day she thinks we're
wadin' in dirt, boot-laig high," growled Cap'n Amazon.

"Cleanliness is next to godliness!" quoted Louise, who was in the store
at the moment.

"Land sakes!" ejaculated the captain. "It's next door to a lot of
other things, seems like, too. I shouldn't say that Bet Gallup was
spillin' over with piety."

Louise, laughing softly, went to the door. There was a cloud of dust
up the road and ahead of it came a small automobile. Cap'n Amazon was
singing, in a rather cracked voice:

"'_The Boundin' Biller, Captain Hanks,
She was hove flat down on the Western Banks_;------"

With a saucy blast of its horn the automobile flashed past the store.
There were two young women in it, one driving. Louise felt sure they
were Miss Louder and Miss Noyes, mentioned by Gusty Durgin the day
before, and their frocks and hats were all that their names suggested.

"Them contraptions," Cap'n Amazon broke off in his ditty to say, "go
past so swift that you can't tell rightly whether they got anybody to
the helm or not. Land sakes, here comes another! They're getting as
common as sandfleas on Horseneck Bar, and Washy Gallup says that's
a-plenty."

He did not need to come to the door to make this discovery of the
approach of the second machine. There sounded another blast from an
auto horn and a considerable racket of clashing gears.

"Land sakes!" Cap'n Amazon added. "Is it going to heave to here?"

Louise had already entered the living-room, bound for her chamber to
see if, by chance, Betty had finished dusting there. She did not hear
the second automobile stop nor the cheerful voice of its gawky driver
as he said to his fare:

"This is the place, ma'am. This is Cap'n Abe's."

His was the only car in public service at the Paulmouth railroad
station and Willy Peebles seldom had a fare to Cardhaven. Noah
Coffin's ark was good enough for most Cardhaven folk if they did not
own equipages of their own.

When Willy reached around and snapped open the door of the covered car
a lady stepped out and, like a Newfoundland after a plunge into the
sea, shook herself. The car was a cramped vehicle and the ride had
been dusty. Her clothing was plentifully powdered; but her face was
not. That was heated, perspiring, and expressed a mixture of
indignation and disapproval.

"Are you sure this is the place, young man?" she demanded.

"This is Cap'n Abe Silt's," repeated Willy.

"Why--it doesn't look------