ooked for'ard to so long that all Bayport's been on tiptoe, like us
folks around that museum tank.... Well, this Phillips whale has made a
big 'Woosh' in town so fur. Can he keep it up? That's what I'm
wonderin'."

The sensation kept up for the next day and the next at least, and there
were no signs of its abating. Over at the Fair Harbor Captain Sears
found himself playing a very small second fiddle. Miss Snowden, Mrs.
Brackett and their following, instead of putting themselves out to smile
upon the captain and to chat with him, ignored him almost altogether,
or, if they did speak, spoke only of Mr. Phillips. He was the most
entertaining man, _so_ genteel, his conversation was remarkable, he had
traveled everywhere.

Mrs. Berry, of course, was in ecstasies concerning him. He was her ideal
of a gentleman, she said, _so_ aristocratic. "So like the men I
associated with in the old days," she said. "Of course," she added, "he
is an old friend. Dear 'Belia and he were my dearest friends, you know,
Captain Kendrick."

The captain was curious to learn Elizabeth's opinion of him. He found
that opinion distinctly favorable.

"He is different," she said. "Different, I mean, from any one I ever
met. And at first I thought him conceited. But he isn't really, he is
just--well, different. I think I shall like him."

Sears smiled. "If you don't you will be rather lonesome here in the
Harbor, I judge," he observed.

She looked at him quickly. "You don't like him, do you, Cap'n Kendrick?"
she said. "Why?"

"Why--why, I don't say I don't like him, Elizabeth."

"No, you don't say it, but you look it. I didn't think you took sudden
dislikes, Cap'n. It doesn't seem like you, somehow."

He could not explain, and he felt that he had disappointed her.

On the third day the news came that Mr. Phillips had left town, gone
suddenly, so Judah said.

"He took the afternoon train and bought a ticket for Boston, so they
tell me," declared the latter. "He's left his dunnage at the Central
House, so he's comin' back, I cal'late; but nobody knows where he's
gone, nor why he went. Went over to Orham this mornin'--hired a
horse-'n'-team down to the livery stable and went--come back about one
o'clock, wouldn't speak to nobody, went up to his room, never et no
dinner, and then set sail for Boston on the up train. Cur'us, ain't it?
Where do you cal'late likely he's gone, Cap'n Sears?"

"Give it up, Judah. And," speaking quickly in order to he