n demanded.

"'Tis I, sir."

"I knows that. I been waitin' for you. How'd ye get along the night?"

"I got along well enough."

"How far did yer get along?"

"I--I proceeded."

"What did ye do?"

"Who, sir?" Dickie replied. "Me?"

"Ay, you! Who else?"

"I didn't do nothin' much," said Dickie.

"Ha!" Skipper John snorted. "Nothin' much, eh! Was you with the maid
at all on the roads?"

"Well, yes, sir," Dickie replied. "I was with her."

Skipper John spoke in scorn. "You was with her!" said he. "An' you
didn't do nothin' much! Well, well!" And then, explosively: "Did you
do nothin' at all?"

"I didn't go t' no great lengths with her."

"What lengths?"

"Well," Dickie drawled, "I----"

Skipper John broke in impatiently. "What I wants t' know," said he,
"is a very simple thing. Did you pop?"

"Me?"

Skipper John was disgusted.

"Ecod!" he ejaculated. "Then you didn't!"

"I didn't pop," said Dickie. "That is--not quite."

"Did you come into peril o' poppin'?"

"Well," Dickie admitted, "I brooded on it."

"Whew!" Skipper John ejaculated. "You brooded on it, did you? An' what
happened then?"

"I--I hesitated."

"Well, well! Now that was cautious, wasn't it? An' why did
you--hesitate?"

"Dang it!" Dickie complained, "t' hear you talk, a man might think
that Peggy Lacey was the only maid in Scalawag Run. I'm willin' an'
eager t' be wed. I jus' don't want t' make no mistake. That's all.
Dang it, there's shoals o' maids hereabouts! An' I isn't goin' t'
swallow the first hook that's cast my way. I'll take my time, sir, an'
that's an end o' the matter."

"You're nigh twenty-one," Skipper John warned.

"I've time enough yet. I'm in no hurry."

"Pah!" Skipper John snorted. "'Tis a poor stick of a man that's as
slow as you at courtin'! No hurry, eh? What ye made of, anyhow? When I
was your age----"

"Have done with boastin', sir. I'll not be driven. I'll pick and
choose an' satisfy my taste."

"Is Peggy Lacey a wasteful maid?" Skipper John inquired.

"No; she's not a wasteful maid."

"Is she good?"

"She's pious enough for me."

"Is she healthy?"

"Nothin' wrong with her health that anybody ever fetched t' my notice.
She seems sound."

"Is she fair?"

"She'll pass."

"I'm not askin' if she pass. I'm askin' you if she isn't the fairest
maid in Scalawag Run."

"'Tis a matter o' taste, father."

"An' what's your taste--if you have any?"

"If I was pickin' a fault," Dickie repl