git in; the doctor says you must
come."

"Come? Come where?"

"Home. To the judge's house. The ould man is dyin' and he wants to see
you afore he goes. Ye'll have to hurry. The doctor says it's a matter of
any time now."

CHAPTER IX

Sears Kendrick never forgot that drive from the town hall. The pouring
rain, the lurch and roll and bounce of the old chaise, the alternate
thud and splash of the horse's hoofs, the black darkness--and the errand
upon which he was going. Mike told him a little concerning the seizure.
Judge Knowles had been, so Emmeline Tidditt and the doctor thought,
appreciably easier during the day.

"He was like himself, the ould man was," said Mike. "I went in to see
him this mornin'--he sent for me, you understand--and he give me the
divil and all for not washin' the front room windows. 'Dom ye,' says he,
'I've only got a little while to look out of thim windows; don't you
suppose I want thim so I _can_ look out of thim?' And the windows clean
as clean all the time, mind ye. Sure, I didn't care: 'Twas just his way
of bein' dacint to me. He give me a five dollar bill before I left, God
rest him. And now----"

Mike was tremendously upset. The captain learned that the attack had
developed about six, and the judge had grown steadily worse since. The
upper windows of the Knowles house were bright with lights as they drove
in at the yard gate. Mrs. Tidditt met them at the door. Her thin, hard
face was tear-streaked and haggard.

"Oh, I'm so glad you've come, Cap'n Kendrick," she cried. "He's been
askin' for you."

In the hall at the foot of the stairs Doctor Sheldon was waiting. They
shook hands and Sears looked a question.

"Not a chance," whispered the doctor. "Barring miracles, he will go
before morning. He shouldn't see any one, but he insisted on seeing you.
I'll give you five minutes, no more. Don't excite him."

The judge looked up from the pillow as Sears tiptoed into the room. His
face was flushed with fever, but otherwise he looked very much as when
the captain last visited him. It did not seem possible that this could
really be the end.

"Hello, Kendrick," whispered Judge Knowles. "Sit down. Sorry I can't
shake hands with you."

The voice was weak, of course, but not much weaker than when he had last
heard it. No, it did not seem possible. Captain Sears murmured something
about his sorrow at finding the judge ill again.

"That's all right, that's all right," was the testy