
 
 steel ring, Captain Joe statiding on a roek 
 at a lower level than the others, nearly waist- 
 deep in the sea, getting rtady fof the final 
 clinch. 
 
 Sanford from his rock had also been watth'- 
 irig the sea. As he scanned the hofizon, his 
 quick eye caught to the eastward a huge roller 
 pushed ahead of the increasing wind, piling 
 higher as it swept on. 
 
 " Look out for that sea, Captain Joe ! Hold 
 fast, men, — hold fast!" he shouted, springing 
 to a higher rock. 
 
 Hardly had his voice ceased, when a huge 
 green curler threw itself headlong on the Ledge, 
 wetting the men to their arm-pits. Captain J06 
 had raised his eyes for an instant, grasped the 
 chain as a brace, and taken its full force on his 
 broad back. When his head emerged, his cap 
 was gone, his shirt clung to the muscles of his 
 big chest, and the water streamed from his hair 
 and mouth. 
 
 Shaking his head like a big water-dog, he 
 waved his hand, with a laugh, to Sanford, vol- 
 leyed out another rattling fire of orders, and 
 then held on with the clutch of a devil-fish as 
 the next green roller raCed over him. It made 
 no more impression upon him than if he had 
 been an offshore buoy. 
 
 The figlit now lay between the rising sea and 
 the men tugging at the watch-tackle. After 
 each wave ran by the men gained an inch on 
 
136 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 the tightening line. Every moment the wind 
 blew harder, and every moment the sea rose 
 higher. Bowles was twice washed from the 
 rock on which he stood, and the newcomer, 
 who was unused to the slime and ooze, had 
 been thrown bodily into a water-hole. Sanford 
 held to a rock a few feet above Captain Joe, 
 watching his every movement. His anxiety 
 for the safe erection of the system had been 
 forgotten in his admiration for the superb pluck 
 and masterful skill of the surf-drenched sea- 
 titan below him. 
 
 Captain Joe now moved to the edge of the 
 anchor enrockment block, standing waist-deep 
 in the sea, one hand holding the hook, the other 
 the ring. Six inches more and the closure would 
 be complete. 
 
 In heavy strains like these the last six inches 
 gain slowly. 
 
 "Give it to 'er, men — all hands now — give 
 
 it to 'er ! Pull, Caleb ! Pull, you ! " 
 
 (Air full of Greek fire.) "Once more — all 
 
 together !" (Sky-bombs bursting.) 
 
 " All to— " 
 
 Again the sea buried him out of sight, 
 quenching the explosives struggling to escape 
 from his throat. 
 
 The wind and tide increased. The water 
 swirled about the men, the spray flew over 
 their heads, but the steady pull went on. 
 
 A voice from the platform now called out, — 
 
"HEAVE HO" OF LONNY BOWLES 137 
 
 it was that of Nickles, the cook : " I^ife-boat 's 
 a-poundin' bad, sir! She can't stan' it much 
 longer." 
 
 Carleton's voice shouting to Sanford from 
 the platform came next : " I 'm not going to 
 stay here all night and get wet. I 'm going to 
 Keyport in the Screamer. Send some men 
 to catch this life-boat." 
 
 The captain raised his head and looked at 
 Nickles ; Carleton he never saw. 
 
 " Let 'r pound an' be damned to 'er ! Go on, 
 Caleb, with that tackle. Pull, ye " — Another 
 wave went over him, and another red-hot explo- 
 sive lost its life. 
 
 With the breaking of the next roller the cap- 
 tain uttered no sound. The situation was too 
 grave for explosives. Whenever his profanity 
 stopped short the men grew nervous : they 
 knew then that a crisis had arrived, one that 
 even Captain Joe feared. 
 
 The captain bent over the chain, one arm 
 clinging to the anchorage, his feet braced 
 against a rock, the hook in his hand within 
 an inch of the ring. 
 
 " Hold hard /" he shouted. 
 
 Caleb raised his hand in warning, and the 
 rhythmic movement ceased. The men stood 
 still. Every eye was fixed on the captain. 
 
 "LET GO!" 
 
 The big derrick quivered for an instant as 
 the line slackened, stood still, and a slight 
 
^8 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 shiver ran through the guys. The hook had 
 slipped into the ring ! , 
 
 The system of four derricks, with all their 
 guys and chains, stood as taut and firm as a 
 suspension bridge ! 
 
 Captain Joe turned his head calmly towards 
 che platform, and said quietly, "There, Mr. 
 Carleton, they'll stand now till hell freezes 
 over." 
 
 As the cheering of the men subsided, the 
 captain, squeezing the water from his hair and 
 beard with a quick rasp of his fingers, sprang 
 to Sanford's rock, grasped his outstretched 
 liand, shook it heartily, and called to Caleb, in 
 a firm, cheery voice that had not a trace of 
 fatigue in it after twelve hours of battling with 
 sea and derricks, " All o' you men what 's goin' 
 in the Screamer with Mr. Carleton to Keyport 
 for Sunday 'd better look out for that life-boat. 
 Come, Lonny Bowles, pick up them tackles an' 
 git to the shanty. It '11 be awful soapy round 
 here 'fore mornin'." 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 WHAT THE BUTCHER SAW 
 
 Caleb sat on the deck of the Screamer on 
 her homeward run, his face turned toward Key- 
 port Light, beyond which his little cabin lay. 
 His eyes glistened, and there came a choking 
 in his throat as he thought of meeting Betty. 
 He could even feel her hand slipped into his, 
 and could hear the very tones of her cheery wel- 
 come, when she met him at the gate and they 
 walked together up the garden path to the porch. 
 
 Most of the men who had stood to the watch- 
 tackles in the rolling surf sat beside him on the 
 sloop. Those who were still wet, including 
 Sanford, had gone below into the cabin, out of 
 the cutting wind. Those who, like Caleb, had 
 changed their clothes, sat on the after deck. 
 Captain Joe, against Sanford's earnest protest> 
 had remained on the Ledge for the night. He 
 wanted, he said, to see how the derricks would 
 stand the coming storm. 
 
 It had been a busy month for the diver. 
 Since the explosion he had been almost con- 
 stantly in his rubber dress, working not only 
 his regular four hours under water, -^ all that 
 
140 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 an ordinary man could stand, — but taking 
 another's place for an hour or two when some 
 piece of submarine work at the Ledge required 
 his more skillful eye and hand. He had set 
 some fifty or more of the big enrockment blocks 
 in thirty feet of water, each block being lowered 
 into position by the Screamer's boom, and he 
 had prepared the anchor sockets in which to 
 step the four great derricks. Twice he had 
 been swept from his hold by the racing current, 
 and once his helmet had struck a projecting 
 rock with such force that he was deaf for days. 
 His hctnds, too, had begun to blister from the 
 salt water and hot sun. Betty, on his last Sun- 
 day at home, had split up one of her own little 
 gloves for plasters, and tried to heal his blisters 
 with some salve. But it had not done his 
 bruises much good, he thought, as he probed 
 with his stub of a thumb the deeper cracks in 
 his tough, leathery palms. 
 
 Now that the men were convalescent he glo- 
 ried more and more in his wife's energy and 
 capacity. To relieve a wounded man, serve him 
 night and day, and by skill, tenderness, and self- 
 sacrifice get him once more well and sound and 
 on his legs, able to do a day's work and earn a 
 day's pay, — this, to Caleb, was something to 
 be proud of and to glory in. But for her nurs- 
 ing, he would often say, poor Billy would now 
 be among the tombstones on the hill back of 
 Keyport Light. 
 
WHAT THE BUTCHER SAW 141 
 
 Caleb's estimate of Betty's efforts was not 
 exaggerated. Her patient had been the most 
 severely injured, and her task had therefore 
 been longer and more severe. The cut on La- 
 cey's cheek and frontal bone, dividing his eye- 
 brow like a sabre slash, had been deep and ugly 
 and slow to heal ; and the bruise on his back 
 had developed into a wound that in its progress 
 had sapped his youthful strength. He had been 
 her patient from the first, and she had never 
 neglected him an hour since the fatal night 
 when she helped the doctor wind his bandages. 
 When on the third day fever set in, she had 
 taken her seat by his bedside until the delirium 
 had passed. Mrs. Bell and Miss Peebles, the 
 schoolmistress, had relieved each other in the 
 care of the other wounded men, — all of them, 
 strange to say, were single men, and all of them 
 away from home. 
 
 Betty would go to her own cabin for an hour 
 each day, but as soon as her work was done 
 she would pull down the shades, lock the house 
 door, and, with a sunbonnet on her head and 
 some little delicacy in her hand, hurry down 
 the shore road again to the warehouse hospital. 
 This had been the first real responsibility of her 
 life, the first time in which anything had been 
 expected of her apart from the endless cooking 
 of three meals a day, and the washing up and 
 sweeping out that followed. 
 
 There were no more lonely hours for her now. 
 
142 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 A new tenderness, too, had been aroused in her 
 nature because of the helplessness of the boy 
 whose feeble, hot fingers clutched her own. 
 The love which this curly-headed young rigger- 
 had once avowed for her when there were 
 strength and ruggedness in every sinew of his 
 body, when his red lips were parted over the 
 white teeth and his eyes shone with pride, had 
 been quite forgotten as she watched by his bed. 
 It was this helplessness of his which was ever 
 present in her mind, his suffering. She realized 
 that the prostrate young fellow before her was 
 dependent on her for his very life and suste- 
 nance, as a child might have been. It was for 
 her he waited in the morning, refusing to touch 
 his breakfast until she gave it to him, — unable 
 at first, reluctant afterward. It was for her last 
 touch on his pillow that he waited at night be- 
 fore he went to sleep. It was she alone who 
 brought the smiles to his face, or inspired him 
 with a courage he had almost lost when the pain 
 racked him and he thought he might never be 
 able to do a day's work again. 
 
 The long confinement had left its mark on 
 Lacey. He was a mere outline of himself the 
 first day he was able to sit in the sunshine at 
 the warehouse door. His hands were white, and 
 his face was bleached. When he gained a lit- 
 tle strength. Captain Joe gave him light duties 
 about the wharf, the doctor refusing to let him 
 go to the Ledge. But even after he was walk- 
 
WHAT THE BUTCHER SAW 143 
 
 ing about, Betty felt him still under her care, 
 and prepared dainty dishes for him. When 
 she took them to him, she saw,: ^^ith a strange 
 ■sinking of her heart, that he gained but slowly, 
 and was still weak and ill enough to need a 
 woman's care. 
 
 The story of her nursing and of the doctor's 
 •constant tribute to her skill was well known, 
 and Caleb, usually so reticent, would talk of it 
 again and again. Most of the men liked to 
 humor his pride in her, for Betty's blithesome, 
 cheery nature made her a favorite wherever she 
 was known. 
 
 " I kind'er wish Cap'n Joe had come ashore 
 to-night," Caleb said, turning to Captain Brandt, 
 who stood beside him, his hand on the tiller. 
 ^' He 's been soakin' wet all day, an' he won't put 
 nothin' dry on ef I ain't with him. 'Twarn't 
 for Betty I 'd 'a' stayed, but the little gal 's so 
 lonesome 't ain't right to leave her. I don' 
 know what Lacey 'd done but for Betty. Did 
 ye see 'er, Lonny, when she come in that 
 night .? " All the little by-paths of Caleb's talk 
 led to Betty. 
 
 It was the same old question, but Lonny, 
 seated on the other side of the deck, fell in will- 
 ingly with Caleb's mood. 
 
 " See 'er ? Wall, I guess ! I thought she 'd 
 keel over when the doctor washed Billy's face. 
 He did look ragged, an' no mistake, Caleb ; 
 but she held on an' never give in a mite." 
 
144 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 Carleton sat close enough to overhear the 
 remark. 
 
 " Why should n't she ? " he sneered, behind 
 his hand, to the man next him. "Lacey's a 
 blamed sight better looking fellow than what 
 she 's got. The girl knows a good thing when 
 she sees it. If it was me, I 'd " — 
 
 He never finished the sentence. Caleb over- 
 heard the remark, and rose from his seat, with 
 an expression in his eyes that could not be mis- 
 understood. Sanford, watching the group 
 through the cabin window, and not knowing 
 the cause of Caleb's sudden anger, said after- 
 wards that the diver looked like an old gray 
 wolf gathering himself for a spring, as he stood 
 over Carleton with hands tightly clinched. 
 
 The superintendent made some sort of half 
 apology to Caleb, and the diver took his seat 
 again, but did not forgive him ; neither did the 
 older men, who had seen Betty grow up, and 
 who always spoke of her somehow as if she 
 belonged to them. 
 
 "T ain't decent," said Lonny Bowles to 
 Sanford when he had joined him later in the 
 cabin of the Screamer and had repeated Carle- 
 ton's remark, "for a man to speak agin a 
 woman ; such fellers ain't no better 'n rattle- 
 snakes an' ought'er be trompled on, if they is 
 in guv'ment pay." 
 
 When the sloop reached Keyport harbor, the 
 men were landed as near as possible to their 
 
WHAT THE BUTCHER SAW 145 
 
 several homes. Caleb, in his kindly voice, bade 
 good-night to Sanford, to Captain Brandt, to the 
 crew, and to the working gang. To Carleton 
 he said nothing. He would have overlooked 
 and forgotten an affront put upon himself, but 
 never one upon Betty. 
 
 " She ain't got nobody but an ol' feller like 
 me," he often said to Captain Joe, — "no chillen 
 nor nothin', poor little gal. I got to make it up 
 to her some way." 
 
 As he walked up the path he was so en- 
 grossed with Carleton's flippant remark, con- 
 ning it over in his mind to tell Betty, — he 
 knew she did not like him, ■■ — that he forgot for 
 the moment that she was not at the garden 
 gate. 
 
 He looked up at the house and noticed that 
 the shades were pulled down on the garden side 
 of the house. 
 
 "She ain't sick, is she.'" he said to himself. 
 "I guess nussin' Lacey's been too much for 
 her. I ought'er knowed she'd break down. 
 'Pears to me she did look peaked when I bid 
 her good-by las' Monday." 
 
 " Ye ain't sick, little woman, be ye .? " he 
 called out as he opened the door. 
 
 There was no response. He walked quickly 
 through the kitchen, passed into the small hall, 
 calling her as he went, mounted the narrow 
 stairs, and opened the bedroom door softly, 
 thinking she might be asleep. The shutters* 
 
146 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 were closed, the room was in perfect order. 
 The bed was empty. The sheet and covering 
 were turned neatly on his side, and the bedding 
 was clean and had not been slept in. At its 
 foot, within reach of his hand, lay his big carpet 
 slippers that she had made for him. He stooped 
 mechanically, gazing at the untouched pillow, 
 still wondering why she had turned the sheet, 
 his mind relieved now that she was not ill. 
 
 Then he remembered that it was not yet 
 dark, and that, on account of the coming storm, 
 he was an hour earlier than usual in getting 
 home. His face lightened. He saw it all now : 
 Betty had not expected him so soon, and would 
 be home in a little while. 
 
 When he entered the kitchen again he saw 
 the table. There was but one plate laid, with 
 the knife and fork beside it. This was covered 
 by a big china bowl. Under it was some cold 
 meat with the bread and butter. Near the table, 
 by the stove, a freshly ironed shirt hung over a 
 chair. 
 
 He understood it all now. She had put his 
 supper and his shirt where he would find them,, 
 and was not coming home till late. He would 
 "clean up " right away, so as to be ready for her. 
 
 When he had washed, dressed himself in his 
 house clothes, and combed his big beard, he 
 dragged a chair out on the front porch, to watch 
 for her up and down the road. 
 
 The men going home, carrying their dinner- 
 
WHAT THE BUTCHER SAW 147 
 
 pails, nodded to him as they passed, and one 
 stopped and leaned over the gate long enough 
 to wonder whether the big August storm would 
 break that night, adding, " We generally has a 
 blow 'bout this time." 
 
 While he sat waiting the butcher stopped to 
 leave the weekly piece of meat for Sunday, — 
 the itinerant country butcher, with his shop in 
 one of the neighboring villages, and his custom- 
 ers up and down all the roads that led out of 
 it ; supplies for every household in his wagon, 
 and the gossip of every family on his lips. 
 
 His wagon had sides of canvas painted white, 
 with "Fish, Meat and Poultry" in a half -moon 
 of black letters arching over the owner's name, 
 and was drawn by a horse that halted and 
 moved on, not by the touch of the lines, — 
 they were always caught to a hook in the roof 
 of the wagon, — but by a word from the butcher, 
 who stood at the tail-board, where the scales 
 dangled, sorting fish, hacking off pieces of red 
 meat, or weighing seraggly chickens propor- 
 tionate to the wants and means of his various 
 customers. He was busying himself at this 
 tail-board, the dripping of the ice pock-marking 
 the dusty ro^d below, when he caught sight of 
 Caleb. 
 
 " Wall, I kind'er hoped somebody 'd be hum," 
 he said to himself, wrapping the six-pound roast 
 in a piece of yellow paper. With a tuck to his 
 blue over-sleeves, he swung open the gate. 
 
148 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 " So ye did n't go 'long, Caleb, with Mis' West ? 
 I see it begin to blow heavy, and was wond'rin' 
 whether you 'd get in — best cut, you see," 
 opening the paper for Caleb's inspection, "and 
 I broke them ribs jes' 's Mis' West allers wants 
 'em. Then I wondered agin how ye could leave 
 the Ledge at all to-day. Mis' Bell tol' me yes- 
 terday the cap'n was goin' to set them derricks. 
 I see 'em a-layin' on the dock 'fore that Cape 
 Ann sloop loaded 'em, an' they was monstrous, 
 an' no mistake. Have some butter.' She 
 did n't order none this mornin', but I got some 
 come in this forenoon, sweet 's a nut, — four 
 pounds for a dollar, an' " — 
 
 Caleb looked at him curiously. " Where did 
 the wife say she was a-goin' ? " he interrjipted. 
 
 " Wall, she did n't say, 'cause I did n't ketch 
 up to her. I was comin' down Nollins Hill 
 over to Noank, when I see her ahead, walkin' 
 down all in her Sunday rig, carryin' a little bag 
 like. I tho't maybe she was over to see the 
 Nollins folks, till I left seven pounds fresh 
 mackerel nex' door to Stubbins's, an' some Del- 
 aware eggs. Then I see my stock of ice was 
 nigh gone, so I druv down to the steamboat 
 dock, an' there I catched sight of 'er agin jes' 
 goin' aboard. I knowed then, of course, she was 
 off for Greenport an' New York, an' was jes' 
 sayin' to myself. Wall, I '11 stop an' see if any- 
 body 's ter hum, an' if they 're all gone I won't 
 leave the meat, but " — 
 
WHAT THE BUTCHER SAW 149 
 
 " Put the meat in the kitchen," said Caleb, 
 without rising from his chair. 
 
 When the butcher drove off, the diver had 
 not moved. His gaze was fixed on the turn of 
 the road. Beads of sweat stood out on his fore- 
 head. A faint sickness unnerved him. Had 
 he been cross or impatient with her the last 
 time he was at home, that she should serve him 
 so ? Then a surge of anxiety swept over him, as 
 he thought of Betty going without letting him 
 know. Why should she walk all the way to 
 Noank and take the boat across the Sound, 
 twenty miles away, if she wanted to go to New 
 York ? The railroad station was nearer and the 
 fare through was cheaper. He would have 
 taken her himself, if he had only known she 
 wanted to go. He could have asked Captain 
 Joe to give him a couple of days off, and would 
 have gone with hef. If she had only left some 
 message, or sent some word by the men to the 
 Ledge! Then, as his thoughts traveled in a 
 circle, catching at straws, his brain whirling, his 
 eye fell upon the clump of trees shading Cap- 
 tain Joe's cottage. Aunty Bell would know, of 
 course ; why had he not thought of that before ? 
 Betty told Aunty Bell everything. 
 
 The busy little woman sat on the porch shell- 
 ing peas, the pods popping about her bright tin 
 pan, as Caleb came up the board walk. 
 
 " Why, ye need n't hev give yerself the trouble, 
 Caleb, to come all the way down ! " she called 
 
15(J CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 out as he came within hearing. " Lonny 
 Bowles 's jest been here and told me cap'n ain't 
 comin' home till Monday. I'm 'mazin' glad 
 them derricks is up. He ain't done nothin' but 
 worrit about 'em since spring opened, 'fraid 
 somebody 'd get hurted when he set 'em. Took 
 a lantern, here, night 'fore last, jest as we was 
 goin' to bed, after he 'd been loadin' 'em aboard 
 the Screamer all day, an' went down to the 
 dock to see if Bill Lacey 'd shrunk them collars 
 on tight enough. Guess Betty 's glad yer home. 
 I ain't see her to-day, but I don't lay it up agin 
 her. I knowed she was busy cleanin' up 'gin ye 
 come." 
 
 Caleb's heart leaped into his throat. If 
 Betty had not told Aunty Bell, there was no- 
 one else who would know her movements. It 
 was on his lips to tell her what the butcher 
 had seen, when something in his heart choked 
 his utterance. If Betty had not wanted any 
 one to know, there was no use of his talking 
 about it. 
 
 A man of different temperament, a nervous 
 or easily alarmed or suspicious man, would have 
 caught at every clue and followed it to the end. 
 Caleb waited and kept still. She would tele- 
 graph or write him and explain it all, he said to 
 himself, or send some one to see him before 
 bedtime. So he merely answered he was glad 
 Aunty Bell knew about Caf)tain Joe, nodded 
 good-night, and passed slowly dowfi the board 
 
WHAT THE BUTCHER SAW 15: 
 
 walk and up the road, his head on his chest, his 
 big beard blowing about his neck in the rising 
 wind. He kept saying to himself that Betty- 
 would telegraph or write and explain it all, or 
 send some one to see him before bedtime. 
 
 It was dark when he reached home. He lit 
 the kerosene lamp and pulled down the shades. 
 He did not want pagsers-by to know he w^s 
 alone. For an hour or more he strode up and 
 down the kitchen, his thumbs in his suspenders, 
 his supper untouched. Now and then he would 
 stop as if listening for a footfall, or fix his eye 
 rninutes at a time on some crack in the floor 
 or other object, gazing abstractedly at it, his 
 thoughts far away. Once he drew the lamp 
 close and picked up the evening paper, adjust- 
 ing his big glasses ; reading the same lines over 
 and over, until the paper fell of itself from his 
 hands. Soon, worn out with the hard fight of 
 the day, he fell asleep in his chair, awaking 
 some hours after, his mind torn with anxiety. 
 Then he took off his shoes and crept upstairs 
 in his stocking feet, holding to the balustrade 
 as a tired man will do, entered his bedroonj, 
 and dropped into a chair. 
 
 All through the night he slept fitfully ; wak- 
 ing with sudden starts, roused by the feelijjg 
 that some horrible shadow had settled upon 
 him, that something he could not name to him- 
 self was standing behind him — always there, 
 making him afraid to turn and look. When he 
 
IS2 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 was quite awake, and saw the dim outlines of 
 the untouched bed with its smooth white pil- 
 lows, the undefinable fear would slowly take 
 shape, and he would start up in his chair, and 
 as if to convince himself he would take a long 
 look at the bed, with the relief of one able at 
 last to explain a horror the vagueness of which 
 had tortured him. " Yes, I know, Betty 's 
 gone." Then, overcome with fatigue, he would 
 doze again. 
 
 With the breaking of the day he sprang from 
 his chair, half dazed, threw up the narrow sash 
 to feel the touch of the cool, real world, and 
 peered between the slats of the shutters, lis- 
 tening to the wind outside, now blowing a gale 
 and dashing against the blinds. 
 
 None of the other houses were open yet. He 
 was glad of that, glad of their bare, cold, indif- 
 ferent exteriors, blind to the outside world. It 
 was as though he felt his secret still safe from 
 prying eyes, and he meant to guard it always 
 from them ; to let none of them know what his 
 night had been, or that Betty had been away 
 for so long without telling him. When she 
 came home again she would help, he knew, to 
 smooth away the marks of it all, the record of 
 his pain. Her bright face would look up into 
 his, her little hands pat his cheeks, and he 
 wouldthen know all about it, why she went and 
 where, and he would take the little girl wife in 
 his arms, and comfort her in the suffering that 
 
WHAT THE BUTCHER SAW 153 
 
 would surely come to her when she discovered 
 that her thotaghtlessness had caused him any 
 misery. - - 
 
 No ! He would tell no one. He would sim- 
 ply wait, all day if necessary, all day and another 
 night. He could trust her. It was all right, 
 he knew. He did not even mind the waiting. 
 
 Then While he was still thinking, still de- 
 termining to keep silent, still satisfying himself 
 that all was well, he turned rapidly and tiptoed 
 downstairs. 
 
 With nervous, trembling fingers he took a 
 suit of tarpaulins and a sou'wester from a hook 
 behind the porch door, and walked down to the 
 dock. Some early lobstermen, bailing a skiff, 
 saw him stand for a moment, look about him, 
 and spring aboard a flat-bottomed sharpie, the 
 only boat near by, — a good harbor boat, but 
 dangerous in rough weather. To their aston- 
 ishment, he raised the three-cornered sail and 
 headed for the open sea. 
 
 " Guess Caleb must be crazy," said one man, 
 resting his scoop for a moment, as he watched 
 the boat dip almost bow under. " Thet sharpie 
 ain't no more fittin' for thet slop sea 'n ever 
 was. What do ye s'pose ^Is him, anyhow.? 
 Gosh A'mighty ! see her take them rollers. If 
 it was anybody else but him he would n't git to 
 the P'int. Don't make no difference, tho', to 
 him. He kin git along under water jes' 's well 's 
 on top." 
 
154 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 As the boat flew past Keyport Light and 
 Caleb laid his course to the Ledge, the keeper; 
 now that the dawn had come, was in the lan- 
 tern putting out his light and drawing down his 
 shades. Seeing Caleb's boat tossing below 
 him, he took down his glass. 
 
 " What blamed fool is that tryin' to get him- 
 self measured for a coffin ? " he said. 
 
 The men were still asleep when Caleb reached 
 the Ledge and threw open the door of the 
 shanty, — all but Nickles, who was preparing 
 breakfast. He looked at Caleb as if he had 
 been an apparition, and followed him to the 
 door of Captain Joe's cabin, a little room by 
 itself. He wanted to hear the dreadful news 
 he brought. Unless some one was dead or 
 dying no man would risk such a sea alone, — 
 not even an old sailor like the diver. 
 
 Caleb opened the door of the captain's little 
 room and closed it tight behind him, without a 
 word to the cook. The captain lay asleep in 
 his bunk, one big arm under his head, his short 
 curly hair matted close. 
 
 " Cap'n Joe," said Caleb, laying his hand on 
 the sleeping man's shoulder and shaking him 
 gently, — " Cap'n Joe, it 's me, — Caleb." 
 
 The captain raised his head and stared at 
 him. Then he sat upright, trying to collect his 
 thoughts. 
 
 " Cap'n, I had to come for ye, — I want ye." 
 
 " It ain't Aunty Bell, is it .' " said Captain 
 
WHAT THE BUTCHER SAW 155 
 
 Joe, springing to the floor. The early hour, the 
 ;50ugh of the wind and beating of the rain on 
 the roof of the shanty, Caleb dripping wet, ivitia 
 white drawn face, standing over him, told him 
 in a flash the gravity of the visit. 
 
 "No, it's my Betty. She's gone, ^- gome 
 ■withoiut a word." 
 
 "Gone! Who with.?" 
 
 Caleb sunk on Captain Joe's sea-chest, and 
 buried his face in his blistered hands. For a 
 moment he dared not trust himself to answer. 
 
 "I don't know— I don't know "-7- The 
 broken words came between his rough fingers. 
 Big tears rolled down his beard. 
 
 "Who says so.' How do you know she's 
 gone ? " 
 
 " The butcher seen 'er goin' 'board the boat 
 at Noank yesterday mornin'. She fixed every- 
 thin' at home 'fore she went. I ain't been to 
 bed all night. I don't know what ye kin do, 
 but I had to come. I thought maybe you'd 
 go home with m.e." 
 
 The captain did not answer. Little scraps of 
 gossip that he had heard now and then among 
 the men floated through his memory. He had 
 never paid any attention to them, except once 
 when he had rebuked Nickles for repeating 
 some slurring remark that Carleton had made 
 one night at table. But even as he thought of 
 them Betty's face rose before him, -r- her sweet, 
 girlish face with its dimples. * 
 
1S6 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 " It 's a dirty lie, Caleb, whoever said it. I 
 would n't believe it if I see it myself. Ain't 
 no better gal 'n Betty ever breathed. Go with 
 you ! Course I will 's soon 's I get my clo'es 
 on." He dressed hurriedly, caught up his oil- 
 skins, flung wide the shanty door, and made his 
 way over the platforms towards the wharf. 
 
 When they reached the little cove in the rocks 
 below, where the smaller boats were always shel- 
 tered, and he saw the sharpie, he stopped short. 
 
 " You ain't come out here in that, Caleb .' " 
 
 " It was all I could get ; there warn't nothin' 
 else handy, Cap'n Joe." 
 
 The captain looked the frail sharpie over 
 from stem to stern, and then called to Nickles : 
 " Bring down one 'er them empty ker'sene five- 
 gallon cans ; we got some bailin' to do, I tell 
 ye, 'fore we make Keyport Light. No, there 
 ain't nothin' up," noticing Nickles's anxious 
 face. " Caleb wants me to Keyport, — that 's 
 all. Get breakfast, and tell the men, when they 
 turn out, that I '11 be back to-morrow in the 
 Screamer, if it smooths down." 
 
 Caleb took his seat on the windward side of 
 the tossing boat, holding the sheet. The cap- 
 tain sat in the stern, one hand on the tiller. 
 The kerosene-can lay at their feet. The knees 
 of the two men touched. 
 
 No better sailors ever guided a boat, and 
 none ever realized more clearly the dangers of 
 their position. 
 
WHAT THE BUTCHER SAW 157 
 
 The captain settled himself in his seat in 
 silence, his eyes watching every wave that 
 raced by, and laid his course towards the white 
 tower five miles away, blurred gray in the 
 driving rain. Caleb held the sheet, his eyes 
 facing the long, low line of hills where his 
 cabin lay. As he hauled the sheet closer a 
 heavy sigh broke from him. It was the first 
 time since he had known Betty that he had 
 set his face homeward without a thrill of de- 
 light filling his heart. Captain Joe heard the 
 smothered sigh, and, without turning his head, 
 laid his great hand with its stiff thole-pin fingers 
 tenderly on Caleb's wrist. These two men 
 knew each other. 
 
 " I would n't worry, Caleb," he said, after a 
 little. "That butcher sees too much, an' 
 sometimes he don't know nothin'. He 's allers 
 got some cock-an'-bull story 'bout somebody 'r 
 other. Only las' week he come inter Gardiner's 
 drug store with a yarn 'bout the old man bein' 
 pisened, when it warn't nothin' but cramps. 
 Ease a little, Caleb — s-o. Seems to me it's 
 blowin' harder." 
 
 As he spoke, a quick slash of the cruel wind 
 cut the top from a pursuing wave and flung it 
 straight in Caleb's face. The diver, with his 
 stiffened fingers, combed the dripping spray 
 from his beard, and without a word drew his 
 tarpaulins closer. Captain Joe continued: — • 
 
 " Wust 'r them huckster fellers is they aia't 
 
ijS CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 got no better sense 'an to peddle everythin' 
 they know 'long with their stuff. Take in — 
 take in, Caleb ! That was a soaker." The big 
 wave that had broken within a foot of the 
 rail had drenched them from heaid to foot. 
 " Butcher did n't say nobody was with Betty, did 
 he t " he asked, with a cant of his sou'wester to 
 free it from sea-water. 
 
 Caleb shook his head. 
 
 "No, and there warn't nobody. I tell ye 
 this thing '11 straighten itself out. Ye can't 
 tell what comes inter women s heads sometimes. 
 She might'er gone over to Greenport to git 
 some fixin's for Sunday, an' would'er come 
 back in the afternoon boat, but it blowed so. 
 Does she know Anybody over there .■• " 
 
 Caleb did not answer. Somehow since he 
 had seen Captain Joe hope had gone out of 
 his heart. He had understood but too clearly 
 the doubting question that had escaped the 
 captain's lips, as he sprang from the bed and 
 looked into his eyes. He was not a coward; 
 he had faced without a quiver many dangers in 
 his time ; more than once he had cut his air- 
 hose, the last desperate chance of a diver when 
 his lines are fouled. But his legs had shaken 
 as he listened to Captain Joe. There was 
 something in the tone of his voice that had 
 unmanned him. 
 
 For a mile or more the two men did not 
 speak again. Wave after wave JjUrsued them, 
 
WHAT THE BUTCHER SAW 159 
 
 anti tossed its apgry spray a^ter, them. Captain 
 Joe now managed, the sail, with one hand,, 
 and steered with the other, Caleb bailed in- 
 cessantly. 
 
 When they ran under the le^ of the light- 
 hoiji^e the keeper hailed them. H.Cj had recog-. 
 nized Captain Joe. Indeed, he had followed 
 th^ sharpie with his glass until it reached the 
 Ledge, and had watched its return " with two 
 fools instead of one," he said. 
 
 " Anybody sick ? " he shouted. 
 
 Captain Joe shook his head, ai;id the sharpie 
 plunged on and rounded the point into the per- 
 fect calm of the protecting shore. 
 
 Caleb made fast the boat when land was 
 reached, while the captain sprang out. Then 
 they both hurried up Caleb's garden walk to 
 the cabin door. 
 
 There was no change in the house. The 
 white china bowl still lay over the supper, the 
 newspaper on the floor j no one had entered 
 since Caleb had left. 
 
 The captain began a close ; search through 
 the rooms : inside the clock, all over thf 
 mantelpiece, and on the sitting-room table 
 No scrap of writing could be find that shed a 
 ray of light on Betty's tnovprnents. Then he 
 walked upstairs, Caleb following him, and 
 opened the bedroom closet door. Her dresses 
 hung in their usual places, — all but the one 
 she wore and her cloak, Caleb said. 
 
l6o CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 " She ain't gone for long," said the captain 
 thoughtfully, looking into the closet. "You 
 wait here, Caleb, and git yerself some breakfast. 
 I may be gone two hours, I may be gone all 
 day. When I find out for sure I '11 come back. 
 I 'm goiii' to Noank fust, to see them hands 
 aboard the boat. It 's Sunday, an' she ain't 
 a-runnin'." 
 
 Caleb waited by the fireless stove. Hour 
 after hour went by. Now and then he would 
 open the front door and peer down the road, 
 trying to make out the captain's burly, hurry- 
 ing form. When it grew dark he put a light 
 in the window, and raised one shade on the 
 kitchen side of the house, that the captain 
 might know he was still at home and waiting. 
 
 About nine o'clock Caleb heard the whistle 
 of a tug and a voice calling for some one to 
 catch a line. He opened the kitchen door and 
 looked out on the wet gloom, that was broken 
 here and there by the masthead lights rocking 
 in the wind. Then he recognized one of the 
 big Medford tugs lying off the dock below his 
 garden ; the hands were making fast to a dock 
 spile. Captain Joe sprang ashore, and the tug 
 steamed off. 
 
 The captain walked slowly towards the porch, 
 entered the kitchen without a word, and sank 
 heavily into a chair. Caleb made no sound ; he 
 stood beside him, waiting, one hand grasping 
 the table. 
 
WHAT THE BUTCHER SAW i6l 
 
 " She 's gone, ain't she ? " 
 
 The captain nodded his head. 
 
 " Gone ! Who with ? " asked Caleb, uncon- 
 sciously repeating the words that had rung all 
 day in his ears. 
 
 " Bill Lacey," said the captain, with choking 
 voice. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 STRAINS FROM BOCK's 'CELLO 
 
 Mrs. Leroy was one of the few women in 
 town who realized what Sanf ord and his friends 
 had long ago discovered, — the possibilities of 
 New York in summer. To her it had now 
 become its most delightful season, a season 
 of long days and short nights — days and nights 
 of utter idleness, great content, and blessed 
 peace of mind ; a season when one could dine 
 where one chose without a waiting cab and 
 a hurried departure at the bidding of some- 
 body else ; when the eleven o'clock lecturer is 
 silent, the afternoon tea a memory, and the 
 epidemic of the ten-course dinner a forgotten 
 plague. 
 
 She had grown to believe with Sanford that 
 if one could impress the possibility, of these 
 truths upon the friends one loved, so that they, 
 and only they, could tiptoe back into their 
 houses, keep their blinds closed and their ser- 
 vants hidden, and so delude the balance of the 
 world — those they did not love, the uncongenial, 
 the tiresome, the bumptious, and the aggres- 
 sive — into believing that they had fled ; if this 
 
STRAINS FROM BOCK'S 'CELLO 165 
 
 little trick could be played on the world every 
 June, and for three long happy months only 
 congenial spirits could spread th^mgelyes ov^r 
 space and eat their lotus in peace (and with 
 their fingers, if they so pleased), then would 
 each one discover that New Yo^k in sumiper 
 could indeed be made the Eldorado of one's 
 dreams. 
 
 Her own front door on Gramercy Park was 
 never barricad.ed, nor was her house dismantled. 
 She chai;iged its dress in May and put it inta 
 charming summer attire of matting and chintz, 
 rnaking it a rare and refreshing retreat ; and 
 more than half her time she spent within its 
 walls, running down toMed^ord whenever the 
 cares of that establishment required attention, 
 or a change of mood made a change of scene 
 desira,ble. 
 
 Since the visit when Captain Joe had dis- 
 missed her with his thanks from the warehouse 
 hospital at Keyport she had gone to Medford 
 but once. 
 
 The major had been a constant visitor, and 
 Jack Hardy and his fia,ncee, Helen Shirley, had 
 on more than one occasion hidden themselves^ 
 on moonlight nights, in the shadows of the big 
 palms fringing her balpony overlooking the 
 Park. Sanford had not seen her as often as he 
 wished. Work on the Ledge had kept him at 
 Keyport, and allowed him but little time in 
 town. 
 
i64 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 With the setting of the derricks, however, 
 he felt himself at liberty for a holiday, and he 
 had looked forward with a feeling of almost 
 boyish enthusiasm — which he never quite out- 
 grew — to a few days' leisure in town, and a 
 morning or two with Mrs. Leroy. 
 
 When the maid brought up his card, Mrs. 
 Leroy was at her desk in the little boudoir, 
 with its heaps of silk cushions, its disorder of 
 books, and bloom of mignonette and red gera- 
 niums filling the windows that looked straight 
 into the trees of the Park. Here the sun 
 shone in winter, and here the moonlight traced 
 the outlines of bare branches upon her window- 
 shades, and here in summer the coolest of cool 
 shadows fell from tree and awning. 
 
 "Why, I expected you yesterday, Henry," 
 she said, holding out her hand, seating Sanford 
 upon the divan, and drawing up a chair beside 
 him. " What happened .' " 
 
 "Nothing more serious than an elopement." 
 
 " Not Jack and Helen Shirley ? " she said, 
 laughing. 
 
 " No ; I wish it were ; they would go on 
 loving each other. This affair brings misery. 
 It's Caleb West's wife. Captain Joe is half 
 crazy about it, and poor Caleb is heartbroken. 
 She has gbne? off with that young fellow she 
 was nursing the day you came up with the 
 major." 
 
 " Eloped ! Pretty doings, I must say. Yes, 
 
STRAINS FROM BOCK'S 'CELLO 165 
 
 I remember her, — a trim, rather pretty little 
 woman with short curly hair. I caught a 
 glimpse of Caleb, too, you know, as he came in 
 from the Ledge. He seemed years older than 
 she. What had he done to her ? " 
 
 " Nothing, so far as I know, except love her 
 and take care of her. Poor Caleb ! " 
 
 " What did he let her go for, then ? I 'm 
 sorry for the old diver, but it was his fault, 
 somewhere. The girl had as good a face as I 
 ever looked into. She never left her husband 
 without some cause, poor child. What else 
 has happened at Keyport ? " 
 
 "Kate, don't talk so. She's treated him 
 shamefully. They have only been married two 
 years." 
 
