ave the Lard alone," Tom Tot snapped. "Come, now! Is you wantin' this
here letter read?"

"I is."

Without more ado, Tom Tot opened the letter from Wolf Cove. I have no
doubt that sensitive blood flushed the bronzed, wrinkled cheeks of
Skipper Tommy Lovejoy, and that, in a burst of grinning modesty, he
tweaked his nose with small regard for that sorely tried and patient
member. And I am informed that, while my old friend thus waited in
ecstasy, Tom Tot puzzled over the letter, for a time, to make sure that
his learning would not be discomfited in the presence of Skipper Tommy
Lovejoy, before whom he had boasted. Then----

"Skipper Tommy," he implored, in agony, "how long--oh, how long--is you
had this letter?"

Skipper Tommy stared.

"How long, oh, how long?" Tom Tot repeated.

"What's gone amiss?" Skipper Tommy entreated, touching Tom Tot's shaking
hand. "It come in the fall o' the year, Tom, lad. But what's gone amiss
along o' you?"

"She've been waitin'--since then? Oh, a wretched father, I!"

"Tom, lad, tell me what 'tis all about."

"'Tis from she--Mary! 'Tis from my lass," Tom Tot cried. "'Twas writ
by that doctor-woman--an' sent t' you, Skipper Tommy--t' tell me--t'
break it easy--that she'd run off from Wayfarer's Tickle--because o'
the sin she'd found there. I misdoubt--oh, I misdoubt--that she've
been afeared I'd--that I'd mistook her, poor wee thing--an' turn her
off. I call the Lard God A'mighty t' witness," he cried, passionately,
"that I'd take her home, whatever come t' pass! I calls God t' witness
that I loves my lass! She've done no wrong," he continued. "She've but
run away from the sin t' Wayfarer's Tickle. She've taken shelter t' Wolf
Cove--because--she've been afeared that--I'd mistook--an' cast her off!"

"An' she's waitin' there for you?"

"Ay--for me--t' bring her home."

"For her father t' come?"

"Her father."

There was a moment of silence. "Tom Tot," Skipper Tommy declared,
fetching his thigh a resounding slap, "that letter's been tacked t' my
wall the winter long. Is you hearin' me, Tom Tot? It's been lyin' idle
agin my wall. While she've been waitin', Tom! While she've been
waitin'!"

"Oh, ay!"

"I'm fair glad you're hearin' me," said the skipper. "For I calls you t'
witness this: that when I cotches them twins o' mine I'll thwack un
till they're red, Tom Tot--till they're red and blistered below decks.
An' when I cotches that young Davy Roth--when I cotches un alone,