too utterly selfish for words!" declared Marian.

"You're a regular _pig_!" added Prue.

"If you get mixed up with an actress, Fordy, I'll have a fine time when
I come out, won't I?" complained Cecile.

"Caesar's ghost!" burst from the lips of the badgered young man. "I
wish Betty Gallup had let me drown instead of hauling me inboard this
afternoon!"

CHAPTER XVIII

SOMETHING BREAKS

An express wagon, between the shafts of which was a raw-boned gray
horse leaning against one shaft as a prop while he dozed, stood before
Cap'n Abe's store as Louise and Mr. Judson Bane came up from the shore
front. She thanked the actor as he set the heavy baskets on the porch
step.

"Those blackfish look so good I long for a fish supper," he said,
smiling in open admiration upon her.

Louise was quick to establish a reputation for hospitality. Perhaps it
was the Silt blood that influenced her to say: "Wait till I speak to
Uncle Amazon, Mr. Bane."

There was a tall gaunt man in overalls and jumper, who, somehow,
possessed a family resemblance to the gray horse, leaning against the
door frame, much as his beast leaned against the wagon shaft. Perry
Baker and the gray horse had traveled so many years together about
Paulmouth and Cardhaven that it was not surprising they looked alike.

When Louise mounted the porch steps she could not easily pass the
expressman, who was saying, in drawling tones:

"Well, I brought it over, seeing I had a light load. I didn't know
what else to do with it. Of course, it was Cap'n Abe give it to me to
ship. Let's see, I didn't happen to see you here that night you came,
an' I brought the young lady's trunks over, did I?"

"Not as I know on," barked Cap'n Amazon with brevity.

"Funny how we didn't meet then," drawled Perry Baker.

There seemed to be a tenseness to the atmosphere of the old store.
Louise saw the usual idlers gathered about the cold stove--Washy Gallup
on his nail-keg, his jaw wagging eagerly; Milt Baker and Amiel Perdue
side by side with their elbows on the counter; Cap'n Joab Beecher
leaning forward on his stick--all watching Cap'n Amazon, it seemed,
with strained attention.

It was like a scene set for a play--for the taking of a film, perhaps.
The whimsical thought came to Louise that the director had just
shouted: "Get set!" and would immediately add: "Action! Camera! Go!"

"Course," Perry Baker drawled, "I sent it to Boston as consigner,
myself; so when th