of his hat and whiskers. Ruby stole a
look at the oil-skin. The sailor's upturned face was of a sickly
yellow, smeared with blood and crusted with salt. The same white crust
filled the hollows of his closed eyes, and streaked his beard and hair.
It turned her faint for the moment.

"An the wreck's scat abroad," continued Old Zeb; an' the interpretation
thereof is barrels an' nuts. What's more, tide'll be runnin' for two
hour yet; an' it hasn' reached my ears that the fashion of thankin' the
Lord for His bounty have a-perished out o' this old-fangled race of men
an' women; though no doubt, my dear, you'd get first news o' the change,
with a bed-room window facin' on Ruan Cove."

"Thank you, Old Zeb; I'll be careful to draw my curtains," said she,
answering sarcasm with scorn, and turning on her heel.

The old man stooped to lift the sailor again. "Better clog your pretty
ears wi' wax," he called after her, "when the kiss-i'-the-ring begins!
Well-a-fine! What a teasin' armful is woman, afore the first-born
comes! Hey, Sim Udy? Speak up, you that have fifteen to feed."

"Ay, I was a low feller, first along," answered Sim Udy, grinning.
"'Sich common notions, Sim, as you do entertain!' was my wife's word."

"Well, souls, we was a bit tiddlywinky last Michaelmas, when the _Young
Susannah_ came ashore, that I must own. Folks blamed the Pa'son for
preachin' agen it the Sunday after. 'A disreppitable scene,' says he,
''specially seein' you had nowt to be thankful for but a cargo o' sugar
that the sea melted afore you could get it.' (Lift the pore chap aisy,
Sim.) By crum! Sim, I mind your huggin' a staved rum cask, and kissin'
it, an' cryin', 'Aw, Ben--dear Ben!' an' 'After all these years!'
fancyin' 'twas your twin brother come back, that was killed aboard the
_Agamemny_--"

"Well, well--prettily overtook I must ha' been. (Stiddy, there,
Crowder, wi' the legs of en.) But to-day I'll be mild, as 'tis
Chris'mas."

"Iss, iss; be very mild, my sons, as 'tis so holy a day."

They tramped on, bending their heads at queer angles against the
weather, that erased their outlines in a bluish mist, through which they
loomed for a while at intervals, until they passed out of sight.

Ruby, meanwhile, had hurried on, her cloak flapping loudly as it grew
heavier with moisture, and the water in her shoes squishing at every
step. At first she took the road leading down-hill to Ruan Cove, but
turned to the right after a f