d prayin' and drowndin' all to once. Then we sizzed out of
the channel, over the flats on t'other side, and on towards Setuckit.

"Never mind the rest of the ride. 'Twas all a sort of constant changin'
sameness. I remember passin' a blurred life-savin' station, with
three--or maybe thirty--blurred men jumpin' and laughin' and hollerin'.
I found out afterwards that they'd been on the lookout for the bombshell
for half an hour. Billings had told around town what he was goin' to do
to me, and some kind friend had telephoned it to the station. So the
life-savers was full of anticipations. I hope they were satisfied. I
hadn't rehearsed my part of the show none, but I feel what the parson
calls a consciousness of havin' done my best.

"'Woa, gal!' says Billings, calm and easy, puttin' the helm hard down.
The auto was standin' still at last. Part of me was hangin' over the lee
rail. I could see out of the part, so I know 'twas my head. And there
alongside was my fish-shanty at the P'int, goin' round and round in
circles.

"I undid the hatch of the cockpit and fell out on the sand. Then I
scrambled up and caught hold of the shanty as it went past me. That fool
shover watched me, seemin'ly interested.

"'Why, pard,' says he, 'what's the matter? Do you feel pale? Are you
nervous? It ain't possible that you're scared? Honest, now, pard, if it
weren't that I knew you were a genuine gold-mounted hero I'd sure think
you was a scared man.'

"I never said nothin'. The scenery and me was just turnin' the mark buoy
on our fourth lap.

"'Dear me, pard!' continues Billings. 'I sure hope I ain't scared you
none. We come down a little slow this evenin', but to-morrow night, when
I take you back home, I'll let the old girl out a little.'

"I sensed some of that. And as the shanty had about come to anchor, I
answered and spoke my mind.

"'When you take me back home!' I says. 'When you do! Why, you
crack-brained, murderin' lunatic, I wouldn't cruise in that buzz-wagon
of yours again for the skipper's wages on a Cunarder! No, nor the mate's
hove in!'

"And that shover he put his head back and laughed and laughed and
laughed.

II

"I tell you I had to take it that evenin'. All the time I was cookin'
and while he was eatin' supper, Billings was rubbin' it into me about my
bein' scared. Called me all the salt-water-hero names he could think
of--'Hobson' and 'Dewey' and the like of that, usin' 'em sourcastic, of
course. Finally, he