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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/39456-8.txt b/39456-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dfaf722 --- /dev/null +++ b/39456-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5290 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Clammer and the Submarine, by William John Hopkins + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Clammer and the Submarine + +Author: William John Hopkins + +Release Date: April 15, 2012 [EBook #39456] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CLAMMER AND THE SUBMARINE *** + + + + +Produced by Bruce Albrecht, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +By William John Hopkins + + +THE CLAMMER AND THE SUBMARINE. +THOSE GILLESPIES. Illustrated. +BURBURY STOKE. +CONCERNING SALLY. +THE MEDDLINGS OF EVE. +OLD HARBOR. +THE CLAMMER. + + +_JUVENILE_ + +THE DOERS. Illustrated. +THE INDIAN BOOK. Illustrated. + + +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY +BOSTON AND NEW YORK + + + + +THE CLAMMER AND THE SUBMARINE + +BY + +WILLIAM JOHN HOPKINS + +[Illustration] + +BOSTON AND NEW YORK +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY +The Riverside Press Cambridge +1917 + + +COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY WILLIAM JOHN HOPKINS +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + +_Published September 1917_ + + + + +THE CLAMMER AND THE SUBMARINE + + + + +I + + +Down under my great pine is a pleasant place--even in April, if it is +but warm enough, and if the sun is shining, and if there is no great +wind, and if what wind there is comes from the southwest. It is not so +pleasant--I know many pleasanter--if the wind is from the northwest, +howling and shrieking as it does often in the winter, picking up the +fine snow and whirling it back, leaving the top of my bluff as clean as +though it had been swept. Such a wind roars through the ancient branches +of the pine, and twists them, and tears at them as if it would tear +them off. My pine stands sentinel-like on the top of the bluff, some +distance from the edge, and its branches have withstood the winds of +many winters. Its age must be measured in centuries, for it is a noble +great tree; and in times long past it must have had fellows standing +close. It is a forest tree, and its great trunk rises twenty feet +without a branch. But its fellows are gone, leaving no memory, and the +ancient pine now stands alone. + +From the bench built against the trunk one can see many things: the +harbor, and the opposite shore, and rolling country beyond, and distant +hills, and one hill in particular with a tree upon it like a cross, +which stands out, at certain seasons, right against the disc of the +setting sun. One can see, too, the waters of the bay beyond the harbor, +and certain clam beds just at the point, and a certain water front; and +other things in their season. Old Goodwin's palace on the hill is not +visible, except for a glimpse of red roofs above the tops of the trees. +There is one other thing which I almost forgot to mention, and that is a +hole scooped in the ground just without the shadow of the pine, and +lined with great stones. That stone-lined hole has its uses, but the +time for them is not yet. + +I was sitting on the seat under my old pine, gazing out but seeing +nothing of what lay before my eyes. And that was strange, too, for the +harbor before me was smiling under a warm spring sun, and the hills +beyond were bathed in the blue mist of summer. Indeed, it seemed like +summer. There will be cold weather in plenty, with skies gray and wet. +There is always more than enough of such weather in the first half of +May, but that day seemed like summer. I had had hard work to realize +that it was April until I looked about me and saw the grass just +greening in the moist and sheltered spots, and the trees spreading their +bare arms abroad. The buds were just swelling, some of them showing a +faint pale green or pink at their tips. And my garden was nothing but +freshly turned brown earth, not a spear of green. + +I have put in my early peas, but not very long ago. They should be +poking through, any morning now. And I planted some corn yesterday. It +may get nipped by frost, but I hope not. What would the President think, +when he found that I had let my corn get nipped by frost? I mean to do +my share--in the garden. That is not the only reason why I hope my corn +will not get nipped. It is not likely, for we do not often have frost +here so late. It is much more likely that it will be stunted by the cold +in May. But what if it does not succeed? It will only mean my planting +those two rows over again, and if it escapes I shall be just that much +ahead of the others who did not take the chance. I no longer plant my +corn in hills. Hills have gone out. Corn is planted in drills now. + +I even put in two rows of melons yesterday, but I am not telling my +neighbors about it. They would be amused at my planting melons in +April. Judson would not have been amused. Judson was a fine old man with +an open mind, and he would have been interested to see how the +experiment with melons succeeded. I should have told Judson all about +it,--he might have helped me plant,--but Judson is dead, and so is Mrs. +Judson. It is a loss for Eve and me, for a younger man lives in Judson's +house now, a younger man who is not so fine; and he has a wife and a +small girl--who pelts me with unripe pears when I venture near the +wall--and he has a talking machine which sits in the open window and +recites humorous bits in a raucous voice to the wide world. The +girl--she is not so very small, probably ten or eleven--would have +difficulty in pelting me with pears now, but she might use pebbles +instead. She is a pretty fair shot; and the talking machine is not +dependent upon season. They had the window open at that moment, and I +found myself listening for the raucous voice, while I thought of seed +potatoes--at four dollars a bushel, and scarce at that. + +So the sun shone in under the branches of the pine, and I basked in its +warmth, and I gazed out and saw nothing of what lay before my eyes, and +I thought my thoughts. They came in no particular order, but as thoughts +do come, at random: the season, and peas and corn and melons and Judson +and his successor and the girl and the talking machine and pears and +potatoes. I suppose I should not speak of such rumblings of gray matter +as thoughts, for thoughts, we are told, should come in order, and should +be always under the control of the thinker. Mine are not always under my +control, and they seldom come in order. I might as well say that they +are never under my control, but are controlled by interest of one sort +or another. I make no claim to efficiency. Efficiency is a quality of a +machine, as I take it. When our brains become machines, why, Heaven help +us! But whatever my thoughts were, whether of my planting or my +neighbor's talking machine, they revolved around one idea, and always +came back to the point they started from, which sufficiently accounts +for the fact that I was looking at the harbor and not seeing it. + +War. That was the central idea. We are at war. I looked out upon the +peaceful, smiling water and the peaceful, smiling country beyond, and +the tree like a cross upon its distant hill, and I laughed. I confess +it: What had war to do with that, or with me, or with mine? I could not +realize it. War means nothing to me. It means nothing to many people +over here, I believe, but flags flying, and parades, and brass bands, +and shouting. If we were in France now--but I am thankful that we are +not in France, and that there are two thousand and odd miles of water +between. + +As for submarines--submarines in that harbor, where they could not turn +around without getting stuck in the mud! Or in the bay, where there is +none too much water either, and ledges and rocks scattered around +impartially and conveniently here and there! I know them well: one +ledge in particular which has but one foot of water on it at low tide. +And with a sea running--well, I could lead a submarine a pretty chase. I +would if the submarine was bound for this harbor. It might choose to get +stuck in the mud and sand of my clam beds, which would make them +unproductive for years. Even as a civilian I will defend my own. + +Well, we shall see; but I cannot believe that the matter concerns us +very nearly. And I sighed softly, and smiled, and again I looked at the +harbor, and I saw it; saw it with the warm spring sun on its quiet +water, and the wooded hills beyond bathed in a blue haze. And I heard a +soft footstep behind me, and there came from above my head a low ripple +of laughter, and my head was held between two soft hands and a kiss was +dropped on the top of it. And Eve slipped down on the bench beside me. + +"Why do you sigh?" she asked. "What were you thinking of, Adam?" + +"War," I said, and she sobered quickly. Eve seems to have pacifist +leanings. I smiled at her to comfort her. "I was thinking that if a +submarine should come into this harbor, it might happen to get stuck in +my clam beds, and it would stir them all up, and would be bad for the +clams. I am afraid I should have to take a hand then. Do you suppose +your father would object to my mounting a gun on the point?--say, just +under that tree where he keeps his rubber boots?" + +She laughed, which was what I wanted. Eve is lovely when she +laughs--she is lovely always, as lovely as she was when I first saw her. +And the warm spring sun, shining in under the branches of the pine, +shone upon her hair, and it was red and gold; as red and as shining gold +as it ever was--or so it seemed to me. + +"My father would probably help you mount the gun," she said. "Shall I +ask him?" + +"I will ask him. But your hair, Eve,--" + +"Oh, my hair, stupid, is turning dark. Everybody sees it but you. But I +don't care, and I love you for it. And you must look out now, for I'm +going to kiss you." She seized me about the neck as she spoke, and she +did as she had said she would. "There!" she said, laughing. "Did +anybody see? Look all about, Adam. The mischief's done. As if a woman +couldn't kiss her husband when she wanted to! Now, I'm going to rumple +your hair." + +She proceeded to the business in hand thoroughly. + +"Eve," I cried between rumplings, "there are laws in this State--I don't +believe they have been repealed--which forbid a woman's kissing her +husband whenever she wants to. It can't be done. And--" + +"It can't be done? Oh, yes, it can." She did it. "Now, can it? +Say--quickly." + +"Yes, yes, it can, Eve. I acknowledge it. But the submarine. You +interrupted me. I had not finished." + +"Well," she asked, subsiding upon the bench and smiling up into my +face, "what about your submarine? I know of many things which I think +more important." + +"I've no doubt that there are laws against rumpling hair. There ought to +be. It's important enough. But the submarine," I added hastily, for I +saw indications of further rumpling; "I was only about to remark that if +I were out in the bay--" + +"In a boat?" Eve asked, still leaning forward and looking up into my +face with the smile lurking about her lovely eyes. + +"In a boat. If I were out in the bay, and a submarine suddenly popped up +beside me, I should feel much more inclined to offer the crew my +luncheon than to shoot them." + +"They would all line up on the deck, I suppose, and you would have your +choice." + +I laughed. "I should have no gun. Besides, I am a civilian. That is +against me. Civilians seem to have no chance worth mentioning." + +Eve was looking at me thoughtfully, and there was a look deep in her +eyes that I could not fathom. + +"You are a civilian," she said softly, "and civilians have no--and what +then, Adam? Did you think of--" + +"They don't want doddering old men of forty-three, and there is no need. +But if my clam beds were in danger I should not feel so amiable. I might +even strain a point and try to get a standing that would enable me to +shoot alien trespassers properly. But why, Eve? Did you want me to--" + +"No," she answered quickly. "Oh, no. I was only thinking." + +"I have been thinking. If we had to have a war I am glad that it has +come now. Pukkie cannot possibly go, and he might want to. How would you +like that?" + +Pukkie is our son, and he is ten years old. I knew how it would feel to +have him go. I took him off to school last fall. It is a beautiful +school, with fine men for masters, and dignified buildings and extensive +grounds, nearly three hundred acres, with woods and a lake. I wish I +could have gone to such a school. It would have done me good. I mooned +about with Pukkie, seeing his room and the other dormitories, and the +dining hall and the gymnasium and the classrooms, and the football +field, and the woods and the lake, and I tried to be cheerful, but I +did not make a success of it. I could not say much. Pukkie was silent +too. + +And all too soon it was time for me to start on my three-mile ride for +the station, and I gave him a long hug and a short kiss behind a clump +of bushes; the last kiss, I suppose, that I shall ever give my little +son. I have not forgotten how a boy of ten feels about that. And I +jumped quickly into the car, and we started. I looked back and waved to +him as long as I could see, and he waved to me once or twice. But he +looked very small, standing there in the middle of three hundred acres, +gazing after the car and waving his cap, and I almost broke down then. +It seemed almost as if I were deserting my small son among +strangers--enemies, perhaps, for he did not know a soul; my little son +who had never before been away from home a single night without Eve or +me. For Eve had taught him up to that time, and I had done what I +could,--with his Latin and the groundings of his Greek, the very +beginnings of it,--what one of my students once called the radishes. I +had not the heart to inflict science upon him. I hate it. I ought not +to, for I was bred in it, and taught it for some years, which are well +behind me. But that was small comfort to me then, and I had hard work to +keep myself in control all the way home. But Pukkie did not break down. +He may have come near it. I do not know. He has never said anything +about it. I have--to Eve. She understood. She always understands. That +is the comfort of it. + +But Eve had made no reply. She was still regarding me with that look +that I could not fathom, although I looked deep into her eyes. + +"I think I could manage it," I said, feeling strangely uneasy. + +"Manage what?" she asked. "Pukkie's going?" + +"Heaven forbid! It was that civilian business that I meant. I think I +could manage to change my condition." + +"No, no. I want you here, Adam. There is no need to change, is there?" I +shook my head, and Eve reached out and took my hand. "You need not +change--anything." + +It was as if with her love for me, she had great sorrow, and great +pity; though why I was to be pitied was beyond my understanding. I do +not regard myself as a proper subject for pity. But there are many +things beyond my understanding. Eve will enlighten me in her own good +time. And as we sat, there was another step on the grass behind us, not +soft, but hasty. And Eve unclasped her fingers from mine, and turned. It +was Ann, the nurse. + +"What is it, Ann?" Eve said. "Where's Tidda? Gone again?" + +Then Ann explained that she had but turned her back for a minute, had +gone into the house for her knitting, and come right back--had run every +step of the way going and coming--and Tidda had disappeared. Tidda is +our daughter, aged eight. Her name is not Tidda, but Eve, as it should +be. She has a propensity for running away, although I do not think that +her excursions are planned. She is a true apostle of freedom, and when +she observes that nobody is about, she regards it as an opportunity +heaven-born, and she makes the most of it. I can hardly blame her. A +girl of eight, and tied to the worthy Ann's apron strings! How should I +have liked it, at the age of eight? She would sympathize with our aims +in this war we have undertaken. But Eve had risen, and was about to go. + +"I suppose I had better stop at Cecily's," she said, "and at every house +on the road to father's. She may turn up there. Ann can stay here. I +wish," she added, laughing, "that I knew some way--" + +"I'll go with you." + +"I'd love to have you, Adam, but you'd better go around by the shore. +Meet me at father's. Good-bye." + +And she was gone, swiftly. She always has some ill-concealed anxiety +over these disappearances of Tidda's, and so, for that matter, have I. I +got up slowly and started toward the head of that steep path to the +shore; but stopped halfway, and turned and went to my shed, and got my +hoe and my rubber boots. It was yet early in the season for clamming, +but my way led past the clam beds, and the tide was almost down, and I +might at least see how they were getting on. So, my hoe and my boots in +my hand, I went down the steep path, and strode along the shore. And, as +I came nearer that place which is ever near my heart--where the sod +breaks off to the sand just above my clam beds--I thought I got a +glimpse of drapery behind a tree-trunk. There are trees there, pretty +near the edge of the three-foot bluff, the beginning of a grove which is +Old Goodwin's; and a path runs back to his house. I saw that the gleam +of white I had seen was from a white dress, a small white dress, a dress +that somehow seemed familiar; and I saw a small leg in the air, its +stocking in the process of removal. I stepped forward without caution, +and I grinned down at my small daughter. It is impossible to be cross +with her, she is always so perfectly confident of having done nothing +which she should not have done. + +So I grinned down at her, and she looked up and grinned back at me. + +"Going in wading," she announced cheerfully, continuing to push the +stocking, which did not seem to want to come off. + +"Going wading, are you? Well, don't be in a hurry, Tidda. Let's talk it +over." + +She did not relax her efforts, but she shook her head. + +"Haven't got time to talk now," she said. "Daddy, you help me get my +stockings off. They won't un-come. They're an awful bother." + +"Wait a minute." I stepped back and looked up at my bluff. There was Ann +watching me, and evidently anxious. I signalled to her that Tidda was +found--we have a code for the purpose, and Ann is letter-perfect in +it--and she signalled that she was much relieved and would find Eve and +tell her. Then she disappeared. + +I sat down beside my daughter. "Now, Tidda," I said, "there are several +good reasons why you should not go wading. The water is very cold still, +and--" + +"Pull this one, daddy," she said, ignoring my remarks, and sticking out +toward me the leg with its stocking half off. "If you take hold of the +toe and the heel and pull, it'll un-come. I can't do it, because I can't +get hold from that end." + +I laughed. + +"I was saying that the water is very cold, and that mother wouldn't want +you to go wading." + +She pointed accusingly at my rubber boots. "You're going." + +"Not necessarily. I only brought them down in case I should want to." + +"Well, I do want to." + +"If you had rubber boots and warm stockings under them--" + +"Get me some rubber boots." + +I sighed and laughed. "I will," I said, "but I can't get them this +minute. Will nothing less satisfy you? You sit here, and I'll go and see +how the clams are getting on. I will bring you one." + +She was on the verge of tears. "I was going to see how the clams were +myself. Dig 'em with a stick. I can find 'em. I've found lots." + +"What do you do with them when you've found them?" + +"We play with 'em, and we had a clambake once." + +"Were the clams good?" + +"Pretty good. There were six of 'em, one apiece and two for Ann. But +she didn't eat hers. She said they weren't done, and that she wasn't a +fish to eat raw clams. Oh, look, daddy!" + +Old Goodwin's ocean steamer was lying at her anchor, but I could see +nothing unusual about her. + +"No," said Tidda, "not grandpa's, but out that way. Is it coming in +here? It comes fast, doesn't it?" + +Set right by Tidda's pointing finger, I saw the steamer, but I could not +make out what she was, whether yacht or war vessel. She had the lines of +a torpedo boat, and was painted gray, with lines of bull's-eyes along +her sides, and no deck to speak of, where one could sit in comfort; but +plainly she was no torpedo boat, and as plainly she was not a steam +yacht of the common type. She was nearly two hundred feet long, I +judged, and of great speed. + +"It is coming here," cried Tidda in some excitement. "See! It's going +close to grandpa's." + +As she spoke the vessel rounded to an anchorage at a safe distance from +Old Goodwin's. She came at very nearly full speed, then there was a +tremendous commotion under her stern which seemed to stop her short, her +chain rattled out, and she lay quiet, the only evidence of her effort +being the white water, which spread on either side of her and for a long +distance ahead. A motor launch was lowered before her anchor touched +bottom, several men got in, and it made for Old Goodwin's landing. + +We had not heard the step behind us. + +"So here's my little girl," said Eve. "Oh! What boat is that, Adam?" + +"That is a little boat of Tidda's. She found it. But I'm glad you have +come, Eve." + +Eve laughed and sat beside me, and she began to pull Tidda's stockings +into place. But she said nothing about it, and Tidda did not notice it. +And when she had the stockings smooth on the little legs she stood her +daughter on her feet and straightened her dress with a touch. Then she +got up. + +"Come, Adam," she said, "let's go up to father's. He wants to see you. +He told me as I came down." + +And I got up without a word, and I took one of my daughter's hands in +mine, and Eve took the other, and Tidda danced along between us on the +path all the way up through the grove to the great house. And I looked +at Eve, and I smiled a smile of content, and she smiled back at me. Then +her smile changed to one of amusement as she saw what was in my other +hand, and I looked, and I was carrying my old battered boots and my clam +hoe. But Old Goodwin would not mind. + + + + +II + + +Old Goodwin saw us coming from afar, Eve and me and our daughter, and he +ambled down to meet us. He gave me his old slow smile of peace. + +"You see," I said, holding up my boots and my clam hoe, "I'm getting +flustered. I didn't know I had them. I should have left them at the +shore." + +"I see," he said. "Let me take them, Adam. You will need these. But +perhaps you had better take them with you. You might forget again." + +"I'll hang them on my watch chain. But Tidda ran away again." + +"I know," he said. Tidda had run to him, and was clinging to his hand. +He stooped and swung her up to his shoulder. She has got to be a heavy +load for a man's shoulder, and he an old man. But Old Goodwin did not +look like an old man. "I wish Pukkie were here," he said, "to balance." + +"We wish he were--to balance. It is less than two months now, and he +will be." + +"Put her down, father," said Eve. "She is heavy." + +"I like her up here," he said, "where she is near. I'll put her down if +she gets too heavy." + +And he led the way to the house, and up the steps, and through various +sections of piazza, each with its tables and chairs and cushions, to +that ample section on the water side, with its telescope and its view of +the bay. There, before us, were the ocean steamer of Old Goodwin and +the new arrival, as yet unknown to me; and beside us was Mrs. Goodwin, +and as I turned to greet her I saw a girl sitting beside her, but a +little withdrawn and in the deeper shadows. In the glance I gave, I saw +only that she was of pleasing countenance, and quiet eye that seemed to +take in all that passed, and mouth with little curves of humor about the +corners, and she had hair of the colors of Eve's great beaver muff. +There are beautiful colors in that beaver muff. Introductions followed. +I missed her name, as I always miss new names; and before the +introductions were well over, there trooped in Jimmy Wales, and Bobby +Leverett, and a young fellow whom I did not know, all in uniform of one +sort or another, and Tom Ellis, whom I did know. He lives almost across +the road from me. + +More introductions followed; but when it came the turn of the young +fellow whom I did not know, the girl laughed, and held out her hand. + +"Hello, Jack," she said with evident satisfaction. "I had no idea that I +should see you here." + +"Nor I you," he replied. "But aren't you glad? I am." + +And she laughed again, and bade him wait and see. + +The young fellow's name was Jack Ogilvie. And when I had found that out +we drifted into chairs, and began to ask questions. I was next to Bobby, +who is a cousin of Eve's. + +"What boat is that, Bobby?" + +"Rattlesnake," said Bobby. "She was the Ebenezer, but they changed it. +Too bad, when we had a name that just fitted. We're in the navy now, you +know. We're all U.S.N.R.F., Class four. The Ebenezer belonged to Jimmy +and me, but the Rattlesnake belongs to the U.S. We offered it to them, +and they took it so quick it almost took our breath away. She makes +thirty miles an hour easy, and a little better if we drive her. You know +that I'm a partner of Jimmy's now." + +I nodded. Seven years ago he was office boy, just out of college. + +"Any clams on this piazza, Adam?" Bobby asked. "I see--" + +"Yes," I interrupted, "anybody might. These boots are not invisible. I +wish they were. Neither is the clam hoe. Circumstances beyond my +control, Bobby,--But what is Jimmy?" + +"Jimmy? Oh, Jimmy's lieutenant commander." + +"And you are an admiral?" + +"Well, no. They offered me that rank, of course, but I thought I'd +rather be under Jimmy. I'm a lieutenant. Ogilvie'll be an ensign as soon +as he's of age. They don't often give commissions to fellows until they +are twenty-one. He's not through college yet." + +"Chasing submarines, Bobby? How many periscopes have you shot off?" + +Bobby laughed. "That information I am unable to impart, Adam. +Undoubtedly it would give comfort to the enemy. But we shall be chasing +submarines pretty soon. That is to be our job, so far as we know now. We +have a number of chasers under our command. Personally, I'd like to be +in patrol work out in the steamer lanes. Our boat is too good for this +in-shore work. You know the Smith saw a submarine a week or two ago." + +I shook my head. I have no faith in that report. Everybody has been +seeing submarines from Eastport to the Gulf. + +"We picked up Ogilvie at Newport," Bobby continued. "I knew him, and +he'd been doing police duty there, and going through training that he +knew as well as his alphabet; nothing that was any mortal use. So I +asked for him, and he was transferred. They don't seem to get on very +fast at Newport with our fellows. I don't know why. They have more boats +than they are using, but most of them are small and slow, and they have +been busy with men for the regular navy. I suppose they'll get around +to the rest of them in time. We are going to have good big chasers some +time soon." + +"Ah, Bobby, but when? I could give you some statistics of our navy, but +I won't, for I don't believe you'd stay. I have been reading an article +packed full of valuable information which ought to be of some comfort to +the enemy. It seems that nearly all of our vessels are old or slow or +both--or they are in reserve in one form or another, without full crews; +and we have no submarine chasers--literally none that would be of any +use in chasing. We shall not get any before next January, and then only +a beggarly hundred or so. It looks pretty bad, Bobby. We might as well +surrender at once." + +Bobby smiled. "I know where you got that dope. I saw it too, and I +wonder what good the chap thinks he is doing by making out that we have +gone to the dogs. He's a knocker. Pay no attention to him, Adam. I have +faith that all our navy men aren't fools. There may even be one or two +who know almost as much as he does. You ought to conduct a few patriotic +meetings. And be a speaker, Adam. You could make glorious speeches. I'd +come." + +"Flags flying,--to the great advantage of the Bunting Trust,--and 'The +Star Spangled Banner' sung several times, and you'd have to stand with +your hat off, and take cold in early May, and hear every man in the +county who has ever held office give the history of the country, and +Washington's Farewell Address, and Lincoln's Gettysburg Speech delivered +by a talented young lady from our high school,--if we had one,--and +brass bands, and parades, and me for drum-major, I suppose, Bobby. +Buncombe! There wouldn't be an able-bodied man in the glorious +assemblage--except the band and the speakers. Humbug and buncombe! True +patriotism doesn't go about waving the flag and shouting. Patriotic +meetings are essentially for women and children." + +Bobby laughed delightedly. "Noble sentiments, Adam. But I wish you +would." + +I shook my head. "Never," I said. "But I could give you some hints for +your submarine chasing. You could put them in as your own ideas too. I +promise not to dispute your claims." + +"I'm a little shy of your hints, but fire away." + +"Well, this is my best. I have others, but they are too obvious. First +you would have to set a spindle on Great Ledge, a spindle with a +capacious cage at the top. Another one on Sow and Pigs, and one on Hen +and Chickens, and on Devil's Bridge. Then, when there were some +submarines over here,--Germany says there are none now, and I believe +it,--when they came, put a live pig in each of the cages. It's in the +nature of baiting the trap, you see. All you'd have to do would be to +sit tight, and remove the wrecks. They'd all pile up on those ledges. +Germans can't resist the lure of pig." + +"That's not a half bad idea, Adam," Bobby said. "Of course it might be +necessary to renew the bait or feed the pig, but that would be easy; and +pig is pretty high just now. There's a good pun there, but I'll leave it +to you.