questions. For the next
hour there was no opportunity for moralizing or melancholy.

CHAPTER XII

Elizabeth did not visit the Minot place that evening, as she had said
she meant to do. It may be that Sears was a trifle disappointed, but
even he would have been obliged to confess that that particular evening
was not the time for him to receive callers. He ate his supper--a very
small portion of the meal which Judah had provided for him--and, soon
afterward, retired to the spare stateroom and bed. Undressing was a
martyrdom, and he had hard work to keep back the groans which the pain
in his legs tempted him to utter. There was no doubt that he had twisted
those shaky limbs of his more than he realized. He had wrenched them
severely, how severely he scarcely dared think. But they forced him to
think all that night, and the next morning Judah insisted on going for
the doctor.

Doctor Sheldon examined the "spliced timbers," fumed and scolded a good
deal, but at last grudgingly admitted that no irreparable harm had been
done.

"You're luckier than you deserve, Cap'n," he declared. "It's a wonder
you aren't ruined altogether. Now you stay right in that bed until I
tell you to get up. And that won't be to-day, or to-morrow either.
Perhaps the day after that--well, we'll see. But those legs of yours
need absolute rest. Judah, you see that they get it, will you? If he
tries to get up you knock him back again. Those are orders. Understand?"

"Aye, aye, sir," replied Judah, promptly. "I'll have a handspike handy.
He won't turn out, I'll see to it."

Sears' protestations that he couldn't waste time in bed, that he had too
many important things to attend to, went for nothing. According to
Sheldon and Judah his legs were the only things of real importance just
then and they needed absolute rest. Down inside him the captain realized
that this was true, and so grumblingly resigned himself to the two days
of imprisonment. With the most recent issues of the _Cape Cod Item_ and
one or two books from the shelves in the sitting room closet, books of
the vintage of the '40's and '50's, but fortunately of a strong sea
flavor, he endeavored to console himself, while Judah attended to the
household duties or went down town on errands.

Elizabeth called that first forenoon, but did not see him. The doctor
had warned Judah to head off visitors. "They may not do any harm, but
they certainly won't do any good, and I want him to have