Gayther might have thinned out all this superfluous growth himself,
but he knew the Mistress liked to do it, and he left for her gloved
hands many tangled jungles of luxuriant bloom.

The garden was old, and rich, and aristocratic. It acted generously in
the way of fruit, flowers, and vegetables, as if that were something it
was expected to do, an action to which it was obliged by its nobility.
It would be impossible for it to forget that it belonged to a fine old
house and a fine old family.

John Gayther could not boast of lines of long descent, as could the
garden and the family. He was comparatively a new-comer, and had not
lived in that garden more than seven or eight years; but in that time he
had so identified himself with the place, and all who dwelt upon it,
that there were times when a stranger might have supposed him to be the
common ancestor to the whole estate.

John understood well the mysterious problems of the tillable earth, and
he knew, as well as anybody could know, what answers to expect when he
consulted the oracles of nature. He was an elderly man, and the gentle
exercises of the garden were suited to the disposition of his mind and
body. In days gone by he had been a sailor, a soldier, a miner, a
ranchman, and a good many other things besides. In those earlier days,
according to his own account, John had had many surprising adventures
and experiences; but in these later times his memory was by far the
most active and vigorous of all his moving forces. This memory was like
a hazel wand in the hands of a man who is searching for hidden springs
of water. Whenever he wished it to turn and point in any particular
place or direction, it so turned and pointed.

THIS STORY IS TOLD BY

JOHN GAYTHER

AND IS CALLED

WHAT I FOUND IN THE SEA

I

WHAT I FOUND IN THE SEA

It was on a morning in June that John Gayther was hoeing peas, drawing
the fine earth up about their tender little stems as a mother would tuck
the clothes about her little sleeping baby, when, happening to glance
across several beds, and rows of box, he saw approaching the Daughter of
the House. Probably she was looking for him, but he did not think she
had yet seen him. He put down his hoe, feeling, as he did, that this
June morning was getting very warm; and he gathered up an armful of
pea-sticks which were lying near by.