she presumed to be Orion's.

"The chariot is ready, I cal'late," said Cap'n Ira. "Come on,
Prudence."

Sheila helped the old woman into the rear seat and then aided Cap'n
Ira as well. She got in quickly in front, but as she was about to
gather up the reins the man holding Queenie's head came around
swiftly and stepped in beside her to the driver's place.

"I swan! That you, Tunis?" exclaimed Cap'n Ira.

"Looks like it," the captain of the _Seamew_ said gravely. "All
clear aft?"

"You can pay off, Tunis," returned the old man. "Tuck that robe
around your knees, Prudence. This night air is as chill as a breath
off the ice barrens."

Orion loafed into the lamplight by the steps before Queenie got
into action. His scowl was unseen, but his voice was audible--as it
was meant to be--to Sheila's ears.

"There he is--hoggin' everything, same as usual. How did I know he
was hanging around outside here, waiting to drive her home? Just as
though he owned her! Huh! He may be skipper aboard that dratted
schooner, but that gives him no right to boss me ashore. I won't
stand it."

"Sit down to it, then, 'Rion," snickered one of the other young
fellows. "I cal'late Tunis has got the inside course on all of us."

The girl said nothing to the captain of the _Seamew_ at first. It
was Prudence who asked him why he had not been in the church.

"I could not get over here until just now," Tunis replied quietly.

Sheila wondered if he really had been detained on the schooner.
Perhaps he had refrained from coming to the festival for fear the
good people of Big Wreck Cove would notice his attentions to her. He
had never been publicly in her company since he had brought her down
from Boston. Orion Latham's outburst there at the church door was
the first cue people might have gained of anything more than a
passing acquaintanceship between the captain of the _Seamew_ and the
girl who had come to live with the Balls.

These thoughts bore down the girl's spirits tremendously. The
simple pleasure of the evening was quite erased from her memory. She
remained speechless while old Queenie climbed the hill to the Head.

The desultory conversation between Cap'n Ira, Prudence, and the
young shipmaster scarcely attracted the girl's attention. If Tunis
looked at her curiously now and then, she did not see his glances.
And she merely nodded her understanding of his statement when Tunis
said, speaking directly to her:

"The _Seamew's_ going