--Jimmy!" + +Jimmy was talking to the girl whose name I did not yet know, but he +turned at Bobby's hail. + +"Jimmy," Bobby said, "Adam's just given me a most valuable hint for +trapping submarines. Here it is in all its beauty." And he proceeded to +give my idea in more detail than I had done, adding some more ledges +which appealed to him as likely spots, Watch Hill Ledge, to the east of +Fisher's Island being one, I remember. "You forgot that, Adam. It would +be a crackerjack, almost level with the water. In any sea at all, and +the tide right, the water opens every little while and shows the rock. +It's fearsome." + +"Is Adam going to leave all the work of danger," asked Jimmy, "to us?" + +"Yes," Bobby cried, "that's what I want to know. Like baiting the traps, +you know. It'll be no snap to get the pigs into their cages." + +"You can't expect to have all your problems solved for you, Bobby," I +said. "You would always have the benefit of my counsel, and giving +counsel to you and Jimmy is not without its dangers. Besides," I added, +modestly I hope, "I did have something else in mind. In addition to the +arduous toil of tilling the soil--" + +"Cut that," said Bobby. "As if you didn't always till the soil!" + +"In addition to that," I continued with dignity, "I thought of +organizing a company to protect some of our most valuable property here. +It would be a sort of Home Guard. Submarines, if they escaped the traps +and the hawk eyes of the patrol fleet, and the stings of the wasps, +might get into the harbor. Then they would surely get aground, possibly +on my clam beds, and they would ruin the dispositions of my clams. So I +thought of mounting a gun on the point--with Mr. Goodwin's +permission--and enrolling all here present in the Clam Beds Protective +Company, of which I should be captain." + +Old Goodwin applauded the idea at once, but as well as I could judge in +the confusion which followed, Jimmy and Bobby and Tom Ellis were not of +the same mind. + +Finally Tom made himself heard. "What I want to know, Adam," he asked, +"is where do we come in? I think I voice a general question." + +"I was about to nominate Mr. Goodwin for colonel,--honorary, if he +prefers,--and Jimmy for adjutant, and Bobby and Mr. Ogilvie for +lieutenants. Those posts would have to be honorary also, unless the navy +could be prevailed upon to assign them to that duty. I don't see that +there is anything left for you, Tom, but to be the private. It would be +a highly honorable office. You would be the only private." + +"I say," Tom protested, "I like that! But I have an idea. What about +the Susies who sew shirts for soldiers? Aren't you going to give them a +chance?" + +Eve interrupted at this point. I was glad to have her. + +"Oh, yes, he will," she said. "I promise that he will." + +"Seems to me that Eve ought to be elected captain," Tom observed. "But +perhaps it isn't necessary. She will be anyway." They all laughed at +that--all but me and Ogilvie. Eve noticed that. I did not see anything +ridiculous about the idea. I am glad to serve under Eve, and everybody +knows it. + +"I will enroll Cecily," Tom pursued; "but, Adam, make me a sergeant, +won't you?" he added in a hoarse whisper. "I want to have some authority +over her." + +"I'll see about it. I shall have to think it over, and perhaps get some +advice." And Tom turned at once to Eve, and whispered, and she smiled +and nodded. + +"The uniform, Adam?" asked Old Goodwin. "Don't put us to any unnecessary +expense." + +"I was about to speak of that. I have brought some samples with me." And +I held up my boots and my clam hoe. + +Old Goodwin smiled. "That is very satisfactory." He looked at Tom. "If +anybody prefers a rake for arms, I suppose there would be no objection, +Adam?" + +I shook my head. Then there were objections from Jimmy and Bobby, on the +ground that they would have to buy boots and hoe, and that the boots +would be new and not in keeping. But I said that, as their offices were +honorary, they would not have to provide themselves with uniforms, and +they could go clamming in their naval uniforms if they liked. I should +not object. + +"Well," said Bobby thoughtfully, "we have boots and slickers and +sou'westers. Perhaps they will do. When is the first meeting of our +company--at the clam beds, Adam?" + +I told him that it was a trifle early for that yet. It would be as soon +as I thought it safe for the clams. Then a thought struck me. + +"How does it happen," I asked, "that a patrol boat can be coming in +here--for all the world like a yacht--and all its officers come ashore, +as if they had nothing to do?" + +Eve had been silent for some minutes, occupied with her daughter, who +stood silent beside her. Tidda had been strangely quiet. + +"Yes, Bobby," said Eve, "account for yourself. What are you here for? It +is not for nothing." + +"Sh! The movements of shipping are not to be reported. But I don't mind +telling you, Eve, that we regard this as a base, in a sense. I came +because my superior officer ordered it. I don't know his reasons, but I +surmise that he hoped that some of you people would be charitable enough +to ask us to dinner." + +Jimmy grinned, and Old Goodwin smiled, but he said nothing. Jimmy Wales +and Bobby are especial favorites of his, and Bobby is his nephew. + +"I speak," said Eve, "for Mr. Ogilvie. You can't come, Bobby. You'll +have to stay here with Jimmy." + +"Oh, I say, Eve!" + +"No. You may bring Mr. Ogilvie within sight of the house, and show it to +him." She turned to Ogilvie. "You'll come?" she asked, holding out her +hand. + +Ogilvie seems a nice young chap. He bowed very prettily over Eve's hand, +and said something nice, I am sure, for I was watching Eve's face. I can +tell always. And Ogilvie smiled, and Eve got up to go, and I got up too, +of course, and Jimmy and Bobby and everybody got up one at a time, as if +it were a prayer-meeting. It broke up the party to have Eve go. Eve's +going is very apt to break up any party. + +Bobby came out with us through the interminable series of piazzas. + +"I say," he whispered, "who's the new girl, Adam? Do you know?" + +I shook my head. "I didn't hear her name, Bobby, and I don't know +anything about her. She is attractive." + +"M-m. I'll ask Eve." + +Eve said that the girl's name was Elizabeth Radnor, but she knew nothing +about her, and had never heard of her before. "But," she added, "why +don't you ask Jimmy?--or Mr. Ogilvie? He knew her before." + +"So he did. Good idea, Eve. I will. But Jimmy ought to be ashamed of +himself. He's married, and I might tell Madge. We never know what we +might do." + +Eve laughed at him. "Did you think you could worry Margaret?" + +"I thought perhaps I could worry Jimmy. But he doesn't worry much." We +were at the head of the steps. "Well, good-bye, hard heart, spurning the +beggar from your door. I hope your conscience will give you no rest." + +Eve laughed again, and Tidda piped up a good-bye, and Bobby turned back. +And, by the time we had reached the bottom of the steps, Old Goodwin had +caught us, and had taken Tidda's hand. + +"I thought I'd better come, Adam," he said, "and see about the +emplacement for that gun." + +So we wandered down to the bank, where the sod breaks off to the sand, +and we lingered there, saying nothing and watching the sun get lower. +And the day, that had been as warm as summer, grew somewhat chill as +the sun sank nearer to the bearded hills, and our daughter was restless +and wanted to go home. So we wended along the shore, and Old Goodwin +left us, and we went up the steep path that leads to my bluff, and there +we found Ogilvie under my pine, standing silent and looking out over the +harbor to the west. + +Ogilvie was modest and unassuming and pleasant. He spoke when he was +spoken to, and sometimes when he was not, but he did not volunteer +anything about himself, although he was very ready to answer questions. +Eve succeeded in finding out something about him without seeming to try. +He went down to Newport about the first of April. Naturally enough, he +seemed a little disappointed that the authorities at Newport had not +seemed to be ready for him, and that his preparation had been largely a +waste of time. He had been four days on a watch boat, guarding Newport +harbor, piloting vessels in through the nets, and incidentally, one very +thick night, carrying away the mooring buoys of one of the nets; then he +had been put on police duty in Newport, running in drunken sailors, or +just walking back and forth on his beat, trying to keep awake. Then +there had been more drill, and he had been transferred to the +Rattlesnake. + +Then we talked of books, the theatre, and gardening, in which he had had +experience. My heart warmed to him, and we discussed corn and melons and +asparagus and peas and beans and squashes and cucumbers and chard and +okra and such like for more than an hour. From them we progressed to +more intimate things, when suddenly a noise started just outside the +window, and he rose with a smile, saying that it was a noise of Jimmy +and Bobby singing "Poor Butterfly," and he supposed it meant that he +must go. And he thanked us very nicely, and went out into the night. I +went with him and asked them in, but they assured me that I was an +ungrateful wretch, and they would have nothing to do with me and my +invitation. + +So they went off down my steep path to the shore, still singing "Poor +Butterfly," I suppose, although I am unfamiliar with modern classics. +And Eve came out and joined me, and we heard them going along the +shore, stumbling over great pebbles, and the poor butterfly fluttering +off into the distance. And when we could hear no more of it we went in, +and I shut the door as softly as I could, but the sound of its shutting +went booming through the house; and I smiled as I blew out the candles, +and I was smiling still as Eve took my hand in hers and we mounted the +stairs together. + + + + +III + + +Joffre was in Boston on Saturday, the 12th of May. Viviani also was +there, and some others, but the marshal, the hero of the Marne, was the +attraction. Eve acknowledged as much to me on the evening before the +event. + +"I do want to see him," she said, "and I suppose you'll think it +foolish, but I'm going up. Probably I shall cry when I see him. Adam," +she added somewhat wistfully, "you don't want to go, I suppose? Father +will take us in his car--the new one." + +That about the "new one" was plainly nothing more than bait. + +"Why should I want to go," I said, "except to go with you? I always +want to do that. And I should be glad to be with your father, but no +more in his new one than on our bank at the shore. Not so much. There is +much to do here. Why should I want to go, Eve? I don't want to cry." + +She laughed. "No reason, Adam, unless it is to stir your imagination." + +"My imagination is stirred sufficiently here. You know that I detest +crowds, and parades. And I was going to plant again to-morrow." + +She sighed softly, and smiled adorably. "Well, Adam, plant then. I knew +it would bore you to go. The middle of a crowd watching a parade is no +place for you. I should love to have you with me, but I think you had +better not come. I don't want _you_ to cry." And she laughed a little, +unsteadily. + +"I might," I said somewhat gruffly. "It is conceivable. But there is +one thing. I hate to speak of it. Your father ought not to go off on +these long trips any more without a chauffeur. There may be hard work to +do, and he is--not young, Eve. Besides--" + +"He is going to take a chauffeur," said Eve, interrupting me hurriedly. +"I think it almost breaks his heart to acknowledge it, but he realizes +that he ought to. Of course that wouldn't make any difference about your +going." + +I shook my head. It was no part of my objection that I might be called +upon to do some hard work. I had planned to do a good deal of hard work +at home. + +So Eve set off about eleven the next morning alone with her father and +the chauffeur. Old Goodwin was in the driver's seat, and it did not seem +likely that the chauffeur would have anything to do. And I stood in my +garden clothes, leaning on my hoe, and waved a good-bye to them, feeling +half regretful and wholly self-reproachful; and Eve made her father +stop, and she called me, and I came running, and she leaned out and +kissed me, and she went off smiling. I looked after them, and they had +not gone more than a hundred yards or so when they stopped again, and +Tom Ellis and Cecily came out of their door and got into the back seat +with Eve. And I smiled, and turned, and went back to my garden, thinking +that the best of women--and I gave a little start, for it had occurred +to me that the chauffeur was a Frenchman. And I wondered if they--but +of course they did. Such things do not happen by accident--with Old +Goodwin and Eve. + +It was cold for the season. It had been cold and wet for three weeks, +and my corn was not up, nor my melons that I had put in three weeks +before, nor my beans. My experiment with melons has not yet been a +failure if it has not been a success this year. I was doubtful about the +corn, so I dug up a kernel, and I found it sprouted, and I put it back +and covered it. My peas were up, and doing bravely, and the beans were +about breaking through, for the earth was cracked all along the rows. +And I got out my sections of stout wire fencing, and put them in place +along the rows of peas. They take the place of pea-brush, and are much +easier to put up and to take down. The fencing is fastened to stout +posts, and the posts have pieces of iron, about a foot and a half long, +shaped much like a marlin-spike, bolted to them for driving into the +ground. I can take my sledgehammer and drive the posts, and get a row of +peas wired in a tenth the time needed to set brush, and the fencing is +much less expensive, in the long run. My fences have done service for +thirteen years already, and they are perfectly good. + +So I fussed around among the peas, and planted more corn and more beans, +and more melons, and a row of chard, and two rows of okra, and some +other things. I often think that the place for tall green okra is the +flower garden. The blossoms are beautiful, delicate things, more +beautiful than most of the hollyhocks. And now and then I stopped my +planting--a man has to rest his back--and I leaned on my hoe or my rake +or whatever I happened to have in my hand, and I thought my thoughts. +They were many, and they were not, at such moments, of my planting. + +The harbor was almost empty still. There was but one fisherman's boat +and two motor boats, little fellows, not suited to patrolling. And the +sky was gray, and getting darker, and the winter gulls flying across, +and wheeling and screaming harshly. Occasionally a gull beat across my +garden, flying low and screaming his harsh note. I watched them, and +envied them until I saw a fish-hawk sailing high up among the clouds. +Then I envied him: his calmness and serenity, and his powers of wing and +eye, seeing the swimming fish from that height, and perfectly secure. +Then, naturally enough, I thought of aeroplanes, sailing and circling +like the great hawk, and seeing their prey as surely as he. I never had +the slightest wish to go up in an aeroplane. The hawk seems secure in +his sailing, the aeroplane does not, and I may envy the hawk while +shrinking unaccountably from the aeroplane. But if they can see the +submarine from up there, and can pounce upon it as surely as the hawk +strikes his fish--well, if we had a plague of submarines, it would be a +comfort to see a hawk now and then. And I thought of Jimmy Wales and +Bobby Leverett and Ogilvie searching the waters for that which was not. + +Jimmy has put in here every few days. It is hard to see why, but we have +seen a good deal of Ogilvie and Bobby, and Bobby has seen more or less +of Elizabeth Radnor. She is still rather a mystery to me, a girl that +Mrs. Goodwin chanced upon somewhere, and took a great fancy to. That is +not strange, that Miss Radnor should have been fancied, but it is +strange that Mrs. Goodwin should have taken the fancy, and that she +should have asked her here for an indefinite stay. Mrs. Goodwin did not +use to fancy obscure teachers of athletics or gymnastics or dancing in +girls' schools, and Miss Radnor is or was something of the kind. She may +be giving lessons in dancing to Mrs. Goodwin for all I know--or to +Bobby. It is not of much consequence. If Bobby should really come upon +submarines, it would be of little consequence to him. + +Thinking upon submarines, there came into my head the account that I had +just seen in the London "Times" of the capture of a submarine by a +trawler. As I recollect it, the trawler was going about her business in +the North Sea--a business not unconnected with submarines--when suddenly +a submarine began to emerge from the deep just ahead. The trawler put on +all the speed she had time for, and rammed the submarine amidships, +sliding up on its body half her length, so that the captain found +himself well-nigh stranded near the periscope. Whereupon he called for +an axe, and smashed that periscope into scrap iron and fragments of +glass. The trawler then slid off, and the submarine opened, and the crew +poured forth upon her deck and forthwith surrendered, and the trawler +towed them into an English port. Thinking upon this, I laughed aloud to +the gulls and the hawk. I had refrained from going to Boston to have my +imagination stirred by looking at a parade and listening to the bands! + +To stir my imagination! I had but to picture to myself the destroyer +fight in the Channel on the night of April 20, two English destroyers, +Swift and Broke, against six German destroyers, in the darkness of a +black night; a five-minute battle, but those five minutes crowded full. +Ramming, torpedoing, repelling boarders, fighting with pistols and +cutlases and bayonets, responding to a treacherous call to save--it was +all worthy of the times of Drake. Stir my imagination! I found myself +starting forward and brandishing the hoe, my breath coming fast, and my +eyes, I have no doubt, flashing fire. I laughed again. It was raining. +It had been raining, I suppose, for five minutes at least, and I had not +known it. I gathered up my tools, put them in the shed, and went into +the house to change my clothes, and to consume my pint of milk, while my +daughter, opposite me, consumed hers--and some other things besides. + +After luncheon I put on my rubber boots and went out. It was still +raining, a good hard drizzle from the southeast. It suited me well +enough, and I wandered the shores all the afternoon, or stood in the +shelter of a tree and looked out over the bay. I liked it. There is +something soothing and at the same time stirring in such a day and such +a place. There was a good heavy breeze, and the seas marched, and the +sound of their breaking, and the fresh wet wind on my cheek, and the +gray veil of rain over the rolling water, with not a sail or so much as +a smudge of smoke in sight--well, it is hardly worth while to say how it +affects me. Those who feel as I do will not need to be told, and for +those who do not it would be useless. But man seems a little thing, and +the affairs of man of no importance--absolutely none. + +As the afternoon wore on, the drizzle became less and finally stopped, +although it was still gray. And then the clouds began to break, and I +wandered homeward along the shore, and I climbed the steep path, and sat +me on the seat under my great pine, where I could see the water and the +sun when he was ready to show his face. A long time I sat there, and I +heard no sound from the harbor except the screams of the gulls, and no +sound from the land except the sound of the wind blowing among the +needles of the pine above my head. And at last the gulls were gone, and +the sun peeped out from under the edge of the ragged and scudding cloud, +and I felt a gentle touch upon my arm. And I turned my head and looked, +and there was Pukkie; Pukkie, my little son, my well-beloved. + +I put both arms around him, and I hugged him shamelessly. I was glad to +feel that he hugged me in turn, and hugged me hard. Usually I put my arm +around him gently and surreptitiously, for I would not draw his +attention to the act. I dread the time when he will shrink from my +embraces; but that time does not seem to have come yet. + +"Oh, Pukkie!" I cried. "My dear little son, where in the world did you +come from?" + +He laughed delightedly. "From school," he said; and he nestled against +me. + +"But how did you get here? Your mother went--but have you seen her? +Where is she?" + +He glanced up over my shoulder, and smiled. "Turn around, daddy." + +And there came from over my head a low ripple of laughter, and I looked +up into Eve's lovely, smiling face. She slipped down upon the seat +beside me, and I reached out for her hand, that was already reaching out +for mine, and her fingers clasped mine close. + +"My goodness, Eve," I said, "but I'm glad to have you back--and Pukkie." + +"You're no gladder to have me than I am to get back. I don't ever want +to go anywhere without you, Adam. But I've seen him--seen Joffre--and I +waved with all my might, and I cried. I knew I should." + +"And Pukkie?" + +"Oh, father stopped for him on the way up. He said until the end of the +year was too long to wait, and he'd bring him back in two days. The +headmaster didn't want to let him go, but father generally has his way. +And it began to rain, but we didn't mind." + +"And when you saw Joffre you wept?" + +"Not exactly. There was a young fellow standing in the crowd quietly, +with his arm in a sling. He was hardly more than a boy, and he looked +sick. He had beautiful sombre eyes, with a look in them that--well, as +if he had seen so much, and as if he did not quite understand. You +should have seen his eyes. Like a wild thing. And when Joffre came, I +thought he would go crazy. He waved his cap frantically, and the tears +just streamed out of his eyes, and you should have heard him. Joffre +heard, and saw, and he leaned out of the car, and he saluted that boy. +My! That boy was proud. You can guess--that was when I cried. And we got +him into the car with us. He didn't look able to go far. He was a +soldier who had been with the Canadians over there, a Frenchman by +birth. He told us a little about it, but he didn't seem to want to talk. +He had been wounded, and sick, and had come back over here on sick leave +or something of the kind. And he and Lejeune, the chauffeur, got to +talking, and we took him home. He wants to get back into the fighting as +soon as he can. And when he got out, Lejeune got out too. He was going +to enlist." + +"Left you on the spot?" + +Eve laughed. "Yes," she said, "but I rather guess that it wasn't +unexpected. I shouldn't be surprised if that was what father took him +for. At any rate, father just smiled, and gave them both his blessing, +and told Lejeune to come back when the war was over. And he gave him +some money, and said that they could divide it between them." + +"How much, I wonder?" + +"I don't know how much, but a good deal, considerably more than a +hundred dollars. He had a note already written, too, a 'character,' as +the maids call it, saying that he was a good chauffeur. Then Tom--he had +been getting uneasy--said that he wanted to be in on this too, but he +wasn't so well prepared as father. And he gave them all he had with him, +except a dollar or two. That was too much for the French boy, and he +waved his cap again, and cried, '_Vive la France! Vive l'Amérique!_' +with the tears streaming down his face again. And I cried some more, and +so did Cecily. Oh, I had a lovely time, Adam." + +Eve was laughing again, and pressing closer to me. "That French boy was +a machinist before he went to the war, and Lejeune is a good chauffeur, +and I shouldn't wonder if they'd both get into driving when they get +over there. I hope so. But he wasn't thinking of that, the French boy. +He is ready to go back, when his time comes, and meet his fate with a +high heart. With a high heart, Adam. Oh," she cried, "don't you think it +is stirring--just a little--to the imagination? Don't you?" And she gave +me a little shake. + +I nodded soberly, and hugged Pukkie closer. "I rejoice, Eve," I said +irrelevantly, "that Pukkie is not yet eleven." + +Eve did not reply directly. Her eyes filled with tears, and she drew +Pukkie around between us. "I suppose it is selfish," she said. "If a +French machinist goes--only about eight or nine years older than +Pukkie--and can stir me all up with the idea of it--why--" + +She did not finish, so I did not know what she would have asked. But I +could guess. + +"War is wicked," I said. "There is no novelty in that idea. But if a +wicked war is started, it may be more wicked to keep out of it than to +go in, and there may be more misery involved in keeping out than in +going in. I don't know about this one, and I don't believe that anybody +knows. One thing I do know, and that is that wars will continue to occur +at intervals as long as human nature is what it is. Man is a fighting +animal. When he ceases to be, the time of his fall will have arrived. I +have spoken." + +Eve laughed merrily. "But you have not finished. Go on, oracle." + +"No more from the oracle. Only a purely personal observation. I could go +into the fighting with a sort of a titillation--an unholy joy in +fighting for its own sake, quite apart from any feeling for any cause. I +believe that that is the feeling which animates most men who volunteer +to fight. Of course they choose their side from conviction. At least, it +is to be hoped that they do. But as for the actual combat, there is a +joy in the fight--why, that alone accounts for all our games, at +bottom." + +Eve was looking at me doubtfully. "But, Adam," she said slowly, "you +don't mean to--you aren't going to--" + +I shook my head. "I have no such intention. Make your mind easy. I have +a dependent family. I don't know what you would do without my efforts to +support you. It would be a terrible misfortune if you were cast upon +your father's shoulders. You might starve." + +Eve seemed to be amused. But Pukkie had been getting uneasy, and he +began to squirm. Then he seized my arm. + +"Look, daddy. See that big schooner. I never saw her before. What is +it?" + +I looked. A great white schooner was headed in, and she was almost at +the entrance of the harbor. The wind had fallen light with the approach +of the sun to his setting; the schooner had all her light sails set and +came on fast. Suddenly the light sails began to come off, slacking down, +wrinkling, and gathered in, and stowed, as a man would take off his +coat. Before one was well in another would start slacking down, +wrinkling, gathered in, and stowed, almost as fast as I tell it. That +meant a big crew well trained. All her kites were stowed, and she began +rounding into the wind, letting her jibs go as she came around. She shot +a long way, but stopped at last, and her chain rattled out, and she +began to drift astern. Then her foresail came down steadily, and before +it was down, sailors swarmed out upon the footropes of the mainboom, and +the great mainsail began to come down, slowly and steadily, gathered in +as it came by the men upon the footropes. By the time all her chain was +paid out, and she was finally at rest, all her sails were furled, and +they were getting out the covers. + +A shining mahogany launch was dropped into the water, run back to the +gangway, and a girl ran lightly down the steps. + +"Elizabeth Radnor," said Eve, wondering. "What can she be doing there?" + +"Perhaps the owners take lessons in dancing," I suggested. + +Eve smiled. "She gives lessons in swimming too," she said. + +A man followed Miss Radnor. He seemed strangely familiar. + +"Bobby!" cried Eve. "I think it's funny. I'm sure it's Bobby." + +I was sure it was Bobby. It might be funny, but it was not strange. The +launch made for Old Goodwin's landing at forty miles an hour. + + + + +IV + + +I lay against the bank above my clam beds, with my hands clasped behind +my head, and I gazed up at the whitish blue of the sky, and at the +little floating clouds flecking the blue, and at an occasional herring +gull flying across my field of vision with moderate wing-beats and with +no apparent object, and at the procession of screaming terns busy at +their fishing. For the terns have come, which always marks the change of +season for me, but the winter gulls have not all gone. And I looked at +the tree over my head, and I cast back over the years. I could see the +tree merely by raising my eyes, without raising my head. + +That tree has associations and a history: for under that tree Eve stood +the fifth time that I saw her,--I remember each time,--and it was +raining, a hard drizzle from the southeast, and the water dripped from +her wide felt hat, and shone upon her long coat, and she was smiling. So +that tree has associations for me--and for Eve as well, I believe. And +sundry pairs of rubber boots have been hung in a crotch of it, both +Eve's, and at a somewhat later time, Old Goodwin's; wherefore it has a +history. And here, too, just where my head was pillowed, Eve had sat but +a scant two hours after I had found her out,--I had thought she was a +governess in Old Goodwin's house,--and she had set us both right for +ever. And now there were many happy years behind us, and more happy +years ahead of us, and there were Pukkie and Tidda; but most of all +there was Eve. + +So I lay and drank in the sunshine, and basked in its warmth, and my +mind was a blank save for these pleasant musings. My poor little son! +All of the Sunday that he was here--two days ago--it rained hard. He did +not seem to mind it, but dragged me out in it--he had not such hard work +to get me out. I like the wet well enough, but we have had a long +stretch of cold and wet. But he got me out, and wandered the shore, clad +in his rubber coat, and his rubber boots, and his little sou'wester, and +he watched the white schooner; but on the schooner there was no sign of +life save some sailors standing like statues in their dripping +oilskins, and a man in a pea-jacket and faded old blue cap, who paced +back and forth at the stern, or stood still by the rail for long +periods, and then took up his pacing again. And Pukkie looked up at me +and asked whether I thought he was the captain or the mate, and would +have gone out there in one of Old Goodwin's boats, with me to help him +row. But I refused. It is wet and uncomfortable rowing in a pouring +rain; better standing. + +And he would go up to his grandfather's in the hope of finding Bobby +Leverett. So we went, and we found Bobby sitting on the piazza with the +telescope and Miss Radnor; and Pukkie bearded Bobby in his chair, and +asked him point-blank what he had been doing in that schooner. We had +told Pukkie about the Rattlesnake, and Jimmy Wales and Ogilvie. + +And Bobby grinned at my son, and answered him, if you call it an answer. + +"Sorry not to be able to tell you, Puk, old chap," he said, "but you +know we are enjoined not to publish information of the movements of +vessels, and the plans of the navy are a dead secret. It might give +information to the enemy." And he pointed at me. + +"Do you know the plans of the navy?" asked Pukkie. + +Bobby laughed, and so did Miss Radnor. "I refuse to answer," said Bobby, +"on the ground that it would incriminate me. We may have been out +baiting our traps. Ask your father about it." + +"I don't believe the navy has any plans," I said, "so far as you are +concerned. They just want to make you think that you are busy." + +"Treason!" Bobby cried loudly. "Treason! I'm afraid it's my duty to lay +charges against you, Adam." + +"And I," I retorted, "will expel you from membership in the Clam Beds +Protective Company--if you persist." + +"There!" said Miss Radnor. "How will you like that, Mr. Leverett?" + +"I'll have to give in," Bobby replied. "It's a cruel and unusual +punishment, and therefore unconstitutional, but Adam wouldn't mind a +little thing like that. I am moved by the thought of Eve's grief, +although you wouldn't think that a good sport like Eve would object to a +traitor's taking off. I surrender, Adam. Be merciful." + +Our noise had attracted Old Goodwin, and he joined us. And, thinking +that Bobby might as well be left to the society of the telescope and +Miss Radnor, we left him, we three, and betook ourselves to the shore. +On the white schooner the man in the pea-jacket and old faded blue cap +was still pacing back and forth by the rail, and Pukkie turned to his +grandfather and asked him the question which I could not answer. + +At that moment the man caught sight of Old Goodwin, and waved his arm, +and Old Goodwin answered the wave. + +"That is Captain Fergus, Pukkie. He's the captain. Some years ago he was +captain of vessels that sailed the deep oceans." + +My son was astonished. Captains who sail the deep oceans command his +unbounded respect. I inferred from his reply that skippers of yachts, +even of great white schooner yachts, do not. + +"Was he?" he said. "How does it happen that he is skippering a yacht +then?" + +Old Goodwin laughed his pleasant, quiet laugh. + +"He owns the yacht--or he did. I think it likely that he gave up going +to sea on account of his wife. He was