hel. Now your
flipper! There you are! Git dap, Dan'l!"

Daniel accepted the Captain's command in a tolerant spirit. He paddled
along at a jog-trot for perhaps a hundred yards, and then, evidently
feeling that he had done all that could be expected, settled back into a
walk. The Captain turned towards his companion on the seat:

"I don't know as I mentioned it," he observed, "but my name is Hedge."

"Glad to meet you, Mr. Hedge," said the stranger. "My name is
Hazeltine."

"I kind of jedged it might be when you said you wanted to git to the
cable station. We heard you was expected."

"Did you? From Mr. Langley, I presume."

"No-o, not d'rectly. Of course, we knew Parker had been let go, and that
somebody would have to take his place. I guess likely it was one of the
operators that told it fust that you was the man, but anyhow it got as
fur as M'lissy Busteed, and after that 'twas plain sailin'. You come
from New York, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Well, you know how 'tis when a thing gits into the papers. Orham ain't
big enough to have a paper of its own, so the Almighty give us M'lissy,
I jedge, as a sort of substitute. She can spread a little news over more
country than anybody I know. If she spreads butter the same way, she
could make money keepin' boarders. Is this your fust visit to the Cape?"

"Yes. I hardly know why I'm here now. I have been with the Cable Company
at their New York experimental station for some years, and the other day
the General Manager called me into his office and told me I was expected
to take the position of electrician here. I thought it might add to my
experience, so I accepted."

"Humph! Did he say anything about the general liveliness of things
around the station?"

Mr. Hazeltine laughed. "Why," he answered, "now that you speak of it,
I remember that he began by asking me if I had any marked objection to
premature burial."

The Captain chuckled. "The outer beach in winter ain't exactly a
camp-meeting for sociableness," he said. "And the idea of that Bartlett
boy tellin' you how to walk there!"

"Is he a specimen of your Cape Cod youngsters?"

"Not exactly. He's a new shipment from New York. Grand-nephew of a
messmate of mine, Cap'n Perez Ryder. Perez, he's a bachelor, but his
sister's daughter married a feller named Bartlett. Maybe you knew him;
he used to run a tugboat in the Sound."

Mr. Hazeltine, much amused, denied the acquaintance.

"Well, I s'pose you wouldn't, nat'ra