 Mrs. Leroy bent her head and looked out 
 under the awnings for a moment in a thought- 
 ful way. " Only two years ? " she said, with 
 some bitterness. "The poor child was impa- 
 tient. When she had tried it for fifteen she 
 would have become accustomed to it. , It is the 
 same old story, I suppose. We hear it every 
 day. He ugly and old and selfish, never think- 
 ing of what she would like and what she longed 
 for, keeping her shut up to sing for him when 
 she wanted now and then to sing for herself ; 
 and then she found the door of the cage open, 
 and out she flew. Poor little soul ! I pity 
 her. ; She had better have borne it ; it is a 
 poor place outside for a tired foot ; and she 's 
 
i66 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 nothing but a child." Then musing, patting 
 h^r shpper impatiently, " What sort of a man 
 has she gone with ? I could n't see him that 
 morning, she hung over him so close, and his 
 head was so bandaged." 
 
 " I don't know much about him. I have n't 
 known him long," Sanford answered carelessly. 
 
 " Good-lookihg, is n't he, and alive, and with 
 something human and manlike about him?" 
 she asked, leaning forwaird eagerly, he'r hands 
 in her lap. 
 
 " Yes, I suppose so. He could climb like a 
 cat, anyway," said Sanford. 
 
 " Yes, I know, Henry. I see it all. I knew 
 it was the same old story. She wanted some- 
 thing fresh and young, — some one just to play 
 with, child as she is, some one nearer her own 
 age to love. She was lonely. Nbthihg for her 
 to do but sit down and wait for him to come 
 home. Pobr child," With a sigh, " her misery 
 only begins now. What else have ybu to tell 
 me ? " 
 
 " Nothing, except that all of the derricks 
 tumbled. I wired you about it. They are all 
 up now, thank goodness." He knew her inter- 
 est was only perf uiictory. Her mind, evidently, 
 was still on Betty, but he went on with his 
 Story : " Everybody got sbakihg Wet. Captain 
 Joe was in the water for hours. But We stuck 
 to it. Narrowest escape the men have had this 
 summer, Kate, since the Screamer's. It's a 
 
STRAINS FROM BOCK'S 'CELLO 167 
 
 great mercy nobody was hurt. I .expected every 
 minute some one would get crushed. No one 
 but Captain Joe could have got them up that 
 afternoon. It blew a gale for three days, 
 When did you get here ? t thought you, h^d 
 gone back to Medford until Sam brought me 
 your note." 
 
 "No, I am still here, and shall be here for a 
 week. Now, don't tell me you 're going back 
 to-night .>" 
 
 " No, I 'm not, but I can't say how soon ; not 
 before the masonry begins, anyhow. Jack 
 Hardy is coming to-morrow night to my rooms, 
 I have asked a few fellows to meet him, — 
 Smearly and Curran, and old Bock with his 
 'cello, an3 some others. Since Jack's engage- 
 ment he 's the happiest fellow alive." 
 
 "They all are at first, Henry," said Mrs. 
 Le;roy, laughing, her head thrown back. The 
 memory of Jack and Helen was still so fresh 
 and happy a one that it instantly changed her 
 mood. 
 
 Betty and Caleb for the moment were for- 
 gotten, while they talked of Helen's future, 
 of the change in Jack's life, of his new house- 
 keeping, and of the thousand and one things 
 that interested them both, — the kind of ta,lk 
 that two such friends indulge in who have been 
 parted for a week or more, and who, in the 
 first ten minutes, run lightly over their individ- 
 ual experiences, so that both may start fresh 
 
l68 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 again with nothing hidden in either life. When 
 he rose to go, she kept him standing while she 
 pinned in his buttonhole a sprig of mignonette 
 picked from her window-box, and said, with the 
 deepest interest, " I can't get that poor child 
 out of my mind. Don't be too hard on her, 
 Henry ; she 's the one who will suffer most." 
 
 When Sanford reached his rooms again he 
 sank into a chair which Sam had drawn close 
 to the window, and sighed with content. " Oh, 
 these days off ! " he exclaimed. 
 
 The appointments of his own apartments 
 seemed never so satisfying and so welcome as 
 when he had spent a week with his men, taking 
 his share of the exposure with all the discom- 
 forts that it brought. His early life had fitted 
 him for these changes, and a certain cosmo- 
 politan spirit in the man, a sort of underlying 
 stratum of Bohemianism, had made it easy for 
 him to adapt himself to his surroundings, what- 
 ever they might be. Not that his restless spirit 
 could long have endured any life, either rough 
 or luxurious, that repeated itself day after day. 
 He could idle with the idlest, but he must also 
 work when the necessity came, and that with 
 all his might. 
 
 Sam always made some special preparation 
 for his home-coming. To-day the awnings were 
 hung over window and balcony, and the most 
 delightful of luncheons had been arranged, — 
 cucumbers smothered in ice, soft-shell crabs, 
 
STRAINS FROM BOCK'S 'CELLO 169 
 
 and a roll of cream cheese with a dash of Kirsch 
 and sugar. "I know he don't git nuffin fit 
 for a dog to eat when he 's away. 'Fo' God I 
 don't know how he stands it," Sam was accus- 
 tomed to observe to those of his friends who 
 sometimes watched his preparations. 
 
 "Major's done been hyar 'mos' ebery day 
 you been gone, sah," he said, drawing out San- 
 ford's chair, when luncheon was served. " How 
 is it, sah, — am I to mix a cocktail ebety time 
 he comes .' An' dat box ob yo' big cigars am 
 putty nigh gone ; ain't no more 'n fo'r 'r five of 
 'em lef." The major, Sam forgot to mention, 
 was only partly to blame for these two shrink- 
 ages in Sanford's stores. 
 
 " What does he come so often for, Sam ? " 
 asked Sanford, laughing. 
 
 "Dat's mor' 'an I know, sah, 'cept he so 
 anxious to git you back, he says. He come 
 twice a day to see if you 're yere. Co'se dere 
 ain't nuffin cooked, an' so he don't git nuffin 
 to eat, but golly! he's powerful on jewlips. I 
 done tole him yesterday you would n't be back 
 till to-morrow night. Dat whiskey's all gin 
 out ; he saw der empty bottle hisse'f ; he ain't 
 been yere agin to-day," with a chuckle. 
 
 "Always give the major whatever he wants," 
 said Sanford. "And Sam," he called as that 
 darky was disappearing in the pantry, " a few 
 gentlemen will be here to supper to-morrow 
 night. Remind me to make a list in the morn- 
 ing of what you will want." 
 
I70 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 , The list was made out, and a very toothsome 
 and cooling list it was, — a frozen m'eloii tapped 
 and filled with a pint of Pomriiery sec, by way 
 of beginning. All the trays and small tables 
 with their pipes and smokables were brought 
 out, a mdsic-stand was opened and set up neat 
 a convenient shaded candle, and the lid of the 
 piano was lifted and propped up rabbit-trap 
 fashion. 
 
 Just as the moon was rising, silvering the 
 tops of the trees in the square below, Smearly 
 in •vCrhite flannels and flaming tie arrived fresh 
 from his studio, where he had been at work on 
 a ceiling for some millionaire's salon. Jack fol- 
 lowed in correct evening dress, and Curran from 
 his office, in a business suit. The major was 
 arrayed in a nondescript combination of yellow 
 nankeen and black bombazine, that would have 
 made him an admirable model for a poster in 
 two tints. He was still full of his experiences 
 at the warehouse hospital after the accident to 
 the Screamer. His little trip to Keyport as 
 acting escort to Mrs. Leroy had not only opened 
 his eyes to a class of workingmen of whose 
 existence he had never dreamed, but it had aiSO 
 furnished him with a new and inexhaustible 
 topic of conversation. Every visitor at his 
 downtown office had listened to his recital by 
 the hour. To-night, however, the major had a 
 new audience, and a new audience always added 
 fuel to the fire of his eloquence. 
 
STRAINS FROM BOCK'S 'CELLO 171 
 
 When the subject of the work at the Led^e; 
 came up, and the sympathy of everybody was 
 expressed to Sanford over the calamity to th^ 
 Screamer, — they had not seen him since the 
 explosion, — the major broke out : — 
 
 " You ought to have gone with us, my dear 
 Smearly." (To have been the only eye-witness 
 at the front, except Sanford himself, gave the 
 major great scope.) " Giants, suh, — every man 
 of 'em ; a race, suh, that would do credit to the 
 Vikings ; bifurcated walruses, suh ; amphibious 
 titans, that can work as well in water as out 
 of it. No wonder our dear Henry " (this term 
 of affection was not unusual with the major) 
 "accomplishes such wonders. I can readily 
 understand why you never see such fellows 
 anywhere else; they dive under water when 
 the season closes," he continued, laughing, and, 
 leaning over Curran's shoulder, helped himself 
 to one of the cigars Sam was just bringing in. 
 
 "And the major outdid himself, that day, 
 in nursing them," interrupted Sanford. " You 
 would have been surprised, Jack, to see him 
 take hold. When I turned in for the night on 
 a cot, he was giving one of the derrickmen a 
 sponge bath." 
 
 " Learned it in the army," said Curran, witl> 
 a sly look at Sniearly. Both of them knew the 
 origin of the major's military title. 
 
 The major's chin was upturned in the air; 
 his head was wreathed in smoke, the match. 
 
172 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 still aflame, held aloft with outstretched hand. 
 He always lighted his cigars in this lordly way. 
 
 " Many years ago, gentlemen," the major re- 
 plied, distending his chest, throwing away the 
 match, and accepting the compliment in perfect 
 good faith ; " but these are things one never 
 forgets." The major had never seen the inside 
 of a camp hospital in his life. 
 
 The guests now distributed themselves, each 
 after the manner of his likes : Curran full length 
 on a divan, the afternoon paper in his hand ; 
 Jack on the floor, his back to the wall, a cushion 
 behind his head ; Smearly in an armchair ; and 
 the major bolt upright on a camp-stool near a 
 table which held a select collection of drink- 
 ables, presided over by a bottle of seltzer in a 
 silver holder. Sam moved about like a restless 
 shadow, obedient to the slightest lifting of San- 
 ford's eyebrow, when a glass needed filling or a 
 pipe replenishing. 
 
 At ten o'clock, lugging in his great 'cello, 
 Bock came, — short, round, and oily, with a 
 red face that beamed with good humor, and 
 fat puffy hands that wrinkled in pleats when 
 he held his bow. Across a perpetually moist 
 forehead was pasted a lock of black hair. He 
 wore a threadbare coat spattered with spots, 
 baggy black trousers, and a four-button brown 
 holland waistcoat, never clean, — sometimes 
 connected with a collar so much ashamed of 
 the condition of its companion shirt-front that 
 
STRAINS FROM BOCK'S 'CELLO 173 
 
 it barely showed its face over a black stock 
 that was held together by a spring. A man 
 who was kindly and loyal; who loved all his 
 kind, spoke six languages, wrote for the Ency- 
 clopaedia, and made a 'cello sing like an angel. 
 
 Despite his frouziness, everybody who knew 
 Bock liked him ; those who heard him play 
 loved him. There was a pathos, a tender, sym- 
 pathetic quality in his touch, that one never 
 forgot : it always seemed as if, somehow, ready 
 tears lingered under his bow. "With a tone 
 like Bock's" was the highest compliment one 
 could pay a musician. To Sanford this man's 
 heart was dearer than his genius. 
 
 "Why, Bock, old man," he called, " we did n't 
 expect you till eleven." 
 
 "Yes, I know, Henri, but ze first wiolin, he 
 take my place. Zey will not know ze differ- 
 ence." One fat hand was held up deprecat- 
 ingly, the fingers outspread. " Everybody fan 
 and drink ze beer. Ah, Meester Hardy, I have 
 hear ze news ; so you will leave ze brotherhood. 
 And I hear," lowering his voice and laying his 
 other fat hand affectionately on Jack's, "zat 
 she.ees most lofely. Ah, it ees ze best zing," 
 his voice rising again. " When ve get old and 
 ugly like old Bock, and so hepls over head wiz 
 all sorts of big zings to build like Mr. Sanford, 
 or like poor Smearly paint, paint, all ze time 
 paint, it ees too l^te to zink of ze settle 4own. 
 Ees it not so, you man Curran over zere, wia 
 
174 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 your newspaper over your head ? " This time 
 his voice was flung straight at the recumbent 
 editor as a climax to his breezy salutation. 
 
 " Yes, you 're right. Bock ; you 're ugly enough 
 to crowd a dime museum, but I '11 forgive you 
 everything if you'll put some life into yOur 
 strings. I heard your orchestra the other night, 
 and the first and second violins ruined the over- 
 ture. What the devil do you keep a lot of " — 
 
 " What ees ze matter wiz ze overture, MefS- 
 ter Ole Bull .? " said Bock, fiitching his voice in 
 a high key, squeezing down on the divan and 
 pinching Curran's arm with his fat fingers. 
 
 "Everything was the matter. The brass 
 drowned the strings, and Reynier might havte 
 'had hair-oil on his bow for all the sound you 
 heard. Then the tempo was a beat too slow." 
 
 " Henri Sanford, do you hear zis crazy man 
 zat does not know one zing, and lie 'flat oft 
 his back and talk such nonsense ? Ze wiolin, 
 Meester Musical Editor Curran, must be pianis- 
 simo, — only ze leetle, ze ve'y leetle, you hear. 
 Ze aria is carried by ze reeds." 
 
 " Carried by your grandmother ! " said Cur- 
 ran, springing from the divan. " Here, Sain, 
 put a light on the piano. Now listen, you 
 pagan. Beethoven would get out of his gravb 
 if he could hear you murder his music. The 
 three bars are so," — touching the keys, "not 
 so ! " And thus the argument went on. 
 
 Out on the b^cony, Smearly and Quigley, 
 
STRAINS FROM BOCK'S 'CELLO 175 
 
 the marine painter, who had just come in, weire 
 talking about the row at the Academy over the 
 rejection of Morley's picture, while the maj-or 
 was in full swing with Hardy, Sanford, arid 
 some of the later arrivals, inoluding old Profes- 
 sor Max Shutters, the biologist, who had been 
 so impressively introduced by Currah to the dis- 
 tinguished Pocomokian that the professor had 
 at once mistaken the major for a brother sci- 
 entist. 
 
 " And you say. Professor Slocomb," said the 
 savant, his hand forming a sounding-board be- 
 hind his ear, " that the terrapin, now practically 
 extinct, was really plentiful in your day ? " 
 
 " My learned suh, I have gone down to the 
 edge of my lawn, overlooking the salt-marsh, 
 and seen 'em crawling around like potato bugs. 
 The niggahs could n't walk the shore at night 
 without trampling on 'em. ,This craze of yo'r 
 millionaire epicures for one of the commonest 
 shell-fish we have is " — 
 
 " Amphibia," suggested the professor, as if he 
 liad recognized a mere slip of the tongue. " I 
 presume you are referring to the Malaclefk' 
 imys palustris, — the diamond^back species." 
 
 "You are right, suh," said the major. "I 
 had forgotten the classificatioh for the moi 
 ment," with an air of being perfectly at home 
 on the subject. " The craze for the palustris, 
 •my dear suh, is one of thte unaccountable signs 
 of the times; it is the beginning of the fall 6f 
 
176 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 our institutions, suh. We cannot forget the 
 dishes of peacock tongues in the old Roman 
 days, — a thousand peacocks at a cou'se, suh." 
 
 The major would have continued down 
 through Gibbon and Macaulay if Curran had 
 not shouted out, " Keep still, every soul of you ! 
 Bock is going to give us the Serenade." 
 
 The men crowded about the piano. Smearly 
 stood ready to turn the leaves of the music for 
 Curran, and Jack drew a chair closer to the 
 'cellist. 
 
 Bock uncovered the 'cello and held it be- 
 tween his knees, his fat hand resting lightly 
 on the strings. As Curran, with his foot on 
 the pedal of the piano, passed his hand rapidly 
 over the keys, Bock's Jiead sank to the level 
 of his shoulders, his straggling hair fell over his 
 coat collar, his raised fingers balanced for a 
 moment the short bow, and then Schubert's 
 masterpiece poured out the very fullness of its 
 heart., 
 
 A profound hush, broken only by the music, 
 fell on the room. The old professor leaned for- 
 ward, both hands cupped behind his ears. San- 
 ford and Jack smoked on, their eyes half closed, 
 and even the major withheld his hand from the 
 well-appointed tray and looked into his empty 
 glass. 
 
 At a time when the spell was deepest and 
 the listeners held their breath, the perfect har- 
 mony was broken by a discordant ring at the 
 
STRAINS FROM BOCK'S 'CELLO 177 
 
 outer door. Curran turned his head angrily, 
 and Sanford looked at Sam, who glided to the 
 door with a catlike tread, opening it without a 
 sound, and closing it gently behind him. The 
 symphony continued, the music rising in in- 
 terest, and the listeners forgot the threatened 
 interruption. 
 
 Then the door opened again, and Sam, mak- 
 ing a wide ddtour, bent over Sanford and whis- 
 pered in his ear. A woman wanted to see him 
 in the hall. Sanford started, as if annoyed, 
 arose from his seat, and again the knob was 
 noiselessly turned and the door as noiselessly 
 closed, shutting Sanford into the corridor. 
 
 " Do you wish to see me, madam ? " he asked, 
 crossing to a chair in which the woman sat 
 wrapped in a long cloak, her face buried in her 
 hands. 
 
 The woman turned her head towards him 
 without raising her eyelids. 
 
 "And you don't know me any more, Mr, 
 Sanford ? " 
 
 " Betty ! You here ! " said Sanford, looking 
 in astonishment at the crouching figure before 
 him. 
 
 "I had to come, sir. The druggist at the 
 comer showed me the house. I was a-waitin' 
 outside in the street below, hopin' to see you 
 come in. Then I heard the music and knew 
 you were home." The voice shook with every 
 word. The young dimpled face was drawn and 
 
178 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 pale, the pretty curly hair in disorder abiout her 
 forehead. She had the a.ir of one who had 
 been hunted and had just found shelter. 
 
 "Does Lacey kxiovf you are here?" asked 
 Sanford, a dim suspicion rising in his mind. 
 
 Betty shivered slightly, as if the name had 
 hurt her. " No, sir. I left him two nights ago. 
 I got away while he was asleep. All I want 
 now is a place for to-night, and then perhaps, 
 to-morrow I can get work." 
 
 "And you have no money .' " asked Sanford. . 
 
 Betty shook her head. " I had a little of my 
 own, but it 's all gone, and I 'm so tired, and — 
 the city frightens me so — when the night 
 comes." The head dropped lower, the sobs 
 choking her. After a little she went on, dry- 
 ing her eyes with her handkerchief, rolled tight' 
 in one hand ; and resting her cheek on the bent 
 fingers, "I didn't know nobody but you, Mr. 
 Sanford. I cap pay it back." The voice was 
 scarcely audible. 
 
 Sanford stood looking down upon her bowed 
 head. The tired eyelids were half closed, the 
 tears glistening in the light of the overhanging 
 lamp, the shadows of her black curls flecking 
 her face. The cloak hung loosely about her, 
 the curve of her pretty shoulders outlined in 
 its folds. Then she lifted her head, and, look- 
 ing Sanford in the eyes for the first time, s^d" 
 in a broken, halting voice, " Did you — did you 
 — see — Caleb — Mr. Sanford?" 
 
STRAINS FROM BOCK'S 'CELLO 179 
 
 Sanford nodded slowly in answer. He was 
 trying to make up his mind what he should do 
 with a woman who had broken the heart of a 
 man like Caleb. Through the closed doot he 
 heard the strains of Bock's 'cello, the notes 
 vibrating plaintively. They belonged to sbnlfe 
 other world. 
 
 "Betty," he said, leaning over her, "how 
 could you do it ? " 
 
 The girl covered her face with her hands 
 and shrank within her cloak." Sanford went on, 
 his sense of Caleb's wrongs overpowering him : 
 " What could Lacey do for you .' If you could 
 once see Caleb's face you would never forgive 
 yourself. No woman has a right to leave a man 
 who was as good to her as your husband was 
 to you. And now what has it all come to? 
 You 've ruined yourself, and broken his heart." 
 
 The girl trembled and bent her head, cower- 
 ing under the pitiless words; then, in a half- 
 dazed way, she rose from her seat, and, without 
 looking at Sanford, said in a tired, hopeless 
 voice, as if every word brought a pain, " I think 
 I '11 go, Mr. Sanford." 
 
 Sanford watched her silently as she drew her 
 cloak about her and turned to the door. The 
 pathos of the shrinking girlish figure overcame 
 him. He began to wonder if there were some- 
 thing under it all that even Captain Joe did not 
 iaiow of. Then he remembered the tones of 
 compassion in Mrs. Leroy's voice when her 
 
l8o CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 heart had gone out to this girl the morning, 
 before, as she said, " Poor child, her misery only 
 begins now ; it is a poor place for a tired foot." 
 
 For an instant he stood irresolute. " Wait/' 
 he said. "Wait a moment." 
 
 Betty stood still, without raising her head. 
 
 Sanford paused in deep thought, with averted 
 eyes. 
 
 " Betty," he murmured at last in a softened 
 voice, "you can't go out like this alone.: I'll 
 take you, child, where you will be safe for the 
 night" 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 CAPTAIN joe's telegram 
 
 The morning after Betty's visit to Sanford's 
 apartments, Captain Joe was seen hurrying up 
 the shore road at Keyport toward his cottage. 
 His eyes shone with excitement, and his breath 
 came in short, quick puffs. He wore his rough 
 working-clothes, and held a yellow envelope in 
 his hand. When he reached the garden gate 
 he swung it open with so mighty a Jerk that 
 the sound of the dangling ball and chain thump- 
 ing against the palings brought Aunty Bell 
 running to the porch. 
 
 " Sakes alive, Cap'n Joe ! " she exclaimed, 
 following him into the kitchen, " whatever 's 
 the matter ? Ain't nobody hurted, is there .' " 
 
 " There will be ef I don't git to New York 
 purty quick. Mr. Sanford 's got Betty, an' 
 them Leroy folks is a-keepin' on her till I git 
 there." 
 
 Aunty Bell sank into a chair, her hands 
 twisted in her apron, the tears starting in her 
 eyes. 
 
 " Who says so .■• " 
 
 " Telegram — come in the night," he an< 
 
i82 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 swered, almost breathless, throwing the yellow 
 envelope into her lap. " Git me a clean shirt 
 quick as God '11 let ye. I ain't got but ten 
 minutes to catch that eight-ten train." 
 
 "But ye ain't a-goin'till ye see Caleb, be 
 ye ? He won't like it, maybe, if " — 
 
 "Don't ye stop there talkin'. Aunty BelL 
 Do as I tell ye," he said, stripping off his sus- 
 penders and tugging at his, blue flannel shirt 
 " I ain't a-goin' to stop for nobody nor nothin', 
 That little gal 's fetched up hard jes' where I 
 knowed she would, an' I won't have a minute,'s 
 peace till I git my hands onto her. I ain't 
 slep' a night since she left, an' you know it." 
 
 " How do ye know she '11 come with ye .■' " 
 asked Aunty Bell, as she gave him his shirt. 
 Her hands were trembling. 
 
 " I ain't a-worritin'," he answered, thrusting 
 his head and big chest into the stiff garment ; 
 fumbling, as he spoke, with his brown hands, 
 for the buttons. "Gimme that collar." 
 
 " Well, I 'm kind'er wonderin' if ye had n't 
 better let Caleb know. I don't know what 
 Caleb '11 say" — 
 
 " I ain't a-carin' what Caleb says. I '11 stop 
 that leak when I git to 't." He held his breath 
 for a moment and clutched the porcelain but- 
 ton with his big fingers, trying to screw it 
 into his collar, as if it had been a nut on a 
 bolt. " Here, catch hold o' this button ; it 's 
 so plaguy tight. No, — I don't want no tooth- 
 
CAPTAIN JOE'S TELEGRAM 183 
 
 brush, nor nothin'. I would n't 'er come home 
 at all, but I was so gormed lip, an' she 's along 
 with them Leroy folks Mr. Sanford knows. 
 My — my" — he continued, forcing his gfeat 
 arms through the tight sleeveis of his Sunday 
 coat with a humping motion of his back, and 
 starting toward the door.' " Jes' to think o' 
 Betty waniderin' 'bout thfem streets at night !" 
 
 " Why, ye ain't got no cravat on, Cap'n 
 J06 ! " called Aunty Bell, running after him, tie 
 in hand,' to the porch. 
 
 " Here, give it to me ! " he cried, snatching 
 it and cramming it into his pocket. "I '11 fix 
 it on the train." In another moment he was 
 halfway down the plank walk, waving his hand, 
 shouting back over his shoulder, " Send word 
 to Cap'n Bob to load them other big stone an' 
 git 'em to the Ledge to-day ; the wind 's goin' 
 to haul to the south'ard. I '11 be back 'bout 
 eight o'clock to-night." 
 
 Aunty Bell looked after his hurrying figure 
 until the trees shiit it from view ; then, gasp- 
 ing with excitement, angry with herself for hav- 
 ing asked so little, she rfeentered the kitchen 
 and again dropped into a chair. 
 
 Betty's flight had been a sore blow to the 
 bustling little wife.' She had been the last to 
 believe that Betty had really deserted Caleb 
 for Lacey, even after Captain Joe had told her 
 how the mate of the Greenport boat had seen 
 them board the New York train tegethef. 
 
I84 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 As for the captain, he had gone about his 
 work with his mind filled with varying emotions : 
 sympathy for Caleb, sorrow and mortification 
 over Betty's fall, and bitter, intense, dangerous 
 hatred of Lacey. These were each in turn, as 
 they assailed her, consumed by a never ending 
 hunger to get the child home again, that she 
 might begin the undoing of her fatal step. To 
 him she was still the little girl he used to meet 
 on the road, with her hair in a tangle about her 
 head, her books under her arm. As he had 
 never fully realized, even when she married 
 Caleb, that anything had increased her respon- 
 sibilities, or that she could be anything but the 
 child she looked, : — so he could not now escape 
 the conviction that somehow or other " she 'd 
 been hoodooed," as he expressed it, and that 
 when she came to herself her very soul would 
 cry out in bitter agony. 
 
 Every day since her flight he had been early 
 and late at the telegraph office, and had directed 
 Bert Simmons, the letter-carrier on the shore 
 road, to hunt him up wherever he might be, — 
 on the dock or aboard his boat, — should a letter 
 come bearing his name. The telegram, there- 
 fore, was not a surprise. That Sanford should 
 have found her was what he could not under- 
 stand. 
 
 Aunty Bell, with the big secret weighing at 
 her heart, busied herself about the house, so as 
 to make the hours pass quickly. She was more 
 
CAPTAIN JOE'S TELEGRAM 185 
 
 conservative and less impulsive in many things 
 than the captain ; that is, she was apt to con- 
 sider the opinions of her neighbors, and shape 
 her course accordingly, unless stopped by one' 
 of her husband's outbursts and won over to his 
 way of thinking. The captain knew no law but 
 his own emotions, and his innate sense of right 
 and wrong sustained by his indomitable will 
 and courage. If the other folks did n't like it, 
 tie. other folks had to get out of the way; he 
 went straight on. 
 
 "Ain't nobody goin' to have nothin' to do 
 with Betty, if she does git tired of Lacey an' 
 wants to come home, poor child," Aunty Bell 
 had said to Captain Joe only the night before, 
 as they sat together at supper. " Them Nevins 
 gals was sayin' yesterday they 'd pass her on 
 the road and would n't speak to her, not if they 
 see her starvin', and was a-goin' on awful about 
 it ; and Mis' Taft said " — 
 
 The captain raised his head quickly. " Jane 
 Bell," — when the captain called Aunty Bell 
 "Jane" the situation was serious, — "I ain't 
 got nothin' to do with them Nevins gals, nor 
 Mis' Taft, nor nobody else, and you ain't got 
 nothin', neither. Ain't we hed this child run- 
 nin' in an' out here jes' like a kitten ever since 
 we been here ? Don't you know clean down 
 in yer heart that there ain't no better gal ever 
 lived 'n Betty } Ain't we all liable to go 'stray, 
 and ain't we all of us so dirt mean that if we 
 
I86 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 had our hatches off there a^n't nobody who see 
 Qur cargo would speal^ to us ? Now don't let 
 ipe hear no more al?Qut folks passin' her by. 
 I ain't a-goin' to pass feer by, and you ain't, 
 neither, if them Nevins gals and old Mothej" 
 Taft and the whole kit and caboodle of 'em 
 walks on t'other side." 
 
 She remembered the very sound of thes^ 
 words, as she rested for a moment, rocking to 
 and fro, in the kitchen, after the captain had, 
 gone, her fat little feet swinging clear of the 
 floor. She could even hear the tone of his 
 voice, and could see the flashing of his eye. 
 The remembrance gave her courage. She 
 wanted some one to come in, that she might 
 put on the captain's armor and fight for the 
 child herself. 
 
 She had not long to wait. Mrs. Taft was 
 already coming up the walk, — for dinner, per- 
 haps. , Carleton was walking beside her. They 
 had met at the gate. 
 
 " I heard the captain had to go to New York, 
 Aunty B,eU, and so I thought maybe you 'd be 
 alone," said Mrs. Taft, taking ofif her bonnet. 
 " No news from the runaway, I suppose ? Ain't 
 it dreadful ? She 's the last girl in the world I 
 would 'a' thought of doing a thing like that." 
 
 "We ain't none of us perfect. Mis' Taft, 
 Take a chair, Mr. Carleton. If we w^s, we 
 could most of \is stay here ; there would n't 
 be no use o' heaven." 
 
CAPTAIN JOE'S TELEGRAM 187 
 
 " But, Aunty Bell ! " exclaimed the visitor, 
 "you surely don't think — Why, it 's awful 
 for Betty to go and do what she did " — 
 
 " I ain't judgin' nobody. Mis' Taft. I ain't 
 a-blamin' Betty, an' I ain't a-blamin' Caleb. 
 I 'm only thinkin' of all the sufferin' that poor 
 child 's got to go through now, an' what a mean 
 world this is for her to have to live in." 
 
 " Serves the old man right for marrying a 
 girl young enough to be his daughter," siaid 
 Carleton, with a laugh, tilting back his chair, 
 
 — his favorite attitude. " I made up my mind 
 the first day I saw her that she was a little 
 larky. She 's been fooling West all summer, 
 
 — anybody could see that." He had not for- 
 given the look in Caleb's eye that afternoon 
 aboard the Screamer. " When, 's the captain 
 coming home ? " 
 
 Aunty Bell looked at the superintendent, 
 her lips curling, as the hard, dry laugh rang in 
 her ears. She had never fancied him, and she 
 liked him less now than ever. Her first im- 
 pulse was to give him a piece of her mind, — 
 an indigestible morsel when served hot. Then 
 she remembered that her husband was having 
 some difficulty with him about the acceptance 
 of the concrete disk, and so her temper, chilled 
 by this more politic second thought, cooled 
 down and stiffened into a frigid determihation 
 not to invite him to dinner if she ate nothing 
 herself all day. 
 
I88 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 " Cap'n '11 be here in the mornin'," she an« 
 swered curtly, " Got any message for him ?" 
 
 "Yes. Tell him I was out to the Ledge 
 yesterday with my transit, and the concrete is 
 too low by six inches near the southeast derrick. 
 It 's got to come up to grade before I can cer- 
 tify. I thought I 'd come in and tell him, — 
 he wanted to know." 
 
 The door opened, and the tall form of Cap- 
 tain Bob Brandt, the Screamer's skipper, en- 
 tered. 
 
 " Excuse me, Mis' Bell," he said, removing 
 his hat and bowing good-humoredly to every- 
 body. "I saw ye pass, Mr. Carleton, an' I 
 wanted to tell ye that we 're ready now to h'ist 
 sail fur the Ledge. We got 'leven stone on. 
 Caleb ain't workin' this week, an' one o' the 
 other divers 's a-goin' to set 'em. Guess it 's 
 all right ; the worst is all done. Will you go 
 out with us, or trust me to git 'em right ? " 
 
 " Well, where are you going to put 'em ? " 
 asked Carleton in his voice of authority. 
 
 " Las' time Caleb was down, sir, he said he 
 wanted four more stone near the boat-landin', 
 in about twelve foot o' water, to finish that 
 row ; then we kin begin another layer nex' to 
 'em, if ye say so. S'pose you know Cap'n Joe 
 ain't here .' — gone to New York. Will you go 
 with us } " 
 
 " No ; you set 'em. I '11 come out in the tug 
 in the morning and drop a rod on 'em, and if 
 
CAPTAIN JOE'S TELEGRAM 189 
 
 they 're not right you '11 have to take 'em up 
 again. That concrete 's out of level, you know." 
 
 "What concrete?" 
 
 " Why, the big circular disk," snapped Carle, 
 ton. 
 
 This was only another excuse of Carleton's 
 for refusing to sign the certificate. The engi- 
 neer had postponed his visit, and so this fresh 
 obstruction was necessary to maintain his policy 
 of delay. 
 
 " Not when I see it, sir, three days ago," 
 said Captain Brandt in surprise. " It was dead 
 low water, an' the tide jest touched the edges 
 of the outer band all round even." 
 
 "Well, I guess I know," retorted the super- 
 intendent, flaring up. " I was out there yes- 
 terday with a level, an' walked all over it." 
 
 "Must'er got yer feet wet, then, sir," said 
 the skipper, with a laugh, as he turned toward 
 the door. " The tide 's been from eight inches 
 to a foot higher 'n usual for three days past ; 
 it 's full-moon tides." 
 
 During the talk Aunty Bell and Mrs. Taft 
 had slipped into the sitting-room, and the 
 superintendent, finding himself alone, called 
 to the skipper, and joined him on the garden 
 walk. 
 
 As the afternoon hours wore on, and no 
 other callers came in, — Mrs. Taft having 
 gone, — Aunty Bell brought a big basket, filled 
 with an assortment of yarn stockings of varied 
 
few ' 
 
 190 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 stains a,n4 repairs, out to a ch^ii; on the porch, 
 and made believe to herself that she was put- 
 ting them in order for the. captain when he 
 should need a dry pair. Now and then she 
 would stop, her hand in the rough stocking, 
 her needle poised, her mind going back, to the 
 days when she first moved to Keyport, and 
 this curly-haired girl from the fishing-village a 
 mile or more away had won her heart. Since, 
 the death of that baby girl of long ago, Betty, 
 somehow, had filled day by day all the deep 
 corners of the sore heart, still aching from this 
 earlier sorrow. When the girl's mother died, 
 a few months after Betty's marriage, Aunty 
 Bell had thrown a shawl over her head, and» 
 going to Caleb's cabin, had mounted the stairs 
 to Betty's little room and shut the door. With 
 infinite tenderness she had drawn the girl's 
 head down on her own bosom, and had poured 
 out to her all thq mother's love she had in her 
 own heart, and had told her of that daughter 
 of her dreams. Betty had not forgotten it, 
 and among all those she knew on the shore 
 road she loved Aunty Bell the best. There 
 were few days in the week — particularly in the 
 summer, when Caleb was away — that she was 
 not doing something for Aunty Bell, her bright 
 face and merry, ringing laugh filling the hou^e 
 and the little woman's life, — an infectious, 
 bubbling, girlish laugh that made it a delight 
 to be with her. 
 
CAPTAIN JOE'S TELEGRAM 191 
 
 But a fresh thought, like a draft from an 
 open door, rushed into Aunty Bell's mind with 
 a force that sent a shiver through her tender 
 heart, and chilled every kind impulse. Sup- 
 pose Caleb should turn his back on this girl 
 wife of his. What then > Ought she to take 
 her to her heart and brave it out with the neigh- 
 bors ? What sort of an example was it to 
 other young women along the ^shore, Aunty 
 Bell's world ? Could they, too, run off with 
 any young fellows they met, and then come 
 home and be forgiven ? It was all very well 
 for the captain, — he never stopped to think 
 about these things, — that was his way ; but 
 what was Aer duty in the matter .' Would it 
 not be better in the end for Betty if she were 
 made to realize her wrong-doing, and to suffer 
 for it ? 
 
 These alternating memories and perplexities 
 absorbed her as she sat on the porch, the stock- 
 ings in her lap, her mind first on one course of 
 action and then on another, until some tone of 
 Betty's voice, or the movement of her hand, 
 or the toss of her head came back, and with it 
 the one intense, overwhelming desire to help 
 and comfort the child she loved. 
 
 When it began to grow dark she lighted the 
 lamp in the front room, and made herself a cup 
 of tea in the kitchen. Every few minutes she 
 glanced at the clock, her ears alert for the 
 whistle of the incoming train. Losing confi- 
 
iga CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 dence even in the clock, she again took her 
 seat on the porch, her arms on the rail, her 
 plump chin resting on her hands, straining 
 her eyes to see far down the road. 
 
 When the signaling whistle of the train was 
 heard, the long-drawn sound reverberating 
 over the hills, she ran to the gate, and stood 
 there, her apron thrown over her head. Soon 
 a carriage passed, filled with summer visitors, 
 their trunks piled in front, and drove on up 
 the road. Then a man carrying a bag hurried 
 by with two women, their arms full of bundles. 
 After that the road was deserted. These ap- 
 peared to be all the passengers coming her 
 way. As the minutes dragged, and no sound 
 of footsteps reached her ear, and no big burly 
 figure with a slender girl beside it loomed 
 against the dim light of the fading sky, her 
 courage failed and her eyes began to grow 
 moist. She saw it all now : Betty dared not 
 come home and face Caleb and the others ! 
 
 Suddenly she heard her name called from 
 inside the house, and again from the kitchen 
 door. 
 
 " Aunty Bell ! Aunty Bell ! where be ye > " 
 
 It was the captain's voice: he must have 
 left the train at the drawbridge and crossed 
 lots, coming in at the rear gate. 
 
 She hurried up the plank walk, and met him 
 at the kitchen door. He was leaning against 
 the jamb. It was too dark to see his face. A 
 
CAPTAIN JOE'S TELEGRAM 193 
 
 dreadful sense of some impending calamity 
 overcame her. 
 
 " Where 's Betty ? " she faltered, scarcely 
 able to speak. 
 
 The captain pointed inside. 
 
 The little woman pushed past him into the 
 darkening room. For a moment she stood 
 still, her eyes fixed on Betty's slender, droop- 
 ing figure and bowed head, outlined against 
 the panes of the low window. 
 
 " Betty ! " she cried, running forward with 
 outstretched arms. 
 
 The girl did not move. 
 
 " Betty — my child ! " Aunty Bell cried 
 again, taking the weeping woman in her arras. 
 
 Then, with smothered kisses and halting, 
 broken speech, these two — the forgiving and 
 the forgiven — sank to the floor. 
 
 Outside, on a bench by the door, sat the cap- 
 tain, rocking himself, bringing his hands down 
 on his knees, and with every seesaw repeating 
 in a low tone to himself, " She 's home. She 's 
 home." 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 CAPTAIN joe's creed 
 
 When Captain Joe flung open Caleb's cabin 
 door, the same cry was on his lips: "She's 
 home, Caleb, she 's home ! Run 'way an' lef* 
 him, jes' 's I knowed she would, soon 's she 
 got the spell off'n her." 
 
 Caleb looked up over the rim of his glasses 
 into the captain's face. He was sitting at the 
 table in his shirt-sleeves and, rough overalls, 
 the carpet slippers on his feet. He was eating 
 his supper, — the supper that he had cooked 
 himsslf. 
 
 " How d' ye know .' " he asked. The voice did 
 not sound like Caleb's ; it was hoarse and weak. 
 
 " She come inter Mr. Sanford's place night 
 'fore last, scared almost to death, and he tuk 
 her to them Leroy folks ; they was stavin* 
 good to her an' kep' 'er till mornin', an' tele- 
 graphed me. I got the eight-ten this mornin'. 
 There warn't no time, Caleb," — in an apolo- 
 getic tone, — " or I 'd sent for ye, jes' 's Aunty 
 Bell wanted me to ; but I knowed ye 'd un- 
 derstand. We jes' got back. I 'd brought 'er 
 up, only she 's dead beat out, poor little gal." 
 