married four or five years ago." + +"Oh, his wife!" my son replied in accents of deep scorn. It was +evidently incomprehensible to him that a man should give up such a +delightful occupation for a mere wife. + +Old Goodwin laughed again. "I'd take you out there if it weren't so +wet. But never mind. She'll be in here again some time when you're at +home." + +Then we wandered the shores until the rain stopped and the sky was a +mass of heavy gray clouds, but the sun did not come out; and Pukkie had +to go in. + +The next morning Pukkie found that the yacht had gone, and Old Goodwin +took him back to school, alone with him in the great car. Pukkie did not +mind going back. He has become acclimated at school, and he likes to +ride with his grandfather, sitting in the front seat with all the clocks +and meters and switches and the little lamps like eyes and the levers +and pedals spread out before him. There is reason to suppose that Old +Goodwin gets some pleasure out of it. That is why neither Eve nor I +went. There is more pleasure for him when they two are alone. Old +Goodwin and his grandson are great chums. + +When I had got to this point in my ruminations, I realized that the +great pebbles under me, although partly cushioned by sand and by the +dried seaweed which had washed up among them, had been getting harder +and harder. I moved, and groaned involuntarily, and sat up--and rubbed +my eyes. There was the white schooner lying quietly at anchor, her sails +all furled and covered, and no movement on her decks. She lay so still +that she seemed immovable; as firmly fixed as the breakwater itself, or +as the Long Stone, or as one of the distant islands, which swam high in +a bluish haze and flickered in mirage. + +I got up slowly, and heard a noise of a rolling pebble; and I turned, +and there was Eve coming along the shore. I went to meet her, and we +came back and sat upon the bank. And Eve looked up at me and smiled, and +her hand went out slowly, and mine met it, and we put our clasped hands +down between us. + +"_Now_ they can't see," said Eve. "Can they?" + +I smiled and shook my head. + +"And it wouldn't make any difference," Eve pursued, "if they could. +Would it? Say quickly, Adam," she cried, shaking our clasped hands in +mid air. "You are too slow. Would it?" + +"No, Eve," I answered, smiling again. Indeed I had not stopped smiling. +"But we might excite envy in their breasts, which is a sin we pray to +be delivered from." + +"Oh, well," she said, "there is nobody to see but Captain Fergus, and he +has not been married long. I love this place, Adam. Do you +remember--here were your pebbles, in the sod just here. And here I sat +when you warned me not to spot my dress,--when I took you for a +fisherman,--and you took me for a governess." + +"Did you think I could forget?" + +And we fell silent, and presently Eve would have me row her out upon the +water, for it was as warm as summer. And, that pleasing me,--although it +would have been enough for me that I was pleasing Eve,--we wandered to +Old Goodwin's stone pier, and took one of his boats, and rowed out. And +I paddled about, having nowhere in particular to go, and we found +ourselves near the great white schooner, almost under her stern; and I +looked up, and read her name, Arcadia, and there was Captain Fergus, in +his faded old blue cap, looking down at us over the rail. His face was +bronzed by sun and wind and rain, and there were little wrinkles about +his eyes after the manner of your seafaring men, and his eyes were of a +deep blue--the blue of the deep sea. They made me think of Old Goodwin's +eyes, although Old Goodwin's eyes are not blue. + +He touched his cap. "Won't you come aboard?" he asked in a deep voice +which made one think of rolling seas and fresh winds and bellying sails. + +"Thank you." I hesitated, and looked at Eve, but she did not wait for +me. + +"We shall be glad to," she said. And she turned to me. "Hurry, Adam, and +row around to the ladder." + +So I got us around to the steps, and there was a sailor with a boat-hook +to hold the boat for us and to take charge of it, and Captain Fergus +waiting at the gangway. And I introduced myself, but Eve did not wait +for introductions, but smiled at him, and said that she thought he knew +her father. + +The wrinkles about Captain Fergus's pleasant eyes deepened. + +"You are very like him," he said. And he led us over to the port side, +toward some chairs from one of which had risen a slender woman, with a +pleasant face and hair beginning to be well streaked with gray, but not +many years older than Eve. Mrs. Fergus, I found, had been Marian Wafer; +had been Miss Wafer for so long that she had become confirmed in the +habit of spinsterhood, and did not find it easy to get out of that habit +now that she was married. + +We settled ourselves in the chairs, and had some pleasant, desultory +talk; and the sun shone, not too brightly, through a bluish haze; there +was hardly a breath of wind to ruffle the calm surface of the bay, and +peace was on the face of the waters. The stillness almost seemed to +drowse and to make a soft noise, like the distant sound of locusts in +August. It soothed us, and the talk died, and we sat motionless and in +silence, gazing out at the distant islands in their misty blue veils, or +at two tiny sails, motionless too, two or three miles away, or, nearer +yet, at an empty expanse of glassy water. + +Suddenly a cat's-paw swept over the surface like a breath over a mirror, +and the shining launch of the Arcadia shot out from Old Goodwin's +landing, and came toward us at great speed; not at forty miles an hour, +for the landing was not far off. She was towing an aquaplane, which +stood very nearly perpendicular in the water, and I saw one man standing +up and steering, and the heads of three or four people showing +occasionally above the deck. The launch itself was at a pretty angle, +with daylight showing under ten feet of her keel, and throwing +cataracts out from either side like a fire engine; and she hid her +passengers until she swerved. She was not bringing her passengers aboard +the Arcadia, for she slackened speed and curved prettily, and drifted +before us, almost within reach, and I saw that the people aboard of her, +besides an officer and a sailor, were Old Goodwin and Elizabeth Radnor +and another girl, a stranger. Miss Radnor and the stranger were clad in +bathing-suits. + +Eve did not seem as much surprised as I should have expected, and she +smiled and spoke to her father and Miss Radnor, and he waved his hand; +and the strange girl arose, stood poised for a moment on the rail, +tossed her arms high above her head, dived overboard and struck out for +the aquaplane. Miss Radnor instantly arose and followed, without +bothering to poise, and they had a race for it. The strange girl swam +well, but Miss Radnor had more power, and she gained. + +Captain Fergus's great voice rang out. "Go it, Olivia! You're almost +there. Once more and more power to you!" + +And Olivia spurted, but got to laughing and lost a stroke; and Elizabeth +Radnor caught her, but she got to laughing too, so that both seized +their goal at the same instant. They drew themselves partly upon it, but +the aquaplane sank under their weight, and the water swirled about their +knees, for the launch was barely moving. But it began to surge ahead, +faster and faster, so that the two girls found a firm support beneath +their feet as they rose carefully. Olivia held two ropes fastened at the +forward corners, and Miss Radnor steadied herself behind, with a hand on +Olivia. + +The launch twisted and turned, and made loops and circles and spirals, +and Olivia still stood straight, like a Greek charioteer, holding the +lines with hands and rigid arms that were beginning to ache; but Miss +Radnor's knees were bending more and more, and she was swaying. And she +laughed. + +"Good-bye, Olivia," she said; and she dived sidewise, and came up again, +and was swimming easily. + +The launch stood in nearer to the schooner, and Olivia staggered as they +turned; but she got her balance, and once more stood straight. And the +launch began to twist and double and turn in loops and circles, faster +and faster. Olivia stood upright for two or three turns, then she began +to sway; and she saw that it was the beginning of the end, and she +stooped quickly, and swung her arms low, then high above her head, and +she gave a spring backward, and turned a half-somersault--and a little +more. + +"Good!" cried Captain Fergus. "A pretty backward dive! Olivia's a good +swimmer--capital. Almost as good as Elizabeth." He turned to us. "Just +wait until you see Elizabeth do some of her stunts. Have you ever seen +her?" + +I smiled and shook my head. "Miss Radnor seems an extremely competent +person--in many ways." + +Captain Fergus looked sharply at me for an instant, then he chuckled as +though there was a good joke somewhere within hail. + +"So she is," he said; "so she is, very competent. She's an able seaman. +Elizabeth's a great favorite of mine, rather more of a favorite than--" + +"Dick!" said Mrs. Fergus warningly. + +"Eh?" He turned to Mrs. Fergus, and smiled the smile that crinkled all +about his pleasant eyes. His eyes smiled too, those eyes of deepest +blue. "I wasn't going to say anything imprudent, Marian, only that +Elizabeth is rather more of a favorite than some others that I could +name. Oh, I'm not going to call any names, Marian. You needn't be +scared. Marian's always afraid," he said to Eve and me, "that I'm going +to be indiscreet, and I've never in my life been indiscreet. Have I, +Marian?" + +Mrs. Fergus laughed. "How should I know? I've no doubt that you have +been, many times. You aren't politic, Dick." + +"Heaven save us!" said Captain Fergus under his breath. "I hope not. +Neither are you, Marian. I don't know of anybody less politic than you." + +Mrs. Fergus laughed again, merrily. "Richard was a sailor for so many +years," she said, "that he can't get out of his sailor's ways." + +"They are good ways," I said. "Don't you think so, Mrs. Fergus?" + +"They are good ways," Mrs. Fergus repeated, looking at her husband, "and +I like them." And Eve smiled across at me. + +The launch had stopped her engine, and was waiting for the two girls. +Elizabeth Radnor reached her first, a white arm shot out of the water +and the hand grasped the gunwale, and Old Goodwin helped her aboard, and +she stood on the deck and dripped. And Olivia came up on the other side, +and Old Goodwin helped her aboard, but she did not stand on the deck to +drip. She jumped into the cockpit, and dripped on the cushions. + +"There!" Mrs. Fergus exclaimed. "If that isn't just like her to run +streams of water on the cushions. Why couldn't she do as Elizabeth does, +and--" + +"Doesn't matter," Captain Fergus growled. "Cushions waterproof, and the +sun'll dry the top in five minutes." + +Mrs. Fergus made a motion of impatience, and there was a slight +compression of her lips. + +"I know that it doesn't really matter," she said, "a little thing like +wetting the cushions--when they could have been kept dry just as easily. +Elizabeth--" + +"It really isn't any matter about the cushions," Captain Fergus +interrupted gently. "Big crew doing nothing--they'll be set to work +presently scrubbing the launch inside and out. What's a little water? +Doesn't hurt anything." + +Mrs. Fergus laughed softly. "You'd let them do anything, Dick,--stick +pins into you--" + +"If it would be any fun for them," said Captain Fergus gruffly, "I guess +I could stand it. What's a pin anyway?" + +Mrs. Fergus laughed again. "You'd find out. But I was really thinking +of the difference in the girls. Elizabeth is naturally considerate, +Olivia is not. Olivia is a good swimmer, of course, and she is pretty +and sweet and attractive, but she has done some outrageous things in the +last three years. Nothing bad, but absolutely inconsiderate." She was +talking to us now more than to her husband. "She swims so well that she +jumps in--or she used to--whenever she feels like it, clothes and all. +Why, she even took her mother's parasol in with her one day. It ruined +the parasol, of course. She was all dressed up for a party, and had on a +lovely dress, with a beautiful old ribbon sash, which was spoiled. +Luckily her dress was a wash dress, but it had to be done up again, and +the Greshams had no money to waste." She broke out in sudden laughter. +"But it was funny, Dick, to see her swimming about, holding the parasol. +Do you remember? At sixteen Olivia Gresham was just a pirate, and she is +more or less of one at eighteen. Look at Jack Ogilvie and the way she +treats him, and he as nice a boy as ever lived." + +"You may look at Jack Ogilvie now," said Captain Fergus quietly, "if you +will raise your eyes. There he comes." + +Accordingly we raised our eyes, all of us, and we saw nothing but those +two tiny sails that I have mentioned, almost in the same place in which +they had been for the last half hour; and a motor-boat, almost hidden +in the haze and very difficult to make out, seeming to be soaring over +the tops of the waves toward us. It must have been five miles away. + +"But, Dick," said Mrs. Fergus, "where is Jack? Is he--" + +"In that motor-boat. Don't you see it? Head on." + +He whistled shrilly. The launch had been lying idly before us, her +engine stopped, and Miss Radnor sat upon the deck with her feet dangling +over the side. At the whistle she glanced down the bay, then looked +around at us and waved her hand. Then she simply straightened out and +slipped into the water feet first, and disappeared. + +"Captain Fergus," asked Eve, "how can you possibly tell who is in that +boat? I can hardly see the boat." + +He laughed. "I can't tell," he said, "of course, because I can't see +any of her crew; but I know the boat, and Ogilvie should be in it." + +"But how can you know the boat? One motor-boat looks much like another +at that distance--to me." + +"I don't know how, but I know the boat. How do you know your friends as +far off as you can see them?" + +And Eve laughed, and she went on marvelling. But Miss Radnor, who had +disappeared so quietly, had not reappeared, and Mrs. Fergus seemed to be +getting anxious. She looked at her husband. + +"Dick," she began, "I wish Elizabeth wouldn't stay under so long. +Where--" + +At that moment a red cap bobbed up on the surface of the glassy water +almost at the side of the yacht, and Miss Radnor laughed up at us. She +swam to a boat swinging at the boom, climbed in and up the little rope +ladder to the boom, and so on deck. + +"Sorry," she called, "to drip on your deck, but I want to dive." + +And she went up the rigging as far as she could go, which was not +far--was not far enough, it seemed. + +"You should have the mainsail up," she said. "I could go up on the +rings. It is such a disappointment! I wanted to try it from the +spreaders." + +"I'll send you up in a sling." And forthwith two sailors came running, +and unhooked a halliard from somewhere, and got out a boatswain's chair, +and hooked it on, and she put her legs through, and they hoisted her up +to the spreaders. She looked very small up there, as she held on to the +spreader, and gingerly got herself out of the chair, and stood up, +holding by the stay. And, still holding on carefully, she pulled on the +halliard with her free hand, until the boatswain's chair was far enough +down again to go down of its own weight. Then she edged out to the end +of the spreader, and got her feet clear of the stay, though how she did +it I could not imagine, holding on to the stay behind her back. But she +did it, and I could see her moving her feet ever so slightly, to get the +right grip. Then, suddenly she let go, and swung her arms up slowly, and +shot outward in a beautiful swan dive that rivalled Annette Kellerman at +her best; and she struck the water as straight as a pikestaff. There was +not much spray when she struck. It reminded me of scaling stones in the +way we used to call "cutting the devil's throat." Her slender body +entered the water with much the same kind of a noise. + +There was nothing shallow about that dive, for she did not come up for a +long time. At last I saw a shadow in the water shooting slowly toward +the launch, and the red cap came floating to the surface as if it were +only a red rubber balloon; and a white arm shot out, and the hand +grasped the gunwale, and again Old Goodwin helped her aboard, and she +sat on the deck and dabbled her feet in the water, as she had before, +but this time she sat beside Olivia. And Jack Ogilvie--if it was he--in +his motor-boat was almost in. I could see the crew of the boat pretty +well, and there was none among them who looked like Ogilvie, except the +one in an ensign's uniform, and Ogilvie was not an ensign. Then the boat +was abreast of the launch, and Elizabeth Radnor turned her head, and +waved and called, and beckoned. + +"Hello, Elizabeth!" the ensign called in return, and the boat began to +turn. "Sorry I wasn't nearer to see your dive, but I saw it pretty well. +You couldn't repeat it for my benefit, I suppose?" + +Elizabeth laughed and shook her head. "Not to-day, Jack." + +So Ogilvie was an ensign. Eve had noted that too. + +"He must be twenty-one, Adam," she whispered, "and he must have had a +birthday. I wish we had known it. I would have had a party for him." + +"Is it too late?" I asked. + +"I'll see about it," she answered, smiling. Eve likes Ogilvie. + +But the motor-boat had stopped not far from the launch. They were near +enough for us to hear pretty well over that quiet water. Ogilvie's crew +tried not to show undue interest. + +"Hello, Olivia," said Ogilvie, standing very straight. He looked rather +wistful, I thought. + +"Hello," she said, neither turning her head nor lifting her eyes. It was +the essence of indifference. "What are you doing here?" + +It was more than indifference. It was as if Ogilvie bored her. My gorge +began to rise, and my color rose a little, I am afraid, and I moved my +chair, so that Eve looked over at me. I felt, I suppose, much as +Captain Fergus did, when he said that Elizabeth was more of a favorite +of his than some others. + +Ogilvie seemed to be familiar with that attitude of Olivia's, for he +smiled faintly, and stepped back. + +"Nothing much," he said; "just cruising--cursing about the bay. Like +Captain Cook, who went cursing about the Pacific Ocean. That's what you +said in school, Olivia. Remember?" + +"If I don't," Olivia flung back petulantly, "it isn't because I haven't +been reminded of it." + +Elizabeth raised her head and sent forth a merry peal of laughter. + +"Oh, Olivia, did you really? When was it? Oh, that's too good to keep." + +Olivia was picking at the deck of the launch. There may have been a +speck of dust there. + +"I suppose I did. It was when I was very small, and the teacher asked me +what Captain Cook did, and 'cruise' looked like 'curse' to me. But if +you ever tell, Elizabeth," she flared out, "I'll never forgive you." + +Once more Elizabeth's laughter rang out. + +"Oh, Olivia! It won't be necessary for me to tell, but I'd almost be +willing to be never forgiven." Then she heard Ogilvie give orders to +start. "Wait, Jack. I can't do my dive over again, but Olivia and I will +show you some aquaplaning. Won't we, Olivia?" + +Olivia shook her head. "I don't believe I want to." + +"Very well, then. I'll do it all by myself. I see you've got it, Jack. +Congratulations!" + +At that Olivia looked up. "Got what? Oh, a new uniform. Captain Ogilvie, +I suppose." + +But Elizabeth had slid into the water, and Olivia slid in from the other +side of the launch, and Ogilvie waited, but the launch did not. +Elizabeth was swimming under water, as seemed to be her habit, and the +launch had quite a little way on before the red cap emerged. She had +heard it, of course, and had calculated very nicely, and came to the +surface just as the aquaplane was going by; and she seized it and swung +herself upon it, and landed standing on her feet. It was like the centre +ring in a circus; and it made me think more and more of that centre +ring, and of great white horses cantering around it, as Elizabeth went +through the most extraordinary feats of agility and skill, diving off +and jumping on again as it seemed with but a quirk of her wrist, making +the aquaplane do the work for her. And to end the exhibition the launch, +which had been doing a modest ten miles an hour, went up to twenty-five, +and the aquaplane stood nearly straight, and bounced around, with sudden +sidewise jumps and swerves and jerks. It was no longer the great white +horse cantering around the ring, but a balky, bucking horse that gave +Elizabeth some trouble. I could see how carefully she was balancing with +bent knees that gave to every jump, and brought it back again. But when +the launch began to twist and turn and loop she could not keep her +balance for very long. She knew she could not, and before she had more +than begun to lose it she laughed aloud, and she gave a spring straight +up, and turned backward in the air, and entered the water behind the +aquaplane, straight and true. As a backward dive it surpassed Olivia's +as you would expect the finished performance of a professional acrobat +to surpass the best attempts of an amateur. + +In watching Elizabeth's performance I had entirely forgotten Olivia, and +so had all the others, unless Ogilvie had not. I cannot speak for him. +If he had forgotten he was quickly to be reminded, for suddenly about +half a bucket of water shot up and drenched his cap and his new uniform. + +He smiled quietly, and bent forward and looked into the mocking eyes of +Olivia. + +"Thank you, Olivia," he said, the water dripping from his cap and his +coat. "Was that intended as a christening?" + +Olivia made no reply, but turned and swam to the launch. Elizabeth was +climbing aboard, and sat in her old place on the deck, her feet +dangling. + +"Was it a good show, Jack?" + +"It was worthy of you, Elizabeth. I can't give any higher praise. Thank +you very much. You have given me a great deal of pleasure. You are +always giving other people pleasure. Good-bye." + +And he waved his hand to the launch and then to us, and his motor-boat +went on her business up the harbor, whatever that business was. + +Captain Fergus looked after him thoughtfully. + +"Now, I wonder," he remarked, "why he didn't come aboard. He ought to +want to see me." + +I had got up with him, and we were standing at the gangway. The launch +came nosing around, with the two girls enveloped in raincoats. Olivia +had recovered her spirits. She stood up, and saluted with a stiff +finger. + +"Here's a load of lumber for you, Captain Fergus," she said. "Will you +have it aboard? Where will you have it stowed?" + +Captain Fergus looked grimly at her, and shook his head slowly, but his +eyes, looking out from the shadow of the shiny visor of his old blue +cap, were pleasant and smiling and humorous. The little wrinkles about +them deepened. + +"Don't you know better," he growled sternly, "than to bring me wet +lumber? I can't take it. You'll have to take it ashore and dry it." + +"Aye, aye, sir," said Olivia; and she sat down, and I regret to say that +she giggled. + +I had gone down the steps, and I was regarding a red rubber cap and a +dun-colored raincoat. The red cap was pulled well down over the ears, +concealing entirely the colors of Eve's great beaver muff. I spoke. + +"Miss Radnor," I said, "what have you done with Bobby?" + +She looked up quickly, and her eyes met mine frankly. They--hers, not +mine, my eyes being nothing to look at, only to see with; but +hers--they were hazel, I should guess, and they were veiled mischief as +they looked into mine. + +"Bobby?" she asked. "Mr. Leverett? Oh, we transferred him yesterday. We +took him down in the Arcadia. We'll take you some day soon." + +I have no wish to be transferred. But I do not wonder that Bobby is much +taken with Elizabeth Radnor. + + + + +V + + +Tilling the soil, if the man who tills be working alone, tends to +reflection,--provided that man possesseth wherewith to reflect,--and it +promotes straight and simple thinking, thoughts which may be straight +and true or they may not; but the thoughts of the tiller of the soil are +more likely to be straight and true than the thoughts of the same man +riding in a motor-car or working on the twenty-fifth floor of an office +building. If such a man be the president of the company it is one thing; +he may be puffed up with the pride of a little brief authority or he may +be the simple, true man that Old Goodwin is. His sense of the values of +things must be warped and distorted unless he tills the soil at times or +does something that is equivalent, like sailing the deep blue oceans, +where there is so very little between him and the workings of nature; +and I do not mean sailing as a passenger in an ocean steamer or a yacht, +in which he will have as little to do with the workings of nature as he +would in a great hotel. + +In such a man the sense of values must be distorted nearly as much, +though in a different way, as that of a man who sits at one of an +interminable row of desks, on another floor of the same office building, +from eight-thirty in the morning until five in the afternoon, with an +hour for luncheon; and knows himself to be but a cog in a huge machine, +a cog which can and will be replaced as soon as it gives a sign of +running unsmoothly. What a dreadful thought that you are but a cog in a +machine! How very dreadful it must be to realize that you are growing +old and are still nothing but a cog! How pregnant of rebellions, little +futile rebellions! And how it must tear the very soul of that man to +know beforehand that his rebellions must be little and futile! I can +understand that a man in that state would welcome death; that he would +be stood up against a wall and shot rather than go back to that desk of +the interminable row--number thirteen, it might be. But there is nobody +to stand him up against a wall. They will have none of him. He is too +old. Too old to be shot, although he may have fighting instincts +stirring fiercely within him. So they take his son, it may be, and he +goes back to his desk. There is no escape for him. They will not even +let him die as a man should in these times. Life is a series of +disappointments, and the last is the most bitter. Hope takes herself +away until he can hardly see her through the fog. + +I was thinking such thoughts as these, leaning on my hoe. I had come out +early to work in my garden, and I would start the planting of a row, and +the next thing I knew I would find myself standing--or squatting, in +accordance with my most recent activity--and gazing out over the waters +of the bay, dreaming and musing of the bitterness of disappointment, or +of little souls clothed with authority, or of Old Goodwin, and of men +like him--if there are such. Old Goodwin's is not a little soul. The +first time that I thought on such things and lost myself in thinking, I +was using my wheel hoe on the ground between the rows of corn and peas +and beans. A wheel hoe is not a thing to lean on, but it fails you when +you most need its support, and gives way under you and brings your +thoughts to earth with a thump--and you as well, if you are not used to +its vagaries and careful. So I took my hand hoe. It is friendly and will +bear me up. + +It was the twenty-sixth of May, and I had much planting to do, but I did +not do it. I thought upon what had happened in the past few days, and I +worked my wheel hoe. Wheel-hoeing does not interfere with my thinking. +I believe I could do it in my sleep. I have only to walk along slowly, +and to work my arms back and forth at every step, and unless the ground +is very hard I can think perfectly. My corn showed as little +yellowish-green tubes about an inch and a half long, just poked through +a couple of days before, it was so cold early in the month; and it has +not come up well. As I ran the hoe along beside the row, it was a rank +of soldiers--soldiers of the first line. There were great gaps in the +line. There have been many gaps, and there will be many more. It has not +chanced to hit any friends of mine yet, but it will. + +Then I thought upon the report of ten days before, that seven German +submarines had been destroyed at sea on their way over here. It was +gratifying to know that they had been destroyed, but the report was +strangely disquieting to me. If they had sent a fleet of seven, they +might send as many more. There was food for thought in that. I had seen +no further mention of the matter in the papers, and most probably the +report was untrue, but it set me thinking, and I wondered whether the +information would not be considered of value to the enemy. If no report +of their destruction had been published, Germany might not have known of +it for weeks. Weeks of freedom for us knocked in the head by the +newspapers. + +And I was through with the corn, and had come to the beans, strange +grotesque, misshapen things, pushing out of the ground like toads. Some +of them were not through yet, but were raising great clods of earth, +leaving holes which looked for all the world like toad-holes. There were +two that looked like sinking ships. And I thought upon the report of a +great naval battle, with many of our ships sunk. I do not believe it. In +fact, I have heard vaguely of a denial by our Navy Department. And my +eye was caught by a flash of scarlet near some trees by my wall, and +there was a tanager. I stopped my hoeing and stood still and watched. It +is some years since I have seen a tanager. He flew about in little short +flights, aimlessly it seemed, from one low branch to another, then upon +the ground, then back to a tree again, paying no attention to me +standing like a scarecrow in my garden. Then he perched high and sang +his cheerful song, very like a robin's. If I were not noticing nor +thinking about it, I might think it a robin's--if I gave it a thought. I +have heard that tanagers have been seen this spring in places where they +have never been seen before. I have never seen one here, and I hoped +this one would stay. + +And then that talking machine of my neighbor's began reciting something +in a loud voice--"Cohen at the telephone" or some such thing--and my +tanager flew away, and I went savagely to my hoeing again. And I thought +again of that obsolescent man who is too old to be shot, but not too old +to be condemned to a ball and chain; and whose son they have taken while +they have scornfully rejected him. And he would fight if they would let +him. How he would fight! For there is nothing left for him but to choose +the best death he can get. He may not be free even to do that. The +father of Jack Ogilvie may be just such a man. I stopped again, and +stood holding the handles of my hoe and looking off to sea, and thought +of Ogilvie and Bobby and Jimmy Wales going to and fro upon the waters +seeking that which is not. + +I grasped my hoe handles more tightly, and turned my head, and looked at +the dirt before me, and pushed my hoe savagely. What care I how they go +to and fro upon the waters? I wander the shores, and I dig my clams, and +I am content. But am I? And as I had got to this point in my +meditations, from my neighbor's window came the rich voice of Harry +Lauder singing "Breakfast in bed on Sunday morning." I smiled to +myself--there was nobody to see me if I chose to smile at an +absurdity--and my hoe went more and more slowly, for there was no power +behind it. And I listened shamelessly to Harry Lauder's last whisper and +his last mellow laugh, so that I did not hear the light steps behind me; +but I heard the voice that I loved. + +"Adam! Adam!" said the voice, chiding. "Listening to Harry Lauder--and +enjoying it! Take shame to yourself." + +And I turned, and saw Eve, and Tidda with her. Eve was smiling, and I +smiled back at her. + +"Surely, Eve," I said, "a man may rest when he is weary. And if my +neighbor choose to have a talking machine spouting out of his window, I +cannot stop him. I wish I could. Imagine Judson with a talking machine!" + +"I can imagine it very easily. The dear old man would have enjoyed it, I +am sure. And if it gives them pleasure, Adam--why, some of the things +give you pleasure. You needn't try to deny it." + +"I don't, Eve. I deny nothing. But some of the things are--" + +Eve nodded. "Yes," she said, "some of them certainly are. But they +needn't bother you much." + +At that moment we heard a giggle from somewhere on the other side of the +wall, and something came whizzing. It was nothing but an old rotten +piece of wood, and it fell short, but it stirred Tidda. + +"I'm going after that Sands girl," she cried. "She shan't fire old +pieces of wood at us." And she set off at top speed straight for the +wall. Tidda is not becoming obsolescent. + +I would have stopped her. + +"No," Eve said. "Let her go. It can't do any harm." She dismissed the +matter from her mind. "Tell me, Adam, what made you so savage as we were +coming up. What were you thinking about?" + +I laughed rather shamefacedly. "It was of no consequence, Eve. I was +thinking that life, for some people, is just one disappointment after +another." I must remember that Eve has pacifist tendencies. + +Eve looked up at me with sober eyes. + +"Were you thinking of anything in particular?" + +"Of the unimportant men in a great office with long rows of desks and +endless routine; especially of men who are growing old in it and can see +no escape. I was thinking of the same thing, I remember, on Wednesday, +down on the shore. It was a driving drizzle from the northeast, and +gray, with rolling seas. It made the round of an office seem so futile +and so useless. I envied Jimmy and Bobby and Ogilvie, off on patrol. I +would have liked to be on patrol myself." + +"Would you?" asked Eve. There was speculation in her eyes--and something +else that I had seen there before. I could not fathom it. "How many of +the men in the office--the men who are growing old--would exchange the +comforts of the office for a driving drizzle out of the northeast, and +gray and rolling seas--and a motor-boat? Not one in ten." + +"It was that one I was thinking of." + +Eve looked away from me and nodded slowly. + +"Can't you leave your gardening? Come and sit down." + +So I left my tools in the field, as a poor farmer leaves his tools where +he has last used them in the fall, the plough beside the furrow, and the +mowing-machine and the horserake at the edge of the meadow; and in the +spring he is sorrowful, and wonders and bemoans the winter. And Eve took +my hand in hers, and we went to my great pine and sat us down upon the +bench. And, behind us, came Tidda over the wall, dragging the reluctant +Sands girl, who giggled and held back; and they sat by the hole that is +scooped in the ground and lined with great stones, for they would play +at having a clambake. The chatter of our daughter's tongue was like an +accompaniment; and nobody pays any attention to an accompaniment. + +"Now, Adam," said Eve, "for the important business. You know we decided +that Jack Ogilvie must have had a birthday, or he would not have got his +commission. I have been making inquiries. He did; and I find that +everybody can come next Saturday, probably,--a week from to-day." + +Eve looked thoughtful and counted up on her fingers, which I released +for the purpose--"the second of June. Do you think, Adam," she went on, +"that clams will be ripe on the second of June?" + +I laughed. "We can see. But many things will be lacking which belong to +a clambake. Do you want me to issue a call to the Clam Beds Protective +Company?" + +"Oh, yes, Adam. How will it run? To assemble, at their armory,--that is +the bank above the clam beds,--in uniform, with arms and accoutrements, +an hour before low tide. When will that be? But never mind. And shall I +tell father?" She glanced toward the hole scooped in the ground. "He +will be glad to--but mercy on us, Adam, where is Tidda?" + +She sighed and started to her feet. I laughed, and pointed along the +shore. + +"Stole away," I said. Tidda and the Sands girl were picking their way +among the great pebbles of the shore, Tidda with light feet skipping +from pebble to pebble, the Sands girl going more cautiously and +clumsily. + +Eve sighed again. "We may as well follow. There is no knowing what they +will be up to next." + +So I rose and we turned to follow, and there was Elizabeth Radnor not +ten steps away, smiling and regarding us with friendly eyes. As she drew +near her eyes looked gray-green, not hazel, calm and humorous and +knowing. Perhaps they are of the changeable kind. I have seen changeable +eyes before. I would like to know what thoughts lie behind those eyes to +give them their peculiar light. And at a guess I think that Bobby would +give something to know. But they were friendly eyes, and they gave you a +look that was straight and true. + +"Oh, Elizabeth,"--Eve has got that far with her, which is in her favor. +I have never yet known Eve to be deceived in people--"Oh, Elizabeth, we +have to go after Tidda, just along the shore. Will you come? Tidda leads +us a chase. Her spirit of adventure will lead her into trouble." + +Elizabeth laughed. We were descending the steep path to the shore. + +"I'm afraid I had a spirit of adventure as great as Tidda's," she said; +"fortunately no disaster happened to me, although I must have been +rather a trial to my mother. And as to going into the water when I +shouldn't--why, I was in the water all the time--whenever I could get +in. You see the unhappy result. We were poor, you know; in what is +called straitened circumstances. My father died when I was a little tot, +and we never had a maid until a few years ago. You go on in your own +way. It is pretty sure to be right." + +I do not know whether Eve thought Elizabeth was referring to the path, +but she turned and began to descend again. + +"I'm glad you think so," she flung back over her shoulder, "but I am not +so sure. I really think that it would be better for Tidda if she were +left more to her own devices--she has plenty--but I just can't do it." + +We had got down to the shore, and Elizabeth turned to me. + +"I am always saying things," she said, "that I don't mean. It is one of +the results of too much freedom." + +"So am I," I replied, "and this is one of them." + +And Elizabeth looked at me queerly, and laughed suddenly, and looked +away. I wondered if she understood. I wondered further about her. A +reputation for unconsidered speech is the best of protections for +secrets. I did not believe that she was generally guilty of unconsidered +speech. And we had come to the clam beds, but the bank was too wet to +sit on, and we stood around until I found some stones that were dry, and +we sat on the stones in a row, like three crows. Eve said nothing to +Tidda and the Sands girl, but watched them as they pulled off their +stockings. And, Tidda having trouble with hers, as usual, Eve got up +from her stone and helped her. + +While Eve was busy with stockings, I spoke. + +"Miss Radnor," I said, "what--" + +She was gazing fixedly at the water over the clam beds--there was about +a foot of it--and her thoughts were far away. But at the sound of her +name she started almost imperceptibly, and looked at me, and smiled. + +"My name is Elizabeth," she said, interrupting. "Perhaps you didn't know +it. Yes, that is a hint." + +Her eyes were like deep pools under a summer sun, and all sorts of +colors played over them, flashing and sparkling gently and merrily, so +that there was no telling what depths lay beneath, or what in the +depths--except humor. They seemed to be looking always for a joke, and +usually finding one too good to tell. What else they were looking for I +did not know, but there was something. + +"Thank you," I replied. "I take hints on occasion. And my name is Adam. +That is a hint too. If you can reconcile the use of it with the respect +due to age,--to a man too old to fight,--I shall be glad. It is a very +old name and quite respectable." + +She nodded and laughed. "Thank you, Adam. But you were going to ask me +something." + +"I was going to ask you, Elizabeth, if you know what has become of +Bobby. We haven't seen him for a long time." + +The pools flashed and sparkled once more. "Why do you ask me? Am I +Bobby's keeper?" + +"You seemed to be. And you transferred him, and we haven't seen him +since." + +"Captain Fergus transferred him. I have no doubt that he will turn up in +time." + +Eve had finished with the stockings, and she came and sat down again +upon her stone, while the children splashed noisily into that foot of +water. Tidda had a stout stick, and she began immediately to poke about +with it. + +"Who will turn up in time?" asked Eve. "What are you talking about?" + +"Bobby," I answered. "I wish I could share Elizabeth's faith. I must +notify Bobby." + +"I think you will have an opportunity," said Elizabeth, "if you have a +little patience." + +"I will notify you meanwhile, Elizabeth. The Clam Beds Protective +Company meets here next Saturday at nine o'clock. In uniform, with arms +and equipment. If you lack anything, speak to Eve. I'm sorry to make it +quite so early, but the tide, you know--and Eve has set the day." + +"I'm going to have a birthday party for Jack Ogilvie, Elizabeth. It's a +little late, but I didn't know in time, and Jimmy and Bobby and Ogilvie +can come then, I think. I wish you'd tell me something more about him." + +"About Jack? What shall I tell you? I've known him always, since he was +knee-high to a grasshopper. He's as good as there is made. His family +are nice people, with a very moderate income, just about enough to keep +them going, and not enough to put him through college, although they +would be willing to sacrifice a good deal to do it. But Jack prefers to +put himself through, and he was doing it very well until he went into +the navy. He has been preparing for that for a year or more. He doesn't +make nearly as much in the navy, even as an ensign--but I don't know +about that. I guess he does. An ensign's pay is pretty good for a boy of +twenty-one." + +"And his father," Eve pursued; "what does he do? Is he in some great +office, grinding away for Jack?" + +Elizabeth smiled again. "No. He is a country doctor, and a very good +one. I don't know what the town would do without him. But a country +doctor, you know, can't make much." + +"I'm glad," said Eve. + +"Why? Because he can't make much?" + +Eve laughed. "Glad that he's a doctor. I wish I could manage to swell +his income." + +Tidda and the Sands girl had been pursuing the elusive clam with some +success. Tidda's hands were full of clams which she had dug out with the +stick and her hands, burrowing into the sand and mud under the water, +and her skirt was wet, and her sleeves were wet nearly to the shoulder. +I called Eve's attention to that fact as she splashed out, ran to the +bank, and deposited her clams in an old rusty tin can with jagged edges, +which she drew from some hiding place evidently in familiar use. She +must have done that same thing many times, and this was the first that +we knew of it. + +Eve glanced up and smiled. + +"Never mind, Adam. Let them have their fun. I'll put dry clothes on her +when we get home." Then she turned again to Elizabeth. "And Olivia," she +said, "is--" + +"I think," said Elizabeth, interrupting, "that Olivia is coming now." + +As she spoke there was a slight rustling in the path through the +greenery, and Olivia emerged upon the edge of the bank. She was stepping +lightly, diffident and hesitating, a hand over her heart. It was like a +young doe coming out of the woods. + +"Oh!" she said. "I beg your pardon." + +And Elizabeth laughed silently, mostly with her eyes; but Eve rose and +went to meet Olivia. + +"What's the joke, Elizabeth?" I asked in her ear. "Tell me, won't you?" + +She turned merry eyes to mine. "Olivia's the joke," she said. "I can't +explain, but if you knew her as well as I do--" + +She did not finish, for Eve was speaking. + +"We were just thinking of you, Olivia." + +"How very nice of you! May I come?" + +She advanced--still with that diffident and hesitating step like a +doe's. I got up and offered her my stone. + +Olivia looked startled; but Olivia had a way of looking startled, so it +seemed. + +"Oh," she protested, "oh, I don't want to take your seat." + +"Don't feel that you are putting me to an inconvenience," I said. "That +stone is harder than it was. I am sorry that we can offer you nothing +better than a stone, but it is all we have." + +And Olivia laughed politely, and took my stone, and looked about. + +"Clams!" she cried. "I have dug clams." + +"Many?" I asked. + +Olivia looked up at me and laughed again. "Oh, a good many," she +replied, "in all sorts of places; and baked them too." + +"A recruit for our company," I said, looking at Elizabeth and Eve. +"Will you join the company?" I asked Olivia. + +"I shall be glad to," she answered. "What is it?" + +And Eve laughed, and I explained, and Olivia seemed delighted. But +Elizabeth was more amused than ever. + +"What is it now, Elizabeth?" + +"Olivia knows," said she. + +"Elizabeth!" Olivia cried from her stone. "I didn't either come for--" + +She stopped suddenly, her hand over her mouth. + +"If she came for that purpose, Elizabeth," I said, "she is to be +commended. Do you think that Captain Fergus and Mrs. Fergus would join? +Would you speak to them about it?" + +And Elizabeth signified that she would, and there was other noise in +the path through the greenery, a noise which was something more than a +rustling, and Old Goodwin appeared, and behind him came Bobby. When +Bobby appeared, I looked hard at Elizabeth, but I could detect no sign +of confusion. She is so sunburned and tanned that a flush would not show +anyway. + +"What did you tell me about Bobby, Elizabeth?" + +She looked up. "I don't remember. Nothing that wasn't true." + +Her eyes were filled with light, but she veiled them quickly, and Bobby +wandered over to us. Old Goodwin had sat him down on the bank, and Tidda +had put into his hands some more clams dripping mud, and was asking his +advice, her elbows on his knees; and he listened soberly and with +interest. + +Eve told Bobby of the meeting of our company for the next week and the +party. + +He turned to me. "Doesn't that notice have to be in writing?" he asked. + +I shook my head. "You'd better accept it. The whole company will turn +out. It's to be a party for Ogilvie--birthday party." + +And Olivia pricked up her ears at that, and listened shamelessly while +Eve told Bobby about it. + +"That's very good of you, Eve," he said, when she had finished. "I'll +tell Jimmy, and I'll get word to Ogilvie. We can come unless something +turns up. Something may turn up, you know, at any minute. We never +know. If a fleet of submarines should get over here, and should start +getting caught in our traps we'd have to go." + +"Traps all set, Bobby?" I asked. + +"Set but not baited," he replied. "I'm looking for bait now, +likely-looking little pigs, Adam, and for somebody to feed 'em, and keep +'em squealing. It would be interesting work, and a pleasant sail every +day. If you were really patriotic you'd be glad to do that much for your +country. But you won't. I see it in your eye. I'll have to do it +myself." + +And he heaved a prodigious sigh, and turned to Elizabeth and Olivia, and +he began to talk lightly with them; and Olivia's face was all eagerness +and light and gentleness. She was beautiful so. Bobby noticed it, and +smiled at her, and talked to her for a minute or so, and she listened +in a sort of silent rapture, which Elizabeth observed. And Bobby, +glancing at Elizabeth, saw the changing light in those two deep pools, +and saw her half-smile of amusement, and forgot what he was saying to +Olivia, and stopped. + +"You know, Miss Radnor," he said, forgetting the rest of us, "I have to +go in half an hour." It was a sort of challenge. + +She nodded, still smiling that half-smile of amusement. "I know." + +"Well?" + +Thereupon Eve rose quietly from her stone, and dragged Olivia up from +hers, much against her will, and they wandered off to see the children +at their clamming; but she gave me a significant look as she went. So I +obediently drifted off along the shore. I was sorry to go, for I would +have liked to hear what followed. And I drifted back again, and to and +fro, like a shadow, but always Bobby was talking earnestly to Elizabeth, +and Elizabeth looked up at Bobby, and laughed and shook her head. And at +last Elizabeth rose, and they two wandered off down the shore toward Old +Goodwin's stone pier. I caught a word or two of Bobby's as they went. I +thought he was asking her what she was. "What are you?" was all I heard; +and she replied, very probably, that she was a teacher of swimming and +dancing. And she turned and waved her hand to us, and they were gone. + +Then Eve stirred, and called Tidda, who came hugging close her old tin +can dripping mud down upon her dress. Olivia was already on the path to +the great house, but Old Goodwin turned back. + +"Adam," he said, smiling, "I have retired from business. I thought you +might like to know. It seemed as good a time as any." + +It was what I have been urging upon him these ten years. + +"There will be enough to keep me occupied," he added, answering my +unspoken question. "A matter that I have in mind. I will tell you about +it soon." + +And he turned again, and was gone up the path. + +I walked with Eve along the shore, and I wondered. I must have been +mistaken in those words of Bobby's. How could he have asked her that? + + + + +VI + + +On that second day of June it befell that I was stirring early, and I +was out at dawn, for I had much to do; but I did not do it then, as I +had meant. When I was come out into the fresh breath of morning, and was +walking over the dewy grass to my shed, of a sudden my soul was drenched +with the sense of a great truth, even as my feet and legs were drenched +with dew. And the truth was this: All work is useless. It is but a waste +of time that might be better spent in watching the sun come up through +the mists of morning to rule over his kingdom; or in seeing him sink +behind the bearded hills in the golden haze of evening. At either time +the old earth is at peace, and the waters stilled or just waking, but +the dawn is the better. I would contemplate the majesty of the sunrise +and consider upon it. It restoreth my soul. + +So my cares slipped from off my shoulders as a garment, and I turned my +steps to the steep path, and came to the shore, and over the sand and +pebbles to my clam beds at the point; and I hurried, for I would not +miss the rising of the sun. But I did miss it, and saw the sun shining +through a thick haze, with his lower edge just risen out of the sea. The +tide was high, and the waters whispered gently at my feet, and stretched +away in all manner of opalescent colors until, toward the south, they +were lost in a tender pearl-gray that seemed to cover everything. + +One needs to be alone at such a time; alone or with one other. And Eve +had not divined my intention any more than I had, but she had been +sleeping sweetly, with one white arm curved above her head upon the +pillow, and she had smiled in her sleep, and I had withdrawn cautiously +and quietly. She supposed that I would be working at my preparations. +Working! And I laughed silently to myself. But I wished that I had known +what I should do. Perhaps she would not have minded being waked. + +So I stood there, scarcely moving, looking out into that tender +pearl-gray, until the sun was half an hour high or more. Some of the +magic was gone, and I knew that it was to be hot; hot and moist and +sticky. And a fisherman crawled out into the bay, and then another, +their sails hanging in wrinkles. They were not afraid of submarines. Who +could be afraid of submarines in that quiet, opalescent water, that +pearl-gray haze? Submarines there! + +I laughed and turned away. Work no longer seemed so useless a waste of +time. I must be at mine. There are many things to be seen to besides the +digging of clams. I marched back along the shore, and up the path, and +through the wet grass. The grass must be cut. Usually I keep it cut, but +there is a dearth this year of men who work by the day, and I can get no +man to help me. What is done I shall have to do myself. + +So I came to the hole scooped in the ground just without the shadow of +my pine, and I cleared it out, the accumulation of the winter, down to +the lining of great stones. And I brought out the plain wooden benches, +and the great pine planks laid on wooden horses, to serve as tables, and +I set them in their places, and I rubbed the tops of the tables till +they were all shining white. And a big wagon came with a load of +seaweed--rockweed--all fresh and wet and dripping, its little brown +bladders soft and swollen, and the load of wet weed was dumped in a +slippery pile. There were chickens also to come, and lobsters, and fish, +whatever kinds the fishermen brought in, but no bluefish caught in the +bay these many years; and many loaves of brown bread. But all those +things would come later, and I had no concern with them save to bake +them--but not the brown bread. So I looked about, and seeing all things +done that were to do at that time, I went in to breakfast. + +I was restless, and dragged Eve out, and we went prowling along the +shore, although it yet lacked an hour of the time set for the assembling +of our company; but there was Old Goodwin leaning against a tree above +the clam beds, gazing out over the water. + +I followed his gaze, and I saw his ocean steamer lying there, at anchor. +She had come in since sunrise, for the water then had been empty of +steam yachts. And men were swarming over her rail and were getting +settled upon stagings--planks--that hung there. + +Old Goodwin turned to us. "Good-morning," he said, smiling his quiet +smile of peace. + +"Good-morning," I returned. "It seems like afternoon to me. It is a long +time since sunrise. Your boat wasn't there then. What are they doing to +her? Painting a gold band around her?" + +He smiled once more. "No gold," he said. "She needed paint. I thought +that gray would be a good color. It wears well, and doesn't show +bruises." + +"He has given her to the navy," Eve whispered. Her eyes were shining. + +"I thought I might as well," said Old Goodwin as if apologizing. "I have +given up New York--for a time anyway--and shall not need her. That is +the matter I spoke of. I shall want your advice, Adam." + +"Now?" I asked. "It is rather sudden." + +He laughed. "Not now. There is hardly time. There comes the Arcadia." + +I had seen her looming through the haze. She seemed to be coming +rapidly, and there was little wind. I mentioned it. + +"Fergus had a motor put in her this year," Old Goodwin answered. "He +hated to. Said it was spoiling a beautiful boat, but he had to do it." + +Then there was a noise up the path, and Tom Ellis appeared with Cecily. + +"Hello, people," he said. "Are we the first? I was afraid we would be, +but I couldn't hold Cecily any longer." + +Cecily smiled. "Don't take any notice of him, Eve, and he'll run down +pretty soon." + +"And," Tom went on, "Cecily could have painted for another half hour and +earned fifty dollars more. You see what a sacrifice I have made for +you." + +"And your country." + +"Country comes first, doesn't it, Adam? Ought to, but I'm afraid the +clams had a good deal to do with it. What do you think of my uniform?" + +Tom had on the worst looking clothes that I have ever seen on a +respectable man who did no work. They were soaked with a mixture of oil +and grease and dirt, and spattered with mud, which covered them in great +patches here and there, and one sleeve of his coat was torn nearly off. +It looked as if a machinist, in his oily jumper, had rolled in wet clay. +His rubber boots were those of a mixer of mortar and concrete. + +"I am lost in admiration, Tom," I said. "The others will hardly be able +to equal that." + +"No," Tom returned proudly; and he threw down his rake. He had brought +an instrument very like a potato digger, a short-handled rake with huge +tines. "The only private, you know. I thought my uniform ought to have +distinction. Cleaned up Mr. Goodwin's cars for the purpose." Old Goodwin +laughed suddenly at that. "Then I whitewashed the henhouse, with this +artistic result. It's quite fun whitewashing henhouses. Ever try it, +Adam? Did it with a pump and hose. Whitewash on the windows is an inch +thick." + +I laughed. "I have had that pleasure in the distant past, and I don't +want any more of it. But you have not accounted for the mud." + +Tom surveyed the mud and shook his head. + +"Can't account for it," he said. "Haven't been near any mud. I can't +imagine how it got there, unless Cecily borrowed the clothes. But this +party, Adam, is a sort of farewell party for me. I've enlisted. I go +to-morrow." + +"Go to-morrow!" I cried. "Where? And what have you enlisted for?" + +"That is somewhat ambiguous as a question, but I will answer all its +meanings. I've enlisted because my country needs me. All the posters +say so. That one of the old gentleman in the star-spangled hat looking +right at you and pointing right at you, and saying, 'Your country needs +YOU,' or words to that effect, was what got me finally. I couldn't get +away from it. He was pointing at me and looking at me, wherever I went. +And I've enlisted for four years, and--" + +"Four _years_!" gasped Cecily, wide-eyed. "You never told me that, Tom." + +"Didn't I? It must have been an oversight, Cecily. You won't mind, will +you? And I've enlisted to go to Newport and drive some admiral or other +around in a large gray car. Oh, it's not half bad. When the submarines +begin to school off Nantucket, perhaps they'll let me go out there once +in a while and get a load." + +"Tom," said Eve, patting his arm, her eyes shining again, "I think it's +splendid. I could kiss you for it." + +"Wait, Eve, until Cecily's not around," Tom whispered; "and perhaps Adam +could be spared. _Then_, if you like--" + +"I'm going to Newport to-morrow," Cecily broke in decidedly. "I'm going +to _live_ there." + +"Oh, I say!" said Tom. And Old Goodwin offered to take them both over +next day in his new car, and let Tom drive. And he offered further to +ferry Cecily back and forth as often as she liked, and to lend them a +car if they wished. + +So everybody was happy,--excepting perhaps Tom and Cecily,--and the +Arcadia was just rounding to her anchorage, and we watched while the +shining mahogany launch put off. But, before coming in, the launch went +slowly along the whole length of Old Goodwin's ocean steamer. I could +see Captain Fergus looking at the work as though he were inspecting it, +and once he boomed forth a question, which was answered as if he had a +right to ask it, and then the launch made for the landing. + +I wondered at it, but I wondered more at Eve. For Eve has pacifist +leanings, as I have reason to know and as I have said before; and here +she was with all the signs of approval for Tom's action, and ready to +kiss him for it. It might be that Eve was entirely willing that the war +should be fought vicariously, and that she would sacrifice all her +friends in the cause--but not her family. That was not like Eve. I +refused to believe it of her. And I turned away and was musing upon this +matter when there came down the path Captain Fergus and Mrs. Fergus, and +Jimmy Wales and Bobby and Ogilvie; and, some distance behind them, +Elizabeth and Olivia. And that was strange, too, that those two girls +should be coming by themselves when Bobby and Jack Ogilvie were just +ahead; but I could not be bothering myself about all the queer things +that people did--or did not do. They did not concern me. There were +enough things that did concern me to bother about. + +All the company were there. I drew near to Eve. + +"If Alice Carbonnel were here now," I said, "and Harrison, we should be +complete." + +"Alice!" Eve returned. "I wish that I knew!" + +Alice Carbonnel was in Belgium, the last we knew, and Harrison Rindge, +her husband, was hunting for her. I hope he has found her--safe. We are +very fond of Alice Carbonnel, Eve and I. + +"There is somebody else to come, Adam," said Eve. "You would never +guess. It is my mother." + +I smiled, remembering another day when I had met Eve just at that spot +to take her to another clambake; a smoking dome upon a point, beneath a +pine. + +The point and the pine belonged to a queer fellow that I knew--knew +well, I thought sometimes, and sometimes not. + +And so I smiled, remembering. "Eve," I said, "do governesses have +mothers?" + +And she smiled too, and she slipped her hand within my arm, and looked +up at me with that light in her eyes that makes them pass all wonders. + +"Oh, Adam," she said, "that was a happy day--for me. Oh, but it was +hard, and I was afraid." + +"A happier day for me," I said, pressing her arm close to my side. "But +here comes your mother." + +And Mrs. Goodwin came sailing down the path, with our little daughter +skipping beside her, and she smiled as she came, which was not what she +had been used to do in that time that I remembered. And our company +being all assembled, and the beds being uncovered, although the tide was +not yet at its lowest, I gave the order to dig. So we dug, even Mrs. +Goodwin digging three clams, and she was not clad as a clammer should be +clad, but she had some rubber boots, new ones and thin as gossamer, +which a clamshell cut through. And thereafter she sat upon the bank and +cheered us on, and gibed at our raiment; as if the body were not more +than raiment. + +We dug for an hour, and got clams enough for a regiment. All the baskets +were filled to overflowing. And we stopped digging, one by one, and +straightened our backs slowly, with many creaks and groans, and we +drifted to the bank and in and out; and when the drifting process was +over, I found myself next to Eve, with Elizabeth on the other side of +her, and Ogilvie completing the circle. Bobby stood afar off, looking +out over the water as if he were seeing his best friend swallowed by a +submarine; and Olivia watched him from a distance. + +"I notice, Jack," Elizabeth observed, "that Olivia has a lonesome look." + +Ogilvie turned and looked, and turned back again and smiled. + +"She has, hasn't she? Bobby too." + +Elizabeth never quivered. "Don't you want to relieve her loneliness?" + +He shook his head. "_I_ couldn't relieve it. I told you. I'll try +later--her last chance." + +Elizabeth laughed. I was picking up a bushel basket filled with clams. +Clams are a heavy fruit. Ogilvie seized one handle. + +"Here!" cried Elizabeth. "I'm going to take that side. I want to help +Adam. You go with Eve, Jack. She has something for you to carry." + +Ogilvie protested, and so did I, but she was firm. + +"I want to go with you, Adam. You needn't think I can't carry my side, +for I can." + +So we set off, Eve and Jack Ogilvie with a market basket of clams and +various hoes, and Elizabeth and I carrying that bushel of clams between +us. Elizabeth was strong, I found, and sure-footed; surer than I. The +others came straggling after, carrying their loads. + +"Elizabeth," I began, "what is the matter with Bobby?" + +She smiled and turned to observe Bobby. "I'm sure I don't know. He seems +to be well occupied with Olivia." Then she changed suddenly. "That was +not honest, Adam," she said. "I do know, but it is