m-hm,' says Jonadab contented. 'I've steered a good many vessels in
my time, through traffic and amongst the shoals, and never run afoul
of nothin' yet. I don't see much diff'rence on shore--'cept that it's a
little easier.'

"EASIER! Wouldn't that--Well, what's the use of talkin'?

"We got to the Old Home House safe and sound; Jonadab, actin' under
Bradbury's orders, run her into the yard, slowin' up and stoppin' at
the front steps slick as grease. He got out, his chest swelled up like
a puffin' pig, and went struttin' in to tell everybody what he'd done to
Loveland. I don't know where Bradbury and the widow went. As for me, I
went aloft and turned in. And 'twas two days and nights afore I got up
again. I had a cold, anyway, and what I'd been through didn't help it
none.

"The afternoon of the second day, Bradbury come up to see me. He was
dressed in his city clothes and looked as if he was goin' away. Sure
enough, he was; goin' on the next train.

"'Where's Jonadab?' says I.

"'Oh, he's out in his car,' he says. 'Huntin' for Loveland again,
maybe.'

"'HIS car? You mean yours.'

"'No, I mean his. I sold my car to him yesterday mornin' for twenty-five
hundred dollars cash.'

"I set up in bed. 'Go 'long!' I sings out. 'You didn't nuther!'

"'Yes, I did. Sure thing. After that ride, you couldn't have separated
him from that machine with blastin' powder. He paid over the money like
a little man.'

"I laid down again. Jonadab Wixon payin' twenty-five hundred dollars for
a plaything! Not promisin', but actually PAYIN' it!

"'Has--has the widow gone with him?' I asked, soon's I could get my
breath.

"He laughed sort of queer. 'No,' he says, 'she's gone out of town for
a few days. Ha, ha! Well, between you and me, Wingate, I doubt if
she comes back again. She and I have made all we're likely to in this
neighborhood, and she's too good a business woman to waste her time.
Good-by; glad to have met you.'

"But I smelt rat strong and wouldn't let him go without seein' the
critter.

"'Hold on!' I says. 'There's somethin' underneath all this. Out with it.
I won't let on to the Cap'n if you don't want me to.'

"'Well,' says he, laughin' again, 'Mrs. Bassett WON'T come back and
I know it. She and I have sold four cars on the Cape in the last five
weeks, and the profits'll more'n pay vacation expenses. Two up in
Wareham, one over in Orham, to Loveland--'

"'Did YOU sell Tobias his?' I asks, settin' up again.

"'