CAPTAIN JOE'S CREED 195 
 
 It was a long answer of the captain's to so 
 direct a question, and it was m^de with more 
 or less misgiving. It was evident from his 
 manner that he was a little nervous over the 
 result. He did not take his eyes from the 
 diver's face as he fired these shots at random, 
 wondering where <ind how they would strike. 
 
 " Where is she now ? " inquired Caleb quietly. 
 
 " Down on my kitchen floor with her head 
 in Aunty Bell's lap. Git yer hat and come 
 'long." The captain leaned over the table as 
 he spoke, and rested one hand on the back of 
 Caleb's chair. 
 
 Caleb did not raise his eyes nor move. " I 
 can't do her no good no more, Cap'n Joe. It 
 was jes' like ye to try an' help her. Ye 'd do 
 it for anybody that was a-sufferin' ; but I don't 
 see my way clear. I done all I could for her 
 'fore she lef me, — leastwise I thought I had." 
 There was no change in the listless monotone 
 of his voice. 
 
 " You alius done by her, Caleb." The cap- 
 tain's hand had slipped from the chair-back to 
 Caleb's shoulder. " I know it, and she knows 
 it now. She ain't ever goin' to forgive herself 
 for the way she 's treated ye, — tol' me so to- 
 day comin' up. She 's been hoodooed, I tell 
 ye, — that 's what 's the matter ; but she 's come 
 to now. Come along ; I '11 git yer hat. She 
 ought'er go to sleep purty soon." 
 
 "Ye need n't look for my hat, Cap'n Joe. 
 
. 196 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVEK 
 
 I ain't a-goin'," said Caleb quietly, leaning back 
 in his chair. The lamp shone full on his face 
 and beard. Captain Joe could see the deep 
 lines about the eyes, seaming the dry, shrunken 
 skin. The diver had grown to be a very old 
 man in a week. 
 
 " You say you ain't a-goin', Caleb .' " In his 
 heart he had not expected this. 
 
 " No, Cap'n Joe ; I 'm goin' to stay here an* 
 git along th' best way I kin. I ain't blamin' 
 Betty. I 'm blamin' myself. I been a-thinkin' 
 it all over. She done 'er best to love me and 
 do by mCj but I was too old for 'er. If it 
 had n't been Billy, it would'er been somebody 
 else, — somebody younger 'n me." 
 
 " She don't want nobody else but you, Caleb." 
 The captain's voice rose quickly. He was 
 crossing the room for a chair as he spoke. 
 " She told me so to-day. She purty nigh cried 
 herself sick comin' up. I was arfeard folks 
 would notice her." 
 
 " She 's sorry now, cap'n, an' wants ter come 
 back, 'cause she 's skeered of it all, but she 
 don't love me no more 'n she did when she lef 
 me. When Billy finds she 's gone, he '11 be 
 arter her agin" — 
 
 " Not if I git my hands on him," interrupted 
 the captain angrily, dragging the chair to Ca- 
 leb's side. 
 
 " An' when she begins to hunger for him," 
 continued Caleb, taking no notice of the out- 
 
CAPTAIN JOE'S CREED 197 
 
 burst, " it '11 be all to do over agin. She won't 
 be happy without him. I ain't got nothin' agin 
 'er, but I won't take 'er back. It '11 only make 
 it wus for her in the end." 
 
 " Ye ain't a-goin' ter chuck that gal out in 
 the road, be ye.'" cried Captain Joe, seating 
 himself beside the table, his head thrust forward 
 in Caleb's face in his earnestness. " What 's 
 she but a chit of a child that don't know no 
 better.'" he burst out. "She ain't more 'n 
 twenty now, and here 's some on us more 'n 
 twice 'er age and liable to do wus every day. 
 Think of yerself when ye was her age. Do ye 
 remember all the mean things ye done, and the 
 lies ye. told ? S'pose you 'd been chucked out 
 as ye want to do to Betty. It ain't decent for 
 ye to talk so, Caleb, and I don't like ye fur it, 
 neither. She 's a good gal, and you know it," 
 and the captain, in his restlessness, shifted the 
 chair and planted it immediately in front of 
 Caleb, where he could look him straight in the 
 eye. Aunty Bell had told him just what Caleb 
 would say, but he had not believed it possible. 
 
 " I ain't said she warn't, Cap'n Joe. I ain't 
 blamin' her, nor never will. I 'm blamin' my- 
 self. I ought'er stayed tendin' light-ship in- 
 stead' er comin' ashore and spilin' 'er life. I 
 was lonely, and the fust one was alius sickly, 
 an' I thought maybe my time had come then ; 
 and it did while she was with me. I 'd ruther 
 beared her a-singin', when I come in here at 
 
»98 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 night, than any music I ever knowed." His 
 voice broke for a moment. " I done by her 
 all I could, but I begin to see lately she was 
 lonelier here with me than I was 'board ship 
 with nothin' half the time to talk to but my 
 dog. I didn't think it was Billy she wanted, 
 but I see it now." 
 
 Captain Joe rose from his chair and began 
 pacing the room. His onslaughts broke 
 against Caleb's indomitable will with as little 
 effect as did the waves about his own feet the 
 day he set the derricks. 
 
 His faith in Betty's coming to herself had 
 never been shaken for an instant. If it had, 
 it would all have been restored the morning 
 she met him at Mrs. Leroy's, and, throwing 
 her arms about him, clung to him like a fright- 
 ened kitten. His love for the girl was so great 
 that he had seen but one side of the question. 
 Her ingratitude, her selfishness in ignoring 
 the disgrace and misery she would bring this 
 man who had been everything to her, had held 
 no place in the captain's mind. To him the 
 case was a plain one. She was young and 
 foolish, and had committed a fault ; she was 
 sorry and repentant ; she had run away from 
 her sin ; she had come back to the one she had 
 wronged, and she wanted to be forgiven. That 
 was his steadfast point of view, and this was 
 his creed : " Neither do I condemn thee ; go 
 and sin no more." That Caleb did not view 
 
CAPTAIN JOE'S CREED 199 
 
 the question in the same way at first aston- 
 ished, then irritated him. If she had broken 
 the Master's command again, he would perhaps 
 have let her go her way, — for what was 
 innately bad he hated, — but not now, when 
 she had awakened to a sense of her sin. He 
 continued to pace up and down Caleb's kitchen, 
 his hands behind his broad back, his horny, 
 stubby fingers twisting nervously together. 
 Caleb sat still in his chair, the lamplight 
 streaming over his face. In all the discussion 
 his voice had been one low monotone. It 
 seemed but a phonographic echo of his once 
 clear tones. 
 
 The captain resumed his seat with a half- 
 baffled, weary air. 
 
 " Caleb," he said, — there was a softness 
 now in the tones of his voice that made the 
 diver raise his head, — " you and me hev 
 knowed each other off 'n' on for nigh on to 
 twenty years. We 've had it thick and nasty, 
 and we 've had as clear weather as ever a man 
 sailed in. You 've tried to do square 'tween 
 man and man, and so far 's I know, ye have,, 
 and I don't believe ye 're goin' to turn crooked 
 now. From the time this child used to come 
 down to the dock, when I fust come to work 
 here, and talk to me 'tween school hours, and 
 Aunty Bell would take her in to dinner, down 
 to the time she got hoodooed by that smooth, 
 face and lyin' tongue, — damn him ! I '11 spile; 
 
20O CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 t'other side for him, some day, wus than the 
 Screamer did, — from that time, I say, this 
 'ere little gal ain't been nothin' but a bird 
 fillin' everything full of singin' from the time 
 she got up till she went to bed agin. I ask ye 
 now, man to man, if that ain't so ? " 
 
 Caleb nodded his head. 
 
 "During all that time there ain't been a 
 soul up and down this road, man, woman, nor 
 child, that she would n't help if she could, — 
 and there 's a blame' sight of 'em she did help, 
 as you an' I know : sick child'en, sittin' up with 
 'em nights ; an' makin' bonnets for folks as 
 could n't git 'em no other way, without payin' 
 for 'em ; and doin' all she could to make this 
 place happier for her bein' in it. Since she 's 
 been yer wife, there ain't been a tidier nor 
 nicer place along the shore road than yours, 
 and there ain't been a happier little woman 
 nor home nowheres. Is that so, or not ? " 
 
 Again Caleb nodded his head. 
 
 " While all this is a-goin' on, here comes 
 that little skunk. Bill Lacey, with a tongue 
 like 'n ile-can, and every time she says she 's 
 lonely or tired — and she's had plenty of it, 
 you bein' away — he up's with his can and 
 squirts it into 'er ear about her bein' tied to 
 an old man, and how if she 'd married him he 
 would n't 'a' lef her a minute " — 
 
 Caleb looked up inquiringly, an ugly gleam 
 in his eyes. 
 
CAPTAIN JOE'S CREED 201 
 
 "Oh, I ketched him at it one day in my 
 kitchen, and I tol' him then I'd break his 
 head, and I wish to God I had, now ! Purty 
 soon comes the time with the Screamer, and 
 his face gets stove in. What does Betty do ? 
 Leave them men to git 'long best way they 
 could, — like some o' the folks round here that 
 was just as well able to 'ford the time, — or 
 did she stand by and ketch a line and make 
 fast ? I '11 tell ye what she done, 'cause I was 
 there, and you warn't. Fust one come ashore 
 was Billy ; he looked like he 'd fallen off a top- 
 gall'nt mast and struck the deck with his face. 
 Lonny Bowles come next ; he warn't so bad 
 mashed up. What did Betty do.' Pick out 
 the easiest one ? No, she jes' anchored right 
 'longside that boy, and hung on, and never had 
 'er clo'es off for nigh on to forty-eight hours. If 
 he 's walkin' round now he owes it to her. Is 
 that so, or not ? " 
 
 "It's true, cap'n," said Caleb, his eyes fas- 
 tened on the captain's face. The lids were 
 heavy now ; only his will held back the tears. 
 
 " For three weeks this went on, she a-settin* 
 like a little rabbit with her paws up starin' at 
 him, her eyes gettin' bigger all the time, an' 
 he lyin', coiled up like a snake, lookin' up into 
 her face until he 'd hoodooed her and got her 
 clean off her centre. Now there 's one thing 
 I 'm a-goin' to ask ye, an' before I ask ye, an' 
 before ye answer it, I 'm a-goin' to ask ye an- 
 
202 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 Other : when the Three Sisters come ashore 
 on Deadman Shoal las' winter in that sou'- 
 easter, 'cause the light warn't lit, an' all o' 
 them men was drownded, whose fault was it ? " 
 
 " Why, you know, Cap'n Joe," Caleb inter- 
 posed quickly, eager to defend a brother 
 keeper, a pained and surprised expression over- 
 spreading his face. " Poor Charles Edwards 
 had been out o' his head for a week." 
 
 " That 's right, Caleb ; that 's what I heard, 
 an' that 's true, an' the dead men and the 
 owners had n't nobody to blame, an' did n't. 
 Now I '11 ask ye the other question : When 
 Betty, after livin' every day of her life as 
 straight as a marlin spike, run away an' lef ye 
 a week ago, an' broke up yer home, who 's to 
 blame, — Betty, or the hoodoo that 's put 'er 
 out'er her mind ever since the Screamer blowed 
 up > " 
 
 Caleb settled back in his chair and rested 
 his chin on his hand, his big fluffy beard hiding 
 his wrist and shirt-cuff. For a long time he 
 did not answer. The captain sat, with his 
 hands on his knees, looking searchingly into 
 Caleb's face, watching every expression that 
 crossed it. 
 
 "Cap'n Joe," said the diver in his calm, low 
 voice, " I hearn ye talk, an' I know ye well 
 'nough to know that ye believe every word ye 
 say, an' I don't know but it 's all true. I ain't 
 had much 'sperience o' women folks, only two. 
 
CAPTAIN JOE'S CREED 203 
 
 But I don't think ye git this right. It ain't 
 for myself that I 'm thinkin'. I kin git along 
 alone, an' do my own cookin' an' washin' same 
 as I alius used to. It 's Betty I 'm thinkin' of. 
 She 's tried me more 'n a year, an' done her 
 best, an' give it up. She wouldn't 'a' been 
 'hoodooed,' as ye call it, by Bill Lacey if her 
 own heart warn't ready for it 'fore he began. 
 It 's agin natur' for a gal as young 's Betty to 
 be happy with a man 's old 's me. She can't 
 do it, no matter how hard she tries. I did n't 
 know it when I asked her, but I see it now." 
 
 " But she knows better now, Caleb ; she ain't 
 a-goin' to cut up. no more capers." There was 
 a yearning, an almost pitiful tone in the cap- 
 tain's voice. His face was close to Caleb's. 
 
 " Ye think so, an' maybe she won't ; but 
 there s one thing yer don't seem to see, Cap'n 
 Joe : she can't git out'er love with me an' inter 
 love with Billy an' back agin to me in a week." 
 
 These last words came slowly, as if they had 
 been dragged up out of the very depths of his 
 heart. 
 
 " She never was out'er love with ye, Caleb, 
 nor in with Lacey. Don't I tell ye .' " he cried 
 impatiently, too absorbed in Betty's welfare to , 
 note the seriousness of Caleb's tone. 
 
 "Yes," said Caleb. His voice had fallen 
 almost to a whisper. "I know ye think so, 
 but th' bes' thing now for the little gal is to 
 give 'er 'er freedom, an' let 'er go 'er way. She 
 
204 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 shan't suffer as long 's I 've got a dollar, but I 
 won't have 'er come home. It '11 only break 
 her heart then as well 's mine. Now — now — 
 it 's only me — that is " — Caleb's head sank 
 to the table until his face lay on his folded arms. 
 
 Captain Joe rose from his chair, bent down 
 and laid his hand softly on the diver's shoulder. 
 When he spoke his voice had the pleading tones 
 of a girl. 
 
 " Caleb, don't keep nothin' back in yer heart ; 
 take Betty home. You need n't go down for 
 her. I '11 go myself an' bring her here. It 
 won't be ten minutes 'fore her arms '11 be round 
 yer neck. Lemme go for her ? " 
 
 The diver raised his head erect, looked Cap- 
 tain Joe calmly in the eye, and, without a trace 
 of bitterness in his voice, said : " She '11 never 
 set foot here as my wife agin, Cap'n Joe, as 
 long 's she lives. I ain't got the courage to 
 set still an' see her pine away day arter day, if 
 she comes back, an' I won't. I love 'er too 
 much for that. If she was my own child in- 
 stead o' my wife, I 'd say the same thing. It 's 
 Betty I 'm a-thinkin' of, not myself. It 'd be 
 twict 's hard for 'er the next time she got tired 
 an' wanted to go. It 's all over now, an' she 's 
 free. Let it all stay so." 
 
 " Don't say that, Caleb." The shock of the 
 refusal seemed to have stunned him. " Don't 
 say that. Think o' that child, Caleb : she come 
 back to ye, an' you shut your door agin 'er." 
 
CAPTAIN JOE'S CREED 205 
 
 Caleb shook his head, with a meaning movS' 
 ment that showed the iron will of the man and 
 the hopelessness of further discussion, 
 
 " Then she ain't good 'nough for ye, 's that 
 it?" 
 
 The captain was fast losing his self-control. 
 He knew in his heart that in these last words 
 he was doing Caleb an injustice, but his anger 
 got the better of him. 
 
 Caleb did not answer. 
 
 " That 's it. Say it out. You don't believe 
 in her." His voice now rang through the 
 kitchen. One hand was straight up over his 
 head ; his lips quivered. " Ye think she 's some 
 low-down critter instead of a poor child that 
 ain't done nobody no wrong intentional. I ask 
 ye for th' las' time, Caleb. Be decent to yer- 
 self. Be a father to 'er, if ye can't be no more ; 
 an' if ye can't be that, — damn ye ! — stan' up 
 an' forgive her like a man." 
 
 Caleb made no sign. The cruel thrust had 
 not reached his heart. He knew his friend, 
 and he knew all sides of his big nature. The 
 clear blue eyes still rested on the captain's face. 
 
 " You won't .' " There was a tone almost of 
 defiance in the captain's words. 
 
 The diver again shook his head. 
 
 " Then I '11 tell ye one thing, Caleb, right 
 here " (he was now bent forward, his forefinger 
 in Caleb's face straight out like a spike) : " ye 're 
 doin' the meanest thing I ever knowed a man 
 
2o6 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 to do in my whole life. I don't like ye fur it, 
 an' I never will 's long 's I live. I would n't 
 serve a dog so, let alone Betty. An' now I '11 
 tell ye another : if she ain't good 'nough to live 
 with you, she 's good 'nough to live with Aunty 
 Bell an' me, an' there 's where she '11 stay jes' 
 's long 's she wants to." 
 
 Without a word of good-night he picked up 
 his hat and strode from the room, slamming 
 the door behind him with a force that rattled 
 every plate on the table. 
 
 Caleb half started from his chair as if to call 
 him back. Then, with a deep indrawn sigh, he 
 rose wearily from the chair, covered the smoul- 
 dering fire with ashes, locked the doors, fas- 
 tened the two shutters, and, taking up the 
 lamp, went slowly upstairs to his empty bed. 
 
 The following Sunday Captain Joe shaved 
 himself with the greatest care, — that is, he 
 slashed his face as full of cuts as a Heidelberg 
 student's after a duel ; squeezed his big broad 
 shoulders into his black coat, — the one inches 
 too tight across the back, the cloth all in cor- 
 rugated wrinkles ; tugged at his stiff starched 
 collar until his face was purple ; hauled taut a 
 sleazy cravat ; and, in a determined quarter- 
 deck voice rarely heard from him, ordered 
 Aunty Bell to get on her best clothes, call 
 Betty, and come with him. 
 
 " What in natur' 's got into ye, Cap'n Joe ? " 
 
CAPTAIN JOE'S CREED 207 
 
 " Church 's got inter me, and you an' Betty's 
 goin' along." 
 
 " Ye ain't never goin' to church, be ye ? " 
 'No wonder Aunty Bell was thunderstruck. 
 Neither of them had been inside of a church 
 ^ince they moved to Keyport. Sunday was the 
 •captain's day for getting rested, and Aunty 
 Bell always helped him. 
 
 " I ain't, ain't I ? That 's all ye know, Jane 
 Bell. You git Betty an' come along, jes' 's I 
 tell ye. I 'm a-runnin' this ship." There was 
 that peculiar look in the captain's eye and tone 
 in his voice that his wife knew too well. It was 
 never safe to resist him in one of these moods. 
 
 Betty burst into tears wh«n the little woman 
 told her, and said she dared not go, and 
 couldn't, until a second quick, not-to-be-ques- 
 tioned order resounded up the staircase : — 
 
 " Here, now, that church bell 's purty nigh 
 done ringin'. We got ter git aboard 'fore the 
 gangplank's drawed in." 
 
 " Come along, child," said Aunty Bell. 
 ** 'T ain't no use ; he 's got one o' his spells on. 
 Which church be ye goin' to, anyway .' " she 
 called to him, as they came downstairs. 
 " Methodist or Dutch ? " 
 
 "Don't make no difference, — fust one we 
 come to ; an' Betty 's goin' to set plumb in the 
 middle 'tween you an' me, jes' so 's folks kin 
 see. I ain't goin' to have no funny business, 
 nor hand-whispers, nor head-shakin's about the 
 
2o8 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 little gal from nobody along this shore, from 
 the preacher down, or somebody '11 git hurted." 
 
 All through the service — he had marched 
 down the middle aisle and taken the front seat 
 nearest the pulpit — he sat bolt upright, like a 
 corporal on guard, his eyes on the minister,, 
 his ears alert. Now and then he would sweep 
 his glance around, meeting the wondering looks 
 of the congregation, who had lost interest in 
 everything about them but the three figures- 
 in the front pew. Then, with a satisfied air, 
 now that neither the speaker nor his hearers 
 showed anything but respectful curiosity, and 
 no spoken word from the pulpit bore the remot- 
 est connection with the subject uppermost in 
 his mind, — no Magdalens nor Prodigal Sons, 
 nor anything of like significance (there is no 
 telling what would have happened had there 
 been), — he settled himself again, and looked 
 straight at the minister. 
 
 When the benediction had been pronounced 
 he waited until the crowd got thickest around 
 the door, — he knew why the congregation 
 lagged behind ; then he made his way into its 
 midst, holding Betty by the arm as if she had 
 been under arrest. Singling out old Captain 
 Potts, a retired sea-captain, a great church- 
 goer and something of a censor over the morals 
 of the community, he tapped him on the shoul- 
 der, and said in a voice loud enough to be 
 heard by everybody : — 
 
CAPTAIN JOE'S CREED 209 
 
 " This is our little gal, Betty West, Cap'n 
 Potts. Caleb 's gin her up, and she 's come 
 to live with us. When ye 're passin' our way 
 with yer folks, it won't do ye no harm to stop 
 in to see her " 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 A SHANTY DOOR 
 
 Sanford had expected, when he led Betty 
 from his door, that Mrs. Leroy would give her 
 kindly shelter, but he had not been prepared 
 for all that he heard the next day. Kate had not 
 only received the girl into her house, but had 
 placed her for the night in a bedroom adjoin- 
 ing her own ; arranging the next morning a 
 small table in her dressing-room where Betty 
 could breakfast alone, free from the pryings 
 of inquisitive servants. Mrs. Leroy told all 
 these things to Sanford : describing the heart- 
 broken weariness of the girl when she arrived ; 
 the little joyful cry she gave when big, burly 
 Captain Joe, his eyes blinded by the hot mid- 
 day glare outside, came groping his way into 
 the darkened boudoir ; and Betty's glad spring 
 into his arms, where she lay while the captain 
 held her with one hand, trying to talk to both 
 Betty and herself at once, the tears rolling 
 down his cheeks, his other great hand with the 
 thole-pin fingers patting the girl's tired face. 
 Mrs. Leroy told Sanford all these things and 
 more, but she did not say how she herself had 
 
A SHANTY DOOR 211 
 
 sat beside Betty on the divan that same morn- 
 ing, before Captain Joe arrived, winning little 
 by little the girl's confidence, until the whole 
 story came out. Neither did she tell him with 
 ■what tact and gentleness she, the woman of 
 the world, whose hours of loneliness had been 
 more bitter and intense than any that Betty 
 ever knew, had shown this inexperienced girl 
 how much more noble it would have been to 
 suffer and stand firm, doing and being the 
 right, than to succumb as she had done. Nor 
 yet did she tell Sanford how Betty's mind had 
 cleared, as she talked on, and of the way in 
 which the girl's brown hand had crept toward 
 her own till it nestled among her jeweled fin- 
 gers, while with tender words of worldly wis- 
 dom she had prepared her foster sister for 
 what she still must face in penance for her 
 sin ; instructing her in the use of those wea- 
 pons of self-control, purity of purpose, and pa- 
 tience, with which she must arm herself if she 
 would win the struggle. Nor how, before the 
 morning hours were gone, she had received the 
 girl's promise to go back to her home, and, if 
 her husband would not receive her, to fight on 
 until she again won for herself the respect she 
 had lost, and among those, too, who had once 
 loved her. Least of all did she tell Sanford 
 that when the talk was over and Betty was 
 gone, she had thrown herself on her own bed 
 in an agony of tears, wondering after all which 
 
212 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 one of the two had done the better for herself 
 in the battle of life, — she or the girl. 
 
 Sanford knew nothing of this. As he sat 
 in the train, on his way back to Keyport, his 
 heart had gone out to the girl, for he had been 
 greatly wrought up by the story Kate told him 
 and by the pictures she had given of the inter- 
 view. Yet, strange to say, he found himself 
 bewildered by the fact that, even more than 
 the story, he remembered the tones of Kate's 
 voice and the very color of her eyes as she 
 talked. He was constantly seeing, too, as he 
 lingered over its details, a vision of Kate her- 
 self as she stood in the hall and bade him 
 good-by, — her full white throat above the ruf- 
 fles of her morning-gown. As he rode on, he 
 found it difficult to turn his mind to other 
 things, or to quiet his inner enthusiasm for her 
 gentleness and charity. 
 
 And yet there were important affairs to 
 which he owed immediate attention. Carle- 
 ton's continued refusal to sign a certificate for 
 the concrete disk, without which no payment 
 would be made by the government, would, if 
 persisted in, cause him serious embarrassment. 
 The difficulty with Carleton had already 
 reached an acute stage. Captain Joe had alto- 
 gether failed in his efforts to make the superin- 
 tendent sign the certificate, and Carleton had 
 threatened to wire the Department and de- 
 mand a board of survey if his orders were not 
 
A SHANTY DOOR 113 
 
 complied with at once. The captain generally 
 retired from the field and left the campaign to 
 Sanford whenever, in the course of their work, 
 it became necessary to fight the United States 
 government — the sea was his enemy. 
 
 In this discussion, however, he had taken 
 the pains to explain to Carleton patiently, and 
 bethought intelligently, the falsity of the stand 
 he took, showing him that his idea about the 
 concrete base being too low was the result of 
 a mere optical illusion, due to the action of the 
 tide which backed the water up higher within 
 the breakwater on the southeast side ; that 
 when the first course of masonry was laid, 
 bringing the mass of concrete out of water, 
 his — Carleton's — mistake would be instantly 
 detected. 
 
 Captain Joe was as much out of patience as 
 he ever permitted himself to be with Carleton, 
 when he shook Sanford's hand on his arrival. 
 
 "Ain't no man on earth smart 'nough to 
 make eleven inches a foot, let alone a critter 
 like him ! " he said, as he explained the latest 
 development. 
 
 Once over the sloop's side, Sanford laid his 
 bag on the deck and turned to the men. 
 
 " Who saw the concrete at dead low water 
 during that low tide we had after the last 
 northwest blow ? " he inquired. 
 
 " I did, sir," answered Captain Brandt. " I 
 told Mr. Carleton he was wrong. The water 
 
214 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 jes' tetched the outer iron band all round when 
 I see it. It was dead calm an' dead low water." 
 
 " What do you say to that, Mr. Carleton ? " 
 asked Sanford, laughing. 
 
 " I 'm not here to take no back talk from 
 nobody," replied Carleton in a surly tone. 
 
 " Lonny," said Sanford, — he saw that fur- 
 ther discussion with the superintendent was 
 useless, — " go ashore and get my transit and 
 target rod; you'll find them in my bedroom 
 at the captain's ; and please put them here in' 
 the skipper's bunk, so they won't get broken, 
 I '11 run a level on the concrete myself, Mr, 
 Carleton, when we get to the Ledge." 
 
 "There ain't no use of your transit," retorted 
 Carleton, with a sneer. " It 's six inches too 
 low, I tell you. You '11 fix it as I want it, or I '11 
 stop the work." 
 
 Sanford looked at him, but held his peace. 
 It had not been his first experience with men 
 of Carleton's class. He proposed, all the same, 
 to know for himself who was right. He had 
 seen Carleton use a transit, and had had a dim 
 suspicion at the time that the superintendent 
 was looking through the eyepiece while it was 
 closed. 
 
 " Get ready for the Ledge, Captain Brandt,, 
 as soon as Lonny returns," said Sanford. 
 " Where 's Caleb, Captain Joe .? We may 
 want him." 
 
 The captain touched Sanford on the shoul- 
 
A SHANTY DOOR 2IJ 
 
 der and moved down the deck with him, where 
 he stood behind one of the big stones, out of 
 hearing of the other men. 
 
 " He 's all broke up, sir. He ain't been to 
 work since the little gal left. I want to thank 
 ye, Mr. Sanford, for what ye did for 'er ; and 
 that friend o' yourn could n't 'a' been no better 
 to her if she 'd been her sister." 
 
 " Oh, that 's all right, captain," said Sanford, 
 laying a hand on his shoulder. " Betty is at 
 your house, I hear. How does she bear it .' " 
 
 " Gritty as she kin be, but she ain't braced 
 up much ; Aunty Bell 's got 'er arms round 
 'er most of the time. I wish you 'd send for 
 Caleb ; nothin' else '11 bring him out. He 
 won't come for me. I '11 go for him myself, if 
 ye say so." 
 
 " Go get him. I may want him to hold a rod 
 in four or five feet of water. He won't need 
 his helmet, but he '11 need his dress. Do you 
 hear anything about Lacey ? " 
 
 " He ain't been round where any of us could 
 see him — and git hold of him," answered Cap- 
 tain Joe, knitting his brows. " I jes' wish he 'd 
 come once. I beared he was over to Stonin'- 
 ton, workin' on the railroad." 
 
 The captain jumped into the yawl and sculled 
 away toward the diver's cabin. He had not 
 felt satisfied with himself since the night when 
 Caleb had refused to take Betty back. He had 
 said then, in the heat of the moment, some 
 
216 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 things which had hurt him as much as they had 
 hurt Caleb. He would have told him so before, 
 but he had been constantly at the Ledge re- 
 ceiving the big cut stones for the masonry, nine 
 of which were then piled up on the Screamer's 
 deck. After that there bad arisen the diflflculty 
 with Carleton. This now was his opportunity. 
 
 The men on the sloop, somehow, knew Caleb 
 was coming, and there was more or less curi- 
 osity to see him. Nickles, standing inside the 
 galley and within earshot, had probably over- 
 heard Sanford's request. 
 
 All the men liked the old diver. His cour- 
 age, skill, and many heroic acts above and 
 under water had earned their respect, while 
 his universal kindness and cheeriness had won 
 their confidence. The calamity that had over- 
 taken him had been discussed and re-discussed ; 
 and while many hopes were indulged in regard- 
 ing the future condition of Lacey's soul and 
 the present state of his eyes, profane hopes 
 that would have interfered seriously with the 
 eternal happiness of the first and the seeing 
 qualities of the second, and while numerous 
 criticisms were as freely passed upon Betty, 
 nothing but kindness and sympathy was felt 
 for Caleb. 
 
 When Caleb came up over the sloop's rail, 
 followed by Captain Joe, it was easy to see that 
 all was right between him and the captain. One 
 hearty handshake inside the cabin's kitchen, and 
 
A SHANTY DOOR 2i7 
 
 a trank outspoken " I 'm sorry, Caleb ; don't lay 
 it up agin me," had done that. When Caleb 
 spoke to the men, in his usual gentle manner, 
 each one of them said or did some little thing, 
 as chance offered an unobtrusive opportunity, 
 that conveyed to the diver a heartfelt sorrow 
 for his troubles, — every one but Carleton, who 
 purposely, perhaps, had gone down into the 
 cabin, his temper still ruffled over his encounter 
 with Captain Joe and Sanford. 
 
 And so Caleb once more took his place on 
 the working force. 
 
 As the Screamer rounded to and made fast 
 in the eddy, the Ledge gang were engaged in 
 using the system of derricks, which since the 
 final anchoring had never needed an hour's 
 additional work. They were moving back from 
 the landing-wharf the big cut stones required 
 to lay the first course of masonry, the work to 
 begin as soon as the controversy over the 
 proper level of the concrete was settled. 
 
 With the making fast of the Screamer to the 
 floating buoys in the eddy, the life-boat from 
 the Ledge pulled alongside, and landed Sanford, 
 Carleton, Captain Joe, Caleb, and the skipper, 
 — Lonny Bowles carrying the transit and rod 
 as carefully as if they had been two long icicles. 
 When the party reached the Ledge the concrete 
 was found to be awash with three feet of water ; 
 nothing of the mass itself could be seen by 
 the naked eye. It was therefore apparent that 
 
ai8 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 if the dispute was to be settled it could be 
 done only by a series of exact measurements, 
 Carleton showed every evidence of satisfaction. 
 He had begun to suspect he might be wrong, 
 but his obstinacy sustained him. Now that 
 the disk was covered with water there was still 
 reason for dispute. 
 
 Caleb squeezed himself into his diving-dress, 
 and began operations, Captain Joe fastening 
 the water-tight cuffs over his wrists, leaving 
 his hands free. The diver then picked up the 
 rod with its adjustable target and plunged 
 across the shallow basin, the water coming up 
 to his hips. Sanford meanwhile arranged the 
 tripod on the platform, leveled his instrument, 
 directing Caleb where to hold the rod, and be- 
 gan his survey. Captain Joe stood one side 
 recording his findings with a big blue lead pen- 
 cil on a short strip of plank. 
 
 The first entries showed that the two seg- 
 ments of the circle — the opposite segments, 
 southeast and northwest — varied barely three 
 tenths of an inch in height. This, of course, 
 was immaterial over so large a surface. The 
 result proved conclusively that Carleton's claim 
 that one section of the concrete was six inches 
 too low was absurd. 
 
 " I 'm afraid I shall have to decide against 
 you this time, Mr. Carleton," said Sanford 
 pleasantly. " Run your eye through this tran- 
 sit ; you can see yourself what it shows." 
 
A SHANTY DOOR 219 
 
 "Right or wrong," broke out Carleton, now 
 thoroughly angry, both over his defeat and at 
 the half-concealed, jeering remarks of the men, 
 "it's got to go up six inches, or not a cut 
 stone will be laid. That 's what I 'm here for, 
 and what I S3.y goes." 
 
 "But please take the transit and see for 
 yourself, Mr. Carleton," urged Sanford. 
 
 " I don't know nothin' about your transit, 
 nor who fixed it to suit you," snarled Carleton. 
 
 Sanford bit his lip, and made no answer. 
 There were more important things to be done 
 in the building of a light than the resenting 
 of such insults or quarreling with a superin- 
 tendent. The skipper, however, to whom the 
 superintendent was a first experience, and who 
 took his answer as in some way a reflection on 
 his own veracity, walked quickly toward him 
 with his fist tightly clinched. His big frame 
 towered over Carleton's. 
 
 " Thank you, Captain Brandt," said Sanford, 
 noticing the skipper's expression and intent. 
 " But Mr. Carleton is n't in earnest. His tran- 
 sit is not here, and \ye cannot tell who fixed 
 that." 
 
 The men laughed, and the skipper stopped 
 and stood aside, awaiting any further devel- 
 opments that might require his aid. 
 
 "In view of these measurements," asked 
 Sanford, as he held before Carleton's eyes the 
 piece of plank bearing Captain Joe's record, 
 
220 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 " do you still order the six inches of concrete 
 put in ? " 
 
 " Certainly I do," said Carleton. His ugly 
 temper was gradually being hidden under an 
 air of authority. Sanford's tact had regained 
 him a debating position. 
 
 " And you take the responsibility of the 
 change ? " 
 
 " I do," replied Carleton in a blustering 
 voice. 
 
 "Then please put that order in writing," 
 said Sanford quietly, " and I will see it done 
 as soon as the tide lowers." 
 
 Carleton's manner changed ; he saw the pit 
 that lay before him. If he were wrong, the 
 written order would fix his responsibility ; 
 without that telltale record he could deny af- 
 terward having given the order, if good policy 
 so demanded. 
 
 " Well, that ain't necessary ; you go ahead," 
 said Carleton, with less vehemence. 
 
 " I think it is, Mr. Carleton. "Y bu ask me 
 to alter a bench-mark level which I know to 
 be right, and which every man about us knows 
 to be right. You refuse a written certificate 
 if I do not carry out your orders, and yet you 
 expect me to commit this engineering crime 
 because of your personal opinion, — an opinion 
 which you now refuse to back up by your sig- 
 nature." 
 
 "I ain't given you a single written order 
 
A SHANTY DOOR Mt 
 
 this season : why should I now ? " in an eva- 
 sive tone, 
 
 " Because up to this time you have asked 
 for nothing unreasonable. Then you refuse ? " 
 
 " I do, and I 'm not to be bulldozed, neither." 
 
 " Caleb," said Sanford, with the air of a man 
 who had made up his mind, raising his voice to 
 the diver, still standing in the water, " put that 
 rod on the edge of the iron band." 
 
 Caleb felt around under the water with his 
 foot, found the band, and placed on it the end 
 of the rod. Sanford carefully adjusted the in- 
 strument. 
 
 " What does it measure ? " 
 
 "Thirteen feet six inches, sir!" shouted 
 Caleb. 
 
 "Lenny Bowles," continued Sanford, "take 
 three or four of the men and go along the 
 breakwater and see if Caleb is right." 
 
 The men scrambled over the rocks, Lonny 
 plunging into the water beside Caleb, so as to 
 get closer to the rod. 
 
 " Thirteen feet six inches ! " came back the 
 voices of Lonny and the others, speaking suc- 
 cessively. 
 
 " Now, Captain Joe, look through this eye- 
 piece and see if you iind the red quartered tar- 
 get in the centre of the spider-web lines. You, 
 too, skipper." 
 
 The men put their eyes to the glass, each 
 announcing that he saw the red of the disk. 
 
822 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 " Now, Caleb, make your way across to the 
 northwest derrick, and hold the rod on the 
 band there." 
 
 The old diver waded across the concrete, 
 and held the rod and target over his head. 
 The men followed him around the breakwater, 
 
 — all except Bowles, who, being as wet as he 
 could be, plunged in waist-deep. 
 
 Sanford turned the transit without disturb- 
 ing the tripod, and adjusted it until the lens 
 covered the target. 
 
 " Raise it a little, Caleb ! " shouted Sanford, 
 
 — " so ! What is she now ? " 
 
 " Thirteen feet six inches and — a — half ! " 
 
 " Right ! How is it, men ? " 
 
 "Thirteen six and a half ! " came back the 
 replies, after each man had assured himself. 
 
 " Now bring me a clean, dry plank. Captain 
 Joe," said Sanford. " That 's too small," as 
 the captain held out the short piece containing 
 the record. Clean planks were scarce on the 
 cement-stained work ; dry ones were never 
 found. 
 
 Everybody went in search of a suitable 
 plank. Carleton looked on at this pantomime 
 with a curl on his lips, and now and then a 
 little shiver of uncertain fear creeping over 
 him. Sanford's quiet, determined manner puz- 
 zled him. 
 
 " What 's all this circus about .' " he broke 
 out impatiently. 
 
:A SHANTY DOOR 223 
 
 "One minute, Mr. Carletgn. I want to 
 make a record which \vill be big enough for 
 the men to sign ; one that . won't get astray, 
 lost, or stolen." 
 
 "What's the matter with this.'" asked 
 Captain Joe, opening the wooden door of the 
 new part of the shanty. " Ye can't lose this 
 'less ye take away the house." , 1 
 
 "That 's the very thing f " exclaimed San- 
 ford. " Swing her wide open, Captain Joe. 
 Please give me that big blue pencil." 
 
 When the door flew , back it was as white 
 and clean as a freshly scrubbed pine table. 
 
 Sanford wrote as follows : — 
 
 August 29, Shark Ledge Light. 
 We, the undersigned, certify that the con- 
 crete disk is perfectly level except opposite the 
 northwest derrick, where it is three tenths 
 of an inch too high. We further certify that 
 Superintendent Carleton orders the concrete 
 raised six inches on the southeast segment, 
 and refuses to permit any cut stone to be 
 set until this is done. 
 
 Henry Sanford, Contractor. 
 
 " Come, Captain Joe," said Sanford, " put 
 your signature under mine." 
 
 The captain held the pencil in his bent fin- 
 gers as if it had been a chisel, and inscribed 
 his full name, "Joseph Bell," under that of 
 
224 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 Sanford. Then Caleb and the others foU 
 lewed, the diver fumbling inside his dress for 
 his glasses, the search proving fruitless until 
 Captain Joe ran his arm down between the 
 rubber collar of the diving-dre&s and Caleb's 
 red shirt and drew them up from inside his 
 undershirt. 
 
 "Now, Captain Joe," said Sanford, "you 
 can send a gang in the morning at low water 
 and raise that concrete. It will throw the 
 upper masonry out of level, but it won't make 
 much difference in a circle of this size." 
 
 The men gave a cheer, the humor of the 
 situation taking possession of everyone. Even 
 Caleb forgot his sorrow for a moment. Carle- 
 ton laughed a little halting laugh himself, but 
 there was nothing of spontaneity in it. Nickles, 
 the cook, who, now that the cut stone was 
 about to be laid, was permanently transferred 
 from the Screamer to the shanty, and under 
 whose especial care this door was placed by 
 reason of its position, — it opened into the 
 kitchen, — planted his fat, oily body before the 
 curious record, read it slowly word for word, 
 and delivered himself of this opinion : " That 
 'ere door 's th' biggest receipt for stores I ever 
 see come into a kitchen." 
 