nothing that I can +help. He will get over it in time--perhaps. I wish he would, for it is +not amusing as it is." + +And she sighed softly, and then she smiled up at me. It was a brave +attempt, and almost a success. + +"And Ogilvie?" I asked softly. + +She laughed, and spoke low. "Jack has found a little yeogirl. He was +telling me about her. She is the loveliest thing that ever was, and the +sweetest and the gentlest. She may be all that, of course, but there are +some lovely, sweet, and gentle girls of his own kind. But, at any rate, +Olivia is nothing to him now. It has done him that much good already." + +I was silent, thinking. I wondered how I should like it if Pukkie, +being of age and his own master, should elect a yeogirl to the high +place in his regard now held by his mother and me; should elect the +yeogirl to a higher place. It would be a blow. I could not deny it. But +we had been ascending the steep path, and we set our bushel of clams +beside the hole lined with stones and the slippery pile of brown +rockweed. I sighed as we set the basket down, and so did Elizabeth. Then +we both laughed. + +"I'm glad that's done," said Elizabeth. + +"Amen!" said I. + +Then came Tom Ellis and Cecily, and set their basket down; and Tom, +without stopping, went to my pile of cordwood, and brought an armful and +laid the sticks in order on the stones. + +"Come, Adam," he said, soberly. "Remember, it's my last clambake for +four years." + +"Don't say it, Tom!" cried Cecily sharply. "I'll help you with your +wood." + +So there was a procession of us going to the woodpile and back, and the +sticks were laid in order, three layers, on the stones; then another +layer of great stones, each stone as big as a football, on the top of +the wood. Then I came with a can of kerosene, and sprinkled the wood +liberally. Eve had some matches, and she held one out to Ogilvie. + +"Light up, Ogilvie," said Tom. "It's your honor." + +And Ogilvie lighted the pile, and Tom made some feeble joke about a +funeral pyre, and Cecily almost wept; and the fire blazed up fiercely, +and we all drew back. It was hot enough without the fire, and would +have been almost unbearable but for the southwest breeze which had +started up, and which was sweeping gently, over my bluff. And we watched +the fire, as anyone will watch any fire--there is fascination in it--but +they began to drift away--to get off their rubber boots and to prepare +themselves. No doubt they would have fasted if there had been time. And +at last there were left only Old Goodwin and Tom and Ogilvie and I. Eve +had gone into the house to fetch the things, and Cecily and Elizabeth +with her. + +When the fire had burned long and the stones were hot, we raked the +ashes off; and shook down upon the stones fresh seaweed from the pile, +and on the seaweed laid the clams. Then more seaweed; and the other +things, in layers, orderly, with the clean, salt-smelling weed between; +then the loose stones, hot stone footballs, and over all we piled the +weed and made a dome that smoked and steamed and filled the air with +incense. And the others, having rested from their labors, leaning on +their forks or sitting on the ground, went their several ways; for they +would garb themselves. + +Eve did not place her guests. She considered, a pretty thoughtfulness in +her eyes and about her mouth, and cast her place-cards in a little heap +on the table, saying that they might place themselves; for she did not +know what was going on, and feared to make a bad matter worse. + +They did place themselves, after much hesitation and drifting about. +Elizabeth sat next to me. She seemed to think me a kind of refuge. And +Ogilvie sat at Eve's right,--she saw to that,--and Olivia next because +she could not help it, and then Bobby. Where the rest sat did not +matter. And Old Goodwin and Tom and I took our forks and opened the +smoking dome, and set upon the table chicken and fish and lobsters and +brown bread, and great pans of clams steaming in their gaping shells. +Then all would have set themselves to the business of eating; but I had +my instructions. I took an old dust-encrusted bottle from Eve's place, +and opened it, and went about and poured into the glasses luminous +golden stuff from that old bottle. Then Eve rose, and proposed +Ogilvie's health. And we all drank it, but Ogilvie flushed and did not +know what to do. + +"Oh," he said to Eve, "I never had that done to me before." + +And we all laughed, and fell to eating. We opened the clams with our +fingers, and took the clam by the head, and gave him a swirl in the +saucer of melted butter, and threw our heads back, and took his body +into our mouths, and bit him off and cast the head aside, and took the +next one. All there had had much experience in the process, and the +clams that had seemed enough for a regiment were soon eaten, and there +was a prodigious pile of shells under the table so that one could not +move his feet without rattling. And the lobsters were gone, and the +chickens, and most of the fish, and much of the brown bread. And first +one sat back with a sigh, and smiled, and then another; and at last all +were sitting, smiling at nothing and doing nothing else--all but Bobby +and Olivia. Bobby, it is true, had a smile graven upon his face, but it +was a smile of the face and not of the heart; and Olivia seemed out of +sorts and did not take the trouble to smile at all. And the bake was but +an empty wreck. Then Eve rose quietly, and they all got themselves +slowly upon their feet, and began to drift about the bluff. + +My place is not very big, only the clipped lawn in front of the house, +and about an acre on the south side ending in the bluff, and a couple +of acres to the north, where lies my garden and the rest a hayfield. I +should have ploughed up that hayfield and put it into potatoes if I +could have found anybody to do the ploughing. But it is just as well as +a hayfield. Everybody has been planting potatoes this year. I almost +expect to see the gutters sprouting potatoes as I ride along with Old +Goodwin in his car. Potatoes will be cheap next winter. And if I had +ploughed up that field it would have been even less inviting for our +guests to wander over. + +Not that any of them showed any disposition to wander over it. The older +ones seemed well content to settle down again under my pine, Bobby was +mooning alone at the edge of the bluff, Elizabeth was standing talking +with Jimmy Wales, and Jack Ogilvie was trying to persuade Olivia to walk +to a little clump of trees. I had seen Eve showing him the clump of +trees earlier in the day. At last they did walk off toward the trees, +Olivia obviously discontented and watching Bobby out of the corner of +her eye. + +I drifted toward Eve, and she drifted toward me, and we came together, +which might be reprehensible but was not strange. We generally do come +together. She was clad all in light, filmy white, with two red roses at +her bosom, and her hair a glory. And her eyes--there are no other such +eyes as hers. + +"Eve," I whispered, "do you want to be disgraced? How can you expect +anything else when you dress as you did for that other clambake that I +remember, and your eyes smiling, and that light upon your hair?" + +It was more than her eyes that smiled as she looked at me. + +"Yes," she whispered in return. "I want to be. Shan't I show you our +clump of trees?" She laughed as she finished. + +I hesitated. "But Ogilvie--and Olivia." + +"Stupid!" she said. "I did not show him every nook. Come!" + +So we wandered about, but we brought up at a secluded nook in our clump, +and Eve held up her face to mine. But when I had done it she put her +finger on my lips and listened. + +"Sh!" she breathed. And I sh-sh-ed, and heard Ogilvie's voice, but I +could not distinguish any words. Then came Olivia's voice, shrill and +petulant. + +"They are not having a good time," Eve whispered. + +"He is," I answered; for Ogilvie laughed. It was a merry laugh. + +"We don't want to snoop, Adam," said Eve. "Let's--" + +"Shall we join the others?" Ogilvie asked, still laughing. + +"_You_ may if you like," said Olivia in a voice filled with discontent. + +"And leave you here?" + +"And leave me here. I'll take care of myself." + +"Very well. Good-bye, Olivia. I may not see you again." + +"Not see me again? You mean to-day?" Was she regretting? + +"I mean for a great many days. Perhaps never." + +"Are you going away?" + +"I can't tell you. I go where I am sent. Good-bye." + +There was a silence. Then, as we stole out, the sound of a single sob. +Then sounds of anger. As we emerged from one side Olivia emerged from +the other. She made straight for Bobby, where he yet stood on the edge +of the bluff, looking silently over the water. + +A maid came running out of the house, and went to Jimmy Wales, and +called him to the telephone. In two minutes he came hurrying out again. + +"Bobby!" he called. "Jack! Come along. It's a hurry call for the +Nantucket lightship. We'll go with you, Jack. Just as you are." + +He whispered to me as he passed. "Submarines reported off the Nantucket +lightship," he said. "All the available destroyers and chasers ordered +there." + +Elizabeth was standing near, and she heard. Jack and Bobby and Jimmy +started on a run. + +"Good-bye, Jack," Elizabeth called in a clear voice. + +He turned and waved. + +"Good-bye, Bobby," she called again, but her voice was not so loud. + +He turned. "Good-bye," he said. It was like casting at her head a chunk +of ice. Ice would not be the most disagreeable thing on that day, but +one would prefer it in some other way than thrown at his head. Elizabeth +seemed to think so, for she shrugged her shoulders almost imperceptibly, +and I saw tears in her eyes as she turned away. + +Captain Fergus hurried after the others, and our other guests melted +away. I found myself standing at the edge of the bluff, just where Bobby +had been standing, and I gazed out over the waters of the bay--as if I +could see the Nantucket lightship! Ogilvie's boat shot out at full +speed, and I watched her until she was a gray speck vanishing into the +grayness. Gazing out and seeing nothing, and thinking of submarines! It +was absurd. They are not, and yet they haunt me. And I looked down at +the little strip of marsh at the foot of my bluff, its waving greens +turned to orange under the afternoon sun. A blackbird was flying over +those green stems waving in the water. The tide was full, and the Great +Painter spread his colors on the little waves. It breathed peace, and +here was I thinking of submarines. I cannot get rid of them. What if +one of these reports turn out to be true? Why, anything might be +happening out by the lightship. + +And I saw the red shoulders of the blackbird as he flew. He lighted on a +reed stem, which swayed down nearly to the surface of the water; and so +swaying up and down, he sent out his clear whistle again and again. He +is not troubled by the thought of submarines. His heart is not in +turmoil over them. + + + + +VII + + +Over my hayfield, that morning toward the last of June, a pleasant +breeze was blowing, and from the southwest, as is the habit of breezes +hereabout. A man clad in white flannels, and wandering slowly about, +would have found that hayfield cool enough and pleasant, I have no +doubt. I found it pleasant, but not cool, for I was mowing. For weeks I +sought some one--any one--who would cut my grass, and cut it in June, +for I have a prejudice in favor of June for cutting hay. In the last +week of June the grass is in full flower--tiny blossoms of a pale violet +color--and the stems are swollen with the juices, and rich and tender. +I, in my ignorance, believe that it makes more succulent hay than if +cut in July, when the stalks have begun to dry up and become thin and +wiry. Besides, if it is cut in June it is out of the way, and I can use +my hayfield for a ball-field if I am so minded. + +I am no mower, and I have not known what a scythe should be. I was dimly +aware that my old scythe was not everything that could be desired, for I +remember that when I took it to be ground the man applied it lightly to +his stone, then harder, then cursed and bore on with all his might, and +cursed again and sweated for half an hour, and charged me ten cents, +holding the scythe out to me as if he never wanted to see it again. He +observed that it was the hardest scythe he ever see; and I smiled and +thanked him, and thought no more of the matter, and walked off with my +scythe. And I struggled with that scythe for ten years, never being able +to keep it sharp, and spending much more time with the whetstone than I +did in mowing, but I did but little mowing, only trimming around here +and there. I never _got_ the scythe sharp. I know that now, but I did +not know it then, attributing the fault to my own lack of skill. + +I got a new scythe the other day, being unwilling to whet through two +acres. I can get it as sharp as a razor in half a dozen strokes of the +stone. When I tried it the other afternoon, just before dinner, I found +myself laughing, and I should have gone at the hayfield then if Eve had +not stopped me. Now I go about with my scythe in my hand, and hunt for +clumps of grass tall enough to cut, for the hayfield is shorn close and +tolerably smooth, and the grass lies in the sun and gives off all manner +of sweet odors. + +The mowing of that hayfield with that new scythe was simply a joy--a +delight. I swung to and fro with the rhythmic motion of rowing--mowing +is not unlike rowing, and one swings about thirty or more to the +minute--with my eyes on the ground, and I listened to the sounds: a soft +ripping with a little metallic _ting_ as the scythe advanced, and a +gentle _swish_ as it swung back again. Yes, mowing is a delight--with a +good scythe; but it is a hot sort of amusement. If I could regulate +matters mowing time should fall in November. All mowing should be done +by hand, and mowing should be compulsory for all able-bodied men. They +would be the better for it. + +I stood for a few minutes, leaning on my scythe and letting the breeze +blow through me and gazing down the bay. Then I went at my mowing again +and the scythe sang a new song. It was _sub--marine; sub--marine_, over +and over. And I kept at my mowing mechanically while I thought my +thoughts. There had been no reports of submarines since the day of Eve's +party, and nothing further said of the report of that day. Even Bobby +would say no more than that they did not find any; and when I would have +rallied him, remarking that I feared he had not baited his traps +properly, he glowered at me, which hurt my feelings. It was not like +Bobby to glower. But Bobby seemed tormented by that restlessness which +seizes on men in a certain case. I did not laugh at him, for I feared +lest he take it but ill, but I did counsel him to take to clamming; at +which he gave me a smile that would have brought tears to Eve's eyes. He +has not yet found that fount of eternal youth, and whether he will find +it or not no one can guess. I hope he will, and that joy and peace will +be in his abiding place forever. And the one who should show him the +fount is not far to seek, as he well knows; but, as I think, and Eve +too, he is stubborn and cherishes some fancied grievance, hugging it to +his heart. The poor fool! + +Then I stopped mowing, and straightened my back, and rested. And, on a +sudden, that talking machine of my neighbor began pouring forth a +strident voice, and I looked and there was the little Sands girl +watching me over the wall. She no longer throws things. But I was not +giving an exhibition of mowing, and I nodded to her, and went back to my +garden. Melons are a lottery; but I looked at my peas--my second look +that morning--to make sure that they will be ready for the Fourth, and I +took a turn about the garden. And all the while I listened, much against +my will, to that strident voice. And when it had finished that +particular humorous selection, I fled, my scythe on my arm, for fear +that I should have some sort of secret liking for the next selection; +and I came to my pine, and I sat me down on the seat, and again my gaze +ran across the waters of the harbor, well ruffled by the breeze and +dancing in the sun, to the shore opposite; and down that curving line of +shore to the lighthouse on its rock; and over the blue-gray water +beyond, that was lightly veiled in haze, to the islands floating high. +And on the water between the lighthouse and the islands I saw the +Arcadia. She was coming fast, with all her light canvas set, a thing of +beauty. It would be a fast submarine I thought, that could damage +her--in any sort of breeze. Then I thought idly of Captain Fergus, and +of Elizabeth and Olivia, and Bobby and Ogilvie, and of Eve and Pukkie. +That is the goal--Eve and Pukkie and Tidda--little Eve. + +Elizabeth has been our guest for the past two weeks when she has not +been on the Arcadia. She puzzles me yet. What is she doing here so +long--a poor girl, seeming to be loafing out the summer? She should be +conducting her classes in swimming. It is likely enough that the same +question has been a puzzle to Bobby; but he takes it harder than I. I am +content to let the question go unanswered and have her stay with us. She +is a good comrade, and a comfort to Eve, and she is fond of Tidda, and +Pukkie is her willing slave. For Pukkie is at home again. + +He came on the twelfth. I remember that we had had a hard rain for two +days before, and that all the ploughed land was no better than a bog, +and all the fields were covered with water under their cover of grass, +so that the water was running out through the crevices of the stone +walls, through each crevice a rivulet. But not my field, and my garden +was no bog. And I waited, sitting just where I was at that moment and +gazing idly at the same things that were there before my eyes. I could +not work in peace, nor sit in peace for many minutes at a time, but I +spent the morning going like a shuttle from garden to pine and wandering +the shore, then back again. + +Eve had gone with Old Goodwin in his fastest car to bring him +back--"him" being Pukkie, my son. But as the time approached for his +arrival I sat upon the bench and simulated peace and content, and gave +no outward sign of other; but every muscle was tense, and every nerve +on edge; I listened so hard that it hurt, and I wished devoutly that Old +Goodwin's car was not so perfect and so silent, and I resolutely kept my +gaze fixed upon the distant hills, and did not see them. + +At last I heard the latch of the gate click faintly, as though somebody +had tried to lift it without noise, and I heard an excited chuckle, +instantly subdued. And I turned quickly, forgetting that I had resolved +not to turn, and there was Pukkie running toward me. And I whipped up +and ran, and I sank upon one knee and held my arms wide. And Pukkie ran +into them at full speed, almost knocking me over, and he threw his arms +around my neck, and he hugged me. He hugged me so tight that I was +nearly strangled; but not quite--not so nearly but that I could hug him +close and whisper in his ear. + +"Oh, Pukkie!" I whispered. "My dear little son! My well beloved!" + +For answer he but hugged me the harder, and gave an excited little laugh +that was near to tears. That was enough for me. Indeed, I was not so far +from tears. I looked up at Eve, who had followed close, and tears stood +in her eyes, but she was smiling. Oh, such a smile! A smile that belongs +to wives and mothers--of a certain kind. And, seeing her, I gave thanks. +But that is nothing new that I give thanks for that, for I have done the +same many times a day for many years. + +Then Old Goodwin came up behind Eve. + +"If you and Pukkie can spare the time," he said to me, "I should be +glad to have you ride home with me--you and Eve. I have something to +show you." + +Pukkie went somewhat eagerly, and Eve and I, having devoted ourselves to +following our son about, went after, not so eagerly. And Old Goodwin +took us down to his boathouse, which is at the head of his stone pier +and gives upon his artificial harbor, and out of the car and into the +boathouse. + +"Grandfather," said Pukkie, trying in vain to keep all signs of +excitement out of his voice, "is it my dory that we're going to see? Is +it?" + +Old Goodwin smiled to himself. "Well, no, Pukkie. It isn't your dory. I +didn't manage that. But it's something of that nature." + +"Oh," said Pukkie in low tones of disappointment, "I didn't know but--" +Old Goodwin had opened the door at the other side. "Oh! What's that?" + +Made fast to the stage there lay a perfect little sloop about twenty +feet long which seemed to be an exact reproduction in miniature of a +large boat. Every sail was there which the large boats carried, every +rope and block and stay, although they had drawn the line at a separate +topmast. I realized at a glance that there were too many ropes and +blocks and stays for her size. It would take more of a crew to handle +her easily than she could carry. + +But Pukkie realized nothing of the kind. He ran toward her, and stood +beside her, touching with a fearful hand her smooth deck, and the pretty +blocks and cleats of shining brass, and smiling. + +There was even a gangway ladder, and her gunwale not much more than a +foot above the water. + +Pukkie turned his shining face to me. + +"Oh, daddy," he cried, "look at her dear little jibs. Aren't they +cunning?" + +They were cunning and tiny. + +Old Goodwin, simple-hearted gentleman that he was, was as pleased as +Pukkie. He seemed delighted. + +"There are other sails," he said, smiling and eager. "In the sail locker +you will find a gafftopsail and a jibtopsail and a flying jib. We +couldn't very well manage any more," he added to me. + +"They are quite enough," I returned, "for her size--and for her crew to +manage." + +"She is rather deep for her length," Old Goodwin went on. "A boy can +stand straight in her cabin, and a man very nearly. Go aboard, Puk, and +see. Go down into the cabin." + +So Pukkie, excited and solemn, went aboard, stepping carefully, and +opened the cabin doors, and disappeared. We followed him on deck and +looked down. There was a little table in the middle which would fold up +out of the way, and there were two small transoms with little netted +hammocks for the sleeper's clothes, like a sleeping-car. And there was a +silver pitcher for ice water, and racks for glasses and dishes, and +shelves with brass rails around them, and lockers tucked away in every +corner, and a door at the forward end which should have led to the +galley. Old Goodwin saw my look of incredulity, and he smiled. + +"There is a galley," he said, "although a very small one. But I think a +boy could manage it. About the size of a cupboard." Old Goodwin pushed +the slide farther back. "We had to put this slide on her," he said +apologetically, "or there couldn't have been a cabin of any use to +anybody. I was sorry." + +I was not sorry. It would help to keep the seas off. But Pukkie took one +last look around, drew one long, quivering breath, and came up. + +"Oh, see!" he cried. + +I turned and looked where he was pointing. There was the little wheel, +which we had seen before; and there too was a tiny binnacle with its +compass, cunningly contrived to take no room, set just forward of the +wheel. + +"Do you like it, Pukkie?" Old Goodwin asked somewhat wistfully. "Do you +think that you'll like her as well as you would have liked a dory?" + +"Like her!" cried Pukkie. "Like her! Oh, grandfather!" + +And he leaped at his grandfather, and seized him about the neck, and hid +his face; and Old Goodwin patted Pukkie's shoulder, somewhat awkwardly, +and smiled at Eve and me. I wonder what is the market value of the time +that Old Goodwin wastes upon his grandson. + +Then Pukkie would go sailing at once. It did not matter that it was +time for luncheon, although my clock that I carry beneath my belt told +me that it was. He was not hungry. It did not occur to him to wonder +about me, or he would have offered to get me a luncheon in his galley. +So we set forth to sail the raging main; a little sail of half an hour, +with Eve and Old Goodwin to see us off. + +So we set all the little sails, but we did not get out from the sail +locker that gafftopsail and the jibtopsail and that wonderful flying +jib. The wind was moderately strong. And we glided out from Old +Goodwin's harbor with me at the wheel, and Pukkie sitting beside me with +shining face. The little boat was handy, and she went about her business +with no fuss, and the water began to hiss past under her rail. And I +sat the straighter. Truly, what is luncheon? + +We passed some fishermen going out--the same way that we were going, and +we passed them as if they were at anchor; and they gazed in amazement +and I saw them pointing. I headed for a lighter that I saw dimly through +the light haze--she was anchored by a wreck, as I chanced to know--and I +gave up the wheel to Pukkie. + +He had never steered with a wheel, but I undertook to teach +him--although the art of steering, whether with a wheel or with a +tiller, cannot be taught. One learns to steer by feeling. And Pukkie was +alert and anxious to learn. I told him to keep the boat headed for the +lighter, at which he looked at me in surprise, and suggested that it +might be too far to get back in half an hour. It was; but I did not tell +him so. + +Thereafter, for some time, the boat cut some astonishing capers, which +must have set those fishermen to wondering. We passed the fish traps, +with men in rowboats busy with taking in the catch; and we passed +innumerable terns, or, rather, they passed us, and they were fishing and +sending forth their harsh metallic cry; and we saw a pair of fishhawks, +and they too were fishing. All fishing. Truly, the business of the +waters is catching fish. And Pukkie was getting the hang of the wheel +and steering a straighter course, so that he could give some attention +to other matters. + +There were rocks which looked like monsters just risen from the deep, +and with the water washing over their backs. + +"They look like submarines," said Pukkie. "Don't they, daddy?" + +I explained to him the appearance of the back of a modern submarine; but +the rocks did remind me of submarines. Everything reminds me of +submarines. And we saw, afar off upon the water, a small gray speck. And +the speck grew until it became a motor-boat, painted a dark gray. Why +they paint them a gray that is almost black is a mystery. There is no +concealment in it. This motor-boat was small, and was heading right for +us, it seemed. + +"Is that a chaser, daddy?" Pukkie seems to have the jargon pat. Probably +he learned it at school. "It isn't very fast, is it? It couldn't catch +a submarine, could it? It wouldn't be any use to chase with that." His +words held a depth of scorn. Always submarines. I cannot get away from +them. "Why don't you go out and chase them, daddy? I should think you +would like to. I would." + +I am thankful that he cannot. I gave him some answer that seemed to +satisfy him. + +"That chaser is trying to meet us," he resumed. "Whichever way I go, she +goes too." + +It did look so; but it was a small boat and slow. I thought that we +could beat her likely enough, if it came to a chase, but Pukkie would +not have it so. He wanted to meet her, and asked me to steer. + +We met in a few minutes, and the pleasant-faced ensign hailed me and +asked if I had a license or a permit or something. I knew nothing of any +permit, and I told him so, and he said that they were required, and we +had to turn about and sail back again. It was just as well, for we were +like to be over our half-hour; and we got in well ahead of the +motor-boat. + +Since that day I have been out with Pukkie every afternoon, for he must +be taught to sail if he has a boat. He is well used to going with me in +my dory and he swims passing well for a boy of ten. He will be eleven in +October. And Elizabeth has taken him in hand. She sails nearly as well +as she swims, and she sails with him nearly every morning; and sometimes +Eve and she go with us in the afternoon. I feared a little at first to +take so many, for I thought it might swamp the boat; but the boat will +carry all she will hold. + +I had got to this point in my meditations, and I was well rested, and I +was somewhat cooler than I was; and my scythe rested against the bench +beside me, and I gazed down the bay at the Arcadia, and I wondered idly +about Captain Fergus. If Elizabeth was a mystery, he was no less. He did +not seem the sort of man to be sailing idly about in a beautiful, fast +yacht when everybody else was busy in looking for something to fight; +everybody but Old Goodwin and me, and Old Goodwin is nearly seventy. +Fergus is a fighter if ever I saw one, the very kind of man that would +stick out his jaw and damn the torpedoes. + +Since Tom Ellis is gone, I have no moral support against my +conscience--if it is my conscience that makes me vaguely +uncomfortable--except the knowledge of Eve's pacifist attitude. I try +not to say anything that would give her concern, but it is hard +sometimes. It gets harder as time goes on. Gardening is well enough, but +I hate to be left alone and gardening. Gardening seems but a poor +occupation for a man when other matters are afoot, although it is +better, perhaps, than acting as chauffeur for a lot of naval officers. +But Tom seems to like it well enough, and says that he has put himself +entirely in their hands, and does whatever he is called upon to do, +without a thought for the morrow, which is, no doubt, the proper +attitude. Cecily likes it too, and spends most of her time in Newport, +going to and fro in Old Goodwin's car. I went over with them one day, +and the first thing my eyes alighted upon was the Arcadia just come to +anchor, and Captain Fergus landing at the War College. Perhaps his +conscience was too much for him. Fergus is a year or two older than I +am, and--confound it!