Louise again.

"And that old pirate's with him," said Betty. But her tone lacked its
usual venom in speaking of Cap'n Amazon. "Who'd ha' thought it? I
reckoned he was nothing but a bag o' wind, with all his yarns of bloody
murder an' the like. But he is a Silt; no gettin' around that. And
Cap'n Abe allus did say the Silts were proper seamen."

"Poor, poor Cap'n Abe!" sobbed Louise.

"Now, now!" soothed Betty. "Don't take on so, deary. They'll get 'em
both. Never fear."

But the rising gale forbade another launching of the lifeboat for
hours. The night shut down over the wind-ridden sea and shore, and by
the pallid light fitfully playing over the tumbling waters the watchers
along the sands saw the stricken _Curlew_ being slowly wrenched to
pieces by the waves that wolfed about and over her.

CHAPTER XXXII

ON THE ROLL OF HONOR

Stretched upon the couch in the living-room behind the store, with
Diddimus purring beside him, Professor Grayling heard that evening the
story of Cap'n Abe's masquerade. Betty Gallup had gone back to the
beach and Louise could talk freely to her father.

"And he saved me, for your sake!" murmured the professor. "He gave me
his place in the lifeboat! Ah, my dear Lou! there is something besides
physical courage in this world. And I don't see but that your uncle
has plenty of both kinds of bravery. Really, he is a wonderful man."

"He _was_ a wonderful man," said Louise brokenly.

"I do not give up hope of his ultimate safety, my dear. The gale will
blow itself out by morning. Captain Ripley is so badly hurt that he is
being taken to Boston to-night, and the crew go with him. But if there
is interest to be roused in the fate of the last man left upon the
wreck----"

"Oh, I am sure the neighbors will do everything in their power. And
Lawford, too!" she cried.

"The schooner is not likely to break up before morning. The departure
of her crew to-night will make it all the easier for Mr. Abram Silt's
secret to be kept," the professor reminded her.

"Yes. We will keep his secret," sighed Louise. "Poor Uncle Abram!
After all, he can gain a reputation for courage only vicariously. It
will be Cap'n Amazon Silt who will go down in the annals of Cardhaven
as the brave man who risked his life for another, daddy-prof."

Aunt Euphemia did not leave The Beaches on this evening, as she had
intended. Even she was shaken out of her usual marble demeanor by the
wreck an