 " Big or little," said Captain Joe, who could 
 not see the drift of most of Nickles's jokes, 
 " you spatter it with yer grease or spile it any, 
 and ye go ashore." 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 TWO ENVELOPES 
 
 Betty's flight had been of such short dura- 
 tion, and her return home accomplished under 
 such peculiar circumstances, that the stories 
 in regard to her elopement had multiplied with 
 the hours. One feature of her escapade ex- 
 cited universal comment, — her spending the 
 night at Mrs. Leroy's. The only explanation 
 that could be given of this extraordinary ex- 
 perience was that so high a personage as Mrs. 
 Leroy must have necessarily been greatly im- 
 posed upon by Bfetty, or she could never have 
 disgraced herself and her home by giving 
 shelter to such a woman. 
 
 Mrs. Leroy's hospitality to Betty inspired 
 another theory, — one that, not being contra- 
 dicted at the moment of its origin by Aunty 
 Bell, had seemed plausible. Miss Peebles, the 
 schoolmistress, who never believed ill of any* 
 body, lent all her aid to its circulation. The 
 conversation out of which the theory grew 
 took place in Aunty Bell's kitchen. Betty was 
 upstairs in her room, and the talk went on in 
 lowered tones, lest she should overhear. 
 
226 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 " I never shall believe that a woman holding 
 Mrs. Leroy's position would take Betty West 
 into her house if she knew what kind of a 
 woman she was," remarked the elder Miss 
 Nevins. 
 
 " And that makes me think there 's some 
 mistake about this whole thing," said Miss 
 Peebles. " Who saw her with Lacey, anyhow ? 
 Nobody but the butcher, and he don't know 
 half the time what he 's talking about, he rat- 
 tles on so. Ma:ybe she never went with Lacey 
 at all." 
 
 "What did she go 'way for, then.'" asked 
 the younger Nevins girl, who was on her way 
 to the store, and had stopped in, hoping she 
 might, by chance, get a look at Betty. " I 
 guess Lacey's money was all gone — that 's 
 why she imposed on Mrs. Leroy." 
 
 " I don't believe it," said Miss Peebles. 
 " Betty may have been foolish, but she never 
 told a lie in her life." 
 
 "Well, it may be," admitted the younger 
 sister in a softened tone. "I hope so, any- 
 how." 
 
 Aunty Bell kept still. Betty was having 
 trouble enough ; if the neighbors thought her 
 innocent, and would give her the benefit of the 
 doubt, better leave it so. There were one or 
 two threads of worldly wisdom and canny policy 
 twisted about the little woman's heart which 
 now and then showed their ends. 
 
TWO ENVELOPES 227. 
 
 Captain Joe was in the sitting-room, reading. 
 He had come in from the Ledge, wet, as usual,-; 
 had put on some dry clothes, and while wait-, 
 ing for supper had picked up the "Noank 
 Times." Aunty Bell and the others saw him. 
 come in, but thought he had changed his. 
 clothes and had gone to the dock. 
 
 He had overheard every word of the discus-; 
 sion. There were no raveled threads in the> 
 captain's make-up. He threw down his paper, 
 pushed his way into the group, and said : — 
 
 " There 's one thing I don't want no mistake, 
 over, and I won't have it. Betty did n't tell no 
 lies to Mrs. Leroy nor to nobody else, an' I 
 ain't a-goin' to have nobody lie for 'er. Mrsi 
 Leroy knows all about it. She took care of 
 her 'cause she 's got a heart inside of her. 
 Betty went off with Bill Lacey 'cause he 'd 
 hoodooed 'er, an' when she come to herself she 
 come home agin.: that's all ther' is to that. 
 She 's sorry for what she 's done, an' ther' ain't 
 nobody outside o' heaven can do more. She 's 
 goin' to stay here 'cause me and Aunty Bell 
 love her now more 'n we ever did before. But 
 she 's goin' to start hfe agin fair an' square, 
 with no lies of her own an' no lies told about 
 'er by nobody else." The captain looked at 
 Aunty Bell. "Them that don't like it can 
 lump it. Them as don't like Betty after this 
 can stay away from me," and he turned about 
 8n his heel and went down to the dock. 
 
228 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 Two currents had thus been started in 
 Betty's favor : one the outspoken indorsement 
 of Captain Joe ; and the other the protection 
 of Mrs. Leroy, " the rich lady who lived at 
 Medford, in that big country-seat where the 
 railroad crossed, and who had the yacht and 
 horses, and who must be a good woman, or 
 she would n't have come to nurse the men, 
 or sent them delicacies, and who came herself 
 to put up the mosquito-nets over their cots." 
 
 As the August days slipped by and the early 
 autumn came, the gossip gradually died. Caleb 
 continued to live alone, picking up once more 
 the manner of life he had practiced for years 
 aboard the light-ship : having a day every two 
 weeks for his washing, — always Sunday, when 
 the neighbors would see him while on their way 
 to church, — hanging out his red and white 
 collection on the line stretched in the garden. 
 He cooked his meals and cleaned the house 
 himself. Nobody but Captain Joe £uid Aunty 
 Bell crossed his threshold, except the butcher 
 who brought him his weekly supplies. He 
 had been but seldom to the village in the day- 
 time, — somehow he did not like to pass Cap* 
 tain Joe's when any one could see him, — and 
 had confined his outings to going from the 
 cabin to the Ledge and back again as his duties 
 required, locking the rear door and hanging 
 the key on a nail beside it until his return. 
 
 He had seen Betty only once, and that was 
 
TWO ENVELOPES 229 
 
 when he had passed her on the road. He came 
 apon her suddenly, and he thought she started 
 back as if to avoid hitn, but he kept his eyes 
 turned away and passed on. When he reached 
 the hill and looked back he could see her sit>- 
 ting by the side of the road, a few rods from 
 where they met, her head resting on her hand. 
 
 Only one man had dared to speak to him in 
 an unsympathetic way about Betty's desertion, 
 and that was his old friend Tony Marvin, the 
 keeper of Keyport Light. They had been to- 
 gether a year on Bannock Rip during the time 
 the Department had doubled up the keepers. 
 He had not heard of Caleb's trouble until sev- 
 eral weeks after Betty's flight ; lighthouse-keep- 
 ers staying pretty close indoors. 
 
 " I hearn, Caleb, that the new wife left ye 
 for that young rigger what got his face smashed. 
 'Most too young, warn't she, to be stiddy .' " 
 
 ■' No, I ain't never thought so," replied Caleb 
 quietly. " Were n't no better gal 'n Betty ; she 
 done all she knowed how. You 'd 'a' said so if 
 ye knowed her like I did. But 't was agin natur', 
 I bein' so much older. But I 'd rather had her 
 go than suffer on." 
 
 "Served ye durn mean,- anyhow," said the 
 keeper. " Did she take anything with 'er .-' " 
 
 "Nothin' but the clo'es she stood in. But 
 she did n't serve me mean, Tony. I don't want 
 ye to think so, an' I don't want ye to say so, 
 nor let nobody say so, neither; an' ye won't 
 
230 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 if ■ you 're a friend o' mine, which you allers 
 was." 
 
 " I hearn there was some talk o' yer takin' 
 her back," the keeper went on in a gentler tone, 
 surprised at Caleb's blindness, and anxious to 
 restore his good feeling. " Is that so ? " 
 
 "No, that ain't so," Caleb answered firmly, 
 ending the conversation on that topic and lead- 
 ing it into other channels. 
 
 This interview of the light-keeper's was soon 
 public property. Some of those who heard of 
 it set Caleb down as half-witted over his loss, 
 .and others wondered how long it would be be- 
 fore he would send for Betty and patch it all 
 tip again, and still others, questioned why he 
 did n't go over to Stonington and smash the 
 other side of Lacey's face ; they heard that 
 .Billy had been seen around there. 
 
 As for Betty, she had found work with a 
 milliner on the edge of the village, within a 
 mile of Captain Joe's cottage, where her taste 
 In trimming bonnets secured her ready employ- 
 ment, and where her past was not discussed. 
 That she was then living with Captain Joe and 
 his wife was enough to gain her admission. 
 
 There had been days, however, after her 
 return, when she would have given way under 
 the strain, had it not been for her remembered 
 promise to Mrs. Leroy, — the only woman, ex- 
 cept Aunty Bell, who had befriended her, — 
 and for the strong supporting arm of Captain 
 
TWO ENVELOPES 231 
 
 Joe, who never lost an opportunity to show his 
 confidence in her: 
 
 And yet in spite of these promises and sup-' 
 ports she could have plunged into the water 
 many a time at the end of the dock and ended 
 it all. She would sit for hours in her little 
 room next Aunty Bell's, on Saturday afternoons, 
 when she came earlier from work, and watch; 
 for the Screamer or one of the tugs to round 
 in, bringing Caleb and the men. She could 
 not see her own cottage from the window where 
 she sat, but she could see her husband come 
 down the sloop's side and board the little boat 
 that brought him to his landing. She would 
 often think that she could catch his good-night 
 as he pushed off. On Monday mornings, too, 
 when she knew he was going out, she was up 
 at daylight, watching for a meagre glimpse of 
 him when the skiff shot out from behind the 
 dock and took him aboard to go to his work on 
 the Ledge. 
 
 Little by little the captain's devotion to 
 Betty's interests, and the outspoken way in 
 which he praised her efforts to maintain her- 
 self, began to have their effect. People who 
 had passed her by without a word, as they met 
 her on the road, volunteered a timid good-morn- 
 ing, which was answered by a slight nod of the 
 head by Betty. Even one of the Nevins girls 
 .;— the younger one — had joined her and 
 walked as far as the milliner's, with a last word 
 
232 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 on the doorstep, which bad detained them bptli 
 for at least two minutes in full sight of the 
 other girls who were passing the shop. 
 
 Betty met all advances kindly, but with a 
 certain reserve of manner. She appreciated 
 the good motive, but in her own eyes it did 
 not palliate her fault, — that horrible crime of 
 ingratitude, selfishness, and waywardness, the 
 memory of which hung over her night and day 
 like a pall. 
 
 Most of her former acquaintances respected 
 her reserve, — all except Carleton. Whenever 
 he met her under Captain Joe's roof he greeted 
 her with a nod, but on the road he had more 
 than once tried to stop and talk to her. At 
 first the attempt had been made with a lifting 
 of the hat and a word about the weather, but 
 the last time he had stopped in front of her 
 and tried to take her hand. 
 
 " What 's the matter with you .■• " he said in 
 a coaxing tone. " I ain't going to hurt you." 
 
 Betty darted by him, and reached the shop 
 all out of breath. She said nothing to any 
 one about her encounter, not being afraid of 
 him in the daytime, and not wanting her affairs 
 talked of any more. 
 
 If Caleb knew how Betty lived, he never 
 mentioned it to Captain Joe or Aunty Bell. 
 He would sometimes ask after her health and 
 whether she was working too hard, but never 
 more than that. 
 
TWO ENVELOPES 233 
 
 One Saturday night — it was the week 
 Betty had hurt her foot and could not go to 
 the shop — Caleb came down to Captain Joe's 
 and called him outside the kitchen door. It 
 was pay-day with the men, and Caleb had in 
 his hand the little envelope, still unopened, 
 containing his month's pay. The lonely life 
 he led had begun to tell upon the diver. The 
 deathly pallor that had marked his face the 
 first few days after his wife's departure was 
 gone, and the skin was no longer shrunken, 
 but the sunken cheeks remained, and the rest- 
 less, eager look in the eyes that told of his 
 mental strain. 
 
 Caleb was in his tarpaulins ; it was raining 
 at the time. 
 
 " Come in, Caleb, come in ! " cried Captain 
 Joe in a cheery voice, laying his hand on the 
 diver's shoulder. "Take off yer ileskins." 
 The captain never despaired of bringing hus- 
 band and wife together, somehow. 
 
 Betty was sitting inside the kitchen, reading 
 by the kerosene lamp, out of sound of the 
 voices. 
 
 " No, I ain't washed up nor had supper yit, 
 thank ye. I beared from Aunty Bell that 
 Betty was laid up this week, an' so I come 
 down." Here Caleb stopped, and began slit- 
 ting the pay-envelope with a great thumb-nail 
 shaped like a half-worn shoe-horn. " I come 
 dowij, thinkin' maybe you 'd kind'er put this 
 
Ji34 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 Where she could git it," slowly unrolling two of 
 the four bills and handing them to the captain. 
 " I don't like her to be beholden to ye for board 
 nor nothin'." 
 
 " Ye can't give me a centj Caleb. I knowed 
 her 'fore you did," said the captain, protesting 
 with his hand upraised, a slightly indignant 
 tone in his voice. Then a thought crept into 
 his. mind. "Come in and give it to her yer- 
 self, Caleb," putting his arm through the 
 diver's. 
 
 " No," said Caleb slowly, " I ain't come 
 here for that, and I don't want ye to make no 
 mistake, cap'n. I come here 'cause I been 
 a-thinkin' it over, and somehow it seems to 
 me that half o' this is hern. I don't want ye 
 to tell 'er that I give it to her, 'cause it ain't 
 so. I jes' want ye to lay it som'eres she 'U 
 find it ; and when she asks about it, say it 's 
 hern." 
 
 Captain Joe crumpled the bills in his hand. 
 
 "Caleb," he said, "I ain't goin' to say 
 nothin' more to ye. I 've said all I could, and 
 las' time I said too much ; but what seems to 
 me to be the cussedest foolishness out is for 
 ye to go back an' git yer supper by yerself, 
 when the best little gal you or I know is 
 a-settin' within ten feet o' ye with her heart 
 breakin' to git to ye." 
 
 " I 'm sorry she 's sufferin', Cap'n Joe. I 
 don't like to see nobody suffer, leastways 
 
TWO ENVELOPES 235 
 
 Betty, but ye don't know it all. Jes' leave 
 them bills as I asked ye. Tell Aunty Bell I 
 got the pie she sent me when I come home, — 
 I '11 eat it to-morrow. I s'pose ye ain't got no 
 new orders 'bout that last row of enrockment .' 
 I set the bottom stone to-day, an' I ought'er 
 get the last of 'em finished nex' week. The 
 tide cut turrible to-day, an' my air comin' so 
 slow through the pump threw me 'mong the 
 rocks an' seaweed, an' I got a scrape on my 
 hand," showing a deep cut on its back ; " but 
 it 's done hurtin' now. Good-night." 
 
 On his way home, just before he reached 
 his cabin, Caleb came upon Bert Simmons, the, 
 shore road letter-carrier, standing in the road, 
 under one of the village street lamps, overhaul- 
 ing his package of letters. 
 
 " About these letters that 's comin' for yer 
 wife, Caleb ? Shall I leave 'em with you or 
 take 'em down to Cap'n Joe Bell's? I give 
 the others to her. Here 's one now." 
 
 Caleb took the letter mechanically, looked 
 it over slowly, noted its Stonington postmarky 
 and, handing it back, answered calmly, " Better 
 leave 'em down to Cap'n Joe's, Bert." 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 A NARROW PATH 
 
 When Sanford, after dining, rang her bell, 
 Mrs. Leroy was seated on the veranda that 
 overlooked the garden, — a wide and inviting 
 veranda, always carpeted in summer with mats 
 and rugs, and made comfortable with cane 
 chairs and straw divans that were softened into 
 luxurious delights by silk cushions. During 
 the day the sunshine filtered its way between the 
 thickly matted vines, lying in patterns on the 
 floor, or was held in check by thin Venetian 
 blinds. At night the light of a huge eight- 
 sided lantern festooned with tassels shed its 
 glow through screens of colored gauze. 
 
 Mrs. Leroy was dressed in a simple gown of 
 white cr6pe, which clung and wrinkled about 
 her slight figure, leaving her neck and arms 
 bare. On a low table beside her rested a silver 
 tray with a slender-shaped coffee-pot and tiny 
 egg-shell cups and saucers. 
 
 She looked up at him, smiling, as he pushed 
 aside the curtains. " Two lumps, Henry > " she 
 called, holding the sugar-tongs in her hand. 
 Then, as the light of the lantern fell upon his 
 
A NARROW PATH 237 
 
 lace, she exclaimed, " Why„ what 's the matter? 
 You are worried : is there fresh trouble at the 
 Ledge ? " and she rose from her chair. 
 
 " No ; only Carleton," be replied, looking down 
 at her. " He holds on to that certificate, and 
 I can get no money until he gives it up ; yet I 
 have raised the concrete six inches to please 
 him. I wired Captain Joe yesterday to see him 
 at once and to get his answer, — yes or no. 
 What do you suppose he replied .' ' Tell him 
 he don't own the earth. I '11 sign it when I 
 get to it.' Not another word, nor would he 
 give any reason for not signing it." 
 
 " Why don't you appeal to the Board ? Gen- 
 eral Barton would not see you suffer an unjust 
 delay. I '11 write him myself," she said, sitting 
 bolt upright on the divan. 
 
 Sanford smiled. Her rising anger soothed 
 him as fiattery might have done at another time. 
 He felt in it a proof of how close to her heart 
 she really held his interests and his happiness. 
 
 "That would only prolong the agony, and 
 might lose us the season's work. The Board is 
 always fair and honest, only it takes so long tor 
 it to move." As he spoke he piled the cush- 
 ions high behind her head, and drew a low 
 chair opposite to her. " It 's torture to a con- 
 tractor who is behind time," he continued, fleck- 
 ing the ashes of his cigar into his saucer. " It 
 means getting all tangled up in the red tape 
 of a government bureau. I must give up my 
 
S38 eALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 holiday and find Carleton ; there is nothing else 
 to be done now. I leave on the early train 
 to-morrow. But what a rest this is ! " he ex- 
 claimed,, breaking into the strained impetuosity 
 of his own tones with a long-drawn sigh of 
 relief, as he looked about the dimly lighted 
 veranda, " Nothing like it anywhere." 
 
 As he spoke his eyes wandered over her 
 dainty figure, half reclining before him, — the 
 delicately modeled waist, the shapely wrists, and 
 the tiny slippers peeping beneath the edge of 
 her dress that fell in folds to the floor. "An- 
 other new gown, I see ? " 
 
 " Never mind about my gown. I want to hear 
 more about this man Carleton," she said. Her 
 face was alight with the pleasure of his tribute, 
 but she spoke as though she had hardly heard 
 it. " What have you done to him to make him 
 hate you .-' " 
 
 " Nothing but try to keep him from ruining 
 the work." 
 
 " And you told him he was ruining it .' " 
 
 " Certainly ; there was nothing else to do. 
 He's got the concrete now six inches out of 
 level ; you can see it plainly at low water." 
 
 " No wonder he takes his revenge," she said, 
 cutting straight into the heart of the matter 
 with that marvelous power peculiar to some 
 women. " What else has gone wrong .' " She 
 meant him to tell her everything, knowing that 
 to let him completely unburden his mind would 
 
A NARROW PATH 239 
 
 give him the only real rest that he needed, 
 .She liked, too, to feel her influence over him. 
 That he always consulted her in such matters 
 was to Kate one of the keenest pleasures that 
 his friendship brought. , 
 
 "Everything, I sometimes think. We are 
 very much behind. That concrete base shoul4 
 have been finished two weeks ago. The equi- 
 noctial gale is nearly due. If we can't get the 
 first two courses pf masonry laid by the middle 
 of November, I may have to wait until spring 
 for another payment, and that about means 
 bankruptcy." 
 
 "What does Captain Joe think .' " 
 
 "He says we shall pull through if we have 
 no more setbacks. Dear old Captain Joe ! no- 
 thing upsets him. We certainly have had our 
 share of them this season : first it was the explo- 
 sion, and now it is Carleton's spite." 
 
 " Suppose you do lose time, Henry, and do 
 have to wait until spring to go on with the 
 work. It will not be for the first time." There 
 was a sympathetic yet hopeful tone in her voice. 
 " When you sunk the coffer-dam at Kingston, 
 three years ago, and it lay all winter in the ice, 
 did n't you worry yourself half sick .' And yet 
 it all came out right. Oh, you needn't raise 
 your eyebrows ; I saw it myself. You know 
 you are better equipped now, both in experi- 
 ence and in means, than you were then. Make 
 some allowance for your own temperament, and 
 
«40 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 please don't forget the nights you have Iain 
 Awake worrying over nothing. It will all come 
 out right." She leaned toward him and laid 
 her hand on his, as an elder sister might have 
 done, and in a gayer tone added, " I 'm going 
 to Medford soon, myself, and I '11 invite this 
 dreadful Mr. Carleton to come over to luncheon, 
 and you '11 get your certificate next day. What 
 does he look like .' " 
 
 Sanford broke into a laugh. " You wouldn't 
 touch him with a pair of tongs, and I would n't 
 let you, — even with them." 
 
 "Then I '11 do it, anyway, just to show you 
 how clever I am," she retorted, with a pretty, 
 bridling toss of her head. She had taken her 
 hand away. Sanford still held his own extended. 
 
 Kate's tact was having its effect. Under the 
 magic of her sympathy his cares had folded 
 their tents. Carleton was fast becoming a dini 
 speck on the horizon, and his successive trou- 
 bles were but a string of camels edging the 
 blue distance of his thoughts. 
 
 It was always like this. She never failed to 
 comfort and inspire him. Whenever his anxie- 
 ties became unbearable it was to Kate that he 
 turned, as he had done to-night. The very 
 touch of her soft hand, so white and delicate, 
 /aid upon his arm, and the exquisite play of 
 melody in her voice, soothed and strengthened 
 him. Things were never half so bad as they 
 seemed, when he could see her look at him mis. 
 
A NARROW PATH 241 
 
 *hievously from under her lowered eyelids as 
 she said, " Mercy, Henry ! is that all ? I thought 
 the whole lighthouse had been washed away." 
 And he never missed the inspiration of the 
 ■change that followed, — the sudden quiet of 
 her face, the very tensity of her figure, as she 
 added in earnest tones, instinct with courage 
 end sympathy, some word of hopeful interest 
 that she of all women best knew how to give. 
 
 With the anxieties dispelled which had 
 brought him hurrying to-night to Gramercy 
 Park, they both relapsed into silence, — a silence 
 such as was common to their friendship, one 
 which was born neither of ennui nor of dis- 
 content, the boredom of friends nor the pov- 
 erty of meagre minds, but that restful silence 
 which comes only to two minds and hearts in 
 entire accord, without the necessity of a single 
 spoken word to lead their thoughts; a close, 
 noiseless fitting together of two temperaments, 
 with all the rough surfaces of their natures 
 worn smooth by long association each with the 
 other. In such accord is found the strongest 
 proof of true and perfect friendship. It is only 
 when this estate no longer satisfies, and one or 
 both crave the human touch, that the danger- 
 line is crossed. When stealthy fingers set the 
 currents of both hearts free, and the touch be- 
 comes electric, discredited friendship escapes by 
 the window, and triumphant love enters by the 
 door. 
 
242 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 The lantern shed its rays over Kate's white 
 draperies, warming them with a pink glow. 
 The smoke of Sanford's cigar curled upward 
 in the still air and drifted out into the garden^ 
 or was lost in the vines of the jessamine trail- 
 ing about the porch. Now and then the still- 
 ness was broken by some irrelevant remark 
 suggested by the perfume of the flowers, the 
 quiet of the night, the memory of Jack's and 
 Helen's happiness; but silence always fell 
 again, except for an occasional light tattoo of 
 Kate's dainty slipper on the floor. A restful 
 lassitude, the reaction from the constant hourly- 
 strain of his work, came over Sanford ; the world 
 of perplexity seemed shut away, and he was 
 happier than he had been in weeks. Suddenly 
 and without preliminary question, Mrs. Leroy 
 asked sharply, with a strange, quivering break 
 in her voice, " What about that poor girl Betty ? 
 Has she patched it up yet with Caleb ? She 
 told me, the night she stayed with me, that she 
 loved him dearly. Poor girl ! she has nothing^ 
 but misery ahead of her if she does n't." She 
 spoke with a certain tone in her voice that 
 showed but too plainly the new mood that had 
 taken possession of her. 
 
 "Pity she didn't find it out before she left 
 him ! " exclaimed Sanford. 
 
 "Pity he didn't do something to show his 
 appreciation of her, you mean ! " she inter- 
 rupted, with a quick toss of her head. 
 
A NARROW PATH 243 
 
 " You are all wrong, Kate. Caleb is the gen- 
 tlest and kindest of men. You«don't know that 
 old diver, or you wouldn't judge him harshly." 
 
 "Oh, he didn't beat her, I suppose. He 
 only left her to get along by herself. I wish 
 such men would take it out in beating. Some 
 women could stand that better. It 's the cold 
 indifference that kills." She had risen from her 
 seat, and was pacing the floor of the veranda. 
 
 " Well, that was not his fault, Kate. While 
 the working season lasts he must be on the 
 Ledge. He couldn't come in every night." 
 
 " That 's what they all say ! If it 's not one 
 excuse, it 's another. I 'm tired to death of hear- 
 ing about men who would rather make money 
 than make homes. Now that he has driven her 
 out of her wits by his brutality, he closes his 
 door against her, even when she crawls back on 
 her knees. But don't you despise her." She 
 stood before him, looking down into his face for 
 a moment. "Be just as sweet and gentle to 
 her as you can. If she ever goes wrong again, 
 it will be the world's fault or her husband's, — 
 not her own. Tell her from me that I trust her 
 and believe in her, and that I send her my love." 
 
 Sanford listened to her with ill-concealed ad- 
 miration. It was when she was defending or 
 helping some one that she appealed to him 
 most. At those times he recognized that her 
 own wrongs had not imbittered her, but had 
 only made her the more considerate. 
 
tU CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 "There's never a day you don't teach me 
 something," he answered quietly, his eyes fixed 
 on her moving figure. " Perhaps I have been 
 a little hard on Betty, but it 's because I 've 
 seen how Caleb suffers." 
 
 She stopped again in her walk and leaned 
 over the rail of the veranda, her chin on her 
 hand. Sanford watched her, following the- 
 bend of her exquisite head and the marvelous 
 slope of her shoulders. He saw that something- 
 unusual had stirred her, but he could not de- 
 cide whether it was caused by the thought of 
 Betty's nlisery or by some fresh sorrow of her 
 own. He threw away his cigar, rose from his- 
 chair, and joined her at the railing. He could 
 be unhappy himself and stand up under it, but 
 he could not bear to see a shade cross Kate's 
 face. 
 
 " You are not happy to-night," he said. 
 
 She did not answer. 
 
 Sanford waited, looking down over the gar- 
 den. He could see the shadowy outlines of 
 the narrow walks and the white faces of the 
 roses drooping over the gravel. When he 
 spoke again there were hesitating, halting tones 
 in his voice, as if he were half afraid to follow 
 the course he had dared to venture on. 
 
 " Is Morgan coming home, Kate ? " 
 
 " I don't know," she replied dreamily, after 
 a pause. 
 
 " Did n't he say in his last letter .' " 
 
A NARROW PATH 245 
 
 " Oh yes ; answered as he always does, — 
 when he gets through." 
 
 " Where is he now ? " 
 
 " Paris, I believe." 
 
 She had not moved nor lifted her chin from 
 her hand. 
 
 Minutes went by without her speaking again. 
 A strange hush fell about them. Sanford could 
 hear the click of the old clock in the hall, and 
 the monotonous song of the crickets in the 
 grass below. 
 
 A sense of great remoteness from her came 
 over him. It was as though she had gone into 
 a room alone with her griefs and her sobs, and 
 had locked the door behind her. He had not 
 meant to wound her by his questions, only to 
 discover whether some new phase of the old 
 grief were hurting her. If it were anything 
 else but the sorrow he never touched, he stood 
 ready to give ha: all his strength. 
 
 He looked at her intently. She had never 
 appeared to him so beautiful, so pathetic : there 
 was a hopeless weariness in her pose that 
 vibrated through him as nothing had done in 
 months. The change in her mood had come 
 suddenly, as all changes did in her, but to-night 
 he seemed unable to meet them. A great rush 
 of feeling surged over him. He stepped closer, 
 lifting his hand to lay on her head. Then, 
 with an abrupt gesture, he turned and began 
 pacing the veranda, his head bowed, his hands 
 
246- CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 clasped behind his back. Strange, unutterable 
 thoughts whirled through his brain ; unbidden/ 
 unspeakable words crowded in his throat. He 
 made one great effort at self-control, stopped 
 once more, this time laying his hand upon her 
 shoulder. He felt in his heart that it was the 
 same old sorrow which now racked her, but an 
 uncontrollable impulse swept him on. All the 
 restraint of years seemed slipping from him. 
 
 " Kate, what is it ? You break my heart. 
 Is there something else to worry you, — some- 
 thing you have n't told me .' " 
 
 She shivered slightly as she felt the hand 
 tighten on her shoulder. Then a sudden, tin- 
 gling thrill ran through her. 
 
 " I have never any right to be unhappy when 
 I have you, Henry, You are all the world to 
 me, — all I have." 
 
 It was not the answer he had expected. 
 For an instant the blood left his face, his heart 
 stood still. 
 
 Kate raised her head, and their eyes met. 
 
 There are narrow paths in life where one 
 fatal step sends a man headlong. There are 
 eyes in women's heads as deep as the abyss 
 below. Hers were wide open, with the fearless 
 confidence of an affection she was big enough 
 to give. He saw down into their depths, and 
 read there — as they flashed toward him in 
 intermittent waves over the barrier of the re- 
 serve she sometimes held — love, truth, and 
 
A NARROW PATH 247 
 
 courage. To disturb th6se, even by the sym- 
 pathy she longed to receive and he to give, 
 might/ he knew, endanger the ideal of that 
 loyalty to another in her which he venerated 
 most. To go behind it and break down the 
 wall of that self-control of hers which held in 
 check the unknown, untouched springs of her 
 heart might loosen a flood that would wreck the 
 only bark which could keep them both afloat 
 on the troubled waters of life, — their friend- 
 ship. 
 
 Sanford bent his head, raised her hand to his 
 lig^, kissed it reverently, arid without a word 
 walked slowly toward his chair. 
 
 As he regained his seat the butler pushed 
 aside the light curtains of the veranda, and 
 in his regulation monotone announced, " Miss 
 Shirley, Major Slocomb, and Mr. Hardy." 
 
 " My dear madam," broke out the major in 
 his breeziest manner, before Mrs. Leroy could 
 turn to greet him, '■ what would life be in this 
 bake-oven of a city but for the joy of yo'r pre- 
 sence ? And Henry ! You here, too .' Do you 
 know that that rascal Jack has kept me waiting 
 for two hours while he took Helen for a five 
 minutes' walk round the square, or I would have 
 been here long ago. Where are you, you young 
 dog } " he called to Jack, who had lingered in 
 the darkened hall with Helen. 
 
 " What 's the matter now, major .' " inquired 
 Jack, shaking hands with Mrs. Leroy, and turn- 
 
248 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 ing again toward the Pocomokian. " I asked 
 your permission. What would you have me do ? 
 Let Helen see nothing of New York, because 
 you " — 
 
 "Do hush up, cousin Tom," said Helen, 
 pursing her lips at the major. " We stayed 
 out because we wanted to, did n't we, Jack .' 
 Don't you think he is a perfect ogre, Mrs. 
 Leroy ? " 
 
 " He forgets his own younger days, my 
 dear Miss Shirley," she answered. "He shan't 
 scold you. Henry, make the major join you 
 in a cigar, while I give Miss Helen a cup of 
 coffee." 
 
 "They are both forgiven, my dear madam, 
 when so lovely an advocate pleads their cause," 
 said the Pocomokian grandiloquently, bowing 
 low, his hand on his chest. "Thank you ; I will 
 join you," and leaned over Sanford as he spoke, 
 and lighted a cigar in the blue flame of the tiny 
 silver lamp. 
 
 It was delightful to note how the coming 
 alliance of the Hardy and Slocomb families had 
 developed the paternal, not to say patriarchal 
 attitude of the major toward his once boon 
 companion. He already regarded Jack as his 
 own son, — somebody to lean upon in his de- 
 clining years, a prop and a staff for his old age. 
 He had even sketched out in his mind a certain 
 stately mansion on the avenue, to say nothing 
 of a series of country-seats, — one on Crab 
 
A NARROW PATH 249 
 
 Island in the Chesapeake, — all with porticoes 
 and an especial suite of rooms on the ground 
 floor ; and he could hear Jack say, as he pointed 
 them out to his visitors, " These are for my 
 dear old friend Major Slocomb of Pocomoke, — 
 member of my wife's family." He could see 
 his old enemy, Jefferson, Jack's servant, cowed 
 into respectful obedience by the new turn in 
 his master's affairs, in which the Pocomokian 
 had lent so helpful a hand. 
 
 " She is the child of my old age, so to speak, 
 suh, and I, of co'se, gave my consent after great 
 hesitation," he would frequently say, fully per- 
 suading himself that Helen had really sought 
 his approbation, and never for one moment 
 dreaming that, grateful as she was to him for 
 his chaperonage of her while in New York, he 
 was the last person in the world she would 
 have consulted in any matter so vital to her 
 happiness. 
 
 Jack accepted the change in the major's 
 manner with the same good humor that sea- 
 soned everything that came to him in life. He 
 had known the Pocomokian for too many years , 
 to misunderstand him now, and this new dep^- 
 ture, with its patronizing airs and fatherly over- 
 sight, only amused him. 
 
 Mrs. Leroy had drawn the young girl toward 
 the divan, and was already discussing her plans 
 for the summer. 
 
 " Of course you are both to come to me this 
 
250 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 fall, when the beautiful Indian summer weathet 
 sets in. The Pines is never so lovely as then. 
 You shall sail to your heart's content, for the 
 yacht is in order ; and we will then see what 
 this great engineer has been doing all sum- 
 mer," she added, glancing timidly from under 
 her dark eyelashes at Sanford. "Mr. Leroy's 
 last instructions were to keep the yacht in com- 
 mission until he came home. I am determined 
 you shall have one more good time. Miss Helen,- 
 before this young man ties you hand and foot. 
 You will come, major .?" 
 
 " I cannot promise, madam. It will depend 
 entirely on my arrangin' some very important 
 matters of business. I hope to be able to come 
 for perhaps a day or so." 
 
 Jack looked at Sanford and smiled. Evi- 
 dently Mrs. Leroy did not know the length of 
 the major's "day or so." Nor that it was apt 
 to depend upon the date of the next invitation. 
 He was still staying with Jack, and had been 
 there since the spring. 
 
 Buckles, the butler, had been bending over 
 the major as that gentleman delivered himself 
 of this announcement of his hopes. When he 
 had filled to the brim the tiny liqueur glass, the 
 major — perhaps in a moment of forgetfulness 
 ■ — said, " Thank you, suh," at which Buckles's 
 face hardened. Such slips were not infrequent. 
 The major was, in fact, always a little uncom- 
 fortable in Buckles's presence. Jack, who had 
 
A NARROW PATH 251 
 
 often noticed his attitude, thought that these 
 conciliatory remarks were intended as pallia- 
 tives to the noiseless English flunky with the 
 immovable face and impenetrable manner. The 
 Pocomokian never extended such deference to 
 Sam, Sanford's own servant, or even to Jeffer- 
 son. " Here, Sam, you black scoundrel, bring 
 me my hat," he would say whenever he was 
 leaving Sanford's apartments, at which Sam's 
 face would relax quite as much as Buckles's 
 had hardened. But then the major knew Sam's 
 kind, and Sam knew the major, and, strange to 
 say, believed in him. 
 
 When Buckles had retired, Sanford started 
 the Pocomokian on a discussion in which all 
 the talking would fall to the latter's share. 
 Mrs. Leroy turned to Helen and Jack again. 
 There was no trace, in her voice nor on her 
 features, of the emotion that had so stirred 
 her. All that side of her nature had been 
 shut away the moment her guests appeared. 
 
 " Don't mind a word Jack says to you, my 
 dear, about hurrying up the wedding-day," she 
 laughed, in a half-earnest and altogether charm- 
 ing way, — not cynical, but with a certain un- 
 dercurrent of genuine anxiety in her voice, all 
 the more keenly felt by Sanford, who waited 
 on every word that fell from her lips. " Put it 
 off as long as possible. So many troubles and 
 disappointments come afterwards, and it is so 
 hard to keep everything as it should be. There 
 
«S2 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 is no happier time in life than that just before 
 marriage. Oh, you need n't scowl at me, you 
 young Bluebeard ; I know all about it, and you 
 don't know one little bit." 
 
 Helen looked at Jack in some wonder. She 
 was at a loss to know how much of the talk 
 was pure badinage, and how much, perhaps, the 
 result of some bitter worldly experience. The 
 young girl shuddered, yet without knowing 
 what inspired the remark or what lay behind 
 it. Biit she laughed quite heartily, as she said, 
 " It is all true, no doubt ; only I intend to begin 
 by being something of a tyrant myself, don't I, 
 Jack.?" 
 
 Before Jack could reply, Smearly, who had 
 hurried by Buckles, entered unannounced, and 
 with a general smile of recognition, and two 
 fingers to the major, settled himself noiselessly 
 in an easy-chair, and reached over the silver 
 tray for a cup. It was a house where such 
 freedom was not commented on, and Smearly 
 was one of those big Newfoundland-dog kind of 
 visitors who avail themselves of all privileges. 
 
 "What is the subject under discussion.'" 
 the painter asked, as he dropped a lump of sugar 
 into his cup and turned to his hostess. 
 
 " I have just been telling Miss Shirley how 
 happy she will make us when she comes to 
 The Pines this autumn." 
 
 " And you have consented, of course ? " he 
 inquired carelessly, lifting his bushy eyebrows. 
 
A NARROW PATH 253 
 
 " Oh yes," answered Helen, a faint shadow 
 settlingifor a moment on her face. "It's so 
 kind of Mrs. Leroy to want me. You are 
 coming, too, are you not, Mr. Sanford ? " and 
 she moved toward Henry's end of the divan, 
 where Jack followed her. She had never liked 
 Smearly. She did not know why, but he al- 
 ways affected her strangely. "He looks like 
 a bear," she once told Jack, " with his thick 
 neck and his restless movements." 
 
 "Certainly, Miss Helen, I am going, too," 
 replied Sanford. " I tolerate my work all sum- 
 mer in expectation of these few weeks in the 
 autumn." 
 
 The young girl raised her eyes quickly. 
 Somehow it did not sound to her like Sanford's 
 voice. There was an unaccustomed sense of 
 strain in it. She moved a little nearer to him, 
 however, impelled by some subtle sympathy 
 for the man who was not only Jack's friend, 
 but one she trusted as well. 
 
 " Lovely to be so young and hopeful, is n't 
 it .' " said Mrs. Leroy to Smearly, with a move- 
 ment of her head toward Helen. "Look at 
 those two. Nothing but rainbows for her and 
 Jack." 
 
 "Rainbows come after the storm, my dear 
 lady, not before," rejoined Smearly. " If they 
 have any prismatics in theirs, they will appear 
 in a year or two from now." He had lowered 
 his voice so that Helen should not hear. 
 
254 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 " You never believe in anything. You hate 
 women," said Mrs. Leroy impatiently in an 
 undertone. 
 
 " True, but with some exceptions ; you, for 
 instance," with a mock bow. "But why fool 
 ourselves, my dear lady .' The first year is one 
 of sugar-plums, flowers, and canary-birds. We 
 can't keep our hands off them ; we love them 
 so we want to eat them up." 
 
 "Just like any other wild beast," interrupted 
 Mrs. Leroy, with a gurgling laugh, her head 
 bent coquettishly on one side. 
 
 " The second year both are pulling in oppo- 
 site directions." (He affected not to have heard' 
 her thrust.) " Then comes a snap of the mat- 
 rimonial cord, and over they go. Of course 
 neither of these two turtle-doves has the slightest 
 idea of anything of the kind. They expect to 
 go on and on and on, like the dear little babes 
 in the wood; but they won't, all the same. 
 Some day an old crow of an attorney will come 
 and cover them over with dried briefs, and that 
 will be the last of it." 
 
 Sanford took no part in the general talk. 
 He was listless, absorbed. He felt an irresist- 
 ible desire to be alone, and stayed on only 
 because Helen's many little confidences, told 
 to him in her girlish way, as she sat beside him 
 on the divan, required but an acquiescing nod 
 now and then, or a random reply, which he 
 tould give without betraying himself. 
 