--there is some fight left in me yet. If there were +only something more than phantoms to fight! And this frantic search for +what is not! + +I heard the sound of a screen door slamming, and looked around the +tree-trunk, and saw Pukkie running over the grass toward me; and behind +him there came, at a somewhat more sedate pace, Eve and Elizabeth. + +"Daddy," Pukkie called as soon as he saw me, "don't you want to go +swimming? We're going. Tidda's at grandmother's." + +Being indulged, of course, with unlimited cookies and raisins and +anything else she took a fancy to. Grandmothers have a talent for +indulging, and Tidda has a genius for accepting indulgences. + +"I do, Pukkie. That is exactly what I want. I have been mowing. Is your +mother going swimming? You going in, Eve?" + +"Yes, she's going." And Eve smiled and nodded. + +So I put my scythe in the shed, and we went down the steep path, and +along the shore where the water lapped high; and past my clam beds to +the bathhouse near the stone pier. The bathhouse is Old Goodwin's, as +any might guess, and the little beach is Old Goodwin's, and the +float-stage a little way out, with its springboard. It is good bathing +at that little beach only when high water covers the sand. Beyond the +sand are great pebbles covered with rockweed and barnacles. + +Eve came out hesitating, her eyes smiling and tender as she looked at +me; but a dark green cap covered her glorious hair except some wisps +which ever bother her with their straggling, and the sun shone upon the +wandering locks and framed her head in fine spun copper. + +"Don't you think, Adam," she asked timidly, "we might go in here? It is +a good tide--and I'm afraid I can't manage the float." + +Eve does not swim very well, although confidence is all she lacks to +make her a passable swimmer. And I was quite willing, but Elizabeth +would not hear of it, promising that she would look out for Eve; and she +had us all in the boat and rowing out before we could make our +objections heard. + +And no sooner were we well clear of the beach, than Elizabeth dived, and +when she came up again,--it was some distance that she was under +water--she called to Pukkie. And Pukkie, with supreme confidence in +Elizabeth, stood up on the seat and dived over the side, and swam beside +her. + +Eve seemed to have more confidence in Elizabeth than she had in me, +which is not strange, for I have observed that, in matters of skill or +knowledge or judgment, a woman will trust the veriest stranger before +her husband, although in this matter of skill and knowledge Elizabeth +was well past me. + +So Eve trusted herself utterly to Elizabeth, and she made some progress +in her swimming. And we all floundered about there in the cool, clean +water until Elizabeth said that Eve was cold, and then we all drew +ourselves, dripping, on to the float, and there, but a little way off, +was the Arcadia anchored, and her sails nearly furled. + +As I gazed at her I thought I saw something queer about her topmast +stays--a little thing. It looked almost like aerials for wireless. I +asked Elizabeth about it. + +She was looking at it too, almost with satisfaction. + +"Yes," she said, "I see. It does look as if it might be." + +Why should she know? And then the tender put off with Captain Fergus and +Bobby and made for the landing, going rather close to us huddled on the +float. They hailed us, Bobby very solemnly, but they did not stop. + +There was a light of mischief in Eve's eyes. + +"I'm going to have Bobby to dinner to-night," she whispered. + +"If he'll come," I said in her ear. + +"Oh, he'll come." + +And he did. + +Eve and I were standing alone together and silent and hand in hand upon +the edge of my bluff, watching while the Great Painter spread his colors +as he was wont to do. The still waters were covered with all manner of +reds and purples. The grasses of the little marsh below us waved gently +above the shining mud, and now and then there broke a wave that ran in +among the grass stems in ripples of color, and left the wet mud +glistening in a coat of shimmering green, and set the grass waving anew. + +As we stood there looking down, Bobby came silently and stood beside us, +and breathed a long sigh, and gazed for a long time. Then he looked at +Eve and smiled. + +"Lovely," he said, "and peaceful. For the matter of that, it would be +hard to find a more peaceful-looking place than the lightship--in good +weather." + +"Then, Bobby," I said, "I take it that not many periscopes have fallen +to your bow and spear." + +He shook his head. "I'm disgusted. I'm beginning to think that the +Germans have no submarines, and that all these tales are fables. Your +traps, Adam, are no good. I'd just like to get a chance to go across to +the North Sea or Ireland or the Channel. I'll tell you in strict +confidence--we have been warned not to talk about these things--a mine +sweeper went to Boston a few days ago, on the way over. Nobody knows +when she will leave Boston. I was greatly tempted to try for a place on +her. But I'll get there yet." + +"No doubt there would be occupation for idle hands over there. But what +has become of Ogilvie? We have not seen him since the clambake." + +"He's busy. He's going over--to go on a chaser. Lucky chap! He had his +orders that very morning. Waiting for the chaser. But I'd be tried for +high treason if you were to tell anybody--even Miss Radnor, for +instance." + +I had turned about, and there was Elizabeth. She must have heard it all, +for she turned pale, and the light in her eyes went out suddenly, +leaving them cold as stones. It was a pity. + +She came forward slowly. "Why are you afraid of me, Mr. Leverett?" + +"Afraid of you?" asked Bobby in surprise. "I am not. Why should I be?" +It was a challenge. "We have been warned to be cautious." + +"It was not I who was incautious," said Elizabeth. + +Bobby smiled, and his smile was not pleasant to see, but he spoke in a +faultless manner. + +"You are never incautious," he said. "Trust you for that." + +Then Pukkie came running, with Tidda after him, and they pitched upon +Bobby and created a diversion, which we welcomed. + +Our dinner was not a success, as may well be imagined. Elizabeth was +cold and silent, which was not like her. We had come to know Elizabeth +pretty well, and we liked her; and we knew Bobby very well, and we liked +him. And it is unpleasant and awkward when people whom you like and who +like each other--I knew it well enough--speak together little and look +upon one another with hostility which is but ill concealed. And, dinner +over, we withdrew to our candles, but Elizabeth went up with Tidda, and +Pukkie followed her. Bobby laughed mirthlessly at that, and muttered +something. It sounded to me like "latest victim." + +We had a pleasant but short evening with Bobby, and he left early, +making an excuse of duty. As we turned away we encountered Elizabeth, +who murmured that she had just got the children to sleep, and said that +she was going out for a few minutes. + +"I was glad to hear that news of Jack," she said. "To say truth, I have +known it for a long time. Jack told me." Truly, she was not incautious. +"It will settle the yeogirl. That was a joke, he wrote me. But, whether +it was or not, it will settle her." + +"And Olivia?" I asked. + +"Olivia is settled already. She has gone home." + + + + +VIII + + +Indeed, a conscience is a most distressing comrade. And, albeit a +conscience is not for a fisherman,--he cannot afford it,--a clammer may +be pricked and stabbed and plagued by that he would willingly get rid +of. For I suppose it was my conscience that impelled me to buy--in +secret, for I would not have Eve know of it lest it give her anxiety--a +little card with two revolving discs and pictures of a signalman in +every position that is possible to a signalman. + +By diligent use of that card and much practice in the proper manner of +waving my arms I hoped to make myself duly proficient in the art of +signalling by the wigwag method. + +I found the card at a nautical instrument store in the city on the day +after our dinner; and as I looked at it somewhat doubtfully, the clerk +pulled out a little book that gave the matter more at length. I bought +them both, and I have been practising the motions for a week in secret. +And that has its difficulties too, that I do it in secret, for if I +practised in the house it was not secret, nor was it secret in my garden +or in the hayfield or on my bluff. At last I hit upon that little clump +of trees. No one could see me there. + +To-day being the Fourth of July, I thought it fit that I practise more +diligently than usual. So, having gathered my first peas, a generous +mess of them, I repaired to the clump of trees; and having propped the +book upon a branch and hung the card upon a twig, I began. But no sooner +had I got to work at it than somebody came running out of the house, +softly calling, "Adam! Adam!" It was the voice of Eve, and she was +waving a paper, for I could hear it rustling. And I swept the book off +its branch and the card from its twig, tearing the card in my haste, and +I stepped from my hiding-place on to the bluff, so that I should seem to +be but gazing out over the water, as is my wont. + +I was just putting the book and the card in my pocket when Eve came upon +me, but she was so intent that she did not notice. The paper that she +had is published in the nearest city, and it is a good paper, a better +paper than any published in Boston. It suits me even better than the +London "Times," to which I subscribe, for although the "Times" has the +war news in greater detail than we have it, it is usually three weeks +old; and news which one has read three weeks before is old enough to +have been forgotten. + +She held the paper up before my eyes. + +"See, Adam," she said. "Here is good news for the Fourth. Our transports +have beaten the submarines, great flocks of them, and have sunk some of +them, and they have arrived safely, every ship and every man." + +I smiled at her enthusiasm. "That should be good news. To be sure, the +submarines that were sunk carried their crews down with them to be +drowned like rats in a trap, and we used to think that Germans were +pretty good--" + +"Good!" she cried. "When they have committed so many murders on the +sea!" + +"Well, these Germans will commit no more murders. Let me see your +paper." + +There it was in great staring lines of type before my eyes. I had but +just digested the headlines, and was preparing to read the solid columns +when Eve snatched it away. + +"I can't wait for you to read it all. I want to show it to father." + +There was probably nothing there that Old Goodwin did not know already. +He has a way of knowing things; but I said nothing of it. I smiled again +at Eve, and let her go. + +"Adam," she said anxiously, turning back, "_you_ wouldn't commit +murders on the sea, would you? _You_ couldn't persuade yourself that it +was right?" + +"Well," I answered gravely, "I have none in contemplation, but I have +not given the matter much consideration. If I were sailing the high +seas, and were to meet--also sailing the raging main--Sands and his +talking machine, I might--" + +Eve laughed. "Yes, you might." And she came back and kissed me. "You're +no sort of a murderer." + +"You don't know, Eve," I protested, "what sort of a murderer I might be. +I would not boast, and I speak in all modesty, but I try to do as well +as I can whatever I set my hand to. I venture to say that I should do +my murdering thoroughly." + +She laughed again, merrily, and again she kissed me. + +"The murdering that you will do will not amount to that." And she +snapped her fingers. "Jack Ogilvie is like to do more of it,--if you +call that murder." She sighed and turned away. "Now I will go." + +And she was gone down the steep path and along the shore, stopping now +and then to wave at me. It hurt me somewhat not to go with her, but I +must be at my signalling. + +So, as soon as Eve was out of sight in the greenery, I began again, +standing on the bluff where I was, an imprudent thing to do. I laid my +book and my card upon the ground, and began to wave my arms gently, +stooping now and then to the book to be sure that I had it right, and +saying the names of the letters to myself as I waved. For each letter +has a name in the signal book. And as I waved, I thought upon Eve's sigh +that she had sighed as she turned away, and it seemed almost as if she +were sorry that I was not as Ogilvie; but that could not be that she +would have me go, for had she not said other? And, without knowing what +I was doing, I proclaimed it to the world. "Eve would have me murder," +was the sentence I was signalling. "Eve would have me murder on the sea +even as Ogilvie." I was even shouting the names of the letters by this. +And I looked and there was a big gray motor-boat just without the +harbor, and Ogilvie himself standing up on her deck and watching +me--and wondering, I had no doubt. + +The motor-boat came on swiftly, and Ogilvie watched me as if he thought +I had gone daft, while I, out of bravado I fear, signalled again that +message about Eve, no better than a lie. And directly opposite my bluff +the motor-boat came to a stop, and Ogilvie began to wave his arms, so +that any that saw might well think there were two madmen in the harbor. +And to my delight, I could read it, and read it easily. It was a brief +message, it is true. "What!" said Ogilvie with his waving arms. +"Repeat." + +I did not repeat, but I sent him another message. "Come up here and I +will explain. I am practising. Give me some more." + +So he gave me more, and I could read it, although his messages were not +simple. It filled my soul with an unreasonable joy, as a boy's when he +finds that he has mastered at school some task which he thought that he +had not. And we waved our arms at each other, two gone clean crazy, for +a long time, and Ogilvie smiled more and more, until at last he laughed. + +"Well done," he signalled. "I will be there in half an hour." + +And the motor-boat started again, and I turned, smiling, well pleased +with myself, and there sat Eve on the bench under the pine, and she was +laughing. + +"Adam," she said, "come here and sit beside me, and explain. Oh, bring +your book." For in my awkwardness I was leaving it there on the grass. +"I saw it. I have been watching you." + +And I turned meekly as that same boy at school caught in some mischief, +and I went and sat beside her, but I did not explain. + +"Where is Elizabeth?" I asked. + +"Elizabeth," she said, "has gone sailing with Pukkie. You might have +known it. Now, what were you doing, and why were you doing it?" + +I have found the truth to serve me best, and I would not tell Eve other +than the truth in any littlest thing. So I told her all, and showed her +the matter all set forth in the book. And she was interested and +pleased, and would learn wigwagging herself. + +"You must teach me, Adam," she said, "and we will do it together." + +And that pleased me mightily, that we do it together. And she clasped +my arm in both her hands, and bent forward and looked up into my face. +And in her eyes as she looked was even greater tenderness than was wont +to be, and that was a marvel; and there was a great joy too. + +"Tell me, Adam," she said softly. "Why did you do it? What set you at +it?" + +"The nature that God gave me," I said, "or conscience, which is the same +thing. I do not know. It--it is hard, Eve, to be forty-three when one +would be twenty-three--for a reason. As for the signalling," I added, +"that is nothing much, save that we be learning it together." + +"I know," she said. "A symptom." + +I did not know what she meant, whether my conscience or the signalling. +But still she was looking up at me with joy in her eyes, and happiness; +and she gave a little soft cry and a little happy laugh, and she +squeezed my arm between her hands. + +"Oh, Adam, Adam!" she cried low. "I love you--you don't know how much. +And I don't wish that _I_ was twenty-three. Do you know why?" + +I could not guess. + +"At twenty-three I was not married," said Eve. "I did not even know +you." + +What I did then any may guess. No doubt it was imprudent too. And we +were once more sitting decorous, and about Eve's lips and in her eyes +was that smile of joy and happiness. + +"You will see, Adam," she said. "It will all come right." + +"What will come right?" asked a voice. "Is anything wrong?" + +And we turned, and there was Jack Ogilvie. + +"I do not know what Eve meant," I answered him, "unless she referred to +my signalling. No doubt that is wrong enough." + +He shook his head. "Nothing wrong about that. You do it very well." + +Then I asked him for the latest news from the seat of war. + +"Well," he said, "we are forbidden to tell the news, although there +isn't any. But if you were to go to Newport you would see a big British +cruiser lying there. And if you had your glass with you you could read +her name." He gave her name, but I have forgotten it. "It is supposed to +be a secret, and has not been in the papers, but everybody at Newport +knows it. They can't help it. The officers go about very swagger and +very stiff, carrying little canes. You may see me carrying a little cane +one of these days, but I have not yet arrived at that dignity--or folly, +whichever you call it." + +I smiled. "Did you never carry a little cane in college?" + +"Oh, sometimes, for the sake of doing it, because I had a right to. But +this is real." + +"When you come back from England, or France, or wherever you are going, +perhaps you will carry a cane." He seemed startled, but only for a +moment. + +"What makes you think I am going over?" + +"Bobby told us--in confidence. When?" + +He seemed relieved. "If Bobby told you that lets me out. I was afraid I +might have dropped it somehow. I don't know when, but soon, I think." + +"Jack," said Eve suddenly--it was the first time I had heard her call +Ogilvie Jack--"Jack, we will have a clambake for a farewell. I hope they +will give you some days' notice of your going." + +"Thank you," he returned, smiling. "It is more likely to be hours' +notice. But I will come to your clambake if I can." + +"And can you bring," Eve asked, "your yeogirl? I invite her, and ask you +to deliver the invitation." + +He laughed suddenly. "My yeogirl--did you hear she was a joke? She is a +real girl, but I don't know her, and I couldn't bring her over here,--or +anywhere. No, I'm afraid you will have to get somebody else to deliver +the invitation. How would Mr. Wales do?--or Bobby?" + +"Jimmy has a wife, my cousin." + +"Yes, I know. But Bobby--he hasn't any." + +"Poor Bobby would be in greater trouble than ever. Besides, he wouldn't +do it. Bobby has developed a nasty temper lately. I wanted the yeogirl +for you, and if you don't want her--I am sorry Olivia has gone." + +"Olivia would never do for me," he said, shaking his head. "I guess I +shall have to devote myself to the clams--or to Elizabeth." + +"You might do worse, young man," I said severely. + +"I might," he assented. "In fact I have done worse." + +I did not know whether he referred to the clams or to Elizabeth; but it +was true in either case. And he said nothing more, and thereupon a +silence fell, which is no misfortune and no embarrassment when the +people are suited to it. I had been seeing Pukkie's yacht for some time, +and she had just disappeared behind Old Goodwin's pier. And she had +three people in her, when I supposed she carried only Elizabeth and +Pukkie. I mentioned it to Eve, who was as much surprised as I; and we +watched the pier and the shore. + +And presently we saw coming along the shore, where the little waves were +breaking, three figures. The figures were those of Elizabeth and +Pukkie--of those two I was certain--and the third looked like Bobby. I +had to look several times before I was sure of him. He was walking +beside Elizabeth, and his attitude betokened a strange mixture of +devotion and distaste. As I looked again I saw that Elizabeth and Pukkie +had been recently wet--very wet--and they were not yet dry. Bobby was +not wet. The inference was obvious: Elizabeth and Pukkie had been +overboard, and Bobby had not. But where had Bobby come from? Eve and I +hurried down the steep path, and met them at its foot. + +Elizabeth raised her eyes to me, and I saw two deep pools under a summer +sun, and all manner of colors played over them, concealing the depths. +Then for an instant the lights were quenched that concealed the depths, +and her eyes became as two dark wells with yet a sort of light +illumining the darkness, and there I saw content, but not +satisfaction--if those two can be reconciled. It was for but an instant, +and then the lights came back, and her eyes danced, and she laughed at +me. + +"Are you wondering," she asked, "what has happened to us, and what Bobby +Leverett is doing here?" + +"It is easy to guess," I answered, "that you and Pukkie have been +overboard, although why you should go in swimming in all your clothes is +another matter. But I must confess to some wonder about that matter +standing fidgeting there." And I pointed an accusing finger at Bobby. + +Bobby was ill at ease, and struggling between the constraint that was +upon him and a wish to tell his tale. + +"Well, you see, Adam," he began, "I--we were cruising--" + +"Who," I asked, interrupting, "is 'we'?" + +"Bobby," said Elizabeth quietly, "you'd better let me tell it first. Puk +and I," she continued, addressing Eve and me, "were sailing along too +calmly, and he wanted to put up the gafftopsail. So he got it out, and +ran with it, and he caught his foot in some of the superfluous ropes and +blocks, and went overboard--topsail and all. I was afraid he might be +tangled in the sail, so I let all the halliards go on the run, and I +went after him. I got him, and saved the sail, and there was a boat from +the Rattlesnake, with Bobby. He helped us on board again, and insisted +upon coming with us." + +Bobby again opened his mouth to speak. + +"One moment, Bobby," I said. "Tell me, Elizabeth, did the Rattlesnake +spring so suddenly?" + +She smiled and glanced at Bobby. "Oh, we had seen her before. That was +why Puk was wanting the topsail. He wanted to see if we could beat her." + +"Oh," said I, and I looked at Bobby, who squirmed as a caterpillar on a +stick. + +"We happened to be near," he said. He spoke calmly enough, but I saw +that he was very uncomfortable. "I thought I ought to come, for Pukkie +was very wet, and I wanted to be sure he was all right. Miss Radnor had +rather a nasty time getting him clear of that sail." + +"Bobby!" said Elizabeth warningly. And suddenly she smiled as if she was +much amused at something, perhaps at Bobby. + +"Bobby," said Eve softly, "it was very good of you. Did Elizabeth save +Pukkie's life?" + +"I'm not sure," Bobby answered slowly, "that Pukkie's life was in +danger, but I'm not sure that it was not." + +Eve clasped Pukkie to her, wet as he was. I would have done the same. + +"Bobby," Eve said again, looking up at him, "was there no one else that +was very wet? I'm ashamed of you." She had spoken low. + +"Er--you see," Bobby answered wriggling, "I knew very well that +Eliz--Miss Radnor would be all right. She is--er--very competent." + +And Elizabeth laughed at him and dropped a curtsey. "Thank you," she +said. + +Bobby was struggling with his desire to smile and with his dignity. + +"I've got to get back somehow," he said. "Hello, there's Ogilvie." +Ogilvie had been standing in plain sight at the top of the bluff. "He +can take me--that is, if you can spare him." He beckoned to him, and +Ogilvie came down. "You'll have to take me out, Jack." + +Ogilvie grinned and saluted, and they started off together. But they had +gone only a few steps when Bobby turned. + +"I almost forgot to say good-bye." + +He smiled unhappily, and was turning back, but Elizabeth ran to him and +held out her hand. + +"You can be on your dignity if you like, Bobby," she whispered, not so +low but that I heard it, "but I'm not going to be. Good-bye, and thank +you." + +And Bobby had taken the hand that she held out. He held it for a long +time, but said nothing that I could hear, but only looked. And he +relinquished her hand--actually flung it from him--and strode away after +Ogilvie. And Elizabeth came back to us quietly, but her eyes shone and +she was smiling. + +"Now," she said, "Puk and I will get on some dry clothes. You may as +well rub him, Eve." + +It must have been a narrower escape than Elizabeth would admit. As we +ascended the steep path, I thought upon the manner of journey that would +have been if there had been no escape at all. Pukkie, my dearly beloved +son! And I reached forward and hugged him, and for the rest of the way +my arm lay along his shoulders. + +That night we heard firing from the fort, perhaps a dozen shots. We hear +that firing every few nights. Eve and I looked out--we were just going +to bed--and saw the flashes against the sky above the trees, and heard +the sound as if cannon balls were being dropped on the floor over our +heads. Eve wondered what it was, and I told her it was probably some tug +trying to go in or out of the harbor to the east of us at a forbidden +time. + +"Oh," she said, relieved, "I thought that it might be submarines--or +fireworks." + + + + +IX + + +It was on a Saturday morning about the middle of July, and it had been +foggy; and I had watched the fog retreating stealthily, withdrawing one +long vaporous arm and then another, slinking back like a wraith before +the sun, as if trying to get away unperceived. There was no writhing and +twisting in the anguish of defeat and dissolution, no jets and shreds +vanishing into the hot air above. But the ways of the fog over the sea +are a mystery, and I am not yet at the end of them. + +I had gone over to Old Goodwin's to take my daughter, and I had left her +with one of the army of starched and stiff imitations of men in buttons +who haunt the house. They guard every door, so that a man cannot so much +as turn a handle for himself; and one is to be found in each passage, +and at every turn. They might be wooden images from a Noah's Ark, +endowed with movement, but not with life. There are not so many of them +as there were some years ago. They are none of Old Goodwin's doing, and +Mrs. Goodwin has somewhat lost her fancy for them; and some of them, Old +Goodwin told me, have enlisted. Fancy! Those men in buff uniform and +many buttons enlisting! But they will be well used to wearing a uniform, +and they will be well used to doing without question what they are told +to do, and to keeping their faces like masks. They will make good +soldiers I have no doubt, and they may be in France at this moment. + +The buttons who admitted us was not so very starched and stiff, and he +seemed to have been endowed with life as well as movement, and to have +become actually a human being. For he smiled when he saw my daughter, +and spoke pleasantly to her, so that I was persuaded that he was even +glad to see her. And she, having thrown him some pleasantry, and a smile +with it, dashed past him through the great hall and vanished. And he, +still smiling, closed the door upon me, and I went in search of Old +Goodwin, who deals not in uniforms and buttons. + +I found him on that part of his piazza where stands the great telescope +on its massive tripod. Before him there lay his ocean steamer at +anchor, and he gazed at her steadily--but not through the telescope. + +He turned his head as I came, and gave me his quiet smile of peace. + +"Good-morning, Adam," he said. "I was just wishing that you would come." + +Old Goodwin with his quiet smile--even in his clammer's clothes and his +old stained rubber boots--is yet Goodwin the Rich. It is a marvel. + +"Good-morning," I said. "And here I am to do with what you will--for the +space of some hours." + +"It may take some hours," he returned, "and it may be done in less." + +I did not in the least know what he was talking about, but I was to find +out. He was silent for some while. + +"Any news lately?" he asked then. + +"War news, I suppose you mean," I said, "and submarines. Nothing that +you have not seen; a submarine in Hampton Roads about a week ago. But +that report was in all the papers. No doubt Jimmy has given you later +news." + +"I believe that all boats were sent out from Newport in a hurry last +Sunday. I have heard nothing since. I wonder," he continued, smiling, +"if whales have not something to do with these reports--or sharks. I +hear that there has been a great slaughter of whales in the North Sea in +the last three years." + +"Whales have no periscopes." + +"They may yet develop them in self-defence if this keeps on long enough. +But I would not cast doubt. You see my boat out there. What do you +think of the color?" + +She was all gray, and has been so for some time. + +"Why, it is a good color if you like it. She looks like a lump of lead. +I cannot see why the navy does not paint its ships some lighter shade, +with streaks of greens and blues and purples and some white here and +there. Those are the colors that the water shows, although the water is +of a different color in every different light. But I would be willing to +guarantee that I could do better than that--much better." + +He looked at me thoughtfully. "That is worth thinking of, Adam. I am +sure you could do better. You couldn't do much worse if the idea is +concealment." He chuckled. "You know the water and its colors. How +would you like to do it?" + +"Why, I don't know," I said slowly. "I have never thought of it. The +fact is," I blurted out, and choked upon my words. Why should I confess +to Old Goodwin what I had been unwilling to confess to myself? But the +impulse was too strong. "The fact is," I began again more quietly, "I am +not satisfied. I cannot be content to till the ground--which any Western +Islander could do as well or better--and to moon upon my bluff when +every one I know is doing more. Could you?" + +He smiled and shook his head. "I could not in your place. But come out +to my boat with me. I want to show you the changes I have made." + +So we went in his tender which was lying at his landing with her men in +her, that had been waiting for us. And on the way out he asked me +casually and seemingly without interest, how I liked steamers; and he +had his gaze fixed upon his great vessel as though he had an affection +for her. + +"They are good for getting somewhere quickly," I answered him, "if you +mean such as yours. For the rest, one might as well be in some great +modern hotel on an island in the midst of the sea. There is no more +pleasure in them. Now tell me, is there?" + +He laughed a hearty laugh. "I can well imagine, Adam, the pleasure you +would have in being in a great hotel, whether it was in the midst of the +sea or in the midst of the city, but I have had some pleasure in that +boat. I have some regard for her." + +"Then I ask your pardon," I said, "for the answer that I gave. I should +have said other. But what I meant was clear enough. A sailing vessel is +a living thing, and each has ways of her own. You feel her response to +each movement of the wheel or each change of sail or trim of sheet, and +that response is sometimes willing and sometimes unwilling. She is like +a woman, responding instantly and gladly to a man who persuades her with +sympathy and understanding, and doing her best; while to a man without +true understanding of her she is reluctant and contrary and stubborn. I +have no experience in vessels of size, but you can ask Captain Fergus." + +He laughed again. "Fergus is of the same opinion," he said. "But what I +meant to ask was whether you have experience of steamers." + +I shook my head. + +"Too bad," he said, and sighed. "A steamer is a living thing too, I +think, but less like a woman; going straight where she is going like a +man; more straightforward. I like a steamer well enough. But Fergus +agrees with you. And Fergus has to go in a steamer, and it almost breaks +his heart. He is to command her." And he waved at the huge hull towering +above us, for we were at the gangway. + +I was following after him up the steps. + +"And is Captain Fergus in the navy?" I asked. + +"In the Reserve. He has been since the beginning. They were only +waiting for a ship." + +"And the Arcadia?" + +He turned and smiled. "She is enrolled too, but it is a secret. I don't +know why a secret." + +So that explained her activities. There might be other secrets; and I +thought of Elizabeth and Bobby. Elizabeth could be trusted to keep a +secret well, and Bobby knew it. And Elizabeth had been away much of the +time for two weeks or more, always going in the Arcadia wherever she +went, but usually home for the night. By "home" I mean our house. I +thought she was but a guest of Mrs. Fergus, but there might be some +other explanation. It did not matter. Elizabeth was Elizabeth, and Eve +rejoiced to see her face with its crown of beaver-colored hair, and her +calm and smiling eyes. I have not yet decided what is the color of her +eyes, but they suit Eve. + +And I looked up, and I saw the Arcadia just stretching her sails as a +man will stretch his arms and legs in preparation for the using of them. +She had been there all night. And I saw that noble yacht of Pukkie's +casting off from the stage in the little harbor of Old Goodwin's, and +Pukkie and Elizabeth in her. And Pukkie saw me--he had been waiting to +catch my eye--and they both waved to me as the boat caught the wind and +stood out of the harbor. She was tiny, that yacht of Pukkie's, but