Keziah Coffin
Page 21
was cut off.
He was in for a wetting, that was sure. However, there was no help forit, so he waded in. The water filled his boots there, it gurgled abouthis hips, and beyond, as he could see, it seemed to grow deeper anddeeper. The current was surprisingly strong; he found it difficult tokeep his footing in the soft sand. It looked as though he must swim forit, and to swim in that tide would be no joke.
Then, from behind him, came a hail. He turned and saw moving toward himthrough the shallow water now covering the flat beyond the next channel,the cart he had seen leave the shore by the packet wharf, and, later, onthe outer bar. The horse was jogging along, miniature geysers spoutingbeneath its hoofs. The driver waved to him.
"Hold on, mate," he called. "Belay there. Stay where you are. I'll bealongside in a shake. Git dap, January!"
Ellery waded back to meet this welcome arrival. The horse plunged intothe next channel, surged through it, and emerged dripping. The driverpulled the animal into a walk.
"Say," he cried, "I'm cruisin' your way; better get aboard, hadn't you?There's kind of a heavy dew this mornin'. Whoa, Bill!"
"Bill" or "January" stopped with apparent willingness. The driver leaneddown and extended a hand. The minister took it and was pulled up to theseat.
"Whew!" he panted. "I'm much obliged to you. I guess you saved me from aducking, if nothing worse."
"Yes," was the answer, "I wouldn't wonder if I did. This ain't Saturdaynight and 'twould be against Trumet principles to take a bath any othertime. All taut, are you? Good enough! then we'll get under way." Heflapped the reins and added, "G'long, Julius Caesar!"
The horse, a sturdy, sedate beast to whom all names seemed to be alike,picked up his feet and pounded them down again. Showers of spray flewabout the heads of the pair on the seat.
"I ain't so sure about that duckin'," commented the rescuer. "Hum! Iguess likely we'll be out of soundin's if we tackle that sink hole youwas undertakin' to navigate. Let's try it a little further down."
Ellery looked his companion over.
"Well," he observed with a smile, "from what I've heard of you, CaptainHammond, I rather guess you could navigate almost any water in thislocality and in all sorts of weather."
The driver turned in surprise.
"So?" he exclaimed. "You know me, do you? That's funny. I was tryin' tolocate you, but I ain't been able to. You ain't a Trumetite I'll bet onthat."
"Yes, I am."
"Tut! tut! tut! you don't tell me. Say, shipmate, you hurt my pride. Idid think there wa'n't a soul that ever trod sand in this village that Icouldn't name on sight, and give the port they hailed from and the namesof their owners. But you've got me on my beam ends. And yet you knewME."
"Of course I did. Everybody knows the man that brought the packet home."
Nat Hammond sniffed impatiently.
"Um--hm!" he grunted. "I cal'late everybody does, and knows a lot moreabout that foolishness than I do myself. If ever a craft was steeredby guess and by godfrey, 'twas that old hooker of Zach's t'other night.Well--Humph! here's another piece of pilotin' that bids fair to be amighty sight harder. Heave ahead, Hannibal! hope you've got your webfeet with you."
They had moved along the edge of the flat a short distance and nowturned into the channel. The horse was wading above its knees; soon thewater reached its belly and began to flow into the body of the cart.
"Pick up your feet, shipmate," commanded Nat. "You may get rheumatiz ifyou don't. This'll be a treat for those sea clams back in that bucketamidships. They'll think I've repented and have decided to turn 'emloose again. They don't know how long I've been countin' on a sea-clampie. I'll fetch those clams ashore if I have to lug 'em with my teeth.Steady, all hands! we're off the ways."
The cart was afloat. The horse, finding wading more difficult thanswimming, began to swim.
"Now I'm skipper again, sure enough," remarked Hammond. "Ain't gettin'seasick, are you?"
The minister laughed.
"No," he said.
"Good! she keeps on a fairly even keel, considerin' her build. THEREshe strikes! That'll do, January; you needn't try for a record voyage.Walkin's more in your line than playin' steamboat. We're over the worstof it now. Say! you and I didn't head for port any too soon, did we?"
"No, I should say not. I ought to have known better than to wait outthere so long. I've been warned about this tide. I--"
"S-sh-sh! YOU ought to have known better! What do you think of me? Bornand brought up within sight and smell of this salt puddle and let myselfin for a scrape like this! But it was so mighty fine off there on thebar I couldn't bear to leave it. I always said that goin' to sea onland would be the ideal way, and now I've tried it. But you took biggerchances than I did. Are you a good swimmer?"
"Not too good. I hardly know what might have happened if you hadn't--"
"S-sh-sh! that's all right. Always glad to pick up a derelict, may be achance for salvage, you know. Here's the last channel and it's an easyone. There! now it's plain sailin' for dry ground."
The old horse, breathing heavily from his exertions, trotted over thestretch of yet uncovered flats and soon mounted the slope of the beach.The minister prepared to alight.
"Captain Hammond," he said, "you haven't asked me my name."
"No, I seldom do more'n once. There have been times when I'D just assoon cruise without too big letters alongside my figurehead."
"Well, my name is Ellery."
"Hey? WHAT? Oh, ho! ho! ho!"
He rocked back and forth on the seat. The minister's feelings were a bithurt, though he tried not to show it.
"You mustn't mind my laughin'," explained Nat, still chuckling. "Itain't at you. It's just because I was wonderin' what you'd look like ifI should meet you and now--Ho! ho! You see, Mr. Ellery, I've heard ofyou, same as you said you'd heard of me."
Ellery smiled, but not too broadly.
"Yes," he admitted, "I imagined you had."
"Yes, seems to me dad mentioned your name once or twice. As much asthat, anyhow. Wonder what he'd say if he knew his son had been takin'you for a mornin' ride?"
"Probably that it would have been much better to have left me where youfound me."
The captain's jolly face grew serious.
"No, no!" he protested. "Not so bad as that. Dad wouldn't drown anybody,not even a Regular minister. He's a pretty square-built old craft, eventhough his spiritual chart may be laid out different from yours--andmine."
"From yours? Why, I supposed--"
"Yes, I know. Well, WHEN I go to meetin', I generally go to the chapelto please father. But when it comes right down to a confession of faith,I'm pretty broad in the beam. Maybe I'd be too broad even for you, Mr.Ellery."
The minister, who had jumped to the ground, looked up.
"Captain Hammond," he said, "I'm very glad indeed that I met you. Notalone because you helped me out of a bad scrape; I realize how bad itmight have been and that--"
"Shsh! shh! Nothin' at all. Don't be foolish."
"But I'm glad, too, because I've heard so many good things about youthat I was sure you must be worth knowing. I hope you won't believe Iwent to your father's meeting with any--"
"No, no! Jumpin' Moses, man! I don't find fault with you for that. Iunderstand, I guess."
"Well, if you don't mind the fact that I am what I am, I'd like to shakehands with you."
Nat reached down a big brown hand.
"Same here," he said. "Always glad to shake with a chap as wellrecommended as you are. Yes, indeed, I mean it. You see, you've got afriend that's a friend of mine, and when she guarantees a man to be A.B., I'll ship him without any more questions."
"Well, then, good-by. I hope we shall meet again and often. And Icertainly thank you for--"
"That's all right. Maybe you'll fish ME out of the drink some day; younever can tell. So long! Git dap, Gen'ral Scott!"
He drove off up the beach, but before he turned the corner of thenearest dune he called back over his shoulder:
"Say, M
r. Ellery, if you think of it you might give my regardsto--to--er--the lady that's keepin' house for you."
Breakfast had waited nearly an hour when the minister reached home.Keziah, also, was waiting and evidently