ou ought to remember that
you're in the presence of your two 'darlin's.' We can't love any one
that cusses. You'll be smokin' a pipe or chawin' tobacker next." He
chuckled, and then his voice grew hard. "Stop your wigglin', you
blasted, livin' scarecrow, or I'll split your head with a rock, and
this town will call it good reddance. Roll him over onto his face,
Cap'n Sproul."

A generous strip of skirt, torn off by Reeves's boot, lay on the
ground. Hiram seized it and bound the captive's arms behind his back.
"Now let him up, Cap," he commanded, and the two men helped the
unhappy selectman to his feet.

"So it's you, hey?" growled Hiram, facing him. "Because I've come
here to this town and found a good woman and married her, and saved
her from bein' fooled into marryin' a skunk like you, you've put up
this job, hey? Because Cap'n Sproul has put you where you belong in
town business, you're tryin' to do him, too, hey? What do you reckon
we're goin' to do with you?"

It was evident that Mr. Reeves was not prepared to state. He
maintained a stubborn silence.

Cap'n Sproul had picked up the hat with the tall feather and was
gingerly revolving it in his hands.

"You're a nice widderer, you are!" snorted Hiram. "A man that will
wear a deceased's clothes in order to help him break up families and
spread sorrow and misery round a neighborhood, would be a second
husband to make a woman both proud and pleased. Cap'n, put that hat
and veil back onto him. I'll hold him."

Mr. Reeves consented to stand still only after he had received a
half-dozen open-handed buffets that made his head ring.

"There!" ejaculated Hiram, after the Cap'n's unaccustomed fingers
had arranged the head-gear. "Bein' that you're dressed for company,
we'll make a few calls. Grab a-holt, Cap'n."

"I'll die in my tracks right here, first," squalled Reeves, guessing
their purpose. But he was helpless in their united clutch. They
rushed him up the lane, tramped along the piazza noisily, jostled
through the front door, and presented him before Hiram's astounded
wife.

"Mis' Look," said her husband, "here's the lady that's in love with
me, and that has been leavin' me letters. It bein' the same lady that
was once in love with you, I reckon you'll appreciate my feelin's
in the matter. There's just one more clue that we need to clinch this
thing--and that's another one of those letters. The Cap'n and I don't
know how to find a pocket in a woman's dress. W