mations.

"Cap'n Sears Kendrick, on deck and all taut again! Well, by the jumpin',
creepin'! If this ain't--Cap'n Sears, sir, how be you?"

His broad-brimmed, battered straw hat had fallen off in his descent from
the wagon seat, uncovering a partially bald head and a round, extremely
red face, two-thirds of which was hidden by a tremendously thick and
bristly tangle of short gray whiskers. The whiskers were now bisected by
a broad grin, a grin so broad and so ecstatic that its wrinkles extended
to the bulbous nose and the apple cheeks above.

"Cap'n Sears, sir," repeated the driver of the truck-wagon, "I'm proud
to see you on deck again, sir. Darned if I ain't!"

The captain leaned forward and shook the big red hand extended across
the fence pickets.

"Judah Cahoon, you old salt herrin'," he cried heartily, "I'm just as
glad to see you! But _what_ in the world are you doin' here in
Bayport?"

CHAPTER II

Mr. Cahoon's grin vanished and the expression of his face above the
whiskers indicated extreme surprise.

"What am I doin' here?" he repeated. "Didn't you know I was here, Cap'n
Sears?"

"Of course I didn't. The last I heard of you you had shipped as cook
aboard the _Gallant Rover_ and was bound for Calcutta, or Singapore or
somewhere in those latitudes. And that was only a year ago. What are you
doin' on the Cape and pilotin' that kind of a craft?" indicating the
truck wagon.

The question was ignored. "Didn't they never tell you I was here?"
demanded Judah. "Didn't that Joel Macomber tell you I been hailin' him
every time he crossed my bows, askin' about you every day since you run
on the rocks? Didn't he tell you that?"

"No."

"Never give you my respects nor--nor kind rememberances, nor nawthin'?"

"Not a word. Never so much as mentioned your name."

"The red-headed shark!"

"There! There! Sshh! Never mind him. Come in here and sit down a minute,
can't you? Or are you in a hurry?"

"Eh? No-o, I ain't in no 'special hurry. Just got a deck load of seaweed
aboard carting it up home, that's all."

"Home? What home?"

"Why, where I'm livin'. I call it home; anyhow it's all the home I got.
Eh? Why, Cap'n Sears, ain't they never told you that I'm livin' at the
Minot place?"

"The Minot place! Why--why, man alive, you don't mean the General Minot
place, do you?"

"Um-hm. That's what folks down here call it. There ain't no Generals
there though."

"And _you_ are livin' in the General Min