hen he
left the sea for the land; although they did not live in the same house,
they were great cronies, and were always ready to stand by each other,
no matter what happened. Sam's face and figure were distinguished by a
pleasant plumpness; he was two or three years the junior of Captain
Abner, and his slippered feet were very flat upon the ground. He held
his pipe behind his back in such a position that it hung over the
uncarpeted part of the hallway. A pipe in the married part of the house
was never allowed.

"'Sam,' said Captain Abner, 'you've hove in sight jes at the right
minute, for I'm kind o' puzzled. Here's this conch-shell, which is the
biggest I ever seed, and a king conch-shell at that, and I can't make up
my mind whether she'd like it here in the middle of the mantelpiece, or
whether she'd like to have the gilded idol here, where it would be the
fust thing she'd see when she came into the room. Sometimes I'm inclined
in the way of the heathen idol, and sometimes in the way of the king
conch-shell. And how am I to know which she likes? What do you think
about it?'

"'Well, now, Cap'n Abner,' said Sam, his head cocked a little to one
side, 'that's a pretty hard question to answer, considerin' I don't know
who she is and what kind o' taste she's got. But I'll tell you what I'd
do if I was you. I'd put that king conch-shell on the mantelpiece, or I
would put the gilded idol there, it wouldn't matter much which, and then
I'd put the other one handy, so that when she fust come in, and you
could see she didn't like whatever it was that was in the middle of the
mantelpiece, you could whip it off and put the other thing there almost
afore she knowed it.'

"'Sam,' said Captain Abner, 'that's a real good rule to go by, and it
looks to me as if it might fit other things besides gilded idols and
conch-shells. And now that you're here I'd like you to stay and take
supper with me. I've got something to tell you.'

"After the evening meal, which was prepared by Captain Abner and his
guest, who were both expert maritime cooks and housekeepers, these two
old friends sat down to smoke their pipes, the parlor door having been
carefully shut.

"'Sam,' said the captain, 'I've got everything ready for her that I can
think of. There isn't anything more she'd be likely to want. So now I'm
goin' after her, and I'm goin' to start on Monday mornin'.'

"Sam Twitty was astonished. He had had an idea that Captain Abner would
go