' son-of-a-gun could do, he jumped
right up, an', a-bucklin' himself around a leetle tighter, went out and
cleaned up a whole mess that was arter him. By cracky! all I had to do
was to come right out to these sand shoals an' oyster rocks an' watch
them noisy gulls a-tryin' an' a-tryin', an' at last bustin' a scallop. I
jest believe, if I'd done that, then I'd have got right square up an'
licked Sandy Mason, an' told Roxana what I thought o' her no-'countness,
an' then I might have married the best-lookin' woman in Cartaret County.

"But, then, what's the use?" he continued, as he drew the sheet in a
little closer, so holding the skiff more into the wind, in order to
round a point of marsh land. "That's ancient history, an' I ain't
a-goin' to study it. I've done turned over a new leaf. I hope, Ichabod,
ye'll live right an' die happy."

The skiff was nearing the home port. Captain Ichabod's attention was
called to a sound of happy voices--women's notes, as he expressed it.
Unless he was much mistaken, it came from his own Island.

The old fisherman, true to his instinct of fear in reference to
womankind, loosened the sheet, so that the skiff might slide by and let
him learn more definitely what might be the meaning of this invasion.

The matter was not long in doubt. As he rounded a point, he saw them. It
seemed to him there were a dozen or more of women. They were not only
upon the Island: the shack door stood open. There were women actually
going in and out through the entrance--busy as bees.... Upon the shore,
a great fire was burning.

Ichabod, who had been brave for three days, now began to be afraid of
this influx of feminine furbelows--this show of skirts. Twice Ichabod
tacked with a desire to take a running look at his own Island; and twice
he dared not make a landing because of the feminine contingent on shore.
But, when he sailed the red skiff by his homeland for the third time, he
recognized a pudgy figure on the shore, which was waving frantically
toward him.

"Oh, hell!" Ichabod spoke, with great indignation. "If it ain't Hudson!
Consarn him, he has took me at my word an' if he hain't brought a flock
o' 'em! I didn't aim to run away, nohow. I jest forgot fer a minute thet
I had reformed. I wonder what the fire means? It's mighty early yet for
an oyster roast, but they are a-gittin' fat."

The Doctor met the old fellow at the landing. Ichabod wore a sheepish
look, while, on the contrary, the physician's