e. He says he's my step-uncle 'cause he comes to our back
steps so much. But he's almost better than a real uncle," she
declared, emphatically.

The major laughed heartily and said he was sure of it. He seemed
to find the pair hugely entertaining.

"Well, good-by," he said. "I hope you and your uncle will visit us
again soon. And I hope next time no one will take him for a spy."

Jed looked mournfully at the fire. "I've been took for a fool
often enough," he observed, "but a spy is a consider'ble worse
guess."

Grover looked at him. "I'm not so sure," he said. "I imagine both
guesses would be equally bad. Well, good-by. Don't forget to come
again."

"Thank you, thank you. And when you're over to Orham drop in some
day and see Babbie and me. Anybody--the constable or anybody--will
tell you where I live."

Their visitor laughed, thanked him, and hurried away. Said Barbara
between spoonfuls:

"He's a real nice officer one, isn't he, Uncle Jed? Petunia and I
like him."

During the rest of the afternoon they walked along the beach,
picked up shells, inspected "horse-foot" crabs, jelly fish and
"sand collars," and enjoyed themselves so thoroughly that it was
after four when they started for home. The early October dusk
settled down as they entered the winding channel between the sand
islands and the stretches of beaches. Barbara, wrapped in an old
coat of Captain Perez's, which, smelling strongly of fish, had been
found in a locker, seemed to be thinking very hard and, for a
wonder, saying little. At last she broke the silence.

"That Mr. Major officer man was 'stonished when I called you 'Uncle
Jed,'" she observed. "Why, do you s'pose?"

Jed whistled a few bars and peered over the side at the seaweed
marking the border of the narrow, shallow channel.

"I cal'late," he drawled, after a moment, "that he hadn't noticed
how much we look alike."

It was Barbara's turn to be astonished.

"But we DON'T look alike, Uncle Jed," she declared. "Not a single
bit."

Jed nodded. "No-o," he admitted. "I presume that's why he didn't
notice it."

This explanation, which other people might have found somewhat
unsatisfactory, appeared to satisfy Miss Armstrong; at any rate she
accepted it without comment. There was another pause in the
conversation. Then she said:

"I don't know, after all, as I ought to call you 'Uncle Jed,' Uncle
Jed."

"Eh? Why not, for the land sakes?"

"'Cause uncles mak