A NARROW PATH 255 
 
 He was first of all the guests to rise. In 
 response to Mrs. Leroy's anxious glance, as he 
 bade her good-night between the veranda cur- 
 tains, he explained, in tones loud enotigh to be 
 heard by everybody, that it was necessary td 
 make an early start in the morning for the 
 Ledge, and that he had some important letters. 
 to write that night. 
 
 " Don't forget to telegraph me if you get the 
 certificate," was all she said. 
 
 Helen and Jack followed Sanford. They too. 
 wanted to be alone; that is, together, — in 
 their case the same thing. 
 
 Once outside and under the trees of the 
 park, Helen stopped in a secluded spot, their 
 shadows under the electric light flecking the 
 pavement, took the lapels of Jack's coat in her 
 hands, and said, "Jack, dear, I wasn't happy 
 there to-night. She never could have loved 
 anybody." 
 
 "Who, darling.?" 
 
 " Why, Mrs. Leroy. Did you hear what she 
 said.?" 
 
 "Yes, but it was only Kate. That's her 
 way, Helen. She never means half she says." 
 
 "Yes, but the way she said it. Jack. She 
 does n't know what love means. Loving is not 
 being angry all the, time. Loving is helping, — 
 helping everywhere and in everything. What- 
 ever either needs the other gives. I can't say 
 it just as I want to, but you know what I mean. 
 
2j6 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 And that Mr. Smearly ; he did n't think I heard, 
 but I did." 
 
 " Dear heart," said Jack, smoothing her cheek 
 with his hand, "don't believe everything you 
 hear. You are not accustomed to the ways 
 of these people. Down in your own home in 
 Maryland people mean what they say; here 
 they don't. Smearly is all right. He was 'talk- 
 ing through his hat,' as the boys say at the club, 
 — that 's all. You 'd think, to hear him go on, 
 that he was a sour, crabbed old curmudgeon, 
 now, wouldn't you? Well, you never were 
 more mistaken in your life. Every penny he 
 can save he gives to an old sister of his, who 
 has n't seen a well day for years. That 's only 
 his talk." 
 
 " But why does he speak that way, then .' 
 When people love as they ought to love, every 
 time a disappointment in the other comes, it is 
 just one more opportunity to help, — not a 
 cause for ridicule. I love you that way, Jack ; 
 don't you love me so .' " and she looked up into 
 his eyes. 
 
 " I love you a million ways, you sweet girl," 
 and, with a rapid glance about him to see that 
 no one was near, he slipped his arm about her 
 and held her close to his breast. 
 
 He felt himself lifted out of the atmosphere 
 of romance in which he had Uved for months. 
 This gentle, shrinking Southern child whom he 
 had loved and petted and smothered with roseg, 
 
A NARROW PATH 257 
 
 this tender^ dinging girl who trusted him so 
 implicitly, was no longer his sweetheart, but 
 his helpmate. She had all. at, once become 
 a woman, — strong, courageous, clear-minded, 
 helpful, ready to lead him if need be. 
 
 A new feeling rose in his heart and spread 
 itself through every fibre of his being, — ^ a feel- 
 ing without which love is a plaything. It was 
 reverence. 
 
 ■ When Sanford reached . his apartments Sam 
 was waiting 1 for him, as usual. The candles 
 were lighted instead of the lamp. The win- 
 dows of the balcony were wide open. 
 
 "You need not wait, Sam; I'll close the 
 blinds,".he said, as he stepped out and saink 
 into a chair. 
 
 . Long: after Sam had gone he sat there with- 
 out moving, his head beht, his forehead resting 
 on his hand. He was trying to pick up the 
 threads of his life again, to find the old pattern 
 which had once guided him in his course, and 
 to clear it from the tangle of lines that had sud- 
 denly twisted and confused him. 
 
 For a long time he saw nothing but Kate's 
 eyes as they had met his own, with the possi- 
 bilities which he had read in their depths. He 
 tried to drive the picture from him ; then baffled 
 by its persistence he resolutely faced it ; held 
 it as it were in his hands, and, looking long and 
 unflinchingly at it, summoned all his courage. 
 
258 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 He had read Kate's heart in her face. He 
 knew that he had revealed his own. But he 
 meant that the future should be unaffected by 
 the revelations made. The world must never 
 share her confidence nor his, as it would surely 
 do at their first false step. It should not have 
 the right to turn and look, and to wonder at the 
 woman whom he was proud to love. That open 
 fearlessness which all who knew her gloried in 
 should still be hers. He realized the value of 
 it to her, and what its loss would entail should 
 a spoken word of his rob her of it, or any 
 momentary weakness of theirs deprive her of 
 the strength and comfort which his open com- 
 panionship could give. 
 
 No ! God willing, he would stand firm, and 
 so should she. 
 
 An hour later he was still there, his unlighted 
 •Jlgar between his lips, his head on his hands. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 UNDER THE WILLOWS 
 
 The mile or more of shore skirting the curve 
 of Keyport harbor from Keyport Village to 
 Captain Joe's cottage was lighted by only four 
 street lamps. Three of these were hung on 
 widely scattered telegraph-poles ; the fourth was 
 nailed fast to one end of old Captain Potts's 
 fish-house. 
 
 When the nights were moonless, these faith- 
 ful sentinels, with eyes alert, scanned the wind- 
 ing road, or so much of it as their lances could 
 protect, watching over deep culverts, and in one 
 place guarded a treacherous bridge without a 
 rail. 
 
 When the nights were cloudy and the lan- 
 tern-panes were dimmed by the driving sleet, 
 these beacons confined their efforts to pointing 
 out for the stumbling wajrfarer the deep pud- 
 dles or the higher rows of soggy seaweed 
 washed up by the last high , tide into the high- 
 way itself. Only on thick nights, when the 
 fog-drift stole in from the still sea, and even 
 Keyport Light burned dim, did their scouting 
 rays retreat discomfited, illumining nothing but 
 the poles on which the lanterns hung. 
 
26o CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 Yet in spite of this vigilance there were still 
 long stretches of road between, which even on 
 clear nights were dark as graveyards and as 
 lonesome. Except for the ruddy gleam slanted 
 across the path from some cabin window, or the 
 glare of a belated villag^er's swinging lantern 
 flecking the pale, staring fences with seesawing 
 lights and shadows, not a light was visible. 
 
 Betty knew every foot of this road. She had 
 trundled her hoop on it, her hair flying in the 
 wind, when she first came to Keyport to school. 
 She had trodden it mahya time with Caleb; had 
 idled along its curves with Lacey before the 
 day when her life came to an end, and had 
 plodded over it many a weary hour since, as she 
 went to her work in the' village or returned to 
 Captain Joe's. Every stone and tree and turn 
 were familiar to her, and she could have found 
 her way in the pitch-dark to the captain's or to 
 Caleb's, just as she had done again and again 
 in the days before the street lights were set, or 
 when Caleb would be standing on the porch, if 
 she were late, shading his eyes and peering 
 down the road, the kitchen lamp in his hand. 
 " I was gittin' worrited, little woman ; what 
 kep' ye .' " he would say. She had never been 
 afraid in those days, no matter what the hour. 
 Everybody knew her. " Oh, that 's you, Mis' 
 West, is it .' I kind o' mistrusted it was," 
 would come fi'om some shadowy figure across 
 the road. 
 
UNDER THE WILLOWS 261 
 
 All this was changed for her now. There 
 were places along the highway that made her 
 draw her shawl closer, often half hiding her 
 face. She would shudder as she turned the 
 corner by the church, the one where the cap- 
 tain and Aunty Bell had taken her the first Sun- 
 day after her coming back. The big, gloomy oil 
 warehouse where she had nursed Lacey seemed 
 to her haunted and uncanny, and at night more 
 gloomy than ever without a ray of light in any 
 one of its broken, staring windows. Even the 
 fishing-smacks, anchored out of harm's way for 
 the night, looked gruesome and mysterious, with 
 single lights aloft, and black hulls and masts 
 reflected in the water. It was never until she 
 reached the willows that her agitation disap- 
 peared. These grew just opposite Captain 
 Potts's fish-house. There were' three of them, 
 and their branches interlocked and spread across 
 the road, the spaces between the trunks being 
 black at night, despite the one street lamp nailed 
 to the fish-house across the way. When Betty 
 gained these trees her breath always came freer. 
 She could then see along the whole road, away 
 past Captain Joe's, and up the hill. She could 
 see, too, Caleb's cabin from this spot, and the 
 lamp burning in the kitchen window. She 
 knew who was sitting beside it. From these 
 willows, also, she could run for Captain Joe's 
 swinging gate with its big ball and chain, get- 
 ting safely inside before Caleb could pass and 
 
262 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 see her, if by any chance he should be on the 
 road and coming to the village. Once she had 
 met him this side of their dark shadows. It 
 was on a Saturday, and he was walking into the 
 village, his basket on his arm. He was going 
 for his Sunday supplies, no doubt. The Ledge 
 gang must have come in sooner than usual, for 
 it was early twilight. She had seen him com- 
 ing a long way off, and had looked about for 
 some means of escape. There was no mistak- 
 ing his figure. She would know him as far as 
 she could see him, — that strong, broad figure, 
 with the awkward, stiff walk peculiar to so 
 many seafaring men, particularly lightship-keep- 
 ers like Caleb, who have walked but little. She 
 knew, too, the outline of the big, fluffy beard 
 that the wind caught and blew over his ruddy 
 face. No one could be like her Caleb but him- 
 self. 
 
 These chance meetings she dreaded with a 
 fear she could not overcome. On this last 
 occasion, finding no concealing shelter, she had 
 kept on, her eyes on the ground. When Caleb 
 had passed, his blue eyes staring straight ahead, 
 his face drawn and white, the lips pressed close, 
 she turned and looked after him, and he turned, 
 too, and looked after her, — these two, man 
 and wife, within reach of each other's arms and 
 lips, yet with only the longing hunger of a dead 
 happiriess in their eyes. She could have run 
 toward him, and knelt down in the road, and 
 
UNDER THE WILLOWS 263 
 
 begged him to forgive her and take her home 
 again, had not Captain Joe's words restrained 
 her : " Caleb says he ain't got nothin' agin ye, 
 child, but he won't take ye back s' long '« he 
 lives." 
 
 Because, then, of the dread of these chance 
 meetings, and because of the shy looks of many 
 of the villagers, who, despite Captain Joe's 
 daily fight, still passed her with but a slight 
 nod of recognition, she was less unhappy when 
 she walked the road at night than in the day- 
 light. The chance of being recognized was 
 less. Caleb might pass her in the dark and 
 not see her, and then, too, there were fewer 
 people passing after dark. 
 
 On the Saturday night succeeding that on 
 which they had met and looked at each other, 
 she determined to wait until it was quite dark. 
 He would have come in then, and she could slip 
 out from the shop where she worked and gain 
 the shore road before he had finished making 
 his purchases in the village. 
 
 Her heart had been very heavy all day. The 
 night before she had left her own bed and 
 tapped at Aunty Bell's door, and had crept 
 under the coverlid beside the little woman, the 
 captain being at the Ledge, and had had one of 
 her hearty cries, sobbing on the elder woman's 
 neck, her arms about her, her cheek to hers. 
 She had gone over with her for the hundredth, 
 time all the misery of her position, wondering 
 
264 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 what would become of her ; and how hard it 
 was for Caleb to do-all his work alone, — wash- 
 ing his clothes and cooking his meals just as he 
 had done on board the lightship ; pouring out 
 her heart until she fell asleep from sheer ex- 
 haustion. All of her thoughts were centred in 
 him and his troubles. She longed to go back 
 to Caleb to take care of him. It was no longer 
 to be taken care of, but to care for him. 
 
 As she hurried through the streets, after 
 leaving the shop, and gained the corner leading 
 to the shore road, she glanced up and down, 
 fearing to see the sturdy figure with the basket. 
 But there was no one in sight whom she knew. 
 At this discovery she slackened her steps and 
 looked around more quietly. When she reached 
 the bend in the road, a flash of light from an 
 open door in a cabin near by gave her a mo- 
 mentary glimpse of a housewife bending over 
 a stove and a man putting a dinner-pail on the 
 kitchen table. Then all was dark again. It 
 was but a momentary glimpse of a happiness 
 the possibility of which in her own life she had 
 wrecked, but it sent the blood tingling to her 
 face. She stopped, steadying herself by the 
 stone wall, then she walked on. 
 
 When she passed into the black shadows of 
 the overhanging willows, a man stepped from 
 behind a tree-trunk. 
 
 " Are n't you rather late this evening .' " he 
 asked. 
 
UNDER THE WILLOWS 265 
 
 Betty stood still, the light of the street lamp 
 full on her face. The abruptness of the sound 
 startled her. 
 
 " Oh, you need n't be afraid ; I 'm not going 
 to hurt you." 
 
 The girl peered into the gloom. She thought 
 the voice was familiar, though she was not sure. 
 She could distinguish only a shadowy face. 
 
 " What makes you, so skittish, anyhow .-•" the 
 man asked again/ — 1 in a lower tone this time. 
 " You did n't use to be so. I thought maybe 
 you might like to drive over to Medford and 
 see the ^how to-night." 
 
 Betty made no answer, but she took a step 
 nearer to him, trying to identify him. She was 
 not afraid ; only curious. Then all at once it 
 occurred to her that it could be for no good 
 purpose he had stopped her. None of the men 
 had spoken to her in the street, even in the day- 
 time, since her return home. 
 
 "Please let me pass," she said quietly and 
 firmly. 
 
 " Oh, you need n't be in a hurry. We 've 
 got all night. Come along, now, won't you ? 
 You used to like me once, before you shook the 
 old man." 
 
 Betty knew him now ! 
 
 The terror of her position overcame her ; a 
 deathly faiptness seized her. 
 
 She saw it all ; she knew why this man dared. 
 She realized the loneliness and desolation of 
 
266 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 her position, poor child that she was. Every 
 cabin near her filled with warmth and cheer 
 and comfort, and she friendless and alone! 
 Not a woman near but had the strong arm of 
 husband or brother to help and defend her. 
 The very boats in the harbor, with their bea- 
 con-lights aloft, protected and safe. Only she 
 in danger ; only she unguarded, waylaid, open 
 to insult, even by a man like this. 
 
 She stood shivering, looking into his cowardly 
 face. Then rousing herself to her peril, she 
 sprang toward the road. In an instant the man 
 had seized her wrist. She felt his hot breath 
 on her face. 
 
 " Oh, come now, none of that ! Say, why 
 ain't I as good as Bill Lacey? Give me a 
 kiss." 
 
 " Let me go ! Let me go ! How dare you ! " 
 she cried, struggling in his grasp. When 
 she found his strength gaining on her, she 
 screamed. 
 
 Hardly had she made her outcry, when from 
 behind the fish-house a man with a flowing 
 beard darted into the shadows, flung himself on 
 Betty's assailant, and dragged him out under 
 the glare of the street lamp. The girl fled up 
 the road without looking behind. 
 
 " That 's what ye 're up to, is it, Mr. Carle- 
 ton } " said the man, holding the other with the 
 grip of a steel vise. " I 'spected as much when 
 I see ye passin' my place. Damn ye! If it 
 
UNDER THE WILLOWS 267 
 
 warn't that it would be worse for her, I 'd kill 
 ye!" 
 
 Every muscle in the speaker's body was tense 
 with anger. Carleton's head was bent back, his 
 face livid from the pressure of his assailant's 
 fingers twisted about his throat. 
 
 The man slowly relaxed his hold. "Ain't 
 she got trouble 'nough without havin' a skunk 
 like you a-runnin' foul o' her .' " 
 
 Carleton made a quick gesture as if to spring 
 aside and run. The diver saw the movement 
 and stepped in front of him. 
 
 " Ain't ye ashamed o' yerself ? Ain't it mean 
 o' ye to make up to a gal like Betty.'" His 
 voice was low and measured. 
 
 "What 's it your business, anyhow.' " Carle- 
 ton gasped between his breaths, shaking him- 
 self like a tousled dog. " What are you putting 
 on frills about her for, anyhow ? She 's nothing 
 to you, if she is your wife. I guess I know 
 what I 'm doing." 
 
 Caleb's fingers grew hard and rigid as claws. 
 
 " So do I know what ye 're a-doin'. Ye 'd 
 drag that child down an' stomp on her, if ye 
 could. Ye 'd make a thing of her," — the words 
 came with a hiss, — " you — you — callin' yer- 
 self a man ! " 
 
 " Why don't you take care of her, then .' " 
 snarled Carleton, with an assumed air of com- 
 posure, as he! adjusted his collar and cuffs. 
 
 "That's what I'm here for; that's why I 
 
268 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 foUered ye ; there ain't a night since it begun 
 to git dark I ain't watched her home. She's 
 not yourn ; she 's mine. Look at me," — Caleb 
 stepped closer and raised his clinched fist. " If 
 ever ye speak to her agin, so help me God, I 
 ze/«7/kmye!" 
 
 With one swing of his arm he threw the 
 superintendent out of his way, and strode up 
 the street. 
 
 Carleton staggered from the blow, and would 
 have fallen but for the wall of the fish-house. 
 For a moment he stood in the road looking 
 after Caleb's retreating figure. Then, with a 
 forced bravado in his voice, he called out in the 
 darkness, " If you think so damn much of her^ 
 why don't you take her home ? " and slunk 
 away toward the village. 
 
 The old man did not turn. If he heard, he 
 made no sign. He walked on, with his head 
 down, his eyes on the road. As he passed Cap- 
 tain Joe's he loitered at the gate until he saw 
 the- light flash up in Betty's bedroom ; then he 
 kept on to his own cabin. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE SONG OF THE FIRE 
 
 The fire was nearly out when Caleb entered 
 his kitchen door and drew a chair to the stove. 
 Carleton's taunting words, " Why don't you take 
 her home ? " rang in his ears. Their sting hurt 
 him. Everything else seemed to fall away from 
 his mind. He knew why he did not take her 
 home, he said to himself; every one else knew 
 why, — every one up and down Keyport knew 
 what Betty had done to ruin him. If she was 
 friendless, tramping the road, within sight of 
 her own house, whose fault was it .' Not his. 
 He had never done anything but love her apd 
 take care of her. 
 
 He reached for a pair of tongs, stirred the 
 coals, and threw on a single piece of driftwood. 
 The fire blazed up brightly at once, its light 
 flickering on the diver's ruddy face, and, as 
 quickly died out. 
 
 "Why don't I take care of 'fer, eh.? Why 
 did n't she take care of herself .' " he cried aloud, 
 gazing into the smouldering embers. " She 
 sees what it is now trampin' the road nights, 
 runnin' up agin su,ch curs as him. He 's a nice 
 
270 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 un, he is. I wish I 'd choked the life out'er 
 him ; such fellers ain't no right to live," look- 
 ing about him as if he expected to find Carle- 
 ton behind the door, and as quickly recovering 
 himself. " I wonder if he hurt 'er," — his voice 
 had softened. " She screamed turrible. I ought, 
 maybe, to 'a' ketched up to her. Poor little 
 gal, she ain't used to this." He was silent 
 awhile, his head bent, his shoulders updrawn, 
 his big frame stretched out in the chair. 
 
 " She ain't riothin' but a child, anyhow," he 
 broke out again, — " Cap'n Joe says so. H e says 
 I don't think o' this ; maybe he 's right. He 
 says I 'm bigger an' twice as old's she be, an' 
 ought'er know more ; that it ain't me she 's 
 hurted, — it 's herself ; that I married her to 
 take care of 'er ; and that the fust time she got 
 in a hole I go back on 'er, 'cause she s dragged 
 me in arter 'er. Well, ain't I a-takin' care of 
 'er.' Ain't I split squar' in two every cent 
 I 've earned since she run away with that " — 
 
 Caleb paused abruptly. Even to himself he 
 never mentioned Lacey's name. Bending for- 
 ward he poked the fire vigorously, raking the 
 coals around the single stick of driftwood. 
 " It 's all very well for th' cap'n to talk ; he 
 ain't gone through what I have." 
 
 Pushing back his chair he paced the small 
 room, talking to himself as he walked, pausing 
 to address his sentences to the several articles 
 of furniture, — the chairs, the big table, the 
 
THE SONG OF THE FIRE 271 
 
 kitchen sink, whatever came in his way. It 
 was an old trick of his when alona "I ain't 
 a-goin' to have 'er come home so late no more," 
 he continued. His voice had sunk to a gentle 
 whisper. " I 'm goin' to tell them folks she 
 works for that they 've got to let 'er out afore 
 dark, or she shan't stay." He was looking now 
 at an old rocker as if it were the shopkeeper 
 himself. " She '11 be so scared arter this she 
 won't have a minute's peace. She need n't 
 worrit herself, though, 'bout that skunk. She 's 
 shut o' him. But there'll be more of 'em. 
 They all think that now I 've throwed 'er off 
 they kin do as they 've a mind to." He stopped 
 again and gazed down at the floor, seemingly 
 absorbed in a hole in one of the planks. 
 "Cap'n Joe sez I ain't got no business to 
 throw 'er off. He would n't treat a dog so, — 
 that 's what ye said, cap'n ; I ain't never goin' 
 to forgit it. / ain't throwed her off. She 
 throwed me off, — lef me here without a word ; 
 an' ye know it, cap'n. Ye want me to take 'er 
 back, do ye .' " He spoke with as much ear- 
 nestness as though the captain stood before 
 him. "S'pose I do, an' she finds out arter 
 all that her comin' home was 'cause she was 
 skeared of it all, and that she still loved " — 
 
 He stopped, reseated himself, and picking up 
 another stick threw it on the fire, snuggling 
 the two together. The sticks, cheered by each 
 other's warmth, burst into a crackling flaiiie. 
 
272 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 "Poor little Betty!" he began again aloud. 
 " I 'm sorry for ye. Everybody 's agin ye, 
 child, 'cept Cap'n Joe's folks. I know it hurts 
 ye turrible to have folks look away from ye. 
 Ye always loved to have folks love ye. I 
 ain't got nothin' agin ye, child, indeed I ain't. 
 It was my fault, not yourn. I told Cap'n Joe 
 so ; ask him, — he '11 tell ye." He turned 
 toward the empty chair beside him, as if he saw 
 her sad face there. " I know it 's hard, child," 
 shaking his head. "Ain't nobody feels it 
 more 'n me, — ain't nobody feels it more 'n me. 
 I guess I must take care o' ye ; I guess there 
 ain't nobody else but me kin do it." 
 
 The logs blazed cheerily ; the whole room 
 was alight. " I wish ye loved me like ye did 
 onct, little woman, — I would n't want no 
 better happiness ; jest me an' you, like it useter 
 was. I wonder if ye do .' No, I know ye 
 don't." The last words came with a positive 
 tone. 
 
 For a long time he remained still, gazing 
 at the blazing logs locked together, the flames 
 dancing about them. Then he got up and 
 roamed mechanically around the room, his 
 thoughts away with Betty and her helpless 
 condition, and her rightful dependence on him. 
 In the same dreary way he opened the cup- 
 boatrd, took out a piece of cold meat and some 
 slices of stale bread, laying them on the tablci 
 poured some tea into a cup and put it on the 
 
THE SONG OF THE FIRE 273 
 
 stove ; it was easier making the tea that way 
 than in a pot. He drew the table toward the 
 iire, so that his supper would be within reach, 
 stirring the brewing tea meanwhile with a fork 
 he had in his hand, and began his frugal meal. 
 Since Betty left he had never set the table. 
 It seemed less lonely to eat this way. 
 
 Just as he had finished there came a knock 
 at the front door. Caleb started, and put down 
 his cup. Who could come at this hour ? Cran- 
 ing his head toward the small open hall, he saw 
 through the glass in the door the outlines of a 
 woman's figure approaching him through the 
 hall. His face flushed, and his heart seemed 
 to jump in his throat. 
 
 "It's me, Caleb," said the woman. "It's 
 Aunty BelL The door was open, so I did n't 
 wait. Cap'n sent me up all in a hurry: He 's 
 jes' come in from the Ledge, and hollered to 
 me from the tug to send up and get ye. The 
 pump 's broke on the big h'ister. A new one 's 
 got to be cast to-night and bored out to-mor- 
 rer, if it is Sunday. Cap'n says everything's 
 stopped at the Ledge, and they can't do another 
 stroke till this pump 's fixed. Were n't nobody 
 home but Betty, and so I come myself. Come 
 right along ; he wants ye at the machine shop 
 jes' 's quick as ye kin git there." 
 
 Caleb kept his seat and made no reply. Some- 
 thing about the shock of discovering who the 
 woman was had stunned him. He did not try 
 
274 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 to explain it to himself ; he was conscious only 
 of a vague yet stinging sense of disappointment. 
 Automatically, like a trained soldier obeying a 
 command, he bent forward in his chair, drew 
 his thick shoes from under the stove, slipped 
 his feet into them, and silently followed Aunty 
 Bell out of the house and down the road. When 
 they reached Captain Joe's gate he looked up 
 at Betty's window. There was no light. 
 
 " Has Betty gone to bed } " he asked quietly. 
 
 " Yes, more 'n an hour ago. She come home 
 late, all tuckered out. I see 'er jes' before I 
 come out. She said she warn't sick, but she 
 would n't eat nothin'." 
 
 Caleb paused, looked at her as if he were 
 about to speak again, hesitated, then, without 
 a word, walked away. 
 
 " Stubborn as a mule," said Aunty Bell, look- 
 ing after him. "I ain't got no patience with 
 such men." 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE EQUINOCTIAL GALE . 
 
 When Sanford arrived at Keyport, a raw, 
 southeast gale swept through the deserted 
 streets. About the wharves of the village 
 itself idle stevedores lounged under dripping 
 roofs, watching the cloud-rack and speculating 
 on the chances of going to work. Out in the 
 harbor the fishing-boats rocked uneasily, their 
 long, red pennants flattened against the sky. 
 Now and then a frightened sloop came hurry- 
 ing in with close-reefed jib, sousing her bow 
 under at every plunge. 
 
 Away off in the open a dull gray mist, 
 churned up by the tumbling waves, dimmed 
 the horizon, blurring here and there a belated 
 coaster laboring heavily under bare poles, while 
 from Crotch Island way came the roar of the 
 pounding surf dashed headlong on the beach. 
 The long-expected equinoctial storm was at its 
 height. 
 
 So fierce and so searching were the wind 
 and rain that Sanford was thoroughly drenched 
 when he reached Captain Joe's cottage. 
 
 " For the land's sake, Mr. Sanford, come right 
 
276 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 in ! Why, ye 're jest 's soakin' as though ye'd 
 fell off the dock. Cap'n said ye was a-comin', 
 but I hoped ye would n't. I ain't never see it 
 blow so terrible, I don't know when. Gimme 
 that overcoat," slipping it from his shoulders 
 and arms. " Be yer feet wet ? " 
 
 " Pretty wet, Mrs. Bell. I '11 go up to my 
 room and get some dry socks " — 
 
 "Ye ain't a-goin' to move one step. Set 
 right down an' get them shoes off. I '11 go for 
 the socks myself. I overhaiiled 'em last week 
 with the cap'n's, and sot a new toe in one o' 
 them. I won't be a minute!" she cried, hurry, 
 ing out. of the room, and returning with heavy 
 woolen socks and a white worsted sweater. 
 
 " Guess ye '11 want these, too, sir," she said, 
 picking up a pair of slippers. 
 
 "Where is Captain Joe.'" asked Sanford, as 
 he pulled off his wet shoes and stockings and 
 moved closer to the fire. It was an every-day 
 scene in Aunty Bell's kitchen, where one half 
 of her visitors were wet half the time, and the 
 other half wet all the time. 
 
 "I don't jes' know. He ain't been home 
 sence Saturday night but jes' long 'nough to 
 change his clothes an' git a bite to eat. Come 
 in from the Ledge Saturday night on the tug 
 two hours after the Screamer brought in the 
 men, an' hollered to me to go git Caleb an' 
 come down to the machine shop. You beared 
 they broke the pump on the h'istin' -engine. 
 
THE EQUINOCTIAL GALE 277 
 
 didn't ye? They both been a-workin' on it 
 pretty much ever sence." 
 
 "Not the big hoister?" Sanford exclaimed, 
 with a start, turning pale. 
 
 " Well, that 's what the cap'n said, sir. He 
 an' Caleb worked all Saturday night an' Sun- 
 day, an' got a new castin' made, an' bored it out 
 yesterday. I told him he would n't have no 
 luck, workin' on Sunday, but he did n't pay no 
 more 'tention to me than th' wind a-bl6win'. 
 It was to be done this mornin'. He was up at 
 five, an' I ain't seen him sence. Said he was 
 goin' to git to the Ledge in Cap'n Potts' cat- 
 boat, if it mod'rated." 
 
 " He won't go," said Sanford, with a sigh of 
 relief now that he knew the break had been 
 repaired without delay. " No cat-boat can live 
 outside to-day." 
 
 " Well, all I know is, I beared him tell Lonny 
 Bowles to ask Cap'n Potts for it 'fore they went 
 out," she replied, as she hung Sanford's socks 
 on a string especially reserved for such emer- 
 gencies. " Said they had two big cut stone to 
 set, an' they could n't get a pound o' steam on 
 the Ledge till he brought the pump back." 
 
 Sanford instinctively looked out of the win- 
 dow. The rain beat against the panes. The 
 boom of the surf sounded like distant cannon. 
 
 " Ye can't do nothin' with him when he gits 
 one o' his spells on, noways," continued Aunty 
 Bell, as she raked o^t the coals., "Jes' wait 
 
278 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 till I grind some fresh coffee, — won't take a 
 minute. Then I '11 git breakfast for ye." 
 
 Sanford stepped into the sitting-room, closed 
 the door, took off his coat and waistcoat, loos- 
 ened his collar, pulled on the sweater, and came 
 back into the kitchen, looking like a substitute 
 in a game of football. He always kept a stock 
 of such dry luxuries in his little room upstairs. 
 Aunty Bell looking after them as she did after 
 the captain's, and these rapid changes of dress 
 were not unusual. 
 
 " How does Betty get on .' " asked Sanford, 
 drawing up a chair to the table. The bustling 
 little woman was bringing relays of bread, but- 
 ter, and other comforts, flitting between the 
 pantry and the stove. 
 
 " Pretty peaked, sir ; ye would n't know her, 
 poor little girl ; it 'd break yer heart to see her," 
 she answered, as she placed a freshly baked 
 pie on the table. " She 's upstairs now. Cap'n 
 wouldn't let her git up an' go to work this 
 mornin', it blowed so. That 's her now a-comin' 
 downstairs." 
 
 Sanford rose and held out his hand. He had 
 not seen Betty since the memorable night when 
 she had stood in his hallway, and he had taken 
 her to Mrs. Leroy's. He had been but seldom 
 at the captain's of late, going straight to the 
 Ledge from the train, and had always missed 
 her. 
 
 Betty started back, and her color came and 
 
THE EQUINOCTIAL GALE 279 
 
 went when she saw who it was. She did n't 
 know anybody was downstairs, she said half 
 apologetically, addressing her words to Aunty 
 Bell, her eyes averted from Sanford's face. 
 
 " Why, Betty, I 'm glad to see you ! " ex- 
 claimed Sanford in a cheery tone, his mind 
 going back to Mrs. Leroy's admonition. 
 
 .Betty raised her eyes with a timid, furtive 
 glance, her face flushed scarlet, but, reading 
 Sanford's entire sincerity in his face, she laid 
 her hand in his, saying it was a bad day, and 
 that she hoped he was not wet. Then she 
 turned to help Mrs. Bell with the table. 
 
 Sanford watched her slight figure and care- 
 worn face as she moved about the room — hardly 
 a trace in them of the Betty of old. When 
 Aunty Bell had gone down into the cellar, he 
 called Betty to him and said in a. low voice, "I 
 have a message for you." 
 
 She turned quickly, as if anticipating some 
 unwelcome revelation. 
 
 " Mrs. Leroy told me to give you her love." 
 
 Betty's eyes filled. " Is that what she said, 
 Mr. Sanford?" 
 
 " Every word, Betty, and she means it all." 
 
 The girl stood fingering the handles of the 
 knives she had just laid upon the cloth. After 
 a pause, Sanford's eyes still upon her face, she 
 answered slowly, with a pathos that went straight 
 home to his heart : — 
 
 " Tell her, please, sir, that I thank her so 
 
28o CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 much, and that I never forget her. I am trying 
 so hard — so hard — I promised her I would. 
 You don't know, Mr. Sanford, — nobody won't 
 never know how g^ood she was to me. If I 'd 
 been her sister she could n't 'a' done no more." 
 
 It was but a slight glimpse of the girl's real 
 nature, but it settled for Sanford all the misgiv- 
 ings he had had. It sent a quiver through him, 
 too, as bis mind reverted to Kate's own ac- 
 count of the interview. He was about to tell 
 her of Mrs. Leroy's expected arrival at Medford, 
 and urge her to go over some Sunday, when 
 Aunty Bell bustled in with a covered disL 
 
 "Come, child," she said, "sit right down 
 alongside o' Mr. Sanford an' git your breakfas'. 
 You ain't eat a morsel yet." 
 
 There were no seats of honor and no second 
 table in this house, except for those who came 
 late. 
 
 Here a sharp, quick knock sounded on the 
 outer door, and in stalked Captain Bob Brandt, 
 bix feet or more of wet oilskins, the rain drip- 
 ping from his sou'wester, his rosy, good-natured 
 face peering out from under the puckered 
 brim. 
 
 " Cap'n Joe sent me down to the station for 
 ye, sir, in case ye come, but I missed ye, some- 
 how. Mr. Carleton was on the platform, an' 
 said he see ye git off. Guess ye must 'a' come 
 cross lots." 
 
 " Did Mr. Carleton mention an)rthing about 
 
THE EQUINOCTIAL GALE 281 
 
 receiving a telegram from me, saying I wanted 
 to see him ? " inquiffed Sanfofd, as he shook the 
 skipper's hand. 
 
 " Yes, sir ; said he knew yer was comin', but 
 that he was goin' over to Medford till the storm 
 was over." 
 
 Saiiford's brow knit. Carleton had evidently 
 avoided him. 
 
 "Did he leave' any message or letter with 
 Captain Joe ? " Sanford asked, after a pause. 
 He still hoped that the coveted certificate had 
 iflnally been signed. 
 
 "Guess not, sir. Don't think he see 'im. 
 I suppose ye know Cap'n Joe 's gone to the 
 Ledge with the new pump ? " 
 
 " Not in this storm ? " cried Sanford, a look 
 of alarm overspreading his face. 
 
 " Yes, sir, half an hour ago, in Cap'n Potts' 
 Dolly. I watched 'em till they run under the 
 P'int, then I come for you ; guess that 's what 
 got me late. She was under double reefs then, 
 an' a-smashin' things for all she was worth. I 
 tell ye, 't ain't no good place out there for no- 
 body, not even Cap'n Joe." ' As he spdke he 
 took off his hat and thrashed the water from it 
 against the jamb of the door. " No, thank ye, 
 ma'am," with a wave of his hand in answer to 
 Mrs. Bell's gesture to sit down opposite Betty. 
 *I had breakfast 'board the' Screamer." ' 
 
 "Who 's with him .' " exclaimeid Sanford, now 
 really uneasy. Captain Joe's personal ' safety 
 
282 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 was worth more to him than the completion 
 of a dozen Ughthouses. 
 
 " Caleb and Lonny Bowles. They 'd go 
 anywheres cap'n told 'em. He was holdin' 
 tiller when I see him last ; Caleb layin' back on 
 the sheet and Lonny bailin'. Cap'n said he 
 would n't 'a' risked it, only we was behind an' 
 he did n't want ye worried. I 'm kind'er sorry 
 they started ; it ain't no picnic out there, I tell 
 ye." 
 
 Betty gave an anxious look at Aunty Bell. 
 
 " Is it a very bad storm, Cap'n Brandt .' " 
 she asked, almost in a whisper. 
 
 " Wust I ever see, Mis' West, since I worked 
 round here," nodding kindly to Betty as he 
 spoke, his face lighting up. He had always 
 believed in her because the captain had taken 
 her home. " Everything comin' in under dou- 
 ble reefs, — them that is a-comin' in. They 
 say two o' them Lackawanna coal-barges went 
 adrift at daylight an' come ashore at Crotch 
 Island. Had two men drownded, I hear." 
 
 " Who told you that > " asked Sanford. The 
 news only increased his anxiety. 
 
 "The cap'n of the tow line, sir. He's just 
 telegraphed to New Haven for a big wreckin'- 
 tug." 
 
 Sanford told Captain Brandt to wait, ran up- 
 stairs two steps at a time, and reappeared in 
 long rubber boots and mackintosh, 
 
 " I '11 walk up toward the lighthouse and find 
 
THE EQUINOCTIAL GALE 283 
 
 out how they are getting on, Mrs. Bell," he 
 said. "We can see them from the lantern 
 deck. Come, Captain Brandt, I want you with 
 me." A skilled seaman like the skipper might 
 be needed before the day was over. 
 
 Betty and Aunty Bell looked after them 
 until they had swung back the garden gate 
 with its clanking ball and chain, and had turned 
 to breast the gale in their walk of a mile or 
 more up the shore road. 
 
 " Oh, aunty," said Betty, with a tremor in 
 her voice, all the blood gone from her face, 
 " do you think anything will happen .' " 
 
 "Not 's long's Cap'n Joe's aboard, child. 
 He ain't a-takin' no risks he don't know all 
 about. Ye need n't worry a mite. Set down 
 an' finish yer breakfas'. I believe Mr. Sanford 
 ain't done more 'n swallow his coffee," she 
 added, with a pitying look, as she inspected his 
 plate. 
 
 The fact that her husband was exposed in an 
 open boat to the fury of a southeaster made no 
 more impression upon her mind than if he had 
 been reported asleep upstairs. She knew there 
 was no storm the captain could not face. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 FROM THE LANTERN DECK 
 
 Tony Marvin, the keeper of Keyport Light, 
 was in his little room next the fog-horn when 
 Sanford and the skipper, wet and glistening as 
 two seals, knocked at the outer door of his 
 quarters. 
 
 "Well, I want to know ! " broke out Tony 
 in his. bluff, hearty; way, as he opened the door. 
 " Cpme in, —r come in ! Nice weather for 
 ducks, ain't it ? Sunthin' 's up, or you fellers 
 would n't be out to-day," leading the way to his 
 roonj. "Anybody drownded ? " he asked facte- 
 tiously, stopping for a moment on the threshold. 
 
 "Not yet, Tony," said Sanford in a serious 
 tone. He had known the keeper for years, — 
 had, in fact, helped him get his appointment at 
 the Light. " But I 'm worried about Captain 
 Joe and Caleb." He opened his coat, and 
 walked across the room to a bench set against 
 the whitewashed wall, little streams of water 
 following him as he moved. "Did you see 
 them go by ? They 're in Captain Potts's 
 Dolly Varden." 
 
 " Gosh hang, no ! Ye ain't never tellin' me, 
 
FROM THE LANTERN DECK 285 
 
 be ye, that the cap'n 's gone to the Ledge in 
 all this smother? And that fool Caleb with 
 him, too ? " 
 
 "Yes, and Lonny Bowles," interrupted the 
 skipper. As he spoke he pulled off one of his 
 water-logged boots and poured the contents 
 into a fire-bucket standing against the wall, , 
 
 " How long since they started ? " asked the 
 keeper anxiously, taking down his spyglass 
 from a rack above the buckets. . 
 
 "Half an hour ago." 
 
 "Then they're this side of Crotch Island 
 yit, if they 're anywheres. Let 's go up to the 
 lantern. Mebbe we can see 'em," he said, unr 
 latching the door of the tower. " Better leave 
 them boots behind, Mr. Sanford, and shed yer 
 coat. A feller's knees git purty tired climbin' 
 these steps, when he ain't used to 't ; there 's 
 a hundred and ten of 'em. . Here, try these 
 slippin's of mine," and he kicked a pair of slip- 
 pers from under a chair. " Guess they '11 fit 
 ye. Seems to me Caleb 's been doin' his best 
 to git drownded since that high-flyer of a gal 
 left him. He come by here daylight, one 
 mornin' awhile ago, in a sharpie that you would 
 n't cross a creek in, and it blowin' half a gale. 
 I ain't surprised o' nothin' in Caleb, but Cap'n 
 Joe ought'er have more sense. What's he 
 goin' for, anyhow, to-day .■' " he grumbled, as 
 Sanford drew on the slippers and. placed his 
 foot on the first iron step of the spiral staircase. 
 
