uld die or I would, I bet you! I've seen a whole parcel
of things took out of a whale's insides and some of the things had been
alive once, too; but they wasn't alive then; they was in chunks and part
digested. Jonah wasn't digested, was he? And the whale wasn't dead
of dyspepsy neither. That's what I told that minister. 'You try it
yourself,' I says to him. 'There's whales enough back of the Crab Ledge,
twenty mile off Orham,' said I. 'You're liable to run in sight of 'em
most any fair day in summer. You go off there and jump overboard some
time and see what happens. First place, no whale would swallow you; next
place, if it did 'twould chew you or sift you fine first; and, third
place, if you was whole and alive that whale would be dead inside of
ten minutes. You try it and see.' Good fair offer, wasn't it? But did
he take it up? Not much. Said I was a scoffer and an infidel and didn't
know anything about Scripture! 'I know about whales, anyhow,' I told
him. And he slammed off and wouldn't speak to me again. Don't talk to
ME! I'll never go inside that meetin'-house again."

And he never had until Mary-'Gusta coaxed him into it. She was a regular
attendant at Sunday school, but on Sunday mornings in pleasant weather
she had been accustomed to take a walk with Shadrach. These walks they
both enjoyed hugely, but one bright morning she announced that she was
not going for a walk, but was going to church with Uncle Zoeth. Shadrach
was disappointed and astonished.

"Land sakes! What's this mean?" he demanded. "Thought you liked to walk
with me."

"I do. I like it very much. But I don't think it's fair for me to do it
every Sunday. Uncle Zoeth ALWAYS goes to church and he feels real bad
'cause you don't go. He told me so. He says the church folks think you
won't go to Heaven when you die and that makes him feel dreadful. He's
goin' to Heaven, you know."

"Oh, he is, eh?"

"Of course. He couldn't help it, he's so good. Don't you think he'll go
to Heaven, Uncle Shad?"

"Who? Zoeth? Sartin I do. If he don't, nobody will."

"Wouldn't it make you feel bad if you was afraid he wouldn't go there?"

"Humph! Maybe so, but I ain't afraid."

"I know, but he is afraid YOU won't. He thinks an awful lot of you; as
much as you do of him, you know. Uncle Shad, I'm goin' to meetin' with
Uncle Zoeth this mornin', and I want you to go with us; will you?"

The Captain pulled his beard.

"Look here, Mary-'Gusta," he said. "What's al