Pretty nigh all the
folks that will be at the bee to-morrow will come in boats. None of them
live nigh to a railroad station, and if they did, and could take ye back
with 'em, they wouldn't leave early enough for ye to ketch the last
train: so the best thing ye can do is to stick by me, and I'll guarantee
to git ye over to Brimley in time for the mornin' train on Saturday."

XXIX.

FANTASY?

We reached Captain Jabe's house a little after nightfall, and received a
hearty welcome and a good supper from his wife. Walkirk and I slept on
board the floating grocery, as also did Abner; that is to say, if he
slept at all, for he and the captain were busy at the house when we
retired. The quilting party, we were informed, was expected to be a
grand affair, provided, of course, there were no signs of rain; for
country people are not expected to venture out for pleasure in rainy
weather.

Captain Jabe's house, as we saw it the next morning, was a good-sized
waterside farmhouse, wide-spreading and low-roofed. The place had a sort
of amphibious appearance, as if depending for its maintenance equally
upon the land and the water. The house stood a little distance back from
the narrow beach, and in its front yard a net was hung to dry and to be
mended; a small boat, in course of repair, lay upon some rude stocks,
while bits of chain, an old anchor, several broken oars, and other
nautical accessories were scattered here and there.

At the back of the house, however, there was nothing about the barn, the
cow-yard, the chicken-yard, and the haystacks to indicate that Captain
Jabe was anything more than a thrifty small-farmer. But, farmer and
sailor as he was, Captain Jabe was none the less a grocer, and I think
to this avocation he gave his chief attention.

He took me into a small room by the side of his kitchen, and showed me
what he called his "sinkin' fund stock."

"Here, ye see," said he, "is canned fruit and vegetables, smoked and
salted meat and fish, cheeses, biscuits, and a lot of other things that
will keep. None of these is this year's goods. Some of them have been
left over from last year, some from the year before that, and some is
still older. Whenever I git a little short, I put a lot of these goods
on board and sell 'em with the discount off,--twenty per cent for last
year's stock, forty per cent off for the year before that, and so on
back. So, ye see, if I have got anythin' on hand that is five years old