286 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 " He 's taken the new pump with him," said 
 Sanford, as he followed the keepef up the wind- 
 ing steps, the skipper close behind. "They 
 broke the' old pump on Saturday, and every- 
 thing is stopped on the Ledge. Captain knows 
 we 're behind, and he does n't want to lose an 
 hour. But it was a foolish venture. He had 
 no business to risk his life in a blow like this, 
 Tony." There was a serious tone in Sanford's 
 voice which quickened the keeper's step. 
 
 " What good is the pump to him, if he does 
 get it there .' Men can't work to-day," Tony 
 answered. He was now a dozen steps ahead, 
 his Voice sounding hollow in the reverberations 
 of the round tower. 
 
 " Oh, that ain't ia-goin' to stop us ! " shouted 
 the skipper from below, resting a moment to 
 get his breath as he spoke. " We 've got the 
 masonry clean out o' water ; we 're all right if 
 Cap'n Joe can git steam on the hoister." 
 
 The keeper, whose legs had become as sup- 
 ple as a squirrel's in the five years he had 
 climbed up and down theSe stairs, reached the 
 lantern deck some minutes ahead of the others. 
 He was wiping the sweat from the lantern 
 glass with a clean white cloth, and drawing 
 back the day curtains so that they might see 
 better, when Sanford's head appeared above 
 the lens deck. 
 
 Once upon the iron floor of the deck, the 
 roar of the wind and the dash of the rain, 
 
FROM THE LANTERN DECK 287 
 
 which had been deadened by the thick walls of 
 the structure surrounding the staircase below, 
 burst upon them seemingly with increased fury. 
 A tremulous, swaying motion was plainly felt. 
 A novice would have momentarily expected the 
 structure to measure its length on the rocks 
 below. Above the roar of the storm could be 
 heard, at intervals, the thunder of the surf 
 breaking on Crotch Island beach. 
 
 " Gosh A'mighty ! " exclaimed the keeper, 
 adjusting the glass, which he had carried up 
 in his hand. " It 's a-humpin' things, and no 
 mistake. See them rollers break on Crotch 
 Island," and he swept his glass around. " I 
 see 'em. There they are, — three o' them. 
 There's Cap'n Joe, — ain't no mistakin' him. 
 He 's got his cap on, same 's he allers wears. 
 And there 's Caleb ; his beard 's a-flyin' straight 
 out. Who 's that in the red flannen shirt .? " 
 
 " Lonny Bowles," said the skipper. 
 
 " Yes, that 's Bowles. He 's a-bailin' for all 
 he 's worth. Cap'n Joe 's got the tiller and 
 Caleb 's a-hangin' on the sheet. Here, Mr. 
 Sanford," and he held out the glass, "ye kin 
 see 'em plain 's day." 
 
 Sanford waved the glass away. The keeper's 
 eyes, he said, were better accustomed to scan- 
 ning a scene like this. He himself could see 
 the Dolly, a mUe or more this side of Crotch 
 Island Point, and nearly two miles away from 
 where the three watchers stood. She was hug- 
 
288 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 ging the inside shore-line, her sail close-reefed. 
 He could even make out the three figures, which 
 were but so many black dots beaded along her 
 gunwale. All about the staggering boat seethed 
 the gray sea, mottled in wavy lines of foam. 
 Over this circled white gulls, shrieking as they 
 flew. 
 
 " He 's gittin' ready to go about," continued 
 the keeper, his eye still to the glass. " I see 
 Caleb shiftin' his seat. They know they can't 
 make the P'int on that leg. Jiminy-whiz, but 
 it 's soapy out there ! See 'er take that roller ! 
 Gosh ! " 
 
 The boat careened, the dots crowded to- 
 gether, and the Dolly bore away from the 
 shore. It was evidently Captain Joe's inten- 
 tion to give Crotch Island Point a wide berth 
 and then lay a straight course for the Ledge, 
 now barely visible through the haze, the der- 
 ricks and masonry alone showing clear above 
 the fringe of breaking surf tossed white against 
 the dull gray sky. 
 
 All eyes were now fixed on the Dolly. Three 
 times she laid a course toward the Ledge, and 
 three times she was forced back behind the 
 island. 
 
 " They 've got to give it up/' said the keeper, 
 laying down his glass. " That tide cuts round 
 that 'ere P'int like a mill-tail, to say nothin' o' 
 them smashers that's rollin' in. How she 
 keeps afloat out there is what beats me." 
 
FROM THE LANTERN DECK 289 
 
 "She wouldn't if Cap'n Joe wasn't at the 
 tiller," said the skipper, with a laugh. "Ye 
 can't drown him no more 'n a water-rat." He 
 had an abiding faith in Captain Joe almost as 
 great as that of Aunty Bell. 
 
 Sanford's face brightened. An overwhelm- 
 ing anxiety for the safety of the endangered 
 men had strangely, almost unaccountably un- 
 nerved him. It was some comfort to feel Cap- 
 tain Brandt's confidence in Captain Joe's ability 
 to meet the situation ; for that little cockle-shell 
 battling before him as if for its very life — one 
 moment on top of a mountain of water, and the 
 next buried out of sight — held between its frail 
 sides not only two of the best men whom he 
 knew, but really two of the master spirits of 
 their class. One of them. Captain Joe, Sanford 
 admired more than any other man, loving him, 
 too, as he had loved but few. 
 
 With a smile to the skipper, he looked off 
 again towsurd the sea. He saw the struggling 
 boat make a fourth attempt to clear the Point, 
 and in the movement lurch wildly ; he saw, too, 
 that her long boom was swaying from side to 
 side. Through the driving spray he made out 
 that two of the dots were trying to steady it. 
 The third dot was standing in the stern. 
 
 Here some new movement caught his eye. 
 He strained his neck forward ; then taking the 
 glass from the skipper watched the little craft 
 intently. 
 
290 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 "There's something the matter," he said 
 neirvously, after a moment's pause. "That's 
 Captain Joe waving to one of those two smacks 
 out there scudding in under close reefs. Look 
 yourself; am I right, Tony.'" and he passed 
 the glass to the keeper again. 
 
 "Looks like it, sir," replied Tony in a low 
 tone, the end of the glass fixed on the tossing 
 boat. "The smack sees 'em now, sir. She's 
 goin' about." 
 
 The fishing-smack careened, fluttered in the 
 wind Uke a baffled pigeon, and bore across to 
 the plunging boat. 
 
 "The spray's a-flyin' so ye can't see clear, 
 sir," said the keeper, his eye still at the glass. 
 " She ain't actin' right, somehow ; that boom 
 seems to bother 'em. Cap'n Joe 's runnin' 
 for'ard. Gosh ! that one went clean over 'er. 
 Look out ! Look out ! " in quick crescendo, as 
 if the endangered crew could have heard him. 
 " See 'er take 'em ! There 's another went clean 
 across. My God, Mr. Sanford! she's over, — 
 capsized ! " 
 
 Sanford made a rush for the staircase, a rash, 
 unreasonable impulse to help taking possession of 
 him. The keeper caught him firmly by the arm. 
 
 "Come back, sir! You're only wastin' yer 
 breath. That smack '11 get 'em." 
 
 Captain Brandt picked up the glass that the 
 keeper had dropped. His hands shook so he 
 could hardly adjust the lens. 
 
FROM THE LANTERN DECK 291 
 
 " The boom 's broke," he said in a trembling 
 voice ; " that 's what ails 'em. She 's bottom 
 side up. Lord, if she ain't a-wallowin' ! I 
 never 'spected to see Cap'n Joe in a hole like 
 that. They 're all three in th' water ; ain't a 
 man livin' can swim ashore in that sea ! Why 
 don't that blamed smack go about ? They '11 
 sink 'fore she can get to 'em. Where s the 
 cap'n ? He ain't come up yet. There 's Lonny 
 and Caleb, but I don't see Cap'n Joe nowhere." 
 
 Sanford leaned against the brass rail of the 
 great lens, his eyes on the fishing-smack swoop- 
 ing down to the rescue. The helplessness of 
 his position, his absolute inability to help the 
 drowning men, overwhelmed him : Captain Joe 
 and Caleb perishing before his eyes, and he 
 powerless to lift a hand. 
 
 " Do you see the captain anywhere .? " he 
 asked, with an effort at self-control. The words 
 seemed to clog his throat. 
 
 " Not yet, sir, but there 's Lonny, and there 's 
 Caleb. You look, Mr. Marvin," he said, turn- 
 ing to the keeper. He could not trust himself 
 any longer. For the first time his faith in Cap- 
 tain Joe had failed him. 
 
 Marvin held the glass to his eye and covered 
 the boat. He hardly dared breathe. 
 
 "Can't see but two, sir." His voice was 
 broken and husky. " Can't make out the cap'n 
 nowheres. Something must 'a' struck him an' 
 stunned him. My — my — ain't it a shame for 
 
292 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 him to cut up a caper like this ? I allers told 
 Cap'n Joe he 'd get hurted in some foolish kick- 
 up. Why in hell don't them other fellers do 
 something ? If they doii't look out, the Dolly 'U 
 drift so far they '11 lose him, — standin' there 
 like two dummies an' lettin' a man drown! 
 Lord ! Lord ! ain't it too bad ! " The keeper's 
 eyes filled. Everything was dim before him. 
 
 The skipper sank on the oil-chest and bowed 
 his head. Sanford's hands were over his face. 
 If the end had come, he did not want to see it. 
 
 The small, close lantern became as silent as 
 a death-chamber. The keeper, his back against 
 the lens rail, folded his arms across his chest 
 and stared out to sea. His face bore the look 
 of one watching a dying man. Sanford did 
 not move. His thoughts were on Aunty Bell. 
 What should he say to her? Was there not 
 something he could have done ? Should he 
 not, after all, have hailed the first tug in the 
 harbor and gone in search of them before it 
 was too late ? 
 
 The seconds draigged.. The silence in its 
 intensity became unbearable. With a deep in- 
 drawn sigh, Captain Brandt turned toward San- 
 ford and touched him. " Come away," he said, 
 with the tenderness of one strong man who 
 suffers and is stirred with greater sorrow by 
 another's grief. " This ain't no place for you, 
 Mr. Sanford. Come away." 
 
 Sanford raised his eyes and was about to 
 
FROM THE LANTERN DECK 293 
 
 speak, when the keeper threw up his arms with 
 a joyous shout and seized the glass. "There 
 he is ! I see his cap ! That 's Cap'n Joe ! 
 He's holdin' up his hands. Caleb's crawlin' 
 along the bottom ; he 's reachin' down an' haul- 
 in' Cap'n Joe up. Now he's on 'er keel." 
 
 . Sanford and Captain Brandt sprang to their 
 feet, crowding close to the lantern glass, their 
 eyes fastened on the Dolly, Sanford's hands 
 were trembling. Hot, quick tears rolled down 
 his cheeks and dropped from his chin. The 
 joyful news had unnerved him more than the 
 horror of the previous moments. There was 
 no doubt of its truth ; he could see, even with 
 the naked eye, the captain lying flat on the 
 boat's keel. , He thought he could follow every 
 line of his body, — never so precious as now. 
 
 " He 's all right," he said in a dazed way — 
 "all right — all right," repeating it mechanically 
 over and over to himself, as a child would do. 
 Then he turned and laid his hand on the 
 keeper's shoulder. 
 
 " Thank God, Tony ! Thank God ! " 
 
 The keeper's hand closed tight in Sanford's. 
 For a moment he did not speak. 
 
 "Almighty close shave, sir," he said slowly 
 in a broken whisper, looking into Sanford's. 
 eyes. 
 
 Captain Brandt's face was radiant. "Might 
 'a' knowed he'd come up some'ers, sir. 
 Did n't I tell ye, ye could n't drown him ? But 
 
294 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 where in thunder has he been under water all 
 this time ? " he asked, with a laugh that had 
 the unshed tears of a strong man in it, and the 
 exultation of one just recovered from a fright 
 that had almost unnerved him. The laugh not 
 only expressed his joy at the great relief, but 
 carried with it a reminder that he had never 
 seriously doubted the captain's ability to save 
 himself. 
 
 All eyes were now fastened on the rescuing 
 smack. As she swept past the capsized boat, 
 her crew leaned far over the side, reached down 
 and caught two of the shipwrecked men, leav- 
 ing one man still clinging to the keel, the sea 
 breaking over him every moment. Sanford 
 took the glass, and saw that this man was 
 Lonny Bowles, and that Captain Joe, now safe 
 aboard the smack, was waving his cap to the 
 second smack, which hove to in answer. Pre- 
 sently the hailed smack rounded in, lowered 
 her mainsaU, and hauled Lonny aboard. She 
 then took the overturned Dolly in tow, and 
 made at once for the harbor. When this was 
 done, the first smack, with Captain Joe and 
 Caleb on board, shook a reef from its mainsail, 
 turned about, and despite the storm laid a 
 straight course back to the Ledge. 
 
 This daring and apparently hopeless attempt 
 of Captain Joe to carry out his plan of going to 
 the Ledge awoke a new anxiety in Sanford. 
 There was no longer the question of personal 
 
FROM THE LANTERN DECK 295 
 
 danger to the captain or the men ; the fishing-^ 
 smack was, of course, a better sea boat than the 
 Dolly, but why make the trip at all when the 
 pump had been lost from the overturned boat, 
 and no one could land at the Ledge ? Even 
 from where they all stood in the lantern they 
 could see the big rollers flash white as they 
 broke over the enrockment blocks, the spray 
 drenching the tops of the derricks. No small 
 boat could live in such a sea, — not even the 
 life-boat at the Ledge. 
 
 As the incoming smack drew near* Sanford, 
 followed by the keeper and Captain Brandt, 
 hurried down the spiral staircase and into the 
 keeper's room below, where they drew on their 
 coats and heavy boots, and made their way to 
 the lighthouse dock. 
 
 When she came within hailing distance. Cap- 
 tain Brandt mounted a spile and shouted above 
 the roar of the gale, " Bowles, ahoy ! Anybody 
 hurt, Lonny .' " 
 
 A man in a red shirt detached himself from 
 among the group of men huddled in the smack's 
 bow, stepped on the rail, and, putting his hands 
 to his mouth, trumpeted back, " No ! " 
 
 " What 's the cap'n gone to the Ledge for ? " 
 
 " Gone to set the pump ! " 
 
 "Thought the pump was lost overboard!" 
 cried Sanford. 
 
 "No, sir; cap'n dived under the Dolly an' 
 found it catched fast, an' Caleb hauled it aboard, 
 
296 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 Cap'n tol' me to tell ye that he 'd hev it set all 
 right to-day, blow or no " — The last words 
 were lost in the wind. 
 
 "Ain't that jes' like the cap'n ?" shouted the 
 keeper, with a loud laugh, slapping his thigh 
 with his hand. " That 's where he was when 
 we thought he was drownded, — he was a-divin' 
 fer that pump. Land o' Moses, ain't he a good 
 un!" 
 
 Captain Brandt said nothing, but a smile of 
 happy pride overspread his face. Captain Joe 
 was still his hero. 
 
 Sanford spent the afternoon between Aunty 
 Bell's kitchen and the paraphernalia dock, strain- 
 ing his eyes seaward in search of an incoming 
 smack which would bring the captain. The 
 wind had shifted to the northwest, sweeping out 
 the fog and piling the low clouds in heaps. 
 The rain had ceased, and a dash of pale lemon 
 light shone above the blue-gray sea. 
 
 About sundown his quick eye detected a tiny 
 sail creeping in behind Crotch Island. As it 
 neared the harbor and he made out the lines of 
 the fishing-smack of the morning, a warm glow 
 tingled through him ; it would not be long now 
 before he had his hands on Captain Joe. 
 
 When the smack came bowling into the, har- 
 bor under double reefs, her wind-blown jib. a 
 cup, her sail a saucer, and rounded in as grace- 
 ful as a skater on the outer, edge, Sanford's 
 
FROM THE LANTERN DECK 297 
 
 hand was the first that touched the captain's 
 as he sprang from the smack's deck to the 
 dock. 
 
 " Captain Joe," he said. His voice broke as 
 he spoke ; all his ]ove was in his eyes. " Don't 
 ever do that again. I saw it all from the light- 
 house lantern. You have no right to risk your 
 life this way." 
 
 " 'T ain't nothin', Mr. Sanford." His great 
 hand closed tight over that of the young engi- 
 neer. " It 's all right now, and the pump 's 
 screwed fast. Caleb had steam up on the h'ister 
 when I left him on the Ledge. Boom on the 
 Dolly had n't 'a' broke short off out there, we 'd 
 'a' been there sooner." 
 
 " We thought you were gone, once," continued 
 Sanford, his voice full of anxiety, still holding 
 to the captain's hand as they walked toward 
 the house. 
 
 "Not in the Dolly, sir," the captain answered 
 in an apologetic tone, as if he wanted to atone 
 for the suffering he had caused his friend. 
 " She 's got wood enough in 'er to float any- 
 wheres. That 's what. I took 'er out for." 
 
 Aunty Bell met them at the kitchen door. 
 
 " I hearn ye was overboard,!' she said quietly, 
 no more stirred over the day's experience than 
 if some chUd had stepped into a puddle and had 
 come in for a change of shoes. " Ye 're wet 
 yet, be n't ye ? " patting his big chest to make 
 sure. 
 
898 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 " Yes, guess so," he answered carelessly, feel- 
 ing his own arms as if to satisfy himself as to 
 the reason of his wife's inquiry. " Got a dry 
 shirt ? " 
 
 " Yes ; got everything hangin' there on a chair 
 'fore the kitchen fire," and she closed the door 
 upon him and Sanford. 
 
 " Beats all, Mr. Sanford, don't it ? " the cap- 
 tain continued in short sentences, broken by 
 breathless pauses, as he stripped off his wet 
 clothes before the blazing fire, one jerk for the 
 suspenders, another for the trousers, Sanford, 
 jubilant over the captain's safety and eager to 
 do him any service, handing him the dry gar- 
 ments one after another. 
 
 " Beats all, I say ; don't it, now ? There 's 
 that Cap'n Potts : been a seaman, man an' boy, 
 all his life," — here the grizzled wet head was 
 hidden for a moment as a clean flannel shirt 
 was drawn over it, — "yet he ain't got sense 
 'nough to keep a boom from rottin' 'board a 
 cat-boat," — the head was up now, and Sanford, 
 fumbling under the chin whisker, was helping 
 the captain with the top button, — "an' snap- 
 pin' square off in a little gale o' wind like that. 
 There, thank ye, guess that '11 do." 
 
 When he had seated himself in his chair, his 
 sturdy legs — stout and tough as two dock-logs 
 — stretched out before the fire, his rough hands 
 spread to the blaze, warming the big, strong 
 body that had been soaking wet for ten consec- 
 
FROM THE LANTERN DECK 299 
 
 utive hours, Sanford took a seat beside him, 
 and, laying his hand on his knee, said in a 
 gentle voice, " Why did you risk your life for 
 that pump. Captain Joe ? " 
 
 "'Cause she acted so durned ornery," he 
 blurted out in an angry tone. " Jes' see what 
 she did : gin out night 'fore last jes' 's we was 
 gittin' ready to h'ist that big stretcher ; kep' me 
 an' Caleb up two nights a-castin' an' borin' on 
 'er out ; then all of a sudden she thought she 'd 
 upset an' fool us. I tell ye, ye 've got to take 
 hold of a thing like that good an' early, or it '11 
 git away with ye." 
 
 One hand was swung high over his head as 
 if it had been a sledge-hammer. 
 
 " Now she '11 stay put till I git through with 
 her. I ain't a-goin' to let no damned pump >-ieat 
 me!" 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 AT THE PINES 
 
 The Indian summer days had come, — soft, 
 dreamy days of red and gold, with veils of 
 silver mist at sunrise, and skeins of purple 
 clouds at twilight. The air was hazy with the 
 smoke of dull fires smouldering on the hill- 
 side. The stems of the bare birches shone 
 white ; wreaths of scarlet crowned the low 
 stone walls ; dead leaves strewed the lawns, 
 and tall chrysanthemums flamed in the garden- 
 beds. Here and there a belated summer rose, 
 braving the cold, shivered with close-folded lips, 
 or hung head down, pierced by the night-frost. 
 
 Sanford had shifted his quarters from the 
 little room over Captain Joe's kitchen to the 
 big east room at The Pines, opening out upon a 
 wide balcony, from which he could see with his 
 glass the feathers of white steam on the Ledge. 
 His apartments in Washington Square had 
 been closed, and Sam ordered to join his mas- 
 ter at Keyport, where he found himself pro- 
 moted from the position of man-of-all-work to 
 that of valet-in-chief, with especial instructions 
 to report daily to Buckles, who grew more 
 
AT THE PINES 301 
 
 reticent and imposing by reason of the added 
 charge. 
 
 And with the dreamy days came Helen and 
 Jack ; Smearly with a big canvas, which he 
 never afterward touched ; and the major, with 
 a nondescript wardrobe, as curious as it was 
 astonishing. 
 
 To Helen The Pines was a land of romance 
 and charm. She had been brought up in the 
 country, and loved its quiet, the rest of its shady 
 lanes and cool woods, and the life it brought. 
 The city had charmed her at first. She liked 
 its novelty, its theatres, galleries, and crowded 
 streets, but long before her visit in town was 
 done, she had begun to sigh for green fields, 
 and rose gardens, and the freedom of her young 
 days at home. She had passed the summer 
 with her school friends, Jack spending his 
 Sundays with her whenever he could manage 
 an invitation. But the homes of her friends 
 had been simple ones, with none of the luxury 
 and comfort and the poetry of The Pines. 
 
 Mrs. Leroy had begun at once on her arrival 
 to carry out her promise to give the young 
 Maryland girl one more good time before that 
 "Bluebeard Jack bound her hand and foot." 
 She had done this as much from a sincere in- 
 terest in Helen, as from a sense of duty to 
 Jack and Sanford. She had not, as yet, com- 
 pletely won the girl's confidence. The talk 
 with Smearly, in which Mrs. Leroy had cried 
 
302 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 out against the marriage relation, still lingered 
 in Helen's mind. Its last impression wore 
 away only when Kate had taken her out on the 
 lawn, on the second morning of her visit, to 
 show her a secluded summer-house smothered 
 in climbing vines and overlooking the water. ; 
 
 "This is for you and Jack," she had said, 
 with a merry twinkle in her eye and a depth 
 of tenderness in her tone. " And for nobody 
 else, dear. Not a soul will be able to find you." 
 Though Helen had laughed and said that she 
 and Jack had been engaged too long to need 
 such retirement, every succeeding morning 
 had found them there, oblivious to the outside 
 world until aroused by a peculiar shuffling 
 sound on the gravel, followed by a warning 
 cough. 
 
 " Lunch ready, Marse Jack, — so de waiter- 
 man says." 
 
 It was always Sam, — his face as full of 
 smiles as a suddenly disturbed puddle is of 
 ripples. 
 
 But if The Pines was an enchanted realm to 
 Helen and Jack, a refreshing retreat to San- 
 ford, and a mine of luxury to Smearly, to the 
 major it was a never ending source of pure 
 delight. 
 
 Until that day on which he had stepped 
 within its portals, his experience of Northern 
 hospitality had been confined to Jack's and 
 Sanford's bachelor apartments, for years ideal 
 
AT THE PINES 303 
 
 realms of elegance and ease. These now 
 seemed to him both primitive and meagre. 
 Where Jack had but one room to spare for a 
 friend, and Sanford but two, The Pines had 
 whole suites opening into corridors terminat- 
 ing in vistas of entrancing lounging-places, 
 with marvelous fittings and draperies. Where 
 Sam and Jefferson, in their respective estab- 
 lishments, performed unaided every household 
 duty, from making a cocktail to making a bed, 
 The Pines boasted two extra men, who assisted 
 Buckles at the sideboard, to say nothing of 
 countless maids, gardeners, hostlers, stable- 
 boys, and lesser dependents. 
 
 Moreover, the major had come upon a most 
 capacious carriage-house and out-buildings, 
 sheltering a wonderful collection of drags, 
 coupes, and phaetons of patterns never seen 
 by him before, — particularly a most surpris- 
 ing dog-cart with canary-colored wheels ; and 
 a stable full of satin-skinned horses with in- 
 credible pedigrees, together with countless 
 harnesses mounted in silver, and decorated 
 with monograms. Last, but by no means 
 least, he had discovered, to his infinite joy, a 
 spick-and-span perfectly appointed steam yacht, 
 with sailing-master, engineer, firemen, and 
 crew constantly on board, and all ready, at a 
 moment's notice, to steam off to the uttermost 
 parts of the earth in search of booty or adven- 
 ture. 
 
304 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 The major had found, in fact, all that his 
 wildest flights and his most mendacious ima- 
 ginings had pictured. The spacious piazzas, 
 velvet lawns, and noble parks of which he had 
 so often boasted as being "upon the estate 
 of a ve'y dear friend of mine up No'th, suh, 
 where I spend so many happy days;" the 
 wonderful cuisine, fragrant Havanas, crusty 
 port and old Hennessy, — the property as well 
 of this diaphanous gentleman, — had at last be- 
 come actual realities. The women of charm- 
 ing mien and apparel, so long creations of his 
 brain, — " Dianas, suh, clothed one hour in 
 yachtin'-jackets, caps, and dainty yellow shoes, 
 and the next in webs of gossamer, their lovely 
 faces shaded by ravishin' pa'asols and crowned 
 by wonderful hats," — now floated daily along 
 the very gravel walks that his own feet pressed, 
 or were attended nightly by gay gallants in 
 immaculate black and white, whose elbows 
 touched his own. 
 
 Of all these luxuries had he dreamed for 
 years, and about all these luxuries had he lied, 
 descanting on their glories by the hour to that 
 silent group of thirsty Pocomokians before the 
 village bar, or to the untraveled neighbors who 
 lightened with their presence the lonely hours 
 at Crab Island. But never until Mrs. Leroy 
 had opened wide to him the portals of The 
 Pines had they been real to his sight and 
 touch. 
 
AT THE PINES 305 
 
 It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that 
 with the flavor of all this magnificence steep- 
 ing his soul a gradual change took place in his 
 tone and demeanor. Before a week had passed 
 he had somehow persuaded himself that al- 
 though the lamp of Aladdin was exclusively the 
 property of Mrs. Leroy, the privilege of rub- 
 bing it was unquestionably his own. Gradu- 
 ally, and by the same mental process, he had 
 become convinced that he was not only firmly 
 installed in the Leroy household as High Rub- 
 ber-in-Chief, the master of the house being 
 temporarily absent, and there being no one 
 else to fill his place, but that the office, if not 
 a life position, at least would last long enough 
 to tide him over until cold weather set in. 
 
 At first Mrs. Leroy looked on in amazement, 
 and then, as the humor of the situation dawned 
 upon her, gave him free rein to do aS he would. 
 Months ago she had seen through his harm- 
 less assumptions, and his present pretensions 
 amused her immensely. 
 
 " My dear madam," he would say, " I see the 
 lines of care about yo'r lovely eyes. Let me 
 take you a spin down the shell road in that 
 yaller cyart. It will bring the roses back to 
 your cheeks." Or, " Sanford, my dear fellow, 
 try one of those Reina Victorias ; you '11 find 
 them much lighter. Buckles, open a fresh 
 box." 
 
 It is worthy of note, too, that when once the 
 
3o6 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 surprise at the novelty of the situation had 
 passed away, his hostess soon realized that no 
 one could have filled the post of major-domo 
 to better satisfaction. The same qualities that, 
 served him at Crab Island, making him the best 
 of company when o£E on an outing with the 
 boys, were displayed in even greater perfection 
 at The Pines. He was courteous, good-hu- 
 mored, unselfish, watchful of everybody's com- 
 fort, buoyant as a rubber ball, and ultimately 
 so self-poised that even Buckles began to stand 
 in awe of him, — a victory, by the way, which 
 so delighted Jack Hardy that he rolled over 
 on the grass with shouts of laughter when he 
 discussed it with Sanford and Smearly. 
 
 Nor were the greater duties neglected. He 
 was constantly on the lookout for various de- 
 vices by which his hostess might be relieved 
 in the care of her guests. Tennis tournamentsj 
 fishing parties, and tableaux followed in quick 
 succession, each entertainment the result ol 
 his ingenious activity and his untiring efforts 
 at making everybody happy. 
 
 This daily routine of gayety was interrupted 
 by the important announcement that a com- 
 mittee of engineers, headed by General Bar- 
 ton, would inspect the work at Shark I>edge. 
 
 This visit of the engineers meant to Sanford 
 a possible solution of his difficulties. Carleton 
 still withheld the certificate, and the young 
 engineer had had the greatest difficulty in tid- 
 
AT THE PINES 307 
 
 ing over his payments. A second and last 
 section of the work was nearly completed, 
 thanks to the untiring efforts of Captain Joe 
 and his men and to the stability of the machin- 
 ery, and there was every probability that now 
 these two sections would be finished before 
 the snow began to fly. This had been thp 
 main purpose of Sanford's summer, and the 
 end was in sight. And yet, with all that had 
 been accomplished, Sanford knew that a tech- 
 nical ruling of the Board in sustaining Carle- 
 ton's unjust report when rejecting the work 
 might delay his payments for months, and if 
 prolonged through the winter might eventually 
 ruin him. 
 
 The inspection, then, was all the more im- 
 portant at this time ; for while the solidity of 
 the masonry and the care with which it was 
 constructed would speak for themselves, the 
 details must be seen and inspected to be appre- 
 ciated. If the day, therefore, were fine and the 
 ■committee able to land on the Ledge, Sanford 
 had no fear of the outcome, — provided, of 
 course, that Carleton could be made to speak 
 the truth. 
 
 There was no question that parts of the work 
 as they then stood were in open violation of the 
 plans and specifications of the contract. The 
 concrete base, or disk, was acknowledged by 
 Sanford to be six inches out of level. This 
 error was due to the positive orders of Carleton 
 
3o8 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 against the equally positive protest of Sanford 
 and Captain Joe. But the question still re- 
 mained, whether the Board would sustain Carle- 
 ton's refusal to give a certiiicate in view of the 
 error, and whether Carleton could be made 
 to admit that the error was his own, and not 
 Sanford' s. 
 
 So far as the permanence of the structure 
 was concerned, this six inches' rise over so 
 large an area as the base was immaterial. The 
 point — a vital one — was whether the techni- 
 cal requirements of the contract would be in- 
 sisted upon. Its final decision lay with the 
 Board. 
 
 To Mrs. Leroy the occasion was one of more 
 than usual importance. She sent for the sail- 
 ing-master, ordered steam up at an early hour, 
 gave Sam — Buckles had assigned Sam to cer- 
 tain duties aboard the yacht — particular di- 
 rections as to luncheon the following day, and 
 prepared to entertain the whole committee, 
 provided that august body could be induced to 
 accept the invitation she meant to extend. She 
 had already selected General Barton as her 
 especial victim, while Helen was to make her- 
 self agreeable to some of the younger members. 
 
 The value of linen, glass, cut flowers, dry 
 champagne, and pretty toilettes in settling any 
 of the affairs of life was part of her social train- 
 ing, and while she did not propose to say one 
 word in defense or commendation of Sanford 
 
AT THE PINES 309 
 
 and his work, she fully intended so to soften 
 the rough edges of the chief engineer and his 
 assistants that any adverse ruling would be 
 well-nigh impossible. 
 
 If Mrs. Leroy lent a cheerful and willing 
 hand, the presiding genius of the weather was 
 equally considerate. The morning broke clear 
 and bright. The sun silvered the tall grass of 
 the wide marsh crossed by the railroad trestle 
 and draw, and illumined the great clouds of 
 white steam puffed out by the passing trains. 
 The air was balmy and soft, the sky a turquoise 
 flecked with sprays of pearl, the sea a sheet 
 of silver. 
 
 When the maid opened her windows, Mrs. 
 Leroy stepped to the balcony and drank in the 
 beauty and freshness of the morning. Even 
 the weather powers, she said to herself, had 
 ceased hostilities, and declared a truce for the 
 day, restraining their turbulent winds until the 
 council of war which was to decide Sanford's 
 fate was over. 
 
 As her eye roamed over her perfectly ap- 
 pointed and well-kept lawns, her attention was 
 drawn to a singular-looking figure crossing the 
 grass in the direction of the dock where the 
 yacht was moored. It was that of a man dressed 
 in the jacket and cap of a club commodore. 
 He bore himself with, the dignity of a lord high 
 admiral walking the quarter-deck. Closer in- 
 spection revealed the manly form of no less 
 
310 CALEB WEST, MAStER DIVER 
 
 distinguished a personage than Major Thomas 
 Sldcomb of Pbcomoke. 
 
 Subsequent inquiries disclosed these facts : 
 Finding in his room the night before a hitherto 
 unsuspected closet door standing partly open, 
 the major had, in harmless curiosity, entered 
 the closet and inspected the contents, and had 
 come upon some attractive garments. That 
 these clothes had evidently been worn by and 
 were then the sole property of his host, Mor- 
 gan Leroy, Commodore N. Y. Y. C, a man 
 whom he had never seen, only added to the 
 charm of the discovery. Instantly a dozen 
 thoughts crowded through his head, — each 
 more seductive than the other. Evidently this 
 open door and this carefully hung jacket and 
 cap meant something out of the ordinary ! It 
 was the first time the door had been left open ! 
 It had been done purposely, of course, that he 
 might see its contents ! Everything in this 
 wonderful palace of luxury was free, — cigars, 
 brandy, even the stamps on the writing-table 
 before him, — why not, then, these yachting 
 clothes .■• To-morrow was the great day for 
 the yacht, when the inspection of the engi- 
 neers was to take place. His age and position 
 naturally made him the absent commodore's 
 rightful successor. Had Leroy been at home, 
 he would, undoubtedly, have worn these clothes 
 himself. The duty of his substitute, therefore, 
 was too plain to admit of a moment's hesita- 
 
AT THE PINES 311 
 
 tion. He must certainly wear the clothes. 
 One thing, however, touched ■ him deeply, — 
 the delicacy of his hostess in putting them 
 where he could find them, and the exquisite 
 tact with which it had all been done. Even 
 if all other considerations failed, he could not 
 disappoint that queen among women, that 
 Cleopatra pf modern times. 
 
 As he squeezed his arms into the jacket — - 
 Leroy was two thirds his size — and, caught 
 the glint of the gilt buttons in the mirror, his 
 last lingering doubt faded. 
 
 This, then, was the figure Mrs. Leroy saw 
 from her bedroom window. 
 
 When- the major boarded the yacht the sail- 
 ing-master saluted him with marked deference, 
 remembering the uniform, even if he did not 
 the wearer, and the sailors holystoning the 
 decks came up to a half present as he passed 
 them on his way to the saloon to see if Saiii 
 had carried out his instructions about certain 
 brews necessary for the comfort of the day. 
 
 " Where the devil did you get that rig, ma- 
 jor ? " roared Smearly, when he and Sanford 
 came down the companionway, half an hour 
 later. " You look like a cross between Dick 
 Deadeye and Little Lord Fauntleroy. It 's 
 about two sizes too small for you." 
 
 " Do you think so, gentlemen ? " twisting 
 his back to the mirrors to get a better view. 
 His face was a study. " It 's some time since 
 
312 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 I wore 'em ; they may be a little tight. I 've 
 noticed lately that I am gaining flesh. Will 
 you sit here, gentlemen, or shall I order some- 
 thing coolin' on deck.'" — not a quaver in his 
 voice. " Here, Sam," he called, catching sight 
 of that darky's face, "take these gentlemen's 
 orders." 
 
 When Helen and Mrs. Leroy appeared, fol- 
 lowed by several ladies with Hardy as escort, 
 the major sprang forward to greet them with 
 all the suppressed exuberance of a siphon of 
 Vichy. He greeted Helen first. 
 
 "Ah, my dear Helen, you look positively 
 charmin' this mornin' ; you are like a tea-rose 
 wet with dew ; nothing like these Maryland 
 girls, — unless, my dear madam," he added, 
 turning to Mrs. Leroy, bowing as low to his 
 hostess as the grip of his shoulders would per- 
 mit, " unless it be yo'r own queenly presence. 
 Sam, put some cushions behind the ladies' backs, 
 or shall I order coffee for you on deck ? " 
 
 But it was not until the major came up on 
 the return curve of his bow to a perpendicular 
 that his hostess realized in full the effect of 
 Morgan Leroy's nautical outfit. She gave a 
 little gasp, and her face flushed. 
 
 " I hope none of these ladies will recognize 
 Morgan's clothes, Henry," she whispered be- 
 hind her fan to Sanford. " I must say this is 
 going a step too far." 
 
 "But didn't you send them to his room, 
 
AT THE PINES 313 
 
 Kate ? He told me this morning he wore 
 them out of deference to your wishes. He 
 found them hanging in his closet." Sanford's 
 face wore a quizzical smile. 
 
 " I send them ? " Then the whole thing 
 burst upon her. With the keenest apprecia- 
 tion of the humor of the situation in every line 
 of her face, she turned to the major and said, 
 " I must congratulate you, major, on your new 
 outfit, and I must thank you for wearing it 
 to-day. It was very good of you to put it on. 
 It is an important occasion, you know, for Mr. 
 Sanford. Will you give me your arm and take 
 me on deck ? " 
 
 Helen stared in complete astonishment as 
 she listened to Mrs. Leroy. This last addi- 
 tion to the major's constantly increasing ward- 
 robe — he had a way of borrowing the clothes 
 of any friend with whom he stayed — had for 
 the moment taken het breath away. It was 
 only when Jack whispered an explanation to 
 her that she, too, ehtered into the spirit of the 
 scene. 
 
 Before the yacht had passed through the 
 draw of the railroad trestle on her way to the 
 Ledge, the several guests had settled them- 
 selves in the many nooks and corners about 
 the deck or on the more luxurious cushions of 
 the saloon. Mrs. Leroy, now that her guests' 
 were happily placed, sat well forward out of 
 immediate hearing, where she could talk over 
 
314 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 the probable outcome of the day with Sanford, 
 aiid lay her plans if Carleton's opposition 
 threatened serious trouble, Helen and Jack 
 were as far aft as they could get, watching the 
 gulls dive for scraps thrown from the, galley, 
 while Smearly in the saloon below was the 
 centre of a circle of ladies, — guests from the 
 neighboring cottages, — who were laughing at 
 his stories, and who had, thus early in the day, 
 voted him the most entertaining man they had 
 ever met, although a trifle cynical. 
 
 As for the major, he was as restless as a 
 newsboy, and everywhere at once : in the gal- 
 ley, giving minute directions to the chef re- 
 garding the slicing of the cucumbers and the 
 proper mixing of the salad ; up in the pilot- 
 house interviewing the sailing-master on the 
 weather, on the tides, on the points of the 
 wind, on the various beacons, shoals, and cur- 
 rents ; and finally down in the pantry, where 
 Sam, in white apron, immaculate waistcoat and 
 tie, was polishing some pipe-stemmed glasses, 
 intended receptacles of cooling appetizers com- 
 posed of some ingredients of the major's own 
 selection. 
 
 " You lookin' mighty fine, major, dis morn- 
 in'," said Sam, his mouth stretched in a broad 
 grin. " Dat 's de tip-nist, top-nist git-up I 
 done seen fur a coon's age," detecting a certain 
 — to him — cake-walk cut to the coat and 
 white duck trousers. "Did dat come up on 
 
AT THE PINES 315 
 
 de train las' night, sah ? " he asked, walking 
 round the major, and wiping a glass as he 
 looked him over admiringly. 
 
 "Yes, Sam, and it's the first time I wore 
 'em. Little tight in the sleeves, ain't they ? " 
 the rhajor inquired, holding out his arm. 
 
 " Does seem ter pinch leetle mite round de 
 elbows ; but you do look good, fur a fac'." 
 
