ice, and he'll find law so that a hard-workin'
woman can't be robbed of her own."

"Oh, he'll find it, all right!" agreed the Cap'n, sarcastically. "And
if he don't find it ready-made he'll gum together a hunk to fit the
case. But in the mean time, here's a man--" he checked himself and
swung Mr. Crymble's hatchet face close to his own. "How much money
have you got?" he demanded. "Have you come back here strapped?"

"I ain't got any money," admitted Mr. Crymble, "but I own a secret
how to cure stutterin' in ten lessons, and with that school-house
that--"

"You don't dock in any school-house nor you don't marine railway into
our poorhouse, not to be a bill of expense whilst I'm first
selectman," broke in Cap'n Sproul with decision. "That's official,
and I've got a license to say it."

"You think you've got a license to stick your nose into the business
of every one in this town because you're first selectman," roared
Reeves, whipping out of the yard; "but I'll get a pair of nippers
onto that old nose this time."

"Here's your home till further orders," said the Cap'n, disregarding
the threat, "and into it you're goin'."

He started Mr. Crymble toward the steps.

Mrs. Crymble was pretty quick with the door, but Cap'n Sproul was
at the threshold just in time to shove the broad toe of his boot
between door and jamb. His elbows and shoulders did the rest, and
he backed in, dragging Mr. Crymble, and paid no attention whatever
to a half-dozen vigorous cuffs that Mrs. Crymble dealt him from
behind. He doubled Mr. Crymble unceremoniously into a calico-covered
rocking-chair, whipped off the hard hat and hung it up, and took from
Mr. Crymble's resisting hands the little valise that he had clung
to with grim resolution.

"Now, said Cap'n Sproul, you are back once more in your happy home
after wanderin's in strange lands. As first selectman of this town
I congratulate you on gettin' home, and extend the compliments of
the season." He briskly shook Mr. Crymble's limp hand--a palm as
unresponsive as the tail of a dead fish. "Now," continued the Cap'n,
dropping his assumed geniality, "you stay here where I've put you.
If I catch you off'm these primises I'll bat your old ears and have
you arrested for a tramp. You ain't northin' else, when it comes to
law. I'm a hard man when I'm madded, Crymble, and if I start in to
keelhaul you for disobeyin' orders you'll--" The Cap'n did not
complete the sentence, but he bent such a look