there on Scollay Square dreaming about her had done the
young captain of the _Seamew_ positively no good! She did not come
out again, although he stood there for fully an hour. At the end of
that time he strolled up an alley and discovered that there was a
side door to the restaurant for the use of employees, and he judged
that the girl, seeing him lingering in front, had gone out by this
way. It made him flush to his ears when he thought of it. Of course,
he had been rude.

Marching up the winding road by the Ball homestead, Tunis Latham
revisioned this adventure--and the violet-eyed girl. Well, he
probably would never see her again. And in any case she was not the
sort of girl that he would ever take home to Aunt Lucretia. He was
headed toward home now, to the old brown house in the saucer-like
valley some distance beyond Cap'n Ira's.

As he came within hail of the old homestead in which the Balls had
been born and had died--if they were not lost at sea--for many
generations, the captain of the _Seamew_ became suddenly aware that
something was particularly wrong there. He heard somebody shouting.
Was it for help? He hastened his stride.

Quite unexpectedly the hobbling figure of Cap'n Ira appeared in the
open barn door. He saw Tunis. He waved his cane in one hand and
beckoned wildly with the other. Then he disappeared.

The young captain vaulted the fence and ran across the ill-tended
garden adjoining the Balls' side yard. Again he heard Cap'n Ira's
hail.

"Come on in here, Tunis!"

"What's the matter, Cap'n Ira?"

"That dratted Queen of Sheby! I knowed she'd be the death of one of
us some day. I swan! Tunis Latham, come here! I can't get her out,
and you know derned well Prudence can't stand on her head that a way
without strangling. Lend us a hand, boy. This is something awful!
Something awful!"

Tunis Latham, much disturbed by the old man's words and excited
manner, pushed into the dimly lit interior of the barn.

CHAPTER III

THE QUEEN OF SHEBA

The barn was a roomy place, as well built as the Ball house itself,
and quite as old. The wagon floor had a wide door, front and rear.
The stables were on either side of this floor and the mows were
above. In one mow was a small quantity of hay and some corn fodder,
but the upper reaches were filled only with a brown dusk.

The pale face of a gray mare was visible at the opening over one of
the mangers. She was the sole recognized occupant of the