Keziah Coffin

by Joseph Crosby Lincoln

lost his balance andfell. He grabbed at the yard, saved himself for a second, fell again,grabbed the next yard, then a rope and so on down, grabbin' and pullin'all the way. First his shoe hit the deck, then his sheath knife, thena piece of rope, and finally himself, landin' right on top of the Irishcook who was goin' aft from the galley with father's dinner.

  "There was the greatest racket you ever heard, pans fallin', dishessmashin', men yellin', and the cook swearin'. Father run on deck,thinkin' the ship was dismasted. He found the cook and Billy Petersittin' in the middle of the mess, lookin' at each other. Neither washurt a mite. The mates and the crew, part of 'em, was standin' starin'at the pair.

  "'For Heaven sakes!' says father; 'what happened?'

  "The half-breed looked up and rubbed his head. 'Ugh!' says he, 'BillyPeter bust his shoe string.'

  "The cook, his name was O'Neill, looked at him disgusted. 'Well,begorra!' says he, 'Billy Peter, you don't exaggerate none, do ye! It'sa good thing BOTH of 'em didn't bust or we'd have foundered.'

  "You remind me of Billy Peter, Mr. Ellery, you don't exaggerate. Queer?Some folks think your goin' to that meetin' last night QUEER? At thismoment one half of Trumet is talkin' about it and runnin' out to tellthe other half. I guess I'd better hurry up with this breakfast. We'regoin' to have callers."

  Strange to say, however, this prophecy of early morning visitors didnot prove true. Nine o'clock, then ten, and no visitor came to theparsonage. Mrs. Coffin affirmed that she did not understand it. Wherewas Didama? Where Lavinia Pepper? Had the "Trumet Daily Advertiser"suspended publication?

  At half past ten the gate slammed. Keziah peered from the window.

  "Humph!" she ejaculated. "Here comes Elkanah and he's got storm signalsset, by the looks. He's comin' after you, Mr. Ellery."

  "Very well," was the calm reply; "let him come."

  "What are you goin' to say to him?"

  "Nothing, except that I did what I considered right at the time. Showhim into the study, Mrs. Coffin, please."

  Captain Daniels marched to the dining-room door, his gold-headed canemarking time like a drumbeat. He nodded curtly to Keziah, who answeredthe knock, and stepped across the threshold.

  "Hum--ha!" he barked. "Is the minister--hum--ha! is Mr. Ellery in?"

  "Yes, he's in."

  "Tell him I want to see him."

  The housekeeper announced the visitor.

  "He's as sour as a skimmin' of last week's milk," she whispered. "Don'tbe afraid of him, though."

  "Oh, I'm not. Show him in."

  "All right. Say, Mr. Ellery, it's none of my business, but I wouldn'tsay anything about your seein' Grace home. That's none of HIS business,either, or anybody else's."

  The head of the parish committee stalked into the study and thedoor closed behind him. A rumble of voices in animated conversationsucceeded.

  Mrs. Coffin went out into the kitchen and resumed her business of makinga dried-apple pie. There was a hot fire in the stove and she opened theback door to let in the fresh air. She worked briskly, rolling out thedough, filling the deep dish, and pinking the edges of the upper crustwith a fork. She was thinking as she worked, but not of the minister orhis visitor.

  She put the pie in the oven and set the damper. And, as she knelt by thestove, something struck her lightly on the back of the neck. She lookedup and about her, but there was no one in sight. Then she picked up theobject which had struck her. It was a cranberry, withered and softenedby the winter frosts.

  She looked at the cranberry, then at the open door, and her eyestwinkled. Running quickly to the threshold she peered out. The back yardwas, apparently, empty, save for a few hens belonging to near neighbors,and these had stopped scratching for a living and were huddled near thefence.

  "Hum!" she mused. "You rascal! Eddie Snow, if it's you, I'll be afteryou in a minute. Just because you're big enough to quit school and drivestore wagon is no reason why I can't--Hey? Oh!"

  She was looking down below the door, which opened outward and was swungpartly back on its hinges. From under the door projected a boot, a man'sboot and one of ample size.

