ed Tunis in apparent horror. "Not Aunt
Prue?"

"What's the matter with you?" snapped Cap'n Ira. "I mean that old
mare. I was going to murder her in cold blood, only the sand slide
wrecked my plans."

"If you had killed her, Aunt Prue would have had hard work to
forgive you. Come on now. I'll lead Queenie up to our barn. Let her
stay there for a spell. I tell you, Cap'n Ira, you and Aunt Prue
must have somebody to live with you."

"Who?"

"Get a girl from the port."

"Huh! One o' them Portygees? They're as dirty and useless in the
kitchen as their men folks are aboard ship."

"Oh, they are not all like that!" objected the captain of the
_Seamew_. "I've got a good crew of 'em aboard my schooner."

"You think so. Wait till you get in a jam. And the men ain't so bad
as the gals. All hussies."

"I don't know, then, what you'll do."

"I do," interrupted the old man, hobbling along the hard sand beside
Tunis and the horse. "It's just like I told Prudence yesterday. I
know just what we've got to do whether you or Prue or anybody else
knows," and he was very emphatic.

"Let's hear your plan, Cap'n," said Tunis.

"It's like this," went on Cap'n Ira. "Prudence ain't got but one
living relative, a grandniece, that's kin to her. That Ida May
Bostwick we must have come and live with us, and that's all there is
about it."

Tunis stared. He said:

"Never heard of her. She doesn't live anywhere around here, does
she?"

"No, no! Lives to Boston."

"Boston!"

Why was it Tunis Latham felt that his heart skipped a beat? Memory
of that pale, violet-eyed girl who worked in the restaurant on
Scollay Square flashed across his mind like a shooting star. Indeed,
he was so confused that he heard only a little at first of Cap'n
Ira's rambling explanation. Then he caught:

"And if you will go to that address--Prue's got the street and
number--and see Ida May Bostwick and tell her about us, you'd be
doing us a kindness, Tunis."

"Me?" exclaimed the startled captain of the _Seamew_.

"Yes, you. The gal won't bite you. You're going to Boston next week,
you say. Will you do it?"

"Sure I will, Cap'n Ira," said the young man heartily. "It's a good
move, and I'll say all I can to get the girl to come down here."

"That's the boy! You're going on an errand of mercy; that's as sure
as sure. Prue and me need that gal. And maybe she needs us. I don't
know what sort of a place she works at, but no city job for a gal
can be the e