 These little confidences were not unusual. 
 Indeed, of all the people about him the major 
 understood Sam the best and enjoyed him the 
 most, — an understanding, by the way, which 
 was mutual. There never was any strain 
 upon the Pocomokian's many resources of high 
 spirits, willingness to please, and general util- 
 ity, when he was alone with Sam. He never 
 had to make an effort to keep his position ; 
 that Sam accorded him. But then, Sam be- 
 lieved in the major. 
 
 As the yacht rounded the east end of Crotch 
 Island, Sanford made out quite plainly over 
 the port bow the lighthouse tender steaming 
 along from a point in the direction of Little 
 Gull Light. 
 
 " There they come," he said to Mrs. Leroy. 
 " Everything is in our favor to-day, Kate. I 
 was afraid they might be detained. We'll 
 steam about here for a while until the tender 
 lands at the new wharf which we have just 
 finished at the Ledge. The yacht draws a 
 little too much water to risk the wharf, and 
 
3l6 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 we had better lie outside of the government 
 boat. It 's as still as a mill-pond at the Ledge 
 to-day, and we can all go ashore. If you will 
 permit me, Kate, I '11 call to your sailing- 
 master to slow down until the tender reaches 
 the wharf." 
 
 At this moment the major's head appeared 
 around the edge of the pilot-house door. He 
 had overheard Sanford's remark. " Allow me, 
 madam," he said in a voice of great dignity, 
 and with a look at Sanford, as if somehow that 
 gentleman had infringed upon his own espe- 
 cial privileges. The next instant the young 
 engineer's suggestion to " slow down " was 
 sent bounding up to the sailing-master, who 
 answered it with a touch of two fingers to his 
 cap, an "Ay, ay, sir," and some sharp, quick 
 pulls on the engine-room gong. 
 
 Mrs. Leroy smiled at the major's nautical 
 knowledge and quarter-deck air, and rose to 
 her feet to see the approaching tender. Under 
 Sanford's guiding finger, she followed the 
 course of the long thread of black smoke lying 
 on the still horizon, unwinding slowly from the 
 spool of the tender's funnel. 
 
 Everybody was now on deck. Helen and 
 the other younger ladies of the party leaned 
 over the yacht's rail watching the rapidly near- 
 ing steamer ; the older ladies mounted the deck 
 frorii the cabin, some of them becoming fully 
 persuaded that the Ledge with its derricks and 
 
AT THE PINES 317 
 
 shanty — a purple-gray mass under the morn- 
 ing glare — was unquestionably the expected 
 boat. 
 
 Soon the Ledge loomed up in all its propor- 
 tions, with its huge rim of circular masonry 
 lying on the water line like, a low monitor 
 rigged with derricks for masts. When the 
 rough shanty for the men, and the platforms 
 filled with piles of cement barrels, and the 
 hoisting-engine were distinctly outlined against 
 the sky, everybody crowded forward to see the 
 place of which they had heard so much. 
 
 Mrs. Leroy stood one side, that Sanford 
 might explain without interruption the several 
 objects as they came into view. 
 
 " Why, Henry," she exclaimed, after every- 
 body had said how wonderful it all was, " how 
 much work you have really done since I saw 
 it in the spring ! And there is the engine, is 
 it, to which the pump belonged that nearly 
 drowned Captain Joe and Caleb ? And are^ 
 those the big derricks you had so much trouble 
 over .' They don't look very big." 
 
 " They are twice the size of your body, Kate," 
 said Sanford, laughing. "They may look to 
 you like knitting-needles from this distance, 
 but that is because everything around them is 
 on so large a scale. You would n't think that 
 shanty which looks like a coal-bin could accom- 
 modate twenty men and their stores." 
 
 As Sanford ceased speaking, the major 
 
318 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 tui^ned quickly, entered the pilot-house, and 
 alniost instantly reappeared with the yacht's 
 spyglass. This he carefully adjusted, resting 
 the end on the ratlines. " Victory is ours," 
 he said slowly, closing the glass. "I haven't 
 a doubt about the result." 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE RECORD OF NICKLES, THE COOR 
 
 The yacht and the lighthouse tender were 
 not the only boats boUnd for the Ledge. The 
 Screamer, under charge of a tiig, — her sails 
 would have been useless in the still air, — was 
 already clear of Keyport Light, and heading 
 for the landing-wharf a mile away. Captain 
 Bob Brandt held the tiller, and' Captain Joe 
 and Caleb leaned out of the windows of the 
 pilot-house of the towing tug. They wanted; 
 to be there to see if Carleton "played any 
 monkey tricks," to quote Captain Brandt. 
 
 None of them had had cause to entertain a 
 friendly spirit toward the superintendent. It 
 had often been difficult for Caleb to keep his 
 hands from Carleton's throat since his expe- 
 rience with him under the willows. As for 
 Captain Brandt, he still remembered the day 
 the level was set, when Carleton had virtuallji 
 given him the lie. 
 
 The Screamer arrived first ; she made fast 
 to the now completed dock, and the tug 
 dropped back in the eddy. Then the light- 
 house tender came alongside and hooked a line 
 
320 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 around the Screamer's deck-cleats. The yacht 
 came last, lying outside the others. This 
 made it necessary for the passengers aboard 
 the yacht to cross the deck of the tender, and 
 for those of both the yacht and the tender to 
 cross the deck of the Screamer, before step- 
 ping upon the completed masonry of the light- 
 house itself. 
 
 Nothing could have suited Mrs. Leroy better 
 than this enforced intermingling of guests and 
 visitors. The interchanges of courtesy estab- 
 lished at once a cordiality which augured well 
 for the day's outcome and added another touch 
 of sunshine to its happiness, and so she rie- 
 laxed none of her efforts to propitiate the gods. 
 
 It is worthy of note that Carleton played no 
 part in the joyous programme of the day. He 
 sprang ashore as soon as the tender made fast 
 to the Screamer's side (he had met the party 
 of engineers at the railroad depot, and had 
 gone with them to Little Gull Light, — their 
 first stopping-place), and began at once his 
 work of "superintending" with a vigor and 
 alertness never seen in him before, and, to 
 quote Nickles, the cook, who was watching the 
 whole performance from the shanty window, 
 "with more airs than a Noank goat with a 
 hoop-skirt." - 
 
 The moment the major's foot was firmly 
 planted upon the Ledge a marked change was 
 visible in him. The straight back, head up, 
 
THE RECORD OF NICKLES, THE COOK 321 
 
 rear-admiral manner, which had distinguish€d 
 him, gave way to one of a thoughtful repose. 
 Engineering problems began to absorb him. 
 Leaving Hardy and Smearly to help the older 
 ladies pick their way over the mortar-incrusted 
 platforms and up and down the rude ladders 
 to the top rim of masonry, he commenced in- 
 specting the work with the eye of a skilled 
 mechanic. He examined carefully the mortar 
 joints of the masonry ; squinted his eye along 
 the edges of the cut stones to see if they were 
 true ; turned it aloft, taking in the system^ of 
 derricks, striking one with the palm of his 
 hand and listening for the vibration,' to assure 
 himself of its stability; And he asked ques- 
 tions in a way that left no doubt in the minds 
 of the men that he was past grand master in 
 the art of building lighthouses. 
 
 All but one man. 
 
 This doubter was Lonny Bowles, whom the 
 Pocoriiokian had cared for in the old warehouse 
 hospital the night of the explosion. Bowles 
 had quietly dogged the major's steps over the 
 work, in the hope of being recognized. At 
 last the good-natured lineaments of the red- 
 shirted quarryman fastened themselves upon 
 the major's remembrance. 
 
 " My dear suh ! " he broke out, as he jumped 
 down from a huge coping-stone and grasped 
 Lonny's hand. " Of co'se I remember you. 
 I sincerely hope you're all right again," step- 
 
322 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 ping back and looking him over with an expres- 
 .sion of real pride and admiration. 
 
 " Oh yes, I 'm purty hearty, thank ye," said 
 Bowles, laughing as he hitched his sleeves up 
 his arms, bared to the elbow. " How 's things 
 gone 'long o' yerself .' " 
 
 The major expressed his perfect satisfaction 
 with life in its every detail, and was about to 
 compliment Bowles on the wonderful progress 
 of the work so largely due to his efforts, when 
 the man at the hoisting-engine interrupted with, 
 "Don't stand there now lalligaggin', Lonny. 
 Where ye been this half hour .' Hurry up with 
 that monkey-wrench. Do you want this drum 
 tO; come off .' " Lonny instantly turned his 
 attention to the work. When he had given 
 the last turn to the endangered nut, the man 
 said, " Who 's the duck with the bobtail coat, 
 Lonny?" 
 
 " Oh, he 's one o' the boss's city gang. 
 Fust time I see him he come inter th' ware- 
 house when we was stove up. I thought he 
 was a sawbones till I see him a-fetchin' water 
 fur th' boys. Then I thought he was a preach 
 till he began to swear. But he ain't neither 
 one ; he 's an out-an'-out ol' sport, he is, every 
 time, an' a good un. He 's struck it rich up 
 here, I guess, from th' way he 's boomin' things 
 with them Leroy folks," — which conviction 
 seemed to be shared by the men around him, 
 now that they were assured of the major's 
 
THE RECORD OF NICKLES, THE COOK 323 
 
 identity. Many of them Eemembered the 
 nankeen and bombazine suit which the Poco- 
 mokian wore on that fatal day, and the gener- 
 ally disheveled appearance that he presented 
 the following morning. The present change, 
 in his attire was therefore the more incompre- > 
 hensible. 
 
 During all this time, Sanford, with the assist- 
 ance of Captain Joe and Caleb, was adjusting, 
 his transit, in order that he might measure :^or 
 the committee the exact difference between 
 the level shown on the plans and the level 
 found in the concrete base. In this adjust- 
 ment, the major, who had now joined the group, 
 took the deepest interest, discoursing most 
 learnedly, to the officers about him, upon the 
 marvels of, modern science, punctuating his 
 remarks every few minutes with pointed allu- 
 sions to his dear friend Henry, "that Archi- 
 medes of the New World," who in this the 
 greatest of all his undertakings had eclipsed 
 all former achievements. The general listened 
 with an amused smile, in which the wholp 
 committee joined before long. 
 
 Either General Barton's practiced eye fore- 
 stalled any need of the instrument, or Carle- 
 ton had already fully posted him as to which 
 side of the circle was some inches too high, for 
 he asked, with some severity : — 
 
 " Is n't the top of that concrete base out of 
 level, Mr. Sanford .' " 
 
324 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 " Yes, sir ; some inches too high near the 
 sofiitheast derrick," replied Sanford promptly. 
 
 " How did that occur ? " 
 
 " I should prefer you to ask the superintend- 
 ent," said Sanford quietly. 
 
 Mrs. Leroy, who was standing a short dis- 
 tance away on a dry plank that Sanford had 
 put under her f^et, her ears alert, stopped 
 talking to Smearly and turned her head. She 
 did not want to miss a word. 
 
 " What have you to say, Mr. Carleton ? 
 Did you give any orders to raise that level ? " 
 The general looked over his glasses at the su- 
 perintendent. 
 
 Carleton had evidently prepared himself for 
 this ordeal, and had carefully studied his line 
 of answers. As long as he kept the written 
 requirements under the contract he was safe. 
 
 " If I understand my instructions, sir, I am 
 not here to give orders. The plans show what 
 is to be done." He spoke in a low, almost 
 gentle voice, and with a certain deference of 
 manner which no one had ever seen in him 
 before, and which Sanford felt was even more 
 to be dreaded than his customary bluster. 
 
 Captain Joe stepped closer to Sanford's side, 
 and Caleb and Captain Bob Brandt, who stood 
 on the outside of the circle of officers grouped 
 around the tripod, leaned forward, listening in- 
 tently. They, too, had noticed the change in 
 Carleton's manner. The other men dropped 
 
THE RECORD OF NICKLES, THE COOK 325 
 
 their shovels and tools, and edged up, not ob- 
 trusively, but so as to overhear everything. 
 
 " Is this the reason you have withheld the 
 certificate, of which the contractor complains ? " 
 asked the general, with a tone in his voice as 
 of a judge interrogating a witness. 
 
 Carleton bowed his head meekly in assent. 
 " I can't sign for work that 's done wrong, sir." 
 
 Captain Joe made a movement as if to speak, 
 when Sanford, checking him with a look, 
 began, " The superintendent is right so far as 
 he goes, general, but there is another clause 
 in the contract which he seems to forget. I '11 
 quote it," drawing an important-looking docu- 
 ment from his pocket and spreading it out on 
 the top of a cement barrel : " ' Any dispute 
 arising between the United States engineer, 
 or his superintendent, and the contractor, shall 
 be decided by the former, and his decision 
 shall be final.' If the level of this concrete 
 base does not conform to the plans, there is no 
 one to blame but the superintendent himself." 
 
 Sanford' s flashing eye and rising voice had 
 attracted the attention of the ladies as well as 
 that of their escorts. They ceased talking and 
 played with the points of their parasols, tracing 
 little diagrams in the cement dust, preserving 
 a strict neutrality, like most people overhear- 
 ing a quarrel, in which they have no interest, 
 but who are alert to lose no move in the con- 
 test. Sanford would have liked less publicity 
 
326 CALEB WESt,' MASTER DIVER 
 
 in the settlement of ' the matter, and so ex- 
 pressed himself in a qiiick glance toward the 
 'gaests'. This anxiety was instantly seen by 
 the major, who, with a tact that Sanford had 
 riot given him credit for, led the ladies away 
 out of hearing on pretense of showing them 
 some of the heavy masonry. 
 
 The engineer-in-chief looked curiously at 
 Carleton, and the awakened light of a new im- 
 pression gleamed in his eye. Sanford's con- 
 fident manner and Carleton's momentary agi- 
 tation over Sanford's statement, upsetting for 
 an instant his lamblike reserve, evidently indi- 
 cated something hidden behind this dispute 
 which until then had not come to the front. 
 
 " I '11 take any blame that 's coming to me," 
 said Carleton, his meekness merging into a 
 dogged, half-imposed-on tone, "but I can't be 
 responsible for other folks' mistakes. I set 
 that level myself two months ago, and left the 
 .bench-marks for 'em to work up to. When 
 I come out next time they 'd altered them. I 
 told 'em it would n't do, and they 'd have to 
 take up what concrete they 'd set and lower 
 the level again. They said they was behind 
 and wanted to catch up, that it made no differ- 
 ence anyhow, and they wouldn't do it." 
 
 General Barton turned to Sanford and was 
 about to speak, when a voice rang out clear 
 and sharp, " That 's a lie ! " 
 
 Everybody looked about for the speaker. If 
 
THE RECORD OF NICKLES, THE COOK 327 
 
 a bomb had exploded above their heads, the 
 astonishment could not have been greater. 
 
 Before any one could speak Captain Bob 
 Brandt forced his way into the middle of the 
 group. His face was flushed with anger, his 
 lower lip was quivering. " I say it again. 
 That 's a lie, and you know it," he said calmly, 
 pointing his finger at Carleton, whose cheek , 
 paled at this sudden onslaught. " This ain't 
 my job, gentlemen," and he faced General 
 Barton and the committee, "an' it don't make 
 no difference to me whether it gits done 'r not. 
 I 'm hired here 'long with my sloop a-layin' 
 there at the wharf, an' I git my pay. But 
 I 've been here all summer, an' I stood by when 
 this 'ere galoot you call a superintendent sot 
 this level ; and when he says Cap'n Joe did n't 
 do the work as he ordered it he lies like a 
 thief, an' I don't care who hears it. Ask Cap'n 
 Joe Bell and Caleb West, a-standin' right there 
 'longside o' ye : they '11 gin it to ye straight ; 
 they 're that kind." 
 
 Barton was an old man and accustomed to 
 the respectful deference of a government office, 
 but he was also a keen observer of human na- 
 ture. The expression on the skipper's face 
 and on the faces of the others about him was 
 too fearless to admit of a moment's doubt of 
 their sincerity. 
 
 Carleton shrugged his shoulders as if it 
 were to be expected that Sanford's men would 
 
328 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 stand by him. Then he said, with a half sneer 
 at Captain Brandt, " Five dollars goes a long 
 ways with you fellers." The cat had uncon- 
 sciously uncovered its claws. 
 
 Brandt sprang forward with a wicked look in 
 his eye, whdn the general raised his hand. 
 
 " Come, men, stop this right away." There 
 was a tone in the chief engineer's voice which 
 impelled obedience. "We are here to find 
 out who is responsible for this error. I am 
 surprised, Mr. Sanford," turning almost fiercely 
 upon him, " that a man of your experience did 
 not insist on a written order for this change 
 of plan. While six inches over an area of this 
 size does not materially injure the work, you 
 are too old a contractor to alter a level to one 
 which you admit now was wrong, and which 
 at the time you knew was wrong, without some 
 written order. It violates the contract." 
 
 Here Nickles, the cook, who had been cran- 
 ing his neck out of the shanty window so as 
 not to lose a word of the talk, withdrew it so 
 suddenly that one of the men standing by the 
 door hurried into the shanty, thinking some- 
 thing unusual was the matter. 
 
 "I have never been able to get a written 
 order from this superintendent for any detail 
 of the work since he has been here," said San- 
 ford in a positive tone, " and he has never 
 raised his hand to help us. What the cause of 
 .his enmity is I do not know. We have all of 
 
THE RECORD OF NICKLES, THE COOK 329 
 
 US tried to treat him courteously and follow 
 his orders whenever it was possible to do so. 
 He insisted on this change after both my mas- 
 ter diver, Caleb West here, Captain Joe Bell, 
 and others of >my best men had protested against 
 it, and we had either to stop work and appeal 
 to the Board, and so lose the summer's work 
 and be liable to the government for non-com- 
 pletion on time, or obey him. I took the lat- 
 ter course, and you can see the result. It was 
 my only way out of the difficulty." 
 
 At this instant there came a crash which 
 sounded like breaking china, evidently in the 
 shanty, and a cloud of white dust, the contents 
 of a partly empty flour-barrel, sifted out through 
 the open window. The general turned his 
 head in inquiry, and, seeing nothing unusual, 
 continued : — 
 
 " You should have stopped work, sir, and 
 appealed. The government does not want its 
 work done in a careless, unworkmanlike way, 
 and will not pay for it." His voice had a tone 
 in it that sent a pang of anxiety to Mrs. Leroy's 
 heart. 
 
 Carleton smiled grimly. He was all right, 
 he said to himself. Nobody believed the 
 Yankee skipper. 
 
 Before Sanford could gather his wits in reply 
 the shanty door was flung wide open, and 
 Nickles backed out, carrying in his arms a pine 
 door, higher and wider than himself. He had 
 
330 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 lifted it from its hinges in the pantry, upsetting 
 everything about it. 
 
 " I guess mebbe I ain't been a-watchin' this 
 all summer fur nothin', gents," he said, planting 
 the door squarely before the general. " You 
 kin read it fur yerself, — it 's 's plain 's print. 
 If ye want what ye call an ' order,' here it is 
 large as life." 
 
 It was the once clean pine door of the 
 shanty, on which Sanford and the men had 
 placed their signatures in blue pencil the day 
 the level was fixed, and Carleton, defying San- 
 ford, had said it should " go that way " or he 
 would stop the work ! 
 
 General Barton adjusted his eyeglasses and 
 began reading the inscription. A verbatim 
 record of Carleton's instructions was before 
 him. The other members of the Board crowded 
 around, reading it in silence. 
 
 General Barton replaced his gold-rimmed 
 eyeglasses carefully in their case, and for a 
 moment looked seaward in an abstracted sort 
 of way. The curiously inscribed door had evi- 
 dently made a deep impression upon him. 
 
 " I had forgotten about that record, general," 
 said Sanford, " but I am very glad it has been 
 preserved. It was made at the time, so we 
 could exactly carry out the superintendent's 
 instructions. As to its truth, I should prefer 
 you to ask the men who signed it. They are 
 all here around you." 
 
THE RECORD OF NICKLES, THE COOK 331 
 
 The general looked again at Captain Joe and 
 Caleb. There was no questioning their integ-. 
 rity. Theirs were faces that disarmed suspi- 
 cion at once. 
 
 " Are these your signatures ? " he asked, 
 pointing to the scrawls in blue lead pencil sub- 
 scribed under Sanford's. 
 
 "They are, sir," said Captain Joe and Caleb 
 almost simultaneously ; Caleb answering with 
 a certain tone of solemnity, as if he were still 
 in government service and under oath, lifting 
 his hat as he spoke. Men long in government 
 employ have this sort of unconscious awe in 
 the presence of their superiors. 
 
 " Make a copy of it," said the general curtly 
 to the secretary of the Board. Then he turned 
 on his heel, crossed the Screamer's deck, and 
 entered the cabin of the tender, where he was 
 followed by the other members of the com- 
 mittee. 
 
 Ten minutes later the steward of the tender 
 ca,lled Carleton. The men looked after him as 
 he picked his way over the platforms and across 
 the deck of the sloop. His face was flushed, 
 and a nervous twitching of the muscles of his 
 mouth showed his agitation over the summons. 
 The apparition of the pantry door, they thought, 
 had taken the starch out of him. 
 
 Mrs. Leroy crossed to Sanford's side and 
 whispered anxiously, "What do you think, 
 Henry.?" 
 
332 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 " I don't know yet, Kate. Barton is a gruff, 
 exact man, and a martinet, but he has n't a dis- 
 honest hair on his head. Wait." 
 
 The departure of the engineers aboard the 
 tender, followed almost immediately by that ot 
 the superintendent, left the opposition, so to 
 speak, unrepresented. Those of the ladies 
 who were on sufficiently intimate terms with 
 Sanford to mention the fact at all, and who, 
 despite the major's efforts to lead them out of 
 range, had heard every word of the discussion, 
 expressed the hope that the affair would come 
 out all right. One, a Mrs. Corson, said in a 
 half - querulous tone that she thought they 
 ought to be ashamed of themselves to find any 
 fault, after all the hard work he had done. 
 Jack and Smearly consulted apart. They were 
 somewhat disturbed, but still believed that 
 Sanford would win his case. 
 
 To the major, however, the incident had a 
 far deeper and much more significant meaning. 
 
 " It 's a part of their infernal system, Henry," 
 he said in a sympathetic voice, now really con- 
 cerned for his friend's welfare, — "a trick of 
 the damnable oligarchy, suh, that is crushing 
 out the life of the people. It is the first time 
 since the wah that I have come as close as 
 this to any of the representatives of this gov- 
 ernment, and it will be the last, suh." 
 
 Before Sanford could soothe the warlike 
 spirit of his champion, the steward of the ten- 
 
THE RECORD OF NICKLES, THE COOK 333 
 
 der again appeared, and, touching his cap, said 
 the committee wished to see Mr. Sanford. 
 
 The young engineer excused himself to 
 those about him and followed the steward, 
 Mrs. Leroy looking after him with a glance of 
 anxiety as he crossed the deck of the Screamer, 
 — an anxiety which Sanford tried to relieve 
 by an encouraging wave of his hand. 
 
 As Sanford entered the saloon Carleton was 
 just leaving it, hat in hand. He did not raise 
 his eyes. His face was blue-white. Little 
 flecks of saliva were sticking in the corners of 
 his mouth, as if his breath were dry. 
 
 General Barton sat at the head of the saloon 
 table. The other members of the Board were 
 seated below him. 
 
 "Mr. Sanford," said the general, "we have 
 investigated the differences between yourself 
 and the superintendent with the following re- 
 sult : First, the committee has accepted the 
 work as it stands, believing in the truthfulness 
 of yourself and your men, confirmed by a re- 
 cord which it could not doubt. Second, the 
 withheld certificate will be signed and checks 
 forwarded to you as soon as the necessary pa- 
 pers can be prepared. Third, Superintendent 
 Carleton has been relieved from duty at Shark 
 Ledge Light" 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 AFTER THE BATTLE 
 
 Carleton's downfall was known all over 
 the Ledge and on board every boat that lay at 
 its wharf long before either he or Sanf ord re- 
 gained the open air. The means of communi- 
 cation was that same old silent current that 
 requires neither pole nor battery to put it into 
 working order. Within thirty seconds of the 
 time the ominous words feU from the general's 
 lips, the single word " Dennis," the universal 
 sobriquet for a discharged man our working 
 world over, was in every man's mouth. What- 
 ever medium was used, the meaning was none 
 the less clear and unmistakable. The steward 
 may have winked to the captain in the pilot- 
 house, or the cook shrugged his shoulders, open- 
 ing his mouth with the gasping motion of a 
 strangling chicken, and so conveyed the news 
 to the forecastle ; or one of the crew, with ears 
 wide open, might have found it necessary to 
 uncoil a rope outside the cabin window at the 
 precise moment the general gave his decision, 
 and have instantly passed the news along to his 
 nearest mate. Of one thing there was no 
 
AFTER THE BATTLE 335 
 
 ^oubt : Carleton had given his ' last order on 
 Shark Ledge. 
 
 An animated discussion followed among the 
 men. 
 
 "Ought to give him six months," blurted 
 ■out Captain Bob Brandt, whose limited expe- 
 rience of government inspecting boards led him 
 to believe that its officers were clothed with 
 ■certain judicial powers. "Hadn't 'a' been for 
 •old Hamfats" (Nickles's nickname) "an' his 
 pantry door, he'd 'a' swore Cap'n Joe's char- 
 acter away." 
 
 " Well, I 'm kind'er sorry for him, anyway," 
 said Captain Joe, not noticing the skipper's 
 humorous allusion. " Poor critter, he ain't real 
 responsible. What 's he goin' to do fur a livin', 
 now that the gov'ment ain't a-goin' to suppdirt 
 him no more ? " 
 
 " Ain't nobody cares ; he '11 know better 'n 
 to lie nex' time," grunted Lonny Bowles. " Is 
 he comin' ashore here agin, Caleb, er has he 
 dug a hole fur himself 'board the tender in the 
 coal bunkers .' " 
 
 Caleb smiled grimly, but made no reply. He 
 never liked to think of Carleton, much less to 
 talk of him. Since the night when he had way- 
 laid Betty coming home from Keyport, his name 
 had not passed the diver's lips. He had always 
 avoided him on the work, keeping out of his 
 way, not so much from fear of Carleton as from 
 fear of himself, — fear that in some uncontrol- 
 
336 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 lable moment he might fall upon him and 
 throttle him. 
 
 If a certain sigh of relief went up from the 
 working force on the Ledge over Carleton's 
 downfall and Sanford's triumph, a much more 
 joyous feeling permeated the yacht. Not only 
 were Jack and Smearly jubilant, but even Sam, 
 with a grin the width of his face, had a little 
 double shuffle of his own in the close quarters 
 of the galley, while the major began forthwith 
 to concoct a brew in which to drink Sanford's 
 health, and of such mighty power that for once 
 Sam disobeyed his instructions, and emptied 
 a pint of Medford spring water instead of an 
 equal amount of old Holland gin into the se- 
 ductive mixture. " 'Fo' God, Mr. Sanford, dey 
 would n't one o' dem ladies knowed deir head 
 from a whirlum-gig if dey 'd drank dat punch," 
 he said afterwards to his master, in palliation 
 of his sin. 
 
 Sanford took the situation with a calmness 
 customary to him when things were going well. 
 His principle in life was to do his best every 
 time, and leave the rest to fate. When he 
 worried it was before a crisis. He had not 
 belittled the consequences of a rejection of the 
 work. He knew how serious it might have 
 been. Had the Board become thoroughly con- 
 vinced that he had openly and without just 
 cause violated both the written contract and 
 the instructions of the superintendent, they 
 
AFTER THE BATTLE 337 
 
 might have been forced to make an example of 
 him, and to require all the upper masonry to be 
 torn down and rebuilt on a true level, a result 
 which would have entailed the loss of thousands 
 of dollars. 
 
 His own reply to General Barton and the 
 Board was a grim, reserved, " I thank you, gen- 
 tlemen," with an added hope that the new su- 
 perintendent might be instructed to give written 
 orders when any departure from the contract 
 was insisted upon, to which the chief engineer 
 agreed. 
 
 His greatest satisfaction, though, was really 
 over his men. The vindication of his course 
 was as much their triumph as his. He knew 
 who had been its master spirits ; the credit was 
 not due to him, but to Captain Joe, Caleb, 
 and Captain Brandt, whose pluck, skill, and de- 
 votion both to himself and the work had made 
 its success possible. He had only inspired 
 them to do their best. 
 
 Later, when he called them together on the 
 Ledge and gave them the details of the inter- 
 view, — he never kept anything of this kind from 
 his working force, — he cautioned one and all 
 of them to exercise the greatest patience 'and 
 good temper toward the new superintendent, 
 whoever he might be, who was promised in a 
 few days, so that nothing might happen which 
 would incur his ill will ; reminding them that 
 it would not do for a second superintendent to 
 
338 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 be disgruntled, no matter whose fault it was, to 
 which Captain Joe sententiously replied : — 
 
 " All right ; let 'em send who they like ; 
 sooner the better. But one thing I kin tell 
 'em, an' that is that none on 'em can't stop us 
 now from gittin' through, no matter how ornery 
 they be." 
 
 But of all the happy souls that breathed the 
 air of this lovely autumn day Mrs. Leroy was 
 the happiest. She felt, somehow, that the de- 
 cision of the committee was a triumph for both 
 Sanford and herself: for Sanford because of 
 his constant fight against the elements, for her 
 because of her advice and encouragement. Aa 
 the words fell from Sanford's lips, telling her 
 of the joyful news, — he had found her aboard 
 the yacht and had told her first of all, — her 
 face flushed, and her eyes lighted with gen- 
 uine pleasure. 
 
 " What did I tell you ! " she said, holding 
 out her hand in a hearty, generous way, as a 
 man would have done. " I knew you would do 
 it. Oh, I am so proud of you, you great splen- 
 did fellow ! " 
 
 Then a sudden inspiration seized her. She 
 darted back again to the Ledge in search of Cap- 
 tain Joe, her dainty skirts raised about her tiny 
 boots to keep them from the rough platforms. 
 
 " Do come and lunch with us. Captain Bell ! " 
 she exclaimed in her joyous way. " I really want 
 you, and the ladies would so love to talk to 
 
AFTER THE BATTLE 339 
 
 you," She had not forgotten his tenderness 
 over Betty the morning he came for her ; more 
 than that, he had stood by Sanford. 
 
 The captain stopped, somewhat surprised, 
 and looked down into her eyes with the kindly 
 expression of a big mastiff diagnosing a kitten. 
 
 " Well, that 's real nice o' ye, an' I thank ye 
 kindly," he answered, his eyes lighting up at 
 her evident sincerity. " But ye see yer vittles 
 would do me no good. So if ye won't take no 
 offense I '11 kind'er grub in with the other men. 
 Cook 's jes' give notice to all hands." 
 
 As she looked into his eyes her thoughts re- 
 verted to that morning in the hospital when the 
 captain's same sense of the fitness of things 
 had saved her from being established as nurse 
 to the wounded men. She was about to press 
 her request again when her glance fell on Caleb 
 standing by himself a little way off. She 
 turned and walked toward him. But it was not 
 to ask him to luncheon. 
 
 "I have heard Mr. Sanford speak so often 
 of you that I wanted to know you before I left 
 the work," she said, holding out her little gloved 
 hand. Caleb looked into her face and touched 
 the dainty glove with two of his fingers, — he was 
 afraid to do more, it was so small, — and, with 
 his eyes on hers, listened while she spoke in a 
 tender, sympathetic tone, lowering her voice so 
 that no one could hear but himself, — not even 
 Sanford : " I have heard all about your troubles. 
 
340 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 Mr. West, and I am so sorry for you both ; she 
 stayed with me one night last summer. She 
 said, poor child, she was very miserable ; it 's 
 an awful thing to be alone in the world." 
 
 Sanford watched her as she flitted over the 
 rough platforms like a bird that sings as it flies. 
 Unaccountable as it was to him even in the 
 happiness of his triumph, a strange feeling of 
 disappointment came over him. He began in 
 an utterly unreasonable way to wonder whether 
 their intimacy would now be as close as be- 
 fore, and whether the daily conferences would 
 end, since he had no longer any anxieties to lay 
 before her. 
 
 Something in her delight, and especially in 
 the frank way in which she had Tield out her 
 hand like a man friend in congratulation, had 
 chilled rather than cheered him. He felt hurt 
 without knowing why. A sense of indefinable 
 personal loss came over him. In the rush of 
 contending emotions suddenly assailing him, he 
 began to doubt whether she had understood his 
 motives that night on the veranda when he had 
 kissed her hand, — whether in fact he had ever 
 understood her. Had she really conquered her 
 feelings as he had his.' Or had there been 
 nothing to conquer .' Then another feeling rose 
 in his heart, — a vague jealousy of the very 
 work which had bound them so closely to- 
 gether, and which now seemed to claim all her 
 interest. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 A BROKEN DRAW 
 
 Throughout the luncheon that followed 
 aboard the yacht the major was the life of the 
 party. He had offered no apology either to 
 Sanford or to any member of the committee 
 for his hasty conclusions regarding the " damn- 
 able oligarchy." He considered that he had 
 wiped away aU bitterness, when, rising to his 
 feet and rapping with the handle of his knife 
 ior order, he said with great dignity and suavity 
 of manner : — 
 
 "On behalf of this queen among women," 
 turning to Mrs. Leroy, " our lovely hostess, as 
 well as these fair young buds " — a graceful 
 wave of his hand — (some of these buds had 
 grandchildren) "who adorn her table, I rise to 
 thank you, suh," — semi-military salute to Gen- 
 eral Barton, — "for the opportunity you have 
 given them of doing honor to a gentleman and 
 a soldier," — a double-barreled compliment that 
 brought a smile to that gentleman's face, and 
 a suppressed ripple of laughter from the other 
 members of the committee. 
 
 In the same generous way he filled his own 
 
342 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 and everybody else's bumper for Sanford out 
 of the bowl that Sam had rendered innocuous, 
 addressing his friend as that " young giant, who 
 has lighted up the pathway of the vasty deep." 
 To which bit of grandiloquence Sanford replied 
 that the major was premature, but that he 
 hoped to accomplish it the following year. 
 
 In addition to conducting all these functions, 
 the Pbcomokian neglected no minor detail of 
 the feast. He insisted upon making the coffee 
 after an especial formula of his own, and cooled 
 in a new way and with his own hands the sev- 
 eral cordials banked up on Sam's silver tray. 
 He opened parasols for the ladies and cham- 
 pagne for the men with equal grace and dex- 
 terity ; was host, waiter, valet, and host again ; 
 and throughout the livelong day one unfailing 
 source of enthusiasm, courtesy, and helpful- 
 ness. With all this be it said to his credit, 
 he had never overstepped the limits of his posi- 
 tion, as High Rubber-in-Chief, — his main pur- 
 pose having been to get all the fun possible 
 out of the situation, both for himself and for 
 those about him. These praiseworthy efforts 
 were not appreciated by all of the guests. The 
 general and the committee had several times, 
 in their own minds, put him down for a char- 
 latan and a mountebank, especially when they 
 deliberated upon the fit of his clothes, and his 
 bombastic and sometimes fulsome speeches. 
 
 All these several vagaries, however, of the 
 
A BROKEN DRAW 343 
 
 distinguished Pocomokian only ehdeared him 
 the more to Sanford and his many friends. 
 They saw a little deeper under the veneer, and 
 knew that if the major did smoke his hostess's 
 cigars and drink her cognac, it was always as her 
 guest and in her presence. They knew, too, 
 that, poor and often thirsty as he was, he would 
 as soon have thought of stuffing his carpet-bag 
 with the sheets that covered his temporary bed 
 as of filling his private flask with the contents 
 of the decanter that Buckles brought nightly 
 to his room. It was just this delicate sense of 
 honor that saved him from pure vagabondage. 
 
 When coffee and cigars had been served, the 
 general and his party again crossed the gang- 
 plank to the tender, the mooring-lines were 
 throAvn off, and the two boats, with many wav- 
 ings of hands from yacht and Ledge, kept on 
 their respective courses. The tender was to 
 keep on to Keyport, where the committee were 
 to board the train for New York, and the yacht 
 was to idle along until sundown, and so on into 
 Medford harbor. Captain Joe and Caleb were 
 to follow later in the tug that had towed out 
 the Screamer, they being needed in Keyport to 
 load some supplies. 
 
 As the tender steamed away the men on the 
 Ledge looked eagerly for Carleton, that they 
 might give him some little leave-taking of their 
 own, — it would have been a characteristic one, 
 — but he was nowhere to be seen. 
 
344 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 " Buried up in the coal bunkers, jes' 's I said," 
 laughed Lonpy Bowles. 
 
 With the final wave to the fast disappearing 
 tender of a red handkerchief, the property of 
 the major, returned by the general standing in 
 the stern of his own boat, Mrs. Leroy's party 
 settled themselves on the forward deck of 
 the yacht to enjoy the afternoon run back to 
 Medford. 
 
 The ladies sat under the awnings, where they 
 were made comfortable with cushions from the 
 saloon below, while some of the men threw 
 themselves flat on the deck cushions, or sat 
 Turkish fashion in those several sprawling posi- 
 tions only possible under like conditions, and 
 most difficult for some men to learn to assume 
 properly. Jack Hardy knew to a nicety how to 
 stow his legs away, and so did Sanford. Theirs 
 were always invisible. Smearly never tried the 
 difficult art. He thought it beneath his dig- 
 nity ; and then again there was too much of 
 him in the wrong place. The major wanted to 
 try it, and no doubt would have done so with 
 decorum and grace but for his clothes. It was 
 a straight and narrow way that the major had 
 been walking, all day, and he could run no risks. 
 
 Everything aboard the yacht had been going 
 as merry as a marriage or any other happy bell 
 of, good che^r, — the major at his best, Smearly 
 equally delightful, Helen and Jack happy as 
 
A BROKEN DRAW 345 
 
 two song-birds, and Mrs. Leroy with a joyous 
 word for every one betwefeft her confidences 
 to Sanford, when just as the gayety was at its 
 height a quick sharp ring was heard in the en- 
 gine-room below. Almost at the same instant 
 one of the crew touched Sanford on the shoul- 
 der and whispered something in his ear. 
 
 Sanford sprang to his feet and looked eagerly 
 toward the shore. 
 
 The yacht at the moment was entering the 
 narrow channel of Medford harbor, and the 
 railroad trestle and draw could be plainly seen 
 from its deck. Sanford's quick eye had in- 
 stantly detected a break in the sky-line. The 
 end of the railroad track placed on the trestle, 
 and crossing within a few hundred feet of Mrs. 
 Leroy's cottage, was evidently twisted out of 
 shape, while across the channel, on its pposite 
 end rested an engine and two cars, the outer 
 one derailed and toppled over. On the water 
 below were crowded small boats of every con- 
 ceivable kind, hurrying to the scene, while the 
 surrounding banks were black with people 
 watching intently a group of men on board a 
 scow, who were apparently trying to keep above 
 water a large object which loolftd like a float- 
 ing house. 
 
 Something serious had evidently happened. 
 
 A panic of apprehension instantly seized the 
 guests on the yacht. Faces which but a few 
 moments before had been rosy with smiles be- 
 
346 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 came suddenly anxious and frightened. Some 
 of the ladies spoke in whispers ; could it be 
 possible, every one asked, that the train with 
 General Barton and the committee on board 
 had met with an accident ? 
 
 Sanford, followed by Mrs. Leroy, hurried into 
 the pilot-house to search the horizon from that 
 elevation and see the better. One moment's 
 survey removed all doubt from his mind. A 
 train had gone through the draw ; whether pas- 
 senger or freight he could not tell. One thing 
 was certain : some lives must be in danger, or 
 the crowd would not watch so intently the 
 group who were working with such energy 
 aboard the rescuing scow. At Sanford' s re- 
 quest three quick, short bells sounded in the 
 engine-room below, and the yacht quivered 
 along her entire length as she doubled her 
 speed. When she came within hailing distance 
 of the shore a lobster fisherman pulled out and 
 crossed the yacht's bow. 
 ' " What 's happened .' " shouted Sanford, wav- 
 ing his hat to attract attention. 
 
 The fisherman stopped rowing, and the yacht 
 slowed down. 
 
