tter yit."

"Now, that's jest like you, Jerry Burgess!" exclaimed Perez disgustedly.
"Want to put off and put off and put off. And the house gittin' more
like the fo'castle on a cattleboat every day."

"I don't b'lieve myself you'd do much better, Jerry," said Captain Eri
seriously. "I like that letter somehow. Seems to me it's worth a try."

"Oh, all right! Have it your own way. Of course, _I_ ain't got nothin'
to say. I'm only the divilish fool that's got to git married and keep
boarders; that's all _I_ am!"

"Be careful! She asked if you was a profane man."

"Aw, shut up! You fellers are enough to make a minister swear. _I_ don't
care what you do. Go ahead and write to her if you want to, only I give
you fair warnin', I ain't goin' to have her if she don't suit. I ain't
goin' to marry no scarecrow."

Between them, and with much diplomacy, they soothed the indignant
candidate for matrimony until he agreed to sign his name to a letter to
the Nantucket lady. Then Captain Perez said:

"But, I say, Jerry; she wants your picture. Have you got one to send
her?"

"I've got that daguerreotype I had took when I was married afore."

He rummaged it out of his chest and displayed it rather proudly. It
showed him as a short, sandy-haired youth, whose sunburned face beamed
from the depths of an enormous choker, and whose head was crowned with a
tall, flat-brimmed silk hat of a forgotten style.

"I s'pose that might do," said Cap'n Perez hesitatingly.

"Do! 'Twill HAVE to do, seein' it's all he's got," said Captain Eri.
"Good land!" he chuckled; "look at that hat! Say, Jerry, she'll think
you done your seafarin' in Noah's ark."

But Captain Jerry was oblivious to sarcasm just then. He was gazing at
the daguerreotype in a sentimental sort of way, blowing the dust from
the glass, and tilting it up and down so as to bring it to the most
effective light.

"I swan!" he mused, "I don't know when I've looked at that afore. I
remember when I bought that hat, jest as well. Took care of it and
brushed it--my! my! I don't know but it's somewheres around now. I
thought I was jest about the ticket then, and--and I wa'n't BAD lookin',
that's a fact!"

This last with a burst of enthusiasm.

"Ho, ho! Perez," roared Captain Eri; "Jerry's fallin' in love with his
own picture. Awful thing for one so young, ain't it?"

"I ain't such a turrible sight older 'n you be, Eri Hedge," sputtered
the prospective bridegroom with righteous ind