  Keziah's cheeks, already red from the heat of the stove, reddened stillmore. Her lips twitched and her eyes sparkled.

  "Hum!" she said again. "They say you can tell the Old Scratch by hisfootprints, even if you can't smell the sulphur. Anyhow, you can tella Hammond by the size of his boots. Come out from behind that door thisminute. Ain't you ashamed of yourself?"

  The owner of the boot stepped forth from behind the door and seized herby both hands.

  "Halloo, Keziah!" he cried joyfully. "My, but it's good to see you."

  "Halloo, Nat!" said Keziah heartily. "It's kind of good to see you,too."

  The rest of him was in keeping with his boots. He was big andbroad-shouldered and bearded. His face, above the beard, was tanned to adeep reddish brown, and the corners of his eyes were marked with dozensof tiny wrinkles. He was dressed in blue cloth and wore a wide-brimmed,soft felt hat. He entered the kitchen and tossed the hat into a corner.

  "Well!" he exclaimed. "Why don't you act surprised to see a feller? HereI've been cruisin' from the Horn to Barnegat and back again, and youact as if I'd just dropped in to fetch the cup of molasses I borrowedyesterday. What do you mean by it?"

  "Oh, I heard you'd made port."

  "Did, hey? That's Trumet, sure pop. You ain't the only one. I sneakedoff acrost lots so's to dodge the gang of neighbors that I knew wouldbe sailin' into our yard, the whole fleet loaded to the gunwale withquestions. Wanted to see you first, Keziah."

  "Yes. So, instead of callin' like a Christian, you crept up the back wayand threw cranberries at me. Ain't you ashamed of yourself?"

  "Not a mite." He took a handful of the frostbitten berries from hiscoat pocket and inspected them lovingly. "Ain't they fine?" he asked,crunching two or three between his teeth. "I picked 'em up as I camealong. I tell you, that's the home taste, all right."

  "Don't eat those frozen things. They'll give you your never-get-over."

  "What? Cape Cod cranberries! Never in the world. I'd rather eat sanddown here than the finest mug my steward can cook. Tell you what I'lldo, though; I'll swear off on the cranberries if you'll give me afour-inch slice of that pie I saw you put in the oven. Dried-apple, I'llbet my sou'wester. Think you might ask a feller to sit down. Ain't youglad to see me?"

  Mrs. Coffin pulled forward one of the kitchen chairs. He seated himselfon it and it groaned under his weight.

  "Whew!" he whistled. "Never made to stand rough weather, was it? Well,AIN'T you glad?"

  Keziah looked at him gravely.

  "You know I'm glad, Nat," she said.

  "So? I hoped you would be, but I did want to hear you say it. Now youcome to anchor yourself and let's have a talk. I've been countin' on itever since we set tops'ls off Surinam."

  The housekeeper took the other chair.

  "How are you--" she began. He stopped her.

  "S-shh!" he interrupted. "Don't say anything for a minute. Let me lookat you. Just as clean and wholesome and good-lookin' as ever. They don'tmake girls like that anywhere else but down on this old sand bar. Not aday older, by the jumpin'--"

  She held up her hand.

  "Hush, Nat," she protested; "don't talk foolish. Girl? Not a day older?Why, if feelin's count for anything, I'm as old as Methusaleh. Haven't Ihad enough to make me old?"

  He was grave immediately.

  "I beg your pardon, Keziah," he said. "I'm a dough head, that's a fact.I hadn't forgot about Sol, but I was so glad to be home again and to seedad and Grace and the old town and you that everything else flew out ofmy mind. Poor Sol! I liked him."

  "He liked you, too. No wonder, considerin' what you did to--"

  "Belay! Never mind that. Poor chap! Well, he's rid of his sufferin's atlast. Tell me about it, if you can without bringin' all the trouble backtoo plain."

  So she told him of her brother's sickness and death, of having to giveup the old home, and, finally, of her acceptance of
the housekeeper'sposition. He listened, at first with sympathy and then with suppressedindignation.

  "By the jumpin' Moses!" he exclaimed. "And Elkanah was goin' to turn youout of house and home. The mean, pompous