d whether or not Mr. Langley would discharge
Hazeltine. On the latter point Captain Eri was decided.

"He won't be bounced," said the Captain; "now you just put that down in
your log. Langley ain't a fool, and he can put two and two together as
well as the next feller. If I thought there was any need of it, I'd just
drop him a hint myself, but there ain't, so I shan't put my oar in. But
I wish you two could have heard that youngster talk to that McLoughlin
critter; 'twould have done you good. That boy's all right."

Captain Jerry was alone when the expected letter came. He glanced at
the postmark, saw that it was Nantucket, and stuck the note behind
the clock. He did his best to forget it, but he looked so guilty when
Captain Perez returned at supper time that that individual suspected
something, made his friend confess, and, a little later when Captain Eri
came in, the envelope, bearing many thumb-prints, was propped up against
the sugar bowl in the middle of the table.

"We didn't open it, Eri," said Perez proudly. "We did want to, but we
thought all hands ought to be on deck when anything as important as this
was goin' to be done."

"He's been holdin' it up to the light for the last ha'f hour," sneered
Captain Jerry. "Anybody 'd think it had a million dollars in it. For the
land's sake, open it, Eri, 'fore he has a fit!"

Captain Eri picked up the letter, looked it over very deliberately, and
then tore off the end of the envelope. The inclosure was another
sheet of note paper like the first epistle. The Captain took out his
spectacles, wiped them, and read the following aloud:

"CAPTAIN JEREMIAH BURGESS.

"Sir: I like your looks well enough, though it don't pay to put too much
dependence in looks, as nobody knows better than me. Besides, I judge
that picture was took quite a spell ago. Anyway, you look honest, and
I am willing to risk money enough to carry me to Orham and back, though
the dear land knows I ain't got none to throw away. If we don't agree
to sign articles, I suppose likely you will be willing to stand half the
fare. That ain't any more than right, the way I look at it. I shall come
to Orham on the afternoon train, Thursday. Meet me at the depot.

"Yours truly,

"MARTHA B. SNOW.

"P. S.--I should have liked it better if you was a Methodist, but we
can't have everything just as we want it in this world."

Nobody spoke for a moment after the reading of this intensely practical
note. Capta