she +was complete; as complete as the Arcadia. Indeed, she was not unlike +her, save that one was a schooner and the other a sloop. To see that +boat of Pukkie's out upon the water with no other near enough to compare +them, you might think she was of any size, even a big boat--until you +saw the two huddled in the cockpit or one of them stretched upon the +deck, almost covering it. + +"See," I said to Old Goodwin, "there goes Pukkie." + +He stood at the head of the gangway, and he smiled a happy smile. + +"I see. He will go near all the lobster buoys, and the fish traps, and +the rocks uncovered by the tide, and pretend that they are submarines. +He has told me. And he pretends that the Yankee is a vessel that has +been sunk by a submarine. What it is to be a boy!" + +"And what are we but boys?" I said. "We pretend that there are +submarines in all the waters from Montauk to Chatham, and we go about +looking for them. It is much more satisfactory to have something that +you can see, as Pukkie has,--and just as useful, so long as we must +pretend. Submarines! They well-nigh turn me sick." + +He laughed. "They turn many sick." + +"Sick at heart," I said, "looking for what is not. We might +request--through the proper diplomatic channels--that Germany send some +over, one for each district." + +He laughed again. "It would relieve the monotony, and put spirit into +our men. Imagine Fergus if there were any. He is a war-horse." + +And he led the way, waving some officer aside, and took me through the +boat and showed me everything. He had made changes. I should not have +known it for the same boat. The staterooms, that had been palatial, had +been divided, but were large in their new state; and new quarters had +been provided for the crew, who would be twice as many men as he had +ever carried; and she had been strengthened for the mountings of the +guns. Many other changes had been made, but it was these that he +lingered over. They had been some months in making the changes, and he +had carried a small army of mechanics about with him. + +He had been showing me the officers' quarters for the third time, and at +last he turned away. + +"I am given to understand," he observed, "that any recommendations I +may make will receive due consideration. Fergus is made a commander, but +there are vacancies." + +He meant me, of course. The finger of destiny always points at me. It +was as much as an offer, but I should have been ashamed to accept it. A +man should enroll, and then let the navy do what they will with him. Of +course he should; but that is ascribing all wisdom to the men who have +all power. They are but men, and have not all wisdom; they are but men +as we are, and some of them a little less. + +I smiled. "I am sorry," I said, "that I know nothing of steamers and the +running of them, or I should be tempted to try for one of the +vacancies. I do not suppose I could qualify for anything; a +coal-passer, or even a third-class quartermaster perhaps, no better. And +I should not like to have fingers of scorn pointed at me as being the +admiral's pet or something of the kind. It would smack of politics and +influence." + +Old Goodwin laughed. "It is not an improper use of influence to point +out a man's virtues," he answered, "but quite proper. The authorities do +not know you, but I do, and I consider you well qualified. The knowledge +of your duties you could pick up soon enough. You could pass the +examination for a lieutenant's commission in two weeks. I would not be +afraid to promise it. You can navigate, Adam." + +I nodded. "I wish it could be done. But you forget that I am +forty-three. They don't want men of forty-three." + +"It might be done," he said. "Fergus is forty-four, but many years a +master. It might be done, but if you don't want--" + +I interrupted him. "You forget Eve. She is a pacifist--as bad as +Cecily." + +He smiled. "Eve is not so much a pacifist--nor Cecily. I would not worry +about Eve." + +That was news to me--if he was right. And I did want to do something, if +only to restore my self-respect, that was well-nigh gone from me. It was +but to find that something that I could do better than another, if such +there was. + +"I will think about it," I said. + +"Do," he returned, "and so will I. It may be that this vessel is not +the place for you. I should like it better if there was something that +would keep you here or hereabouts--and so would Eve. It should be +something that no one else can do." + +I laughed and said nothing. What was there for me to say? But my laugh +had no merriment in it. It was simple: I had but to find that which I +could do and no one else; but stay--it must be useful in the present +case. And I laughed again savagely, and I looked up, and there was the +Rattlesnake anchored beside the Arcadia. + +"They are well in time for the clambake," I remarked, "although they +have digged no clams." + +For this was the day of Ogilvie's farewell. He had written Eve, and she +had got the note the day before; and all the afternoon I had been busy +with getting my supplies, and in the early morning of this day we had +digged the clams. It was but a remnant of my company that gathered +there, only Old Goodwin and Eve and Elizabeth and Cecily and me--and +Captain Fergus. I almost forgot Captain Fergus, but he dug few clams. +The burden of the day fell upon Old Goodwin and me. Jimmy and Bobby and +Ogilvie and Tom and Mrs. Fergus and Olivia were absent. And now there +was naught to do but to start the bake. Old Goodwin and I went in +silence to the tender, and ashore. + +"Think hard," said Old Goodwin as I was leaving him. "There must be +something." + +"If only we can find it," I returned. "I have little hope." + +He smiled his old smile of peace. "I have much," he said. "I can take +you over to Newport on any day you wish. I will be over to help you with +the bake." + +Our clambake was a good clambake, and the clams were good, being +fresh-digged and well baked, and the lobsters tender, being +small--indeed, I was glad that no inspectors from the police boat were +there to measure them. I did not measure them, being well enough content +to take the word of the fishermen. And the chickens were good and all +things else; but there was something lacking, something wrong, and that +something was in the spirits of the guests. Old Goodwin was cheerful, +and Elizabeth seemed cheerful enough, and Jimmy; but upon the spirits of +the rest of us there sat an incubus. Ogilvie said but little, and Bobby +was restless and discontented. He had hard work to sit still long enough +to eat; and thereafter he wandered to and fro like a lost soul, standing +at the edge of the bluff and looking out moodily, then wandering over to +my garden and regarding it critically, then back to the pine, taking his +knife from out his pocket and tapping it upon the table, then wandering +aimlessly to the clump of trees, then to the bluff again. + +My garden is not on exhibition. It is not weedless, as Judson's used to +be, but is for use; and it is not to be regarded critically. And the +tapping of knives on the smooth pine planks of the table is not to be +commended. I came very near speaking to him about it, and then I saw Eve +watching Bobby with an anxious look, and I caught for an instant a +glimpse of Elizabeth's eyes. They hurt me. It was but for an instant, +then she veiled them, and the lights played upon them. She was watching +Bobby too. + +So we got through an uncomfortable afternoon, and it came time for them +to go. Eve had Jack Ogilvie by himself at the edge of the bluff, and +they talked earnestly, and he took her hand and smiled his pleasant +smile, and they came back to us. Bobby was tapping his knife upon the +smooth pine boards. + +"I envy you, Jack," he said, heaving a tremendous sigh. "I'll be there +too, if there is any way." He turned suddenly to Old Goodwin. "Can't you +say a word for me? What is the use of influential relatives, anyway?" + +And Old Goodwin laughed. "They are of little use, Bobby. And I am +surprised that you are willing to use influence in such a matter." + +And he looked at me and winked. + +"Use influence!" Bobby cried under his breath. "I'd use anything--a +crowbar, if that would get me there." + +Then they said their farewells, and Bobby shook hands with Eve and me, +but not with Elizabeth. She stood there, her hands hanging at her sides, +and a smile upon her lips,--not in her eyes,--while Bobby turned away. + +But he turned back again as if it were against his will and some great +force turned him. + +"Good-bye, Elizabeth," he said low, and he half held out his hand. + +She went forward quickly. "Good-bye, Bobby," she said. + +And Bobby gripped her hand so that it must have hurt, and held it long +and hard. Then he flung it from him as I had seen him do once before, +and strode away abruptly, and ran down the steep path after the others. +Elizabeth came back to us smiling--with her lips and eyes and heart; and +Eve kissed her suddenly, and she laughed and cast down her eyes, and +they went in together. + +I stood upon the edge of my bluff when the sun was low in the west, and +I watched the colors that the Great Painter spread upon the still +waters. And I saw again that little strip of marsh below me, each grass +stem standing straight and motionless and dark in the still water, but +each stem was edged with greenish gold. Little waves rippled in--from +some boat out in the harbor--and the grass stems rippled gently with +it, and the bars of gold upon the waves and the waving lines of gold +upon the grass stems advanced with it until the wave broke upon the +store. I looked out to see what boat it was, and it was Ogilvie's, and +he stood and gazed and waved to me, and I waved back, and then I +bethought me of my signalling. So I waved my arms like a semaphore gone +mad, and I sent him a message in farewell; and he understood, and +thanked me and sent a farewell to Eve. Then he was gone out into the +pearl-gray of the coming twilight, and his gray boat was lost in the +gray of sky and sea. + +I looked down at the little marsh. The grass was still again, and two +blackbirds flew across it. I saw the red shoulders of one as he guided +his waving flight, and the grass stems standing up darkly above the +bright water, as if they were set in glass. It seemed infinitely +beautiful and sweet, and infinitely sad. + +I was wakened in the night by a noise outside our window; a little +noise, as if somebody were trying not to make it. A greater noise, one +made as if by right, would not have awakened me. And I took a stick that +I have--a straight hickory handle for a sledge fits the hand well, and +makes an admirable weapon--and I went out, thinking of German spies. +There was no moon, but I saw him. My spy was doing nothing but gazing up +at the window, and I came upon him from behind and caught him by the +collar. That collar was stiff with braid. + +He turned quickly and wrenched himself free. + +"What do you mean, Adam," he asked, "by your murderous assault upon a +peaceful relative?" + +It was Bobby. "You're no relative of mine," I said. "What are you doing, +anyway? Don't you know that the window you are gazing at is mine--Eve's +and mine?" + +"All the windows in the house are yours, aren't they?" he growled. "And +I'm not looking at any window. But why can't I if I want to? Answer me +that." + +There was no answer to that. "It is lucky," I observed, "that I keep no +dog--a dog like Burdon's. I think of getting one." + +Bobby laughed at that. Burdon had a great dog, a vicious beast, which +amused himself one day by chasing Burdon into the hencoop, growling and +snarling savagely. He kept him there for hours until there came along a +boy who had owned the dog until his father decided that the dog was too +vicious and gave him to Burdon. The boy seized the dog by the collar, +and dragged him away and chained him, and told Burdon that he could come +out. + +"Don't you do it, Adam," Bobby said. "Think how you would feel if you +came out and found only my mangled remains. And I am doing no harm--only +wandering about." + +So he was but wandering about. He should have been in bed. And we stood +there and talked for a few minutes, and Bobby wandered off to my steep +path and down to the shore, and I heard the sound of great pebbles +rolling, and I heard him whistling softly some mournful air. I went in +and to bed. Elizabeth sleeps in the room down the hall, and her windows +are around the corner. I heard a little noise from her room as I turned +into mine. + + + + +X + + +One morning--it was the first of August, the middle of that hot week--I +was sitting on the seat under my great pine, and Eve sat beside me. I +was waiting for Elizabeth, for the time had come again for the Arcadia +to be about her mysterious business on the sea, and this time I was to +go. It was what Elizabeth called "transferring" something or somebody. +What it was and where it was I was to find out. I wished that Eve was +going--and Pukkie. I said as much. + +"Elizabeth has not asked us," she replied. "I could not go if I were +asked, for I promised to go to mother's. She has one of her bad turns. +But Pukkie would love it." + +I murmured my regret at Mrs. Goodwin's illness. Her illnesses are not +serious and do not last long, and the cause of them is not far to seek. +She eats most heartily and takes no exercise, and that practice ever +bred illness. I would have her mowing for remedy. + +Eve slipped her hand within my arm and clasped the other over it. + +"Adam," she said, giving my arm a gentle squeeze, "what is it that is +troubling you? Something does. It has for a long time." + +Now that was what I did not expect, that Eve should think me troubled, +for I thought that I had been most careful. But I should have known +better. Eve always knows. And the thing that had been troubling me more +than any other was that I had not thought of that no one else could do +but I. + +I looked down into her eyes, and I saw there many things; but love and +longing most of all, the longing to comfort me if she could but lay her +finger on the hurt. + +I smiled. "It is not so bad as that," I said. + +"Well, kiss me, Adam," she said, "and tell me." + +I obeyed orders--or part of them. + +"On the day of the draft," I said, "I was in the village, and I saw all +the inhabitants assembled, and they scanned each batch of numbers as the +news came, but not a third of them knew what their own numbers were. +Some did, and I saw two that were drafted. One of the two went out from +that assembly with eyes that saw nothing, looking as if he went to his +execution. The other laughed, and said that that settled it, and he was +glad. And tell me if you can the answer to my riddle--which has nothing +to do with the assembly in the village--and say what there is that I can +do, but no one else." + +She laughed. "Is that the matter? And must the thing be useful? I know +several things that no one else can do, but they are not useful. If it +must be useful,--well,--I cannot think of it at this moment, but I have +no doubt I shall." She leaned forward, and tried to look into my eyes; +and failing that, she shook me. "What is the nature of this thing that +you must do? Look at me, and tell me." + +I was afraid to look at her lest she guess, and I was not ready to tell +her. I might never be ready. + +"It is nothing, Eve," I said: "nothing of importance. It is not worth a +minute's worry." And that was true too. + +"Foist it upon somebody else then," she answered quickly. "There are +persons to decide those things." + +I looked at her then. "I cannot believe that I get your meaning. You +could not know. Truly there are persons to decide those things, but +Heaven knows whether they are competent to decide anything. No doubt +they would cheerfully and light-heartedly consign me to--what I should +not do." + +I stopped abruptly. I had almost told her that which I had determined +not to tell her--yet. I looked into her eyes, and there I saw laughter +and joy and hope and great love; and I saw the same tender wistfulness +that I had seen so many times in the past weeks. But joy and laughter +conquered. + +"I hear Elizabeth coming," she said, "and I hope you may read your +riddle. Now we must be most proper. Are you proper, Adam?" + +And Elizabeth came while I was yet straightening my hair, and getting it +into a comfortable condition. It feels most uncomfortable when it is +rumpled and each separate hair taking a different direction, like the +brush that is used to black the stove. It feels as that brush looks. + +Elizabeth laughed at me unfeelingly. And she turned to Eve. But people +always turn to Eve. "I'm going to take Pukkie, Eve, if you don't mind. +Captain Fergus did not ask him, but I'm going to take him anyway. I've +told him." + +And Eve smiled and said nothing, and we started, and Pukkie came +running, his face expressing his delight. And when we were in the launch +and starting from the landing, Eve wished me once more the proper +reading of my riddle, and she threw a kiss to us, and stood there until +we were aboard the Arcadia; then we saw her wending up the slope toward +the great house. + +The sails were already hoisted and the anchor hove short. Elizabeth and +Captain Fergus and Pukkie and I were settled in chairs along the rail, +and the crew went about their business so quickly and so quietly that +the first I knew of our being under way was the gentle canting of the +deck beneath my feet. We had slipped out. + +The wind was very light, but it was making rapidly, and there was a +long, heaving swell from the Atlantic--perhaps two hundred feet from +crest to crest--which made the big Arcadia pitch gently and bury her bow +to the eyes. At last one of these seas, higher than most of those which +made up the great procession, crept up higher yet and slopped over upon +the deck. And her bows rose, and there was a rush of water along the +deck, and there came the noise of falling water from hawse pipes and +scuppers. + +Pukkie laughed with delight, and Captain Fergus looked up. + +"Crack on," he said; and they set more sail. + +Presently there came another of those mighty rollers. She took it over +her bows, a flood of green water, and it came roaring aft. Again there +was the sound of many waters, more mighty yet, as hawse pipes and +scuppers spouted forth their loads. + +Captain Fergus looked up at the masts. "Crack on," he said again. And he +got up and wandered to and fro across the deck, gazing up at the masts +and at the men setting the light sails. + +"She'd do better," he said, stopping for an instant by my chair, "if I +hadn't had to put that confounded engine in her. You wouldn't believe +what a drag a screw is, even when it is feathering." + +She was doing well enough. All her light sails were set, and she was +furnished forth with all her frills and furbelows, so that there was no +place where she could carry another stitch. She bent to her business and +sailed. And Captain Fergus smiled a smile of satisfaction--in spite of +that dragging screw. + +Pukkie had left his comfortable chair, and was leaning against my knee, +saying nothing, but looking back at me now and then, his face a study. +It was a pleasure just to watch him. Captain Fergus seemed to find it +so, and Elizabeth had been watching him for some time. + +"Come, young man," Captain Fergus said suddenly. "Don't you want to walk +a while with me--to pace the deck with measured tread, while +what-you-may-call-it on the dead? Eh?" + +And Pukkie smiled more than ever--if that were possible--and jumped and +joined him; and they walked--paced the deck with measured tread for some +time in solemn silence. Captain Fergus would glance aloft, and Pukkie +would glance aloft; and at last I smiled and Elizabeth laughed. + +"Don't you feel like pacing the deck with measured tread?" I asked. + +And she got up as if she had been sitting on a spring, and we paced the +deck in solemn silence behind those other two. + +Captain Fergus turned suddenly. "This young man ought to have a +uniform," he said. "I've got one that he could wear. Steward!" + +And the steward, having come instantly and received his instructions, +vanished below, and immediately reappeared, bearing an ensign's coat and +cap. These were fitted upon my son. They were too large, but he could +wear them. + +"But, Captain Fergus," said Elizabeth, laughing, "the regulations!" + +"Jigger the regulations!" remarked Captain Fergus, smiling. "I pay +mighty little attention to regulations when I'm on my own vessel. +Pukkie's my first officer." + +My little son beamed at this, and turned to show me his uniform. + +"When you command that yacht of Mr. Goodwin's," said Elizabeth, "you'll +have to pay some attention to the regulations." + +"Have to sleep in my uniform, like as not," Captain Fergus growled. +"According to the order we are not to unbutton a button of the coat on +any occasion. If that doesn't mean sleep in your uniform, what does it +mean?" + +"You can't have Pukkie for your first officer then," Elizabeth pursued. +"Can you?" + +"I suppose not. Probably some yachting chaps who have been prominent +socially and got their pictures in the papers. I hope not, though. There +are some good men in the Reserve. I only hope they may give me men who +have had experience in steamers. I don't want any of these pets who have +commissions merely because they had influence, or because they were rich +enough to give a boat." + +I said nothing. I had the light that I was looking for, although it did +not illumine my problem, but was what I had supposed it would be. After +all, if a man do but use the sense that God gave him and stand by his +judgments, he will do well enough. I would have none of Old Goodwin's +steamer. What was I, to be officer on a great steamer? I might command a +rowboat, or a yacht like Pukkie's if need were. + +"You do not have a very high opinion," I said, "of the navy?" + +"What?" he said. "High opinion? Oh, yes, I have. Good men and fine +vessels, many of them. It's a sailor's right to growl at the service +he's in. You mustn't take what he says too seriously." + +"Would you advise a man to enroll in the navy?" + +"Depends on the man. If he has a taste for the sea, he'd be more +contented in the navy than in the army, but many men have a strong +distaste for it. I'd advise your man to get the best rank he can, and to +have no modesty about it. If he doesn't get it some other fellow will +who is not troubled by modesty." + +And Captain Fergus took up his pacing the deck again, and Pukkie walked +beside him, taking as long a stride as he could. Elizabeth watched them, +a smile of affection in her eyes. + +"Isn't he fine in his uniform?" she whispered. "But he would be happier +if he could wear his old blue coat and his old blue cap." + +He was fine, and he looked the sailor and the fighter. But I knew that +old blue coat and that old blue cap, hanging in his cabin. The sun had +shone caressingly upon them many times, and seemed to like them almost +as well as he liked them; and they had changed their colors, as +everything does under the caresses of the sun, until they were blue no +longer, but of a purplish cast, shot with red. + +The wind grew, as winds will, until two or three in the afternoon, and +the sea grew with it, but always there were those great rollers coming +in from the Atlantic. And the Arcadia was doing her twelve knots, bowing +majestically and buffeting the great seas, tearing the tops from them +and sending sheets of spray, which rattled upon her deck or upon the +surface of the water like hail; and the water hissed past the rail, and +there was the gentle cluck of blocks, deep in their throats, with the +heave of the sea, and there was the sound of wind in the rigging and of +ropes beating on taut sails. Altogether it made glad my heart; and +Elizabeth seemed to like it, and Pukkie's heart was swollen almost to +bursting. And the captain paced to and fro, saying nothing, or he stood +by the rail looking out over the waters, his cap pulled down low, an +unquenchable light in his deep blue eyes and a happy smile on his lips. + +We had passed the colored cliffs of Gay Head shining in the sun, and we +were passing Nomansland, and the great rollers were greater yet. There +was fog out beyond, lying in wait. Captain Fergus nodded to Elizabeth. + +"Better see if we can pick them up," he said. + +She turned to go below, and stopped at the companionway. + +"Look," she said. + +We looked where she pointed. There, on the surface of the sea, about two +miles away, was some great thing glistening in the sun, the water +washing over it. A thick haze, or the advance guard of the fog, made it +hard to see anything clearly except the glisten of the sun. + +"Oh," cried Pukkie, "I see it. Is it a submarine?" And he looked up at +the captain. + +"More likely a whale," the captain answered, smiling; "but we will see." + +And the course of the Arcadia was changed a little so that she was +heading straight for it. She kept on for it, and now and then the +sunlight caught it and made it to shine like the windows of a house at +sunset, and again it was a dark body with the water washing over it, and +we could scarcely make it out, lying there in the sea. As we approached +my breath came quicker and my eyes glistened, and I smiled. I know it, +for Elizabeth glanced at me and laughed. It was a mysterious thing, +lying there in that thick haze. It seemed as if it might be a submarine, +although reason told me it was not. + +"What do you mean to do?" I asked. + +"Ram him," answered the captain promptly, "if it is a submarine and we +can get there in time. A fast sailing vessel is better, for he could +hear our screw. But it is no submarine. It looks more like a vessel's +bilge. There! Ha!" + +The glistening body moved, and great flukes suddenly reared on high, and +the body disappeared. + +"A sleeping whale," Captain Fergus observed. "Another submarine report +gone wrong." + +"Are there any over here?" + +"Not now, I am reasonably sure. Don't believe there will be, although I +may be mistaken. They can use them to better advantage on the other +side. But there may be, in time, unless Germany blows up first. We don't +know what is happening in Germany. They may blow up at any minute, and +they may not. Shouldn't be surprised--and I shouldn't be surprised if +they kept going for a year or two longer. Look at the Russian army, +just got well going and they have mutiny and lose it all. Too bad! I'd +like to see any crew of mine try it!" + +Elizabeth laughed and went below, and Captain Fergus began again his +walking to and fro. Presently Elizabeth came up and spoke to him, and +the course was changed, and in an hour we had sighted a steamer making +for us. + +It was the Rattlesnake; and the two vessels lay quiet on that rolling +sea while our tender went over with a package of papers, and came back +with Bobby. And the Rattlesnake turned about and we soon lost her in the +haze, and we turned about and headed for home. + +Bobby was not talkative on the way back. Indeed, Bobby has not been +himself for some weeks; not the Bobby that I knew of old. I cannot fix +the date at which the change occurred, but it was some date that had to +do with Elizabeth. Every date has to do with Elizabeth, so far as he is +concerned. And though he spoke to her when he came over the side--spoke +gravely, I suppose he thought--it seemed more like petulance to me--he +said no word more to her, but sat in his chair and gazed moodily out +over the water. And Elizabeth sat in her chair, and she gazed at Bobby +under lowered lids, and she smiled her smile of suppressed amusement. +And presently, her thoughts being unguarded, she raised her lids a +little, so that I saw all the lights of the sea playing in her eyes, +that were yet regarding Bobby, and there came into them a tender light +that was more than all the light on sea and sky. And she glanced at me, +and she saw that I had seen, and she flushed slowly, and got up and went +below. + +"Bobby," I said, "are you not ashamed of yourself?" + +He started. "Ashamed of myself?" he answered, looking at the +companionway down which Elizabeth had disappeared. "No doubt I should +be. I do things enough to be ashamed of. But why?" + +"You have not seemed to notice the honor that has befallen my family. My +son is made ensign or lieutenant commander or something, and you have +not remarked the event. I am afraid that you have hurt his feelings." + +Bobby laughed as though he was relieved. + +"So he is--ensign or something, as you say. And I did not observe it. I +ask his pardon, Adam, and yours." And he called to Pukkie, who was +following Captain Fergus about like a pet dog; and Pukkie came, and +Bobby felicitated him upon his promotion. And Pukkie smiled until I +feared lest his face crack. + +"It is a trifle large," Bobby remarked, referring to the uniform, "but +he will grow to it." + +"It is not so much too large as it was," I said. "You should have seen +him swell--like a toad-grunter." + +"Daddy," protested the aggrieved Pukkie, "I'm not like a toad-grunter." + +The toad-grunter is a much despised fish. + +"No, Puk," said Bobby, "you're not. I think your father should +apologize." + +"I apologize, Pukkie," I said hastily, for I would not wound my son. +"You are not. And, Bobby, can't you find any? Is that why you are out of +sorts?" + +"Find any what?" asked Bobby, puzzled. "Any toad-grunters? I hope not. +Who wants to find 'em? You speak in riddles, Adam." + +"It was submarines I meant." + +Bobby smiled seraphically. "Your traps, Adam, are no good. But I'm going +to find some submarines pretty soon. Pret--ty soon, you mark my words." + +"Words marked. But what do you mean?" + +"What I say. Now, Puk, what do you say to a walk about the deck? Or +would you rather follow your captain?" + +And Bobby strolled off with Pukkie. They went up forward, where the +Arcadia was shouldering aside the great seas. We had the wind on the +quarter, and there was no longer the sound of spray like rolling +musketry. And presently Elizabeth looked out of the companionway, and +seeing me alone, she came and sat in the chair next to mine, and she put +out her hand. + +"Adam," she said with a pretty flush. + +"Elizabeth," I answered, with no flush, but I watched hers flaming. + +"Adam, don't you tell," she said, looking shyly at me. Elizabeth is not +given to shy looks, but to honest ones, eye to eye. "Promise me that +you will never tell. Give me your hand on it." + +I took her hand. It was a pretty hand and soft enough, with tapering +fingers, but it was not such a pretty hand as Eve's. + +"Elizabeth," I said to her, "I do not know anything to tell--anything +that would be of interest. But--but you do not mind if I tell Eve, do +you? And," I finished lamely enough, "I hope it--it will." + +She laughed and sighed, and gave my hand a squeeze. + +"Thank you," she said. "But Eve knows, I think." + +Captain Fergus was standing by the rail, sniffing the wind and gazing +out at the waters, and at the little swirls of foam that raced by, and +at the bank of fog that chased us in. He was happy. I almost envied +him. He had done his part, and he was doing it. + +"Will you walk?" I asked Elizabeth. And we got up and walked, saying +nothing. + +The afternoon passed, and the wind died. As we drew near to the +lighthouse that stands like a sentinel on its rock just within the +entrance to the bay, the sun was far down in the west, the breeze was +but the gentlest breath, and the surface of the water moved in slow, +oily undulations. I stood with Elizabeth close beside the rail, and we +gazed at the water that was red and gold. + +The shadow of the tall lighthouse was thrown high on the sails, and +passed slowly aft. The red sun was sitting on a distant hill bearded +with cedars. The little oily waves were splotched with vermilion and +blue and purple and gold, and the gold dazzled our eyes. + +Not a ripple marked our passage. I gazed at the red sun, and he gazed +back at me; and his red disc was half down behind the hill, and I could +see it sink. And the sun sank behind the hill and had winked his last, +and a broad smooch of red lay upon the western horizon. We watched the +red fade to orange, then to saffron and to green, while two little +saffron clouds with edges of flame floated high above, and the fog crept +in stealthily below. And I heard Elizabeth sigh, and I looked down and +she looked up. + +"If you find this sad," I said, "and as if it were the end of all +things, turn about. The sight will fill your soul with peace." + +So we turned about. And the sky toward the east was of a lovely soft, +warm pearl-gray, and the water the same pearl-gray with tints of rose +and of a light blue here and there. The distance was veiled in an +impalpable haze, and water and sky merged into a soft grayish blur +toward the horizon, as if smeared with a dry brush. The water, gray with +its rose tints and its blue, seemed to dimple softly, like a baby +smiling as it sank to sleep. It soothed my soul; it was the very breath +of peace. + +I heard another sigh beside me, and I turned, and there was Bobby. + +"Submarines in that!" he said, and smiled. + +We began to turn slowly, and were come to our anchorage, and there was +Old Goodwin's great steamer not far away, and Old Goodwin himself, with +Eve, on his landing, waiting for us. + +As we were about to go ashore, Captain Fergus spoke to me. + +"About that man of yours," he said. "Tell him to go to Newport, and to +put himself in their hands over there. It is the best thing he can do." + +And I thanked him, and said I would tell my man. And we were walking +from the landing, Old Goodwin and I and Eve--Bobby had to walk with +Elizabeth, with Pukkie between them, for there was none other thing that +he could do, but they said nothing that I could hear. + +"I am going to take Cecily over to Newport to-morrow," Old Goodwin +observed. "She has not seen Tom for five days. Don't you want to come +along, Adam?" + + + + +XI + + +There must have been a conspiracy against my happiness--or for it, +perhaps; but Eve seemed only mildly interested. So I made some excuse to +her--I do not like to make excuses to Eve--and I went to Newport with +Old Goodwin and Cecily. Eve could not go. She did not say why. + +Cecily kept us late in Newport, trying to get a glimpse of Tom. We had +got a glimpse of him, dressed in a sailor suit and driving some admiral +or other in a big gray car, but he would not look at us, and that did +not satisfy Cecily. But she was not discouraged, and we left her to the +pursuit of her quarry, and we went about our business, that took some +time. Then, after a long search, we found Cecily talking to Tom beside +his car. That admiral of his did not appear for hours, and Cecily would +not leave until he did, so we left them alone together on the curbstone, +and we waited around the next corner. We did not get home until nearly +eight, and Old Goodwin took us to his house for dinner, and there were +Eve and Elizabeth and Bobby. + +It was a good dinner, as was fitting for Old Goodwin's house, and when +it was over we all wandered out upon the piazza where stands the +telescope, and from which we could see out upon the bay. This part of +the piazza is like another room, with many rugs upon the floor, and +tables and comfortable chairs; and it is lighted at night--dimly, to be +sure, and but so much as lets one see easily where he is going, if he is +going, and descry the faces of the others sitting there. But that is for +those who are gone blind in the dark. I am not blind in the dark, but I +can see well enough if I am but out of doors, where there is always +light enough to see where one is going. It is only lights that blind me. +I do not like lights out of doors. Besides, on this night there was a +reddish moon hanging rather low in the southeast, with wisps of fog +driving under it. I have forgotten my astronomy,--thank heaven!