Ichabod, with a boylike gesture, brushed away the tears from his eyes
with the back of his hand. Then he straightened himself, and met the
physician's kindly gaze squarely.

"Thar ain't no call for explanations when a feller's feelin's are
teched. Doc, do ye know o' some lonely codger that needs a good
housekeeper?"

The earnest question came in such startling contrast to the old man's
manner of a moment before, when he was shaken with sobs, that the Doctor
was hard put to it to restrain a burst of laughter. But by a great
effort he limited his expression of amusement to a broad smile as he
replied:

"Yes, I know one--an old retired fisherman by the name of Jones, Captain
Ichabod Jones. He's a man who has weathered many of the storms of life.
Now, as his bark is getting nearer to the last port, he needs to be less
alone." A note of very sincere sympathy had crept into the physician's
voice. "He should no longer be troubled with the cares of looking after
his own home. But, I suppose, there's no use mentioning this to the man
himself."

"Yo'r in the right church, Doc," replied the fisherman, "but ye are
approachin' the wrong pew. Ichabod Jones has proved himself this day. I
did 'low that I was gettin' sort o' decrepit like, but this mornin'
proved to me that I ain't as near all in as me and my friends thought.
Didn't I tote a human woman nigh onto a quarter of a mile without
a-hurtin' me a mite? No, sir, Doctor, I am the man that wants the job.
Them scoundrels that I saved has stole all that I had in the world to
come home to and now I'm ready to quit this island o' mine and go an'
dust out an' cook vituals for some crabbid old customer that is meaner
than me. The more he'd quarrel the more it 'ould suit fer it 'ould take
my mind off of this woman business that took place here to-day, and then
I might larn to forgit the rooster."

"Jones, I believe you're crazy!" The Doctor exclaimed half angrily. Then
he added, with a grin: "I guess I'd better give you a sedative to quiet
those overwrought nerves of yours. Then you can get inside the shack,
lie down on your bunk and doze off for a spell."

The old fisherman took the remark with all seriousness. His face grew
livid as he stared at the Doctor with widened eyes. He stretched to his
full height and spoke in a tone of tense solemnity.

"I will have you to know, Doctor Hudson, that never again will Ichabod
Jones occupy that bunk, for--God A'mighty, man!--it has be