 " Train through the draw," came the answer. 
 
 " Passenger or freight ? " 
 
 "'T ain't neither one. It's a repair train 
 from Stonin'ton, with a lot o' dagos an' men. 
 Caboose went clean under, an' two cars piled 
 on top." 
 
A BROKEN DRAW 347 
 
 Sanf ord breathed freer ; the Board were safe, 
 anyhow. 
 
 "Anybody killed?" 
 
 " Yes. Some says six ; some says more. 
 None in the caboose got out. The dagos was 
 on the dirt-car an' jumped." 
 
 The yacht sped on. As she neared the rail- 
 road draw Jack took Helen's hand and led her 
 down into the cabin. He did not want her to 
 see any sight that would shock her. Mrs. Leroy 
 stood by Sanf ord ; the yacht was her house, so 
 to speak ; some one might need its hospitality 
 and shelter, and she wanted to be the first to 
 offer it. The same idea had crossed Sanford's 
 mind. 
 
 "Major," said Sanford, "please tell Sam to 
 get some brandy ready and bring some of the 
 mattresses from the crew's bunks up on deck ; 
 they may be useful." 
 
 A voice now hailed Sanford. It came from 
 the end of the scow nearest the sunken house, 
 now seen to be one end of a caboose car. " Is 
 there a doctor aboard your yacht .' " 
 
 " Yes, half a one. Who wants him .' " called 
 Smearly, leaning over the rail in the direction 
 of the sound. 
 
 " We 've got a man here we can't bring to. 
 He 's alive, but that 's all." 
 
 The yacht backed water and moved close to 
 the scow. Sanford jumped down, followed by 
 Smearly carrying the brandy and the major 
 
348 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 with a iiiattress, and ran along her deck to 
 where the man lay. The yacht kept on. It 
 was to land the ladies a hundred yards away, 
 and then return. 
 
 " Hand me that brapdy, quick, major ! " ex- 
 claimed Smearly, as he dropped on one knee 
 and bent over the sufferer, parting the lips with 
 his fingers and pouring a spoonful between the 
 closed teeth. " Now pull that mattress closer, 
 and some, of you fellows make a pillow of your 
 qoats, and find, something to throw over him 
 when he comes to ; it 's the cold that 's killing 
 him. He '11 pull through, I think." 
 
 Smearly's early training in the hospital ser- 
 vice while making sketches during the war had 
 more, than once stood him in good stead. 
 , The major was the first man in his shirt- 
 sleeves ; , Leroy's commpdore coat was begin- 
 ning to be of some real service. Two of the 
 scpvv's crew added their own coats, and then 
 ran for an arniy blanket in the cabin of the 
 scow. The. sufferer was lifted up on the mat- 
 tress and made more comfortable, the coats 
 placed under his head, the army blanket tucked 
 about him. 
 
 The injured man gave a convulsive gasp, and 
 partly opened his eyes. The brandy was doing 
 its work. Sanford leaned over him to see if he 
 could recognize him, but the ooze and slime 
 climg so thickly to the mustache and closely 
 trimmed beard that he could not make out his 
 
A BROKEN DRAW 349 
 
 features. He seemed to be under thirty years 
 of age, strong and well built. He was dressed 
 in a blue shirt and overalls, and looked like a 
 mechanic. 
 
 " How many others ? " asked Sanford, look- 
 ing toward the wreck. 
 
 " He 's the only one alive," answered the cap- 
 tain of the scow. " We hauled him through the 
 winder of the caboose just as she was a-turnin' 
 over ; he 's broke something, some'ers, I guess, 
 or he 'd 'a' come to quicker. There 's two dead 
 men under there," pointing to the sunken ca- 
 boose, "so the brakeman says. If we had a 
 diver we could git 'em up; The railroad super- 
 intendent 's been here, an' says he '11 send for 
 one ; but you know what that means, — he '11 
 send for a diver after they git this caboose up ; 
 by that time they 'd be smashed into pulp." 
 
 The yacht had now steamed back to the 
 wreck with word from Mrs. Leroy to send for 
 whatever would be needed to make the injured 
 man comfortable. Sam delivered the message, 
 standing in the bow of the yacht. He had not - 
 liked the idea of leaving Sanford, when the 
 yacht moved off from the scow, and had so 
 expressed himself to the sailing-master. He 
 was Sanford's servant, not Mrs. Leroy' s, he 
 had said, and when people were getting blown 
 up and his master had to stay and attend to 
 them, his place was beside him, not "waitin' 
 on de ladies." 
 
350 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 With the approach of the yacht Sanford 
 looked at his watch thoughtfully, and raising 
 his voice to the sailing-master, who was stand- 
 ing in the pilot-house, his hand on the wheel, -f 
 said : " Captain, I want you to tow this scow 
 to Mrs. Leroy's dock, so a doctor can get at 
 this wounded man. He needs hot blankets at 
 once. Then crowd on everything you've got 
 and run to Keyport. Find Captain Joe Bell, 
 and tell him to put my big air-pump aboard 
 and bring Caleb West and his diving-dress. 
 There are two dead, men down here who must 
 be got at before the wrecking train begins 
 on the caboose. My colored boy, Sam, will go 
 with you and help you find the captain's house, 
 — he knows where he lives. If you are quick 
 you can make Keyport and back in an hour." 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 THE SWINGING GATE 
 
 When the tug landed Caleb at Keyport this 
 same afternoon, he hurried through his duties 
 and went straight to his cabin. Mrs. Lerby's 
 sympathetic words were still in his ears. He 
 could hear the very tones of her voice and re> 
 call the pleading look in her eyes. He wished 
 he had told her the whole truth then and there, 
 and how he felt toward Betty ; and he might 
 have done so had not the other ladies been 
 there, expecting her aboard the yacht. He did 
 not feel hurt or angry; he never was with 
 those who spoke well of his wife. Her words 
 had only deepened the conviction that had lately 
 taken possession of his own mind, — that he 
 alone, of all who knew Betty, had shut his heart 
 against her. Even this woman, — a total stran- 
 ger, — who had taken her out of the streets 
 and befriended her still pleaded for her. When 
 would his own heart ever be softened .' What 
 did he want her to do for him ? Crawl back 
 on her hands and knees and lie outside his door 
 until he took her in ? And if she never came, 
 — what then ? 
 
352 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 How long would she be able to endure her 
 present life ? He had saved her from Carleton. 
 So far no one except Betty, Carleton, and him- 
 self had known of the night attack ; not even 
 Captain Joe. It was best not to talk about it ; 
 it might injure her. But who else would try to 
 waylay and insult her ? Maybe his holding out 
 so long against her would force her into other 
 temptations, and so ruin her. What if it was 
 already too late ? Lacey had been seen round 
 Keyport lately, — once at night. He knew he 
 wrote to her ; , Bert Simmons, the letter-carrier, 
 had shown him other letters with the Ston- 
 ington postmark. , Was Lacey hanging round 
 Keyport because she had sent for him ? And 
 if she went back to him after all, — whose fault 
 was it .' 
 
 At the thought of Lacey the beads of sweat 
 stood on his forehead. Various conflicting 
 emotions took possession of him, bringing the 
 hot blood to his cheek and setting his finger- 
 nails deep into the palms of his hands. It was 
 only at rare intervals, when he had run into 
 Stonington aboard the Screamer, or on one of 
 the tugs short of coal or water, that he had 
 seen the man who had ruined his home, and 
 then only at a distance. The young rigger was 
 at work around the cars on the dock. Caleb 
 had never known whether Lacey had seen him. 
 He thought not. The men said the young fel- 
 low always moved away when any of the Key- 
 
THE SWINGING GATE 353 
 
 port boats came in. Then his mind reverted 
 to Captain Joe and to the night he pleaded for 
 her, and to the way he said over and over again, 
 " She ain't nothin' but a child,. Caleb, an' all of 
 us is liable to go astray." These words seemed 
 to burn themselves into his brain. 
 
 As the twilight came on he went upstairs on 
 tiptoe, treading as lightly as if he knew she 
 was asleep and he feared to waken her. Stand- 
 ing by the bed, he looked about him in an aim- 
 less, helpless way, his eyes resting finally on 
 the counterpane, and the pillow he had placed 
 every night for her on her side of the bed. It 
 was yellow and soiled now. In the same half- 
 dazed, dreamy way he stepped to the closet, 
 opened the door cautiously, and laid his hand 
 upon her dresses, which hung where she had 
 left them, smoothing them softly with his rough 
 fingers. He could easily have persuaded him- 
 self (had she been dead) that her spirit was 
 near him, whispering to him, leading him about, 
 her hand in his. 
 
 As he stood handling the dresses, with their 
 little sleeves and skirts, all the paternal seemed 
 suddenly to come out in him. She was no longer 
 his wife, no longer the keeper of his house, no 
 longer the custodian of his good name. She 
 was his child, his daughter, his own flesh and 
 blood, — one who had gone astray, one who had 
 pleaded for forgiveness, and who was now alone 
 in the world, with every door closed against her 
 but Captain Joe's. 
 
354 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 In the brightness of this new light of pity in 
 him a great weight seemed lifted from his heart. 
 His own sorrow and loneliness seemed trivial 
 and selfish besidehers. He big and strong, fear- 
 less to go and come, able to look every man in 
 the face ; and she a timid girl, shrinking, fright- 
 ened, insulted, hiding even from those who loved 
 her. What sort of man was he to shut his door 
 in her face and send her shuddering down the 
 road ? , 
 
 With these new thoughts there came a sud- 
 den desire to help, to reach out his arms toward 
 her, to stand up and defend her, — defend her, 
 out in the open, before all the people. 
 
 Catching up his hat, he hurried from the 
 house and walked briskly down the road. It 
 was Betty's hour for coming home. Since her 
 encounter with Carleton there had been few 
 evenings in the Week he had not, with one ex- 
 cuse or another, loitered along the road, hiding 
 behind the fish-house until she passed, watching 
 her until she reached the swinging gate. Soon 
 the residents up and down the road began to. 
 time his movements. "Here comes Caleb," 
 they would say; "Betty ain't far off. Ain't 
 nothin' ^oin' to touch her as long as Caleb 's 
 round." 
 
 This watchful care had had its effect. Not 
 only had Captain Joe and Aunty Bell taken her 
 part, but Caleb was looking after her too. 
 When this became common talk the little re- 
 
THE SWINGING GATE 355 
 
 maining tattle ceased. Better not talk about 
 Betty, the gossips said among themselves ; Ca- 
 leb might hear it. 
 
 When the diver reached the top of the hill 
 overlooking Captain Joe's cottage, his eye fell 
 upon Betty's slight figure stepping briskly up 
 the hill, her shawl drawn tightly about her 
 shoulders, her hat low down on her face. She 
 had passed the willows and was halfway to the 
 swinging gate. Caleb quickened his pace and 
 walked straight toward her. 
 
 She saw him coming, and stopped in sudden 
 fright. , For an instant she wavered, undecided 
 whether she would turn and run, or brave it out 
 and pass him. If she could only get inside the 
 garden before he reached her ! As she neared 
 the gate she heard his footsteps on the road, 
 and could see from under the rim of her hat the 
 rough shoes and coarse trousers cement-stained 
 up as far as his knees. Only once since she 
 had gone off with Lacey had she been so close 
 to him. 
 
 Gathering all her strength she sprang forward, 
 her hand on the swinging gate. 
 
 " I '11 hold it back, child," came a low, sweet 
 voice, and an arm was stretched out before her. 
 "It shan't slam to and hurt ye." 
 
 He was so close she could have touched him. 
 She saw, even in her agony, the gray, fluffy 
 beard and the wrinkled, weather-stained throat 
 with the unbuttoned collar of the flannel shirt. 
 
3S6 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 She saw, too, the big brown hand, as it rested 
 on the gate. 
 
 She did not see his eyes. She dared not look 
 so high. 
 
 As she entered the kitchen door she gave a 
 hurried glance behind. He was following her 
 slowly, as if in deep thought ; his hands behind 
 his back, his eyes on the ground. 
 
 Aunty Bell was bending over the stove when 
 Betty dashed in. 
 
 " It 's Caleb ! He 's coming in ! Oh, aunty, 
 don't let him see me — please — please ! " 
 
 The little woman turned quickly, startled at 
 the sudden interruption. 
 
 " He don't want ye, child." The girl's ap- 
 pearance alarmed her. She is not often this 
 way, she thought. 
 
 "He does — he does. He spoke to me — 
 Oh, where shall I go .' " she moaned, wringing 
 her hands, her whole body trembling like one 
 with an ague. 
 
 " Go nowhere," answered Aunty Bell in de- 
 cided tones. " Stay where ye be. I '11 go see 
 him. 'T ain't nothin', child, only somethin' 
 for the cap'n." She had long since given up 
 all hope of Caleb's softening. 
 
 As she spoke the diver's slow and measured 
 step could be heard sounding along the plank 
 walk. 
 
 Aunty Bell let down her apron and stepped 
 to the door. Betty crept behind the panels. 
 
THE SWINGING GATE 357 
 
 watching him through the crack, stifling her 
 breath lest she should miss his first word. Oh, 
 the music of his voice at the gate ! Not his 
 words, but the way he spoke,: — the gentleness, 
 the pity, ; the compassion of it all! As this 
 thought surged through her ipind she grew 
 calmer ; a sudden impulse to rush out and throw 
 herself at his feet took possession of her. He 
 surely could not repel her when his voice car- 
 ried such tenderness to her heart. A great 
 sob rose in her throat. The measured, slow 
 step came closer. 
 
 At this instant she heard the outer gate 
 swing to a second time with a resounding bang, 
 and Captain Joe's voice calling, " Git yer dress, 
 Caleb, quick as God '11 let ye ! Train through 
 the Medford draw an' two men drownded. I 've 
 been lookin' fur ye everywhere." 
 
 " Who says so .' " answered Caleb calmly 
 without moving. 
 
 "Mr. Sanford's sent the yacht. His nig- 
 ger 's outside now. Hurry, I tell ye ; we ain't 
 got a minute." 
 
 Betty waited, her heart throbbing. Caleb 
 paused for an instant and looked earnestly 
 and hesitatingly toward the house. Then he 
 turned quickly and followed Captain Joe. 
 
 Aunty Bell waited until she saw both men 
 cross the road on their way to the dock. Then 
 she went in to find Betty. 
 
 She was still crouched behind the door, her 
 
3S8 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 limbs trembling beneath' her. On her face was 
 the dazed look of one who had missed, withotit 
 knowing why, some great crisis. 
 
 " Don't cry, child," said the little woman, pat- 
 ting her cheek. " It 's all right. I knowed he 
 did n't come for ye." 
 
 " But, Aunty Bell, Aunty Bell," she sobbed, 
 as she threw her arms about her neck, " I 
 wanted him so," 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 
 UNDER THE PITILESS STARS 
 
 The purple twilight had already settled over 
 Medford harbor when the yacht with Captain 
 Joe and Caleb on board glided beneath the 
 wrecked trestle with its toppling cars, and 
 made fast to one of the outlying spiles of the 
 draw. As the yacht's stern swung in toward 
 the sunken caboose which coffined the bodies 
 of the drowned men, a small boat put off from 
 the shore and Sanford sprang aboard. He had 
 succeeded in persuading the section boss in 
 charge of the wrecking gang to delay wrecking 
 operations until Caleb could get the bodies, 
 insisting that it was inhuman to disturb the 
 wreck until they were recovered. As the yacht 
 was expected every moment and the services of 
 the diver would be free, the argument carried 
 weight. 
 
 " Everything is ready, sir," said Captain Joe, 
 ds Sanford walked aft to meet him. " We 've; 
 'iled up the cylinders, an' the pump can git to 
 work in a minute. I '11 tend Caleb ; I know 
 how he likes his air. Come, Caleb, git inter 
 yer dress ; this tide 's on the turn." 
 
36o CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 The three men walked along the yacht's 
 deck to where the captain had been oiling the 
 air-pump. It had been lifted clear of its wooden 
 case and stood near the rail, its polished brasses 
 glistening in the light of a ship's lantern slung to 
 the ratlines. Sprawled over a deck settee lay 
 the rubber diving-dress, — body, arms, and legs 
 in one piece, like a suit of seamless underwear, 
 ■ — and beside it the copper helmet, a trunkless 
 head with a single staring eye. The air-hose 
 and life-line, together with the back-plate and 
 breast-plate of lead and the iron-shod shoes, lay 
 on the deck. 
 
 Caleb placed his folded coat on a camp-stool, 
 drew off his shoes, tucked his trousers into his 
 stocking legs, and began twisting himself into 
 his rubber dress, Sanford helping him with the 
 arms and neckpiece. Captain Joe, meanwhile, 
 overhauled the plates and loosened the fasten- 
 ings of the weighted shoes. 
 
 With the screwing on of Caleb's helmet and 
 the tightening of his face-plate, the crowd in- 
 creased. The news of the coming diver had 
 preceded the arrival of the yacht, and the tres- 
 tle and shores were lined with people. 
 
 When Caleb, completely equipped, stepped 
 on the top round of the ladder fastened to the 
 yacht's side, the crowd climbed hurriedly over 
 the wrecked cars to the stringers of the trestle 
 to get a better view of the huge man-fish with 
 its distorted head and single eye, and its long 
 
UNDER THE PITILESS STARS 361 
 
 antennae of hose and life-line. Such . a sight 
 would be uncanny even when the blazing sun 
 burnished the diver's polished helmet and the 
 one eye of the face-plate glared ominously; but 
 at night, under the wide sky, with only a single 
 swinging lamp to illumine the gloomy shadows, 
 the man-fish became a thing of dread, — a 
 ghoulish spectre who prowled over foul and 
 loathsome things, and who rose from the slime 
 of deep bottoms only to breathe and sink again. 
 
 Caleb slowly descended the yacht's ladder, 
 one iron-shod foot at a time, until the water 
 reached his armpits. Then he swung himself 
 clear, and the black, oily ooze closed over him. 
 
 Captain Joe leaned over the yacht's rail, the 
 life-line wound about his wrist, his sensitive 
 hand alert for the slightest nibble of the man- 
 fish. These nibbles are the unspoken words of 
 the diver below to his " tender " above. His 
 life often depends on these being instantly 
 understood and answered. 
 
 For the diver is more than amphibious ; he 
 is twice-bodied, - — one man under water, one 
 man above, with two heads and four hands. 
 The connecting links between these two bodies 
 — these Siamese twins — are the life-line and 
 signal-cord through which they speak to each 
 other, and the air-hose carrying their life-breath. 
 
 As Caleb dropped out of sight the crew 
 crowded to the yacht's rail, straining their eyes 
 in the gloom, In the steady light of the lantern 
 
362 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 they could see the cord tighten and slacken as 
 the diver felt his way among the wreckage, or 
 sank to the bottom. They could follow, too,' 
 the circle of air bubbles floating on the water 
 above where he worked. No one spoke ; no 
 one moved. An almost deathly stillness pre- 
 vailed. The only sounds were the wheezing of 
 the air-pump turned by the sailor, and the 
 swish of the life-linfe cutting through the water 
 as the diver talked to his tender. With these 
 were mingled the unheeded sounds of the night 
 and of the seai — the soft purring of the tall 
 grasses moving gently to and fro in the night- 
 wind, and the murmuring of the sluggish water 
 stirred by the rising tide arid gurgling along the 
 yacht's side on its way to the stern. 
 
 " Has he found them yet. Captain Joe .' " 
 Sanford asked, after some moments, under his 
 breath. 
 
 " Not yet, sir. He 's been through one car, 
 an' is now crawlin' through t'other. He says 
 they're badly broke up. Run that air-hose 
 overboard, sir ; let it all go ; he wants it all. 
 Thank ye. He says the men are in their bunks 
 at t'other end, if anywheres ; that 's it, sir." 
 
 There came a quick double jerk, answered 
 by one long pull. 
 
 " More air, sir, — more air ! " Captain Joe 
 cried in a quick, rising voice. " So-o, that '11 
 do." 
 
 The crew looked on in astbnishment. The 
 
UNDER THE PITILESS STARS 363 
 
 talk of the man-fish was like the telephone 
 talk of a denizen from another world. 
 
 j^ quarter of an hour passed. Not a single 
 tremor had been felt along the life-line, nor had 
 Captain Joe moved from his position on the 
 rail. His eye was still on the circle of bubbles 
 that rose and were lost in the current. Sanford 
 grew uneasy. 
 
 " What 's he doing now, captain } " he asked 
 in an anxious voice. 
 
 " Don't know, sir ; ain't heard from him in 
 some time." 
 
 " Ask him." 
 
 " No, sir ; better let him alone. He might 
 be crawlin' through somewheres ; might tangle 
 him up if I moved the line. He 's got to feel 
 his way, sir. It 's black as mud down there. 
 If the men warn't in the caboose he wouldn't 
 never find 'em at night." 
 
 A quick, sharp jerk from under the surface 
 now swished through the water, followed by a 
 series of strong, rapid pulls, — seesaw pulls, as 
 if some great fish were struggling with the 
 line. 
 
 " He 's got one of 'em, sir," said the captain, 
 with sudden animation. " Says that 's all. 
 He 's been through two cars an' felt along 
 every inch o' the way. If there 's another, he 's 
 got washed out o' the door." 
 
 As he spoke the air-hose slackened and the 
 life-line began to sag. 
 
364 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 Captain Joe turned quickly to Sanfordi 
 "Pull in that hose, Mr. Sanford," hauling in 
 the slack of the life-line himself. " He 's a-comin' 
 up ; he'll bring him with him." 
 
 These varied movements on the yacht stirred 
 the overhanging crowd into action. They 
 hoped the diver was coming up; they hoped, 
 too, he would bring the dead man. His appear- 
 ing with his awful burden would be less terrible 
 than not knowing what the man-fish was doing. 
 The crew of the yacht crowded still closer to 
 the rail ; this fishing at night for the dead had 
 a fascination they could not resist. Some of 
 them even mounted the ratlines, and others 
 ran aft to see the diver rise from the deep sea. 
 
 In a moment more the black water heaved in 
 widening circles, and Caleb's head and shoulders 
 were thrust up within an oar's length of the 
 yacht. The light of the lantern fell upon his 
 wet helmet and extended arm. 
 
 The hand clutched a man's boot. 
 
 Attached to the boot were a pair of blue 
 overalls and a jacket. The head of the drowned 
 man hung down in the water. The face was 
 hidden. 
 
 Captain Joe leaned forward, lowered the 
 lantern that Caleb might see the ladder, reeled 
 in the life-line hand over hand, and dragged the 
 diver and his burden to the foot of the ladder. 
 Sanford seized a boat-hook, and, reaching down, 
 held the foot close to the ykcht's side ; then a 
 
UNDER THE PITILESS STARS 365 
 
 sailor threw a noose of marline twine around 
 the boot. The body was now safe from the 
 treacherous tide. 
 
 Caleb raised himself slowly until his helmet 
 was just above the level of the deck. Captain 
 Joe removed the lead plates from his breast 
 and back, and unscrewed his glass face-plate, 
 letting out his big beard and letting in the cool 
 night-air. 
 
 " Any more down there ? " he cried, his 
 mouth close to Caleb's face as he spoke. 
 
 Caleb shook his head inside the copper hel- 
 met. " No ; don't think so. Guess ye thought 
 I was a-goin' to stay all night, did n't ye ? I 
 had ter crawl through two cars 'fore I got him ; 
 when I found him he was under a tool-chest. 
 One o' them lower cars, I see, has got its end 
 stove out." 
 
 " Jes' 's I told ye, Mr. Sanford," said Captain 
 Joe in a positive tone ; " t'other body went out 
 with the tide." 
 
 The yacht, with the resj:ued dead man laid 
 on the deck and covered with a sheet, steamed 
 across the narrow channel, reversed her screw, 
 and touched the fender spiles of her wharf as 
 gently as one would tap an egg. Sanford, who, 
 now that the body was found, had gone ahead 
 in the small boat in search of the section, boss, 
 was waiting on the wharf for the arrival of the 
 yacht. 
 
366 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 ' " There 's more trouble, Captain Joe," he 
 called. "There's a man here that the scow 
 saved from the wreck. Mr. Smearly thought 
 he would pull through, but tile doctor who 's 
 with him says he can't live an hour. His spine 
 is injured. Major Slocomb and Mr. Smearly 
 are now in Stonington in search of a surgeon. 
 The section boss tells me his name is Williams, 
 and that he works in the machine shops. Bet- 
 ter look at him and see if you know him." 
 
 Captain Joe and Caleb walked toward the 
 scow. She was moored close to the grassy 
 slope of the shore. On her deck stood half a 
 dozen men, — one a diver sent by the manager 
 of the road, and who had arrived with his dress 
 and equipment too late to be of service. 
 
 The injured man lay in the centre. Beside 
 him, seated on one of Mrs. Leroy's piazza 
 chairs, was the village doctor ; his hand was on 
 the patient's pulse. One of Mrs. Leroy's maids 
 knelt at the wounded man's feet, wringing out 
 cloths that had been dipped in buckets of boil- 
 ing water brought by the men servants. Mrs. 
 Leroy and Helen and one or two guests sat 
 a short distance away on the lawn. Over by 
 the stables swinging lights could be seen glim- 
 mering here and there, as if men were hur- 
 rying. There were lights, too, on the dock 
 and on the scow's deck ; one hung back of the 
 sufferer's head, where it could not shine on his 
 eyes. 
 
UNDER THE PITILESS STARS 367 
 
 The wounded man, who had been stripped of 
 his wet clothes, lay on a clean mattress. Over 
 him was thrown a soft white blanket. His 
 head was propped up on a pillow taken from 
 one of Mrs. Leroy's beds. She had begged to 
 have him moved to the house, but the doctor 
 would not consent until the surgeon arrived. 
 So he kept him out in the warm night -air, 
 under the stars. 
 
 Dying and dead men were no new sight to 
 Captain Joe and Caleb. The captain had sat by 
 too many wounded men knocked breathless by 
 falling derricks, and seen their life - blood ooze 
 away, and Caleb had dragged too many sailors 
 from sunken cabins. This accident was not 
 serious ; only three killed and one wounded out 
 of twenty. In the morning their home people 
 would come and take them away, — in cloth- 
 covered boxes, or in plain pine. That was all. 
 
 With these thoughts in his mind, and in obe- 
 dience to Sanford's request. Captain Joe walked 
 toward the sufferer, nodded to the Medford 
 doctor sitting beside him, picked up the lantern 
 which hung behind the man's head, and turned 
 the light full on the pale face. Caleb stood at 
 one side talking with the captain of the scow. 
 
 " He ain't no dago," said Captain Joe, as he 
 turned to the doctor. " Looks to me like one 
 o' them young fellers what 's " — He stopped 
 abruptly. Something about the injured man 
 attracted him. 
 
368 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 He dropped on one knee beside the bed, 
 pushed back the matted hair from the man's 
 forehead, and examined the skin carefully. 
 
 For some moments he remained silent, scan- 
 ning every line in the face. Then he rose to 
 his feet, folded his arms across his chest, his 
 eyes still fastened on the sufferer, and said 
 slowly and thoughtfully to himself, — 
 
 "Well, I'm damned!" 
 
 The doctor bent his head in expectation, 
 eager to hear the captain's next words, but the 
 captain was too absorbed to notice the gesture. 
 For some minutes he continued looking at the 
 dying man. 
 
 " Come here, Caleb ! " he called, beckoning to 
 the diver. " Hold the lantern close. Who 's 
 that .' " His voice sank almost to a whisper. 
 " Look in his face." 
 
 " I don't know, cap'n ; I never see him afore." 
 
 At the sound of the voices the head on the 
 pillow turned, and the man half opened his 
 eyes, and groaned heavily. He was evidently 
 in great pain, — too great for the opiates wholly 
 to deaden. 
 
 " Look agin, Caleb ; see that scar on his 
 cheek ; that 's where the Screamer hit 'im. 
 That 's Bill Lacey." 
 
 Caleb caught up the lantern as Captain Joe 
 had done, and turned the light full on the dying 
 man's face. Slowly and carefully he examined 
 every feature, — the broad forehead, deep-sunk 
 
UNDER THE PITILESS STARS 369 
 
 ;^es, short, curly hair about the temples, and 
 the mustache and close-trimmed beard, which 
 had been worn as a disguise, no doubt, along 
 with his new name of Williams. In the same 
 searching way his eye passed over the broad 
 shoulders and slender, supple body outlined 
 under the clinging blanket, and so on down to 
 the small, well-shaped feet that the kneeling 
 maid was warming. 
 
 " It 's him," he said quietly, stepping back to 
 the mast, and folding his arms behind his back, 
 while his eyes were fixed on the drawn face. 
 
 During this exhaustive search Captain Joe 
 followed every expression that swept over the 
 diver's face. How would the death of this man 
 affect Betty? 
 
 With an absorbed air, the captain picked up an 
 empty nail-keg, and crossing the deck sat down 
 beside the mattress, his hands on his knees, 
 watching the sufferer. As he looked at the 
 twitching muscles of the face and the fading 
 •color, the bitterness cherished for months against 
 this man faded away. He saw only the punish- 
 ment that had come, its swiftness and its sure- 
 ness. Then another face came before him, — a 
 smaller one, with large and pleading eyes. 
 
 " Ain't no chance for him, I s'pose .' " he said 
 to the doctor in a low tone. 
 
 The only answer was an ominous shake of 
 the head and a significant rubbing of the edge 
 of the -doctor's hand across the waist-line of the 
 
370 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 captain's back. Captain Joe nodded his headj 
 he knew, — the spine was broken. 
 
 The passing of a spirit is a sacred and mo- 
 mentous thing, an impressive spectacle even to 
 rough men who have seen it so often. 
 
 One by one the watchers on the scow with- 
 drew. Captain Joe and the doctor remained 
 beside the bed; Caleb stood a few feet away, 
 leaning against the mast, the full glow of the 
 lantern shedding a warm light over his big 
 frame and throwing his face into shadow. 
 What wild) turbulent thoughts surged through 
 his brain no one knew but himself. Beads of 
 sweat had trickled down his face, and he loos- 
 ened his collar to breathe the better. 
 
 Presently the captain sank on his knee again, 
 beside the mattress. His face had the firm, 
 determined expression of one whose mind has 
 been made up on some line of action that has 
 engrossbd his thoughts. He put his mouth 
 close to the sufferer's ear. 
 
 " It 's me, Billy, — Cap'n Joe. Do ye know 
 me.'" 
 
 The eyes opened slowly and fastened them- 
 selves for an instant upon the captain's face. 
 A dull gleam of recognition stirred in their 
 glassy depths ; then the lids closed wearily. 
 The glimpse of Lacey's mind was but momen- 
 tary, yet to the captain it was unmistakable. 
 The brain was still alert. 
 
 He leaned back and beckoned to Caleb. 
 
UNDER THE PITJLESS STARS 371 
 
 "Come over 'ere," he said in a low whisper, 
 * an' git down close to 'im. He ain't got long 
 ter live. Don't think o' what he done to you ; 
 git that out o' yer head ; think o' where he 's 
 a-goin'. Don't leti him go with that on yer 
 mind; it ain't decent, an' it'll haunt ye. Git 
 down close to 'im, an' tell 'im ye ain't got nothin' 
 agin 'im ; do it for me, Caleb. Ye won't never 
 regret it." 
 
 The diver knelt in a passive, listless way, as 
 one kneels in a church to the sound of an altar 
 bell. The flame of the lantern fell on his face 
 and shaggy beard, lighting up the earnest, 
 thoughtful eyes and tightly pressed lips. 
 
 "Pull yerself together, Billy, jes' once fur 
 me," said Captain Joe in a half-coaxing voice. 
 " It 's Caleb bendin' over ye ; he wants to tell 
 ye somethin'." 
 
 The sunken, shriveled lids parted quickly, 
 and the eyes rested for a moment on the 
 diver's face. The lips moved, as if the man 
 were about to speak. But no words came. 
 
 Over the cheeks and nose there passed a con- 
 vulsive twitching, — the neck stiffened, the head 
 straightened back upon the pillow. 
 
 Then the jaw fell. 
 
 " He 's dead," said the doctor, laying his hand 
 over the man's heart. 
 
 Captain Joe drew the blanket over the dead 
 face, rose from his knees, and, with his arm in 
 Caleb's, left the scow and walked slowly toward 
 
372 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 the yacht. The doctor gathered up his reme- 
 dies, gave some directions to the watchman,, 
 and joined Mrs. Leroy and the ladies on the 
 lawn. 
 
 Only the watchman on the scow was left, 
 and the silent stars, — stern, unflinching, pit 
 iless, like the eyes of many judges. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 CALEB TRIMS HIS LIGHTS 
 
 Caleb and Captain Joe sat on the yacht's 
 deck on their way back to Keyport. The air- 
 pump had been lifted into its case, and the 
 dress and equipment had been made ready to 
 be put ashore at the paraphernalia dock. 
 
 The moon had risen, flooding the yacht with 
 white light and striping the deck with the clear- 
 cut, black shadows of the stanchions. On the 
 starboard bow burned Keyport Light, and be- 
 yond flashed Little Gull, a tiny star on the far- 
 off horizon. 
 
 Caleb leaned back on a settee, his eyes fixed 
 on the glistening sea. He had not spoken a 
 word since his eyes rested on Lacey's face. 
 
 " Caleb," said Captain Joe, laying his hand on 
 the diver's knee, "mebbe ye don't feel right to 
 me fur sayin' what I did, but I did n't want ye 
 to let 'im go an' not tell 'im ye hadn't no 
 hatred in yer heart toward 'im. It'd come 
 back to plague ye, and ye've had sufferin' 
 enough already 'long o' him. He won't worry 
 you nor her no more. He's lived a mean, 
 stinkin' life, an' he's died 's I alius knowed he 
 
374 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 would, — with nobody's hand ter help 'im, 
 Caleb," — he paused for an instant and looked 
 into the diver's face, — " you 'n me 's knowed 
 each other by an' large a many a year; ye 
 know what I want ye to dq; ye know what 
 hurts me an' has ever sence the child come 
 back. He's out o' yer hands now. God's 
 punished him. Be good to yerself an' to her, 
 an' forgive her. Take Betty back." 
 
 The old man turned and slipped his hand 
 over Captain Joe's, — a hard, horny hand, with 
 a heart-throb in every finger-tip. 
 
 " Cap'n Joe, I know how ye feel. There ain't 
 nothin' between us ; but yer wrong about him. 
 As I stood over him to-night I fit it all out with 
 myself. If he'd 'a' lived long 'nough I'd 'a' 
 told him, jes' 's ye wanted me to. But yer 
 ain't never had this thing right ; I ain't a-blamin' 
 her." 
 
 "Then take 'er home, an' quit this foolish 
 life ye 're leadin', an' her heart a-breakin' every 
 day for love o' ye. Ain't ye lonely 'nough with- 
 out her .' God knows she is without you." 
 
 Caleb slowly withdrew his hand from Captain 
 Joe's and put his arms behind his head, making 
 a rest of his interlocked fingers. 
 
 " When ye say she 's a-breakin' her heart for 
 me, Cap'n Joe, ye don't know it all." His eyes 
 looked up at the sky as he spoke. " 'T ain't 
 that I ain't willin' to take 'er back. I alius 
 wanted to help her, an' I alius wanted to take 
 
CALEB TRIMS HIS LIGHTS 375 
 
 care of her, — not to have her take care o' me. 
 I made up my mind this mornin', when I see 
 how folks was a-treatin' 'er, to ask 'er to come 
 home. If I 'd treat 'er right, they 'd treat 'er 
 right; I know it. But I warn't the man for 
 her, an' she don't love me now no more 'n 
 she did. That's what hurts me an' makes 
 me afraid. Now I '11 tell ye why I know she 
 don't love me ; tell ye something ye don't know 
 at all," — he turned his head as he spoke, and 
 looked the captain full in the eyes, his voice 
 shaking, ---" an' when I tell ye I want to say 
 I ain't a-blamin' her." The words that followed 
 came like the slow ticking of a clock. " He 's 
 — been — a-writin' — to 'er — ever since — she 
 left 'im. Bert Simmons — showed me the let- 
 ters." 
 
 " You found that out, did ye .' " said Captain 
 Joe, a sudden angry tremor in his voice. " Ye 're 
 right ; he has ! Been a-writin' to her ever sence 
 she left him, — sometimes once a month, some- 
 times once a week, an' lately about every day." 
 
 Caleb raised his head. This last was news 
 to him. 
 
 " And that ain't all. Every one o' them let 
 ters she 's brought to me, jes' 's fast as she 
 got 'em, an' I locked 'em in my sea-chest along 
 o' the money ye gin her every week, an' the 
 money and letters are there now An' there 's 
 more to it yet. There ain't nary seal broke on 
 any one of Lacefs. Whoever 's been a-lyin* to 
 
376 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 ye, Caleb, ain't told ye one half o' what he 
 ought to know." 
 
 Captain Joe swung back his garden gate and 
 walked quickly up the plank walk, his big, 
 burly body swaying as he moved. The house 
 was dark, except for a light in the kitchen 
 window, and another in Betty's room. He 
 saw Aunty Bell in a chair by the table, but he 
 hurried by, on his way upstairs, without a 
 word. Caleb followed with slow and measured 
 step. When he reached the porch. Aunty Bell 
 had left her seat and was standing on the mat. 
 
 " Why, Caleb, be ye comin' in too ? " she 
 said. " I '11 git supper for both o' ye. Guess 
 ye 're tuckered out." 
 
 " I don't want no supper," he answered 
 gravely, without looking at her. " I '11 go into 
 the settin'-room an' wait, if ye '11 let me." 
 
 She opened the door silently for him, won- 
 dering if he was in one of his moods. The 
 only light in the room came from the street- 
 lamp, stenciling the vines on the drawn shades. 
 
 " I '11 fetch a light for ye, Caleb," she said 
 quietly, and turned toward the kitchen. In 
 the hall she paused, her knees shaking, a 
 prayer in her heart. Captain Joe and Betty 
 were coming down the stairs, Betty's face hid- 
 den on his shoulder, her trembling fingers 
 clinging to his coat. 
 
 "Ain't nothin' to skeer ye, child," the cap- 
 
CALEB TRIMS HIS L'IGHTS 377 
 
 tain said, patting tlie girl's chefek as he stopped 
 at the threshold. ' "It's all right. He's in 
 there waitin'," and he closed the door upon 
 them. 
 
 Then he walked straight toward Aunty Bell, 
 two big tears rolling down his cheeks, arid, lay- 
 ing his hand upon her shoulder, said, " Caleb 's 
 got his lights trimmed, an' Betty 's found har- 
 bor. The little gal 's home." 
 
 In another room, some miles away, before 
 a window that looked upon the sea, sat a wo- 
 man, with cheeks tight pressed between her 
 hands. The low -lying drowsy moon shed a 
 white light on her thoughtful face and silvered 
 the fluff of loosened hair that fell about her 
 shoulders. She had sat there for hours — 
 long after the house* was silent. Outside the 
 world was still : only the lapping of little wave- 
 tongues along the shore was heard ; the croak- 
 ing of frogs in the marsh, and the cry of the 
 night-hawk circling as he flew. 
 
 On the desk beside her lay an open letter 
 with a Paris postmark. It had come by the 
 late mail. 
 
 Once in a while her eyes would rest on the 
 shimmer of silver framing the Ledge. Then 
 some remembrance of the day would rush over 
 her : the anxious waiting for the verdict ; San- 
 ford's upraised hand as he entered the cabin; 
 
378 CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER 
 
 the gaunt outline of the wrecked trestle and the 
 ghostly lantern that burned above the head of 
 the dying man. From out the turmpil of these 
 contending memories one face shone clear and 
 strong, with fixed and questioning eyes. 
 
 In that one look she had read his inmost 
 depth. She had caught the sudden uplifting of 
 the lids, the wondering glance at her joyous 
 words of praise, and the shadow that followed. 
 
 " It is best so," she whispered to herself at 
 last. " It is the only way. I did not mean to 
 hurt him, — only to help. Help him — and 
 me." 
 
 With a tired, listless air, she rose from her 
 seat, folded the letter slowly, and locked it in 
 her desk 
 
 THE END. 
 
€ 
 €