ve winters. And we have had state aid, too. They say that
makes paupers of us. Every town round about has served notice that we
can't settle there and gain pauper residence. Hue and Cry 'ain't ever
been admitted to any town. Towns say, seeing that the state has ordered
us off, now let the state take care of us."

"And men have been here, representing the state?"

"You bet they have."

"What do they say?"

"Say get off! But they won't let us settle on the main. Looks like they
wanted us to go up in balloons. But we hain't got no balloons. Got to
move, though."

"I never heard of such a thing!"

"Nor I, neither," admitted this man, with a sort of calm numbness of
discouragement. "But that ain't anyways surprising. We don't hear much
about anything on Hue and Cry till they come and tell us. Speaking for
myself, I ain't so awful much fussed up. I've got a house-bo't to
take my wife and young ones on, and we'll keep on digging clams for
trawlers--sixty cents a bucket, shucked, and we can dig and shuck a
bucket a day, all hands turning to. We won't starve. But I pity the poor
critters that 'ain't got a house-bo't. Looks like they'd need wings. I
ain't worrying a mite, I say. I had the best house on the island, and
the state has allowed a hundred and fifty dollars for it. I consider I'm
well fixed."

The plutocrat of the unhappy tribe of Hue and Cry rose and stretched
with a comfortable grunt.

"If it ain't one thing it's another," he said, as he started off. "We've
got to have about so much trouble, anyway, and it might just as well be
this as anything else." %

"Why, that's an awful thing to happen to those people!" declared the
girl. "I must say, he takes it calmly."

"He is a fair sample of some of the human jellyfish I have found hidden
away in odd corners on this coast," stated Captain Mayo. "Not enough
mind or spirit left to fight for his own protection. But this thing is
almost unbelievable. It can't be possible that the state is gunning an
affair like this! I'll find somebody who knows more about it than that
clam-digging machine!"

A little later a man strolled past, hands behind his back. He was
placidly smoking a cigar, and, though the dusk had deepened, Mayo could
perceive that he was attired with some pretensions to city smartness.

"I beg your pardon, sir," called the young man. "But do you know
anything about the inwardness of this business on Hue and Cry Island?"

"I can tell you _all_ about i