bay. We must
have been a curious sight to look at. The floats was awash, so that the
automobile looked like she was ridin' the waves all by her lonesome; the
lamps was blazin' at either side of the bow; Billings was a-tootin'
the rubber fog horn as if he was wound up; and I was standin' on the
cushions amidships, keepin' the whole calabash afore the wind.

"We never met another craft the whole night through. Yes, we did meet
one. Old Ezra Cahoon, of Harniss, was out in his dory stealin' quahaugs
from Seth Andrews's bed over nigh the Wapatomac shore. Ezra stayed long
enough to get one good glimpse of us as we bust through the fog; then he
cut his rodin' and laid to his oars, bound for home and mother. We could
hear him screech for half an hour after he left us.

"Ez told next day that the devil had come ridin' acrost the bay after
him in a chariot of fire. Said he could smell the brimstone and hear
the trumpet callin' him to judgment. Likewise he hove in a lot of
particulars concernin' the personal appearance of the Old Boy himself,
who, he said, was standin' up wavin' a red-hot pitchfork. Some folks
might have been flattered at bein' took for such a famous character; but
I wa'n't; I'm retirin' by nature, and besides, Ez's description
wa'n't cal'lated to bust a body's vanity b'iler. I was prouder of the
consequences, the same bein' that Ezra signed the Good Templars' pledge
that afternoon, and kept it for three whole months, just sixty-nine days
longer than any previous attack within the memory of man had lasted.

"And finally, just as mornin' was breakin', the bows of the floats slid
easy and slick up on a hard, sandy beach. Then the sun riz and the
fog lifted, and there we was within sight of the South Ostable
meetin'-house. We'd sailed eighteen miles in that ark and made a better
landin' blindfold than we ever could have made on purpose.

"I hauled down the sail, unshipped the mast, and jumped ashore to find
a rock big enough to use for a makeshift anchor. It wa'n't more'n three
minutes after we fust struck afore my boots hit dry ground, but Billings
beat me one hundred and seventy seconds, at that. When I had time to
look at that shover man he was a cable's length from high-tide mark,
settin' down and grippin' a bunch of beach grass as if he was afeard the
sand was goin' to slide from under him; and you never seen a yallerer,
more upset critter in your born days.

"Well, I got the ark anchored, after a fashion,