ne!" shouted the mate of a
tug through the window of a pilot house.

"Got her off with her bow split open, but they can't keep her free!
Sunk by now, I guess," had yelled one of the crew of a dory making for
the shipyard.

As each bulletin was shouted back over the water in answer to the
anxious inquiries of Marrows, the wife would clasp her fingers the
tighter. She made no moan or outburst. Abram would blame her and say it
was her fault,--everything was her fault that went wrong.

When the tug had made fast to a wharf spile Captain Joe cleared the
stringpiece, and walked straight to Marrows. He was still soaking wet
underneath his clothes, only his outer garments being dry,--a condition
which never affected him in the least, "salt water bein' healthy," he
would say.

"What did I tell ye, Abram Marrows?" he exploded, in a voice that could
be heard to the turnpike. "Didn't I say Baxter warn't fittin', and that
he ought ter be grubbin' clams? Go and dig a hole some'er's and cover
him up head and ears,--and dig it quick, too, and I'll lend ye a
shovel."

"Well, but, Captain Joe,"--protested Marrows.

"Don't you 'well' me. Well, nothin'. You're bad as him. Go and dig a
hole and BOTH on ye git in it!"--and he pushed through the crowd on his
way to his house, I close at his heels.

The wife, who but that moment had heard the glad news of the rescue
from the lips of a deck hand, now hurried after the captain and laid
her hand on his arm. Her eyes were red from weeping; strands of gray
hair strayed over her forehead and cheeks; her lips were tightly drawn;
the anxiety of the last few hours had left its mark.

"Don't go, Captain Joe, till I kin speak to ye," she pleaded, in a
trembling voice,--speaking through fingers pressed close to her lips.

"No,--I don't want to hear nothin'. She's all right, I tell
ye,--tighter 'n a drum and not a drop of water in her. Got some of my
men aboard and we'll unload her to-morrow. You go home, old woman; you
needn't worry."

"Yes, but you must listen,--PLEASE listen."

She had followed him up the dock and the two stood apart from the crowd.

"Well, what is it?"

"I want to thank ye,--and I want--"

"No, you don't want to thank nothin'. She's all right, I tell ye."

She had tight hold of his arm now and was looking up into his face, all
her gratitude in her eyes.

"But I do,--I must,--please listen. You've helped us so. It's all we
have. If we'd lost the sloop I'd 'a' give u