r."

"I have heard that these fishermen are remarkable at drawing the long
bow."

"And Jeb is an artist."

Some of those who had listened to the fisherman's story did not accept
it with such scorn as the lobster catcher had evinced. There was a sound
of excited voices when Jeb had finished, and one young fellow with a
hunchback and a cunning face jumped up, crying:

"It ain't no lie, an' I'll swan ter that! I've seen ther old critter on
Devil Island myself, though I ain't bin tellin' much about it, fer I
knowed every dern critter on Deer Island would call me a thunderin'
liar."

"There, by huck!" cried Jeb. "Now whut do you think of that? You hear
whut Put Wiley has to say!"

"Oh, yes, we hear it," drawled Sile, who was calmly filling a black
pipe. "But Put allwus was seein' queer things that nobody else could
see. I s'pose he dreamed that he saw the demon of Devil Island."

"It waren't no dream," fiercely declared the hunchback. "I saw the
critter when I was on the island--more'n that, the varmint chased me."

"Hey?" cried several, the excitement increasing.

"I'll swan to it!" declared Put, stanchly.

"When did all this take place?" asked one of the listeners.

"Last Sunday."

"And we never heard of it before? Say, Put, I never knowed you to tell
anything crooked, but it's a big yarn you're givin' us now. If all this
happened last Sunday, why ain't you told of it afore?"

"In the fust place, 'cause I was darn scart. In the second place, 'cause
I knowed everybody'd think I was lyin'."

"How did you happen to be down there on Devil Island Sunday?"

"Last time Jerry Peg was in Bold Island harbor he said he saw a
partridge fly up on the shore of Devil Island. He went ashore an' tried
to shoot her. He didn't shoot her, but he said he scart up six or eight
others in the thick woods. He come away without gittin' one of them.
Sunday I didn't have northing to do, so I loaded up my old gun and rowed
over to Devil Island. Didn't git there till three in the afternoon.
Beached my dory an' hitched the painter to a tree. Wisht I hedn't
hitched her arterward. Took out my old gun and went up inter ther
spruces. Tramped round to ther old stone quarry one way, but didn't see
northing. Turned and tramped clean roun' to t'other end of the island.
Scart up two partridges and fired at 'em both. Knocked down the second
one. Then I chased t'other, scarin' him up and scarin' him up, but never
gittin' him, though I fired at h