n' 'round me," was
the reply. "You ain't seen my dime show friend nowheres, have you?
I'd sort of like to meet HIM again; our other talk broke off kind of
sudden."

Ralph laughed, and said he was afraid that the museum manager wouldn't
come to Orham again very soon.

"I s'pose likely not," chuckled Captain Eri. "I ought to have kept his
hat; then, maybe, he'd have come back after it. Oh, say!" he added,
"I've been meanin' to ask you somethin'. Made up your mind 'bout that
western job yit?"

Ralph shook his head. "Not yet," he said slowly. "I shall very soon,
though, I think."

"Kind of puzzlin' you, is it? Not that it's really any of my affairs,
you understand. There's only a few of us good folks left, as the feller
said, and I'd hate to see you leave, that's all."

"I am not anxious to go, myself. My present position gives me a good
deal of leisure time for experimental work--and--well, I'll tell you in
confidence--there's a possibility of my becoming superintendent one of
these days, if I wish to."

"Sho! you don't say! Mr. Langley goin' to quit?"

"He is thinking of it. The old gentleman has saved some money, and he
has a sister in the West who is anxious to have him come out there and
spend the remainder of his days with her. If he does, I can have his
position, I guess. In fact, he has been good enough to say so."

"Well, that's pretty fine, ain't it? Langley ain't the man to chuck his
good opinions round like clam shells. You ought to feel proud."

"I suppose I ought."

They walked on silently for a few steps, the Captain waiting for his
companion to speak, and the latter seeming disinclined to do so. At
length the older man asked another question.

"Is t'other job so much better?"

"No."

Silence again. Then Ralph said, "The other position, Captain, is very
much like this one in some respects. It will place me in a country
town, even smaller than Orham, where there are few young people, no
amusements, and no society, in the fashionable sense of the word."

"Humph! I thought you didn't care much for them things."

"I don't."

To this enigmatical answer the Captain made no immediate reply. After
a moment, however, he said, slowly and with apparent irrelevance, "Mr.
Hazeltine, I can remember my father tellin' 'bout a feller that lived
down on the South Harniss shore when he was a boy. Queer old chap he
was, named Elihu Bassett; everybody called him Uncle Elihu. In them days
all hands drunk more