rooms, I say!"

Joe looked up into the condensed eyes of Mr. Brown. "Oh," he said, "I
see."

Deathly silence followed him to the door, but, as it closed behind him,
he heard the outbreak of the sages like a tidal wave striking a
dump-heap of tin cans.

Two hours later he descended from an evil ark of a cab at the corral
attached to Beaver Beach, and followed the path through the marsh to
the crumbling pier. A red-bearded man was seated on a plank by the
water edge, fishing.

"Mike," said Joe, "have you got room for me? Can you take me in for a
few days until I find a place in town where they'll let me stay?"

The red-bearded man rose slowly, pushed back his hat, and stared hard
at the wanderer; then he uttered a howl of joy and seized the other's
hands in his and shook them wildly.

"Glory be on high!" he shouted. "It's Joe Louden come back! We never
knew how we missed ye till ye'd gone! Place fer ye! Can I find it?
There ain't a imp o' perdition in town, includin' myself, that wouldn't
kill me if I couldn't! Ye'll have old Maggie's room, my own aunt's; ye
remember how she used to dance! Ha, ha! She's been burnin' below
these four years! And we'll have the celebration of yer return this
night. There'll be many of 'em will come when they hear ye're back in
Canaan! Praise God, we'll all hope ye're goin' to stay a while!"

IX

"OUTER DARKNESS"

If any echo of doubt concerning his undesirable conspicuousness sounded
faintly in Joe's mind, it was silenced eftsoons. Canaan had not
forgotten him--far from it!--so far that it began pointing him out to
strangers on the street the very day of his return. His course of
action, likewise that of his friends, permitted him little obscurity,
and when the rumors of his finally obtaining lodging at Beaver Beach,
and of the celebration of his installation there, were presently
confirmed, he stood in the lime-light indeed, as a Mephistopheles
upsprung through the trap-door.

The welcoming festivities had not been so discreetly conducted as to
accord with the general policy of Beaver Beach. An unfortunate
incident caused the arrest of one of the celebrators and the
ambulancing to the hospital of another on the homeward way, the ensuing
proceedings in court bringing to the whole affair a publicity devoutly
unsought for. Mr. Happy Fear (such was the habitual name of the
imprisoned gentleman) had to bear a great amount of harsh criticism for
injuring a companio