The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Castaway, by W.W. Jacobs

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Title: The Castaway
Odd Craft, Part 2.

Author: W.W. Jacobs

Release Date: April 29, 2004 [EBook #12202]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CASTAWAY ***

Produced by David Widger

ODD CRAFT

By W.W. Jacobs

THE CASTAWAY

Mrs. John Boxer stood at the door of the shop with her hands clasped on
her apron. The short day had drawn to a close, and the lamps in the
narrow little thorough-fares of Shinglesea were already lit. For a time
she stood listening to the regular beat of the sea on the beach some
half-mile distant, and then with a slight shiver stepped back into the
shop and closed the door.

[Illustration: "Mrs. John Boxer stood at the door of the shop with her
hands clasped on her apron."]

The little shop with its wide-mouthed bottles of sweets was one of her
earliest memories. Until her marriage she had known no other home, and
when her husband was lost with the _North Star_ some three years before,
she gave up her home in Poplar and returned to assist her mother in the
little shop.

In a restless mood she took up a piece of needle-work, and a minute or
two later put it down again. A glance through the glass of the door
leading into the small parlour revealed Mrs. Gimpson, with a red shawl
round her shoulders, asleep in her easy-chair.

Mrs. Boxer turned at the clang of the shop bell, and then, with a wild
cry, stood gazing at the figure of a man standing in the door-way. He
was short and bearded, with oddly shaped shoulders, and a left leg which
was not a match; but the next moment Mrs. Boxer was in his arms sobbing
and laughing together.

Mrs. Gimpson, whose nerves were still quivering owing to the suddenness
with which she had been awakened, came into the shop; Mr. Boxer freed an
arm, and placing it round her waist kissed her with some affection on the
chin.

"He's come back!" cried Mrs. Boxer, hysterically.

"Thank goodness," said Mrs. Gimpson, after a moment's deliberation.

"He's alive!" cried Mrs. Boxer. "He's alive !"

She half-dragged and half-led him into the small parlour, and t