o that he
might not lose good sleep by opposing his body to the flow of magnetic
currents.

On this night he drew out from a hole in the upholstery of the couch a
bag of stenciled canvas, which chinked. It was full of money, in gold
and silver pieces. He counted it, and sat thoughtful. Later he went out
of the house and stood looking at the sea as if for a sign. But the sea
gave him no sign; and on that night at least had no voice.

It was three days before he came up with Cad Sills again. Then he spied
her at nightfall, reclining under the crab-apple tree at Hannan's
Landing.

The little man came close enough to tread on her shadow, cleared his
throat, and almost shouted:

"Did you mean what you said? Did you mean what you said, girl?"

She laughed and threw the core of an apple in his direction.

"I did when I said it, Mr. Happen-so. I did when I said it."

"I'm ready--. I'm ready now. We'll be married tomorrow, if you don't
mind."

"But will I sell my cabbages twice, I wonder? I've had a change of heart
since, if I must tell you."

"Surely not in this short space of time," Rackby gasped, dismayed.

A light throbbed in her eye. "Well, perhaps I haven't."

The storm petrel hovered high, swooped close, her lips parted. Her teeth
shone with a native luster, as if she had lived on roots and tough
things all her life. Again little Rackby felt that glow of health and
hardness in her person, as if one of the cynical and beautiful immortals
of the Greeks confronted him. He was heartily afraid of her mystifying
power of enchantment, which seemed to betray him to greater lengths than
he had dreamed. Even now perhaps all was lost.

"I will meet you tonight, then--at the top of the hill. See? By the
Preaching Tree."

She nodded her head toward the church corner. "At eight sharp, by the
west face of the clock. And, mind you, Mr. Man, not one jot late or
early."

Although he heard the quick fall of her feet in the dust grow fainter,
it pleased him not to turn. There was a prickling above his heart and at
the cords of his throat. The harbor was as blue as a map suddenly
unrolled at his feet. Clouds with a purple warp were massing in the
east.

The harbor master stared hard at the low ridge of an outlying island
where a cow had been put to pasture. The hillocky back of that lone
ruminant grew black as ink in the glow of sunset. The creature exhibited
a strange fixity of outline, as if it had been a chance configur