ow. My
prophecy's all come true. And DIDN'T I rub it in on that Susannah Debs
and her scamp of a Sim? Ho! ho!'

"She clapped her hands and pretty nigh danced a jig, she was so tickled.

"'But is he a Butler?' I asks.

"'Yup,' she nods, with another giggle. 'He's A butler, though his name's
Jenkins; and a butler's high rank--higher than chambermaid, anyhow. You
see, Mr. Wingate,' she adds, ''twas all my fault. When that Oriental
Seer man at the show said I was to marry a butler, I forgot to ask him
whether you spelt it with a big B or a little one.'"

The unexpected manner in which Effie's pet prophecy had been fulfilled
amused Captain Sol immensely. He laughed so heartily that Issy McKay
looked in at the door with an expression of alarm on his face. The
depot master had laughed little during the past few days, and Issy was
surprised.

But Captain Stitt was ready with a denial. He claimed that the prophecy
was NOT fulfilled and therefore all fortune telling was fraudulent.
Barzilla retorted hotly, and the argument began again. The two were
shouting at each other. Captain Sol stood it for a while and then
commanded silence.

"Stop your yellin'!" he ordered. "What ails you fellers? Think you can
prove it better by screechin'? They can hear you half a mile. There's
Cornelius Rowe standin' gawpin' on the other side of the street this
minute. He thinks there's a fire or a riot, one or t'other. Let's change
the subject. See here, Bailey, didn't you start to tell us somethin'
last time you was in here about your ridin' in an automobile?"

"I started to--yes. But nobody'd listen. I rode in one and I sailed in
one. You see--"

"I'm goin' outdoor," declared Barzilla.

"No, you're not. Bailey listened to you. Now you do as much for him. I
heard a little somethin' about the affair at the time it happened and
I'd like to hear the rest of it. How was it, Bailey?"

Captain Stitt knocked the ashes from his pipe.

"Well," he began, "I didn't know the critter was weak in his top riggin'
or I wouldn't have gone with him in the fust place. And he wa'n't
real loony, nuther. 'Twas only when he got aboard that--that ungodly,
kerosene-smellin', tootin', buzzin', Old Harry's gocart of his that the
craziness begun to show. There's so many of them weak-minded city folks
from the Ocean House comes perusin' 'round summers, nowadays, that
I cal'lated he was just an average specimen, and never examined him
close."

"Are all the Ocean H