or less rum, and Uncle Elihu drunk more. He had
a way of stayin' sober for a spell, and then startin' off on a regular
jamboree all by himself. He had an old flat-bottomed boat that he used
to sail 'round in, but she broke her moorin's one time and got smashed
up, so he wanted to buy another. Shadrach Wingate, Seth's granddad
'twas, tried to fix up a dicker with him for a boat he had. They agreed
on the price, and everything was all right 'cept that Uncle Elihu stuck
out that he must try her 'fore he bought her.

"So Shad fin'lly give in, and Uncle Elihu sailed over to Wellmouth in
the boat. He put in his time 'round the tavern there, and when he come
down to the boat ag'in, he had a jugful of Medford in his hand, and
pretty nigh as much of the same stuff under his hatches. He got afloat
somehow, h'isted the sail, lashed the tiller after a fashion, took a
nip out of the jug and tumbled over and went fast asleep. 'Twas a still
night or 'twould have been the finish. As 'twas he run aground on a flat
and stuck there till mornin'.

"Next day back he comes with the boat all scraped up, and says he, 'She
won't do, Shad; she don't keep her course.'

"'Don't keep her course, you old fool!' bellers Shad. 'And you tight as
a drumhead and sound asleep! Think she can find her way home herself?'
he says.

"'Well,' says Uncle Elihu, 'if she can't she ain't the boat for me.'"

Ralph laughed. "I see," he said. "Perhaps Uncle Elihu was wise. Still,
if he wanted the boat very much, he must have hated to put her to the
test."

"That's so," assented the Captain, "but 'twas better to know it then
than to be sorry for it afterwards."

Both seemed to be thinking, and neither spoke again until they came to
the grocery store, where Hazeltine stopped, saying that he must do an
errand for Mr. Langley. They said good-night, and the Captain turned
away, but came quickly back and said:

"Mr. Hazeltine, if it ain't too much trouble, would you mind steppin'
up to the schoolhouse when you've done your errand? I've left somethin'
there with Josiah, and I'd like to have you git it. Will you?"

"Certainly," was the reply, and it was not until the Captain had gone
that Ralph remembered he did not know what he was to get.

When he reached the school he climbed the stairs and opened the door,
expecting to find Josiah alone. Instead, there was no one there but
Elsie, who was sitting at the desk. She sprang up as he entered. Both
were somewhat con