--which +would tell me why the moon sometimes pursues her course high overhead +and sometimes low toward the horizon. The moon is no friend of mine +anyway, and I care not at all where she goes, or whether her course is +from west to east or north to south, or whether she shine at all. But on +this night she shone bravely for the time, and there would have been +light enough with no other. + +So we sat there for some time in silence, feeling pleasant and satisfied +because we had just dined well, and Old Goodwin smoked his cigar, and +Bobby and I smoked our pipes. And I was becoming less and less pleasant +and satisfied with those lights above me, and Bobby was getting +restless, being seized with curious alternations of restless nervousness +and pleasant satisfaction. Eve seemed to be satisfied enough, and +Elizabeth sat motionless, her hands in her lap, and a half-smile on her +lips. I could not see her eyes, but she seemed to be watching. + +There had been some desultory talk, and the lights had become too much +for me, and I had wandered out with Eve into a sort of balcony that had +no lights. And we sat--closer together than we could have sat if the +balcony had been lighted--and Eve's hand came searching for mine that +was already searching for hers, and we clasped our fingers close, and we +looked out at the waters of the bay that sparkled dimly, and at the +tapering band of moonlight that widened to a broad circle under the +moon, and at the riding lights of the Arcadia and of Old Goodwin's great +steamer,--a great dark shape. Fog hung about. It would be in presently. + +"Tell me, Adam," said Eve softly. "What did you see at Newport?" + +"Tom," I answered. "He's a sight in his sailor suit." + +She laughed. "Of course; but nothing to what you would be. We're very +fond of Tom, aren't we, and of Cecily? What else?" + +"The beach and the town and the cliffs and the training station and the +new barracks and many vessels at anchor." + +"Exasperating!" And she shook me. "Didn't you go into the War College?" + +"We did. Your father seems to know many there." + +"Adam," said Eve, "aren't you going to tell me?" + +She bent forward and looked up into my eyes, and I looked down into +hers. I kissed her. + +"I will tell you, Eve. Never fear. When you look at me like that, I +would tell anything. I tell you everything sooner or later." + +"I like it sooner." + +"I have some fear that you will not like it." + +"If you have done it, Adam, I shall like it. If I do not like it, you +will never know it. Tell me. You did not go to view the country. I know +that well enough." + +"Well," I began, and stopped, somewhat troubled. Scraps of talk had +drifted out to us, now and then, from that room we had left, and by +turning we could get a glimpse of one or another, sitting in the dim +yellow light. + +Bobby had just said something, and then there fell a sudden +silence--absolute silence. It was the silence that stopped me, and I +cast back over my unconscious recollection to see if I knew what he had +said. And the things that had happened in there in the last minute took +gradual shape in my mind, as things sometimes do that are heard with the +ear but not consciously noted. Old Goodwin had asked Bobby some +question, I know not what, and Bobby had answered him in a dull, dead +sort of voice. I recalled the voice because it was strange for Bobby to +use it; but he had done many strange things. What had he said in that +dull, indifferent voice that sounded as if all that he cared for were +destroyed utterly? I had it, and so did Eve. It had not taken a half a +minute. He had announced that he was to go to England and join a +destroyer. + +No one had spoken in that half-minute, and I peeked through at +Elizabeth. She was sitting as she had been for some time, the same +half-smile upon her lips, her hands in her lap; but I saw that her hands +were clasped together and every muscle tense. + +"Rather sudden news, Bobby," said Cecily at last. "You don't seem as +glad as I should have supposed you would be." + +"Oh, yes," Bobby answered, "I'm glad enough. I've had enough of chasing +phantoms. There are no submarines over here. I have some reason to +believe that it is different over there. There is nothing, I think," he +added rather bitterly, "to keep me over here--no reason why I should not +be glad to go." + +Again that silence fell. I saw Elizabeth's hands twisting slightly, +clasped in her lap. + +"What vessel do you join?" Cecily asked. "And when do you go?" + +"I don't know the vessel," he said, "and I'm sorry that I am not +permitted to tell you when I go. But it will be soon. There are troops +going to France. I suppose I should not tell that, but I trust there are +no spies here." And he laughed shortly. + +Elizabeth had said nothing, nor made any movement, but she had sat as +motionless as a statue--if one had not observed her hands. Now she rose +slowly, as if weary with sitting still, and she wandered slowly from one +thing to another, and seemed not to find comfort in any; and she was +come near the door, and passed out, and we heard her light step going +slowly along the piazza behind us and down some steps in the distance. +Then I turned back, and I looked out at the moonlight on the quiet +water, and at the great dark shape with its anchor light and a light or +two more shining through some portholes, and her decks white under the +moon. + +I turned to Eve, for I would have spoken; but she laid her finger on my +lips, and she pressed my arm, and would not let me lean forward. And I +heard a faint rustling, but very faint, and I saw the tops of a great +clump of bushes move in order, as if some creature--some person--moved +along behind them; and there was not wind enough to stir them. Those +bushes were very near to us, almost in front of us. And the movement of +the bushes stopped, and everything was still, and the veiled moon shone +down, making gray and ghostly everything that its half-light shone upon, +and casting black shadows. + +Bobby had become uneasy, and he had risen and was wandering slowly +about, as Elizabeth had done; and at last he was come to the door, and +he bolted through it, and we heard his light footsteps running along the +piazza behind us. Bobby was a runner when he was in college, and he ran +with no noise. And he took the steps at a leap, and I heard a faint +chuckle from Old Goodwin. + +Then nothing happened for a long time, and I could feel Eve laughing +silently, and I knew that Bobby was ramping about the place, looking +for somebody that he found not. It was as bad as chasing submarines. +And at last the bushes moved again, and I heard Bobby's voice +whispering, "Elizabeth! Elizabeth! Where are you?" And the bushes near +us shivered, and there came a gasp, and somebody started to run, but +Bobby caught her. I could see nothing, but I could imagine his catching +her by both hands, and I could hear. I could not help hearing. + +"Oh!" she gasped; and "Oh!" again. + +Then he seemed to catch her close. + +"Elizabeth!" he whispered. "Elizabeth! I give up. It's unconditional +surrender, Elizabeth. I've fought against it, but it's no use. I don't +care what you are if you'll only love me." + +Elizabeth was between laughter and tears. + +"Even if I am a German spy, Bobby?" + +"Even if you're a German spy," he whispered fiercely. "But you're not. +You couldn't be. You're too honest--and true." + +"Honest and true, Bobby," Elizabeth whispered, clinging to him--I +guessed. "But you don't know what a woman can do. If I were a German +spy, I should be doing just this--to worm your secrets out of you." + +There was a silence. + +"Do it again," he said, "--German spy!" + +She did it again--I guessed. + +"I'm only," she whispered, half-crying on his shoulder, "practising +wireless on the Arcadia. You knew that, Bobby, didn't you?" + +Eve touched my arm, and we began to withdraw soundlessly. + +"And, oh, Bobby," Elizabeth went on, "I'm afraid that you--that you may +not come back. Those destroyers are--but I'm proud of you, so proud!" + +"I'm coming back," said Bobby. "Trust me, if I have you to come back to. +I always did have luck, and I've always come back. I do have you, don't +I?" + +"You seem to," Elizabeth whispered merrily. "And I--" + +Then Eve and I were out of that balcony at last, and we went along the +piazza as silently as might be, and down the steps. I began to sing +softly, "The cloudless sky is now serene," and Eve laughed and checked +me. + +"Aren't you ashamed of yourself, Adam?" + +"No, Eve," I said, "but I rejoice mightily." + +"And so do I," she said, "and there is but one thing more needed to make +me very happy. And that you shall tell me." + +And we wended over the grass that was flecked with moonlight--it was wet +too, that grass--and through the greenery that was no more green, but +was of a dense blackness, and came out upon the bank above my clam beds, +where the sod breaks off to the sand. And there Eve sat her down where +the pebbles once shone in the sun, ADAM and EVE. + +"I know it is wet," she said, "and I do not care. Now do you finish +what you began to tell me--about yourself." + +I sat beside her. "It seems trivial now. Indeed, it is no great matter, +but I am easier in my mind now that I have done it. I have enrolled in +the navy. And that is all, and soon told. And if you do not like it, +Eve, I am sorry, but I had to do it." + +She laughed, and she gave a glad little cry, and her arms were about my +neck. + +"That is what I wanted to hear, Adam." + +"But I thought that you had pacifist leanings, Eve." + +"Every woman has such leanings, especially where the matter concerns +those she loves. But I know that you will be happier, and not ashamed, +and that is much to me; and I can be proud. I am very happy, but I am +afraid too--terribly afraid. I pray that you may not be led into any +danger--and if that is wicked I cannot help it." + +I kissed the dear lovely face upturned to mine. + +"And what did they say?" she whispered. "What will they do with you? You +are in the Reserve, aren't you?" + +I laughed. "I enrolled in the navy for any duty that they saw fit to +assign me to. And the officer smiled, and said that I would be called +when I was wanted. I may be a coal-passer, Eve, or I may be a mechanic +to clean Tom's car, or I may breathe the pure air of heaven as I sail +the raging main." + +Eve wrinkled her brow. "But I don't like that, Adam. Don't you know +whether you will be afloat or ashore?" + +"I was told that I would be of more value ashore. And that I was sorry +to hear, for I had rather be afloat, except that we should be parted. +And I want to see a German submarine before I die. 'They ain't no sich +an animal.'" + +And Eve laughed, and we got up and wandered home over the pebbles of the +shore. Fog was driving across the face of the moon, so that it was now +hidden, now partially revealed. From above the fog we heard the mutter +of thunder. Eve squeezed my arm. + +"Do you hear the guns, Adam?" she asked. "The gods are warring." + +"Never give it a thought, Eve," I said. "What are their wars to us?" + +"Well," said Eve, sighing, "but I hope it will be ashore." + +And we climbed the steep path, and went in to our candles, to wait for +Elizabeth. Elizabeth was like to be long in coming. + + +THE END + +The Riverside Press + +CAMBRIDGE. MASSACHUSETTS + +U. S. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Clammer and the Submarine + +Author: William John Hopkins + +Release Date: April 15, 2012 [EBook #39456] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CLAMMER AND THE SUBMARINE *** + + + + +Produced by Bruce Albrecht, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class = "mynote"><p class="center">Transcriber's Note:<br /><br /> +A Table of Contents has been added.<br /></p></div> + +<hr /> + +<p class="bold">By William John Hopkins</p> + +<hr class="smler" /> + + +<div class="block"><p>THE CLAMMER AND THE SUBMARINE.<br /> +THOSE GILLESPIES. Illustrated.<br />BURBURY STOKE.<br /> +CONCERNING SALLY.<br />THE MEDDLINGS OF EVE.<br /> +OLD HARBOR.<br />THE CLAMMER.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>JUVENILE</i></p> + +<p>THE DOERS. Illustrated.<br />THE INDIAN BOOK. Illustrated.</p> + +<p class="center">HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY<br /> +<span class="smcap">Boston and New York</span></p></div> + +<hr /> + +<p class="bold2">THE CLAMMER AND THE<br /> +SUBMARINE</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/coverpage.jpg" width='575' height='700' alt="cover" /></div> + +<hr /> + +<h1><span>THE CLAMMER AND<br />THE SUBMARINE</span><br /> <span id="id1">BY</span> <span>WILLIAM JOHN HOPKINS</span></h1> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/logo.jpg" width='221' height='250' alt="logo" /></div> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p class="center">BOSTON AND NEW YORK<br /> +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY<br />The Riverside Press Cambridge<br />1917</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="center">COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY WILLIAM JOHN HOPKINS<br /> +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED<br /><br /><i>Published September 1917</i></p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="bold2">THE CLAMMER AND THE<br />SUBMARINE</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><span>CONTENTS</span></h2> + +<table summary="CONTENTS"> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td><span class="smcap">Page</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">CHAPTER I</td> + <td><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">CHAPTER II</td> + <td><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">CHAPTER III</td> + <td><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">CHAPTER IV</td> + <td><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">CHAPTER V</td> + <td><a href="#Page_127">127</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">CHAPTER VI</td> + <td><a href="#Page_164">164</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">CHAPTER VII</td> + <td><a href="#Page_200">200</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">CHAPTER VIII </td> + <td><a href="#Page_238">238</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">CHAPTER IX</td> + <td><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">CHAPTER X</td> + <td><a href="#Page_295">295</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">CHAPTER XI</td> + <td><a href="#Page_327">327</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> + +<p class="bold2">THE CLAMMER AND THE SUBMARINE</p> + +<h2><span>I</span></h2> + +<p>Down under my great pine is a pleasant place—even in April, if it is +but warm enough, and if the sun is shining, and if there is no great +wind, and if what wind there is comes from the southwest. It is not so +pleasant—I know many pleasanter—if the wind is from the northwest, +howling and shrieking as it does often in the winter, picking up the +fine snow and whirling it back, leaving the top of my bluff as clean as +though it had been swept. Such a wind roars through the ancient branches +of the pine, and twists them, and tears at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> them as if it would tear +them off. My pine stands sentinel-like on the top of the bluff, some +distance from the edge, and its branches have withstood the winds of +many winters. Its age must be measured in centuries, for it is a noble +great tree; and in times long past it must have had fellows standing +close. It is a forest tree, and its great trunk rises twenty feet +without a branch. But its fellows are gone, leaving no memory, and the +ancient pine now stands alone.</p> + +<p>From the bench built against the trunk one can see many things: the +harbor, and the opposite shore, and rolling country beyond, and distant +hills, and one hill in particular with a tree upon it like a cross, +which stands out, at certain seasons, right against the disc of the +setting sun.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> One can see, too, the waters of the bay beyond the harbor, +and certain clam beds just at the point, and a certain water front; and +other things in their season. Old Goodwin's palace on the hill is not +visible, except for a glimpse of red roofs above the tops of the trees. +There is one other thing which I almost forgot to mention, and that is a +hole scooped in the ground just without the shadow of the pine, and +lined with great stones. That stone-lined hole has its uses, but the +time for them is not yet.</p> + +<p>I was sitting on the seat under my old pine, gazing out but seeing +nothing of what lay before my eyes. And that was strange, too, for the +harbor before me was smiling under a warm spring sun, and the hills +beyond were bathed in the blue mist of summer.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> Indeed, it seemed like +summer. There will be cold weather in plenty, with skies gray and wet. +There is always more than enough of such weather in the first half of +May, but that day seemed like summer. I had had hard work to realize +that it was April until I looked about me and saw the grass just +greening in the moist and sheltered spots, and the trees spreading their +bare arms abroad. The buds were just swelling, some of them showing a +faint pale green or pink at their tips. And my garden was nothing but +freshly turned brown earth, not a spear of green.</p> + +<p>I have put in my early peas, but not very long ago. They should be +poking through, any morning now. And I planted some corn yesterday.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> It +may get nipped by frost, but I hope not. What would the President think, +when he found that I had let my corn get nipped by frost? I mean to do +my share—in the garden. That is not the only reason why I hope my corn +will not get nipped. It is not likely, for we do not often have frost +here so late. It is much more likely that it will be stunted by the cold +in May. But what if it does not succeed? It will only mean my planting +those two rows over again, and if it escapes I shall be just that much +ahead of the others who did not take the chance. I no longer plant my +corn in hills. Hills have gone out. Corn is planted in drills now.</p> + +<p>I even put in two rows of melons yesterday, but I am not telling my +neighbors about it. They would be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> amused at my planting melons in +April. Judson would not have been amused. Judson was a fine old man with +an open mind, and he would have been interested to see how the +experiment with melons succeeded. I should have told Judson all about +it,—he might have helped me plant,—but Judson is dead, and so is Mrs. +Judson. It is a loss for Eve and me, for a younger man lives in Judson's +house now, a younger man who is not so fine; and he has a wife and a +small girl—who pelts me with unripe pears when I venture near the +wall—and he has a talking machine which sits in the open window and +recites humorous bits in a raucous voice to the wide world. The +girl—she is not so very small, probably ten or eleven—would have +difficulty in pelting me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> with pears now, but she might use pebbles +instead. She is a pretty fair shot; and the talking machine is not +dependent upon season. They had the window open at that moment, and I +found myself listening for the raucous voice, while I thought of seed +potatoes—at four dollars a bushel, and scarce at that.</p> + +<p>So the sun shone in under the branches of the pine, and I basked in its +warmth, and I gazed out and saw nothing of what lay before my eyes, and +I thought my thoughts. They came in no particular order, but as thoughts +do come, at random: the season, and peas and corn and melons and Judson +and his successor and the girl and the talking machine and pears and +potatoes. I suppose I should not speak of such rumblings of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> gray matter +as thoughts, for thoughts, we are told, should come in order, and should +be always under the control of the thinker. Mine are not always under my +control, and they seldom come in order. I might as well say that they +are never under my control, but are controlled by interest of one sort +or another. I make no claim to efficiency. Efficiency is a quality of a +machine, as I take it. When our brains become machines, why, Heaven help +us! But whatever my thoughts were, whether of my planting or my +neighbor's talking machine, they revolved around one idea, and always +came back to the point they started from, which sufficiently accounts +for the fact that I was looking at the harbor and not seeing it.</p> + +<p>War. That was the central idea.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> We are at war. I looked out upon the +peaceful, smiling water and the peaceful, smiling country beyond, and +the tree like a cross upon its distant hill, and I laughed. I confess +it: What had war to do with that, or with me, or with mine? I could not +realize it. War means nothing to me. It means nothing to many people +over here, I believe, but flags flying, and parades, and brass bands, +and shouting. If we were in France now—but I am thankful that we are +not in France, and that there are two thousand and odd miles of water +between.</p> + +<p>As for submarines—submarines in that harbor, where they could not turn +around without getting stuck in the mud! Or in the bay, where there is +none too much water either, and ledges and rocks scattered around +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>impartially and conveniently here and there! I know them well: one +ledge in particular which has but one foot of water on it at low tide. +And with a sea running—well, I could lead a submarine a pretty chase. I +would if the submarine was bound for this harbor. It might choose to get +stuck in the mud and sand of my clam beds, which would make them +unproductive for years. Even as a civilian I will defend my own.</p> + +<p>Well, we shall see; but I cannot believe that the matter concerns us +very nearly. And I sighed softly, and smiled, and again I looked at the +harbor, and I saw it; saw it with the warm spring sun on its quiet +water, and the wooded hills beyond bathed in a blue haze. And I heard a +soft footstep behind me, and there came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> from above my head a low ripple +of laughter, and my head was held between two soft hands and a kiss was +dropped on the top of it. And Eve slipped down on the bench beside me.</p> + +<p>"Why do you sigh?" she asked. "What were you thinking of, Adam?"</p> + +<p>"War," I said, and she sobered quickly. Eve seems to have pacifist +leanings. I smiled at her to comfort her. "I was thinking that if a +submarine should come into this harbor, it might happen to get stuck in +my clam beds, and it would stir them all up, and would be bad for the +clams. I am afraid I should have to take a hand then. Do you suppose +your father would object to my mounting a gun on the point?—say, just +under that tree where he keeps his rubber boots?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p><p>She laughed, which was what I wanted. Eve is lovely when she +laughs—she is lovely always, as lovely as she was when I first saw her. +And the warm spring sun, shining in under the branches of the pine, +shone upon her hair, and it was red and gold; as red and as shining gold +as it ever was—or so it seemed to me.</p> + +<p>"My father would probably help you mount the gun," she said. "Shall I +ask him?"</p> + +<p>"I will ask him. But your hair, Eve,—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, my hair, stupid, is turning dark. Everybody sees it but you. But I +don't care, and I love you for it. And you must look out now, for I'm +going to kiss you." She seized me about the neck as she spoke, and she +did as she had said she would.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> "There!" she said, laughing. "Did +anybody see? Look all about, Adam. The mischief's done. As if a woman +couldn't kiss her husband when she wanted to! Now, I'm going to rumple +your hair."</p> + +<p>She proceeded to the business in hand thoroughly.</p> + +<p>"Eve," I cried between rumplings, "there are laws in this State—I don't +believe they have been repealed—which forbid a woman's kissing her +husband whenever she wants to. It can't be done. And—"</p> + +<p>"It can't be done? Oh, yes, it can." She did it. "Now, can it? +Say—quickly."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, it can, Eve. I acknowledge it. But the submarine. You +interrupted me. I had not finished."</p> + +<p>"Well," she asked, subsiding upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> the bench and smiling up into my +face, "what about your submarine? I know of many things which I think +more important."</p> + +<p>"I've no doubt that there are laws against rumpling hair. There ought to +be. It's important enough. But the submarine," I added hastily, for I +saw indications of further rumpling; "I was only about to remark that if +I were out in the bay—"</p> + +<p>"In a boat?" Eve asked, still leaning forward and looking up into my +face with the smile lurking about her lovely eyes.</p> + +<p>"In a boat. If I were out in the bay, and a submarine suddenly popped up +beside me, I should feel much more inclined to offer the crew my +luncheon than to shoot them."</p> + +<p>"They would all line up on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> deck, I suppose, and you would have your +choice."</p> + +<p>I laughed. "I should have no gun. Besides, I am a civilian. That is +against me. Civilians seem to have no chance worth mentioning."</p> + +<p>Eve was looking at me thoughtfully, and there was a look deep in her +eyes that I could not fathom.</p> + +<p>"You are a civilian," she said softly, "and civilians have no—and what +then, Adam? Did you think of—"</p> + +<p>"They don't want doddering old men of forty-three, and there is no need. +But if my clam beds were in danger I should not feel so amiable. I might +even strain a point and try to get a standing that would enable me to +shoot alien trespassers properly. But why, Eve? Did you want me to—"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p><p>"No," she answered quickly. "Oh, no. I was only thinking."</p> + +<p>"I have been thinking. If we had to have a war I am glad that it has +come now. Pukkie cannot possibly go, and he might want to. How would you +like that?"</p> + +<p>Pukkie is our son, and he is ten years old. I knew how it would feel to +have him go. I took him off to school last fall. It is a beautiful +school, with fine men for masters, and dignified buildings and extensive +grounds, nearly three hundred acres, with woods and a lake. I wish I +could have gone to such a school. It would have done me good. I mooned +about with Pukkie, seeing his room and the other dormitories, and the +dining hall and the gymnasium and the classrooms, and the football +field, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> the woods and the lake, and I tried to be cheerful, but I +did not make a success of it. I could not say much. Pukkie was silent +too.</p> + +<p>And all too soon it was time for me to start on my three-mile ride for +the station, and I gave him a long hug and a short kiss behind a clump +of bushes; the last kiss, I suppose, that I shall ever give my little +son. I have not forgotten how a boy of ten feels about that. And I +jumped quickly into the car, and we started. I looked back and waved to +him as long as I could see, and he waved to me once or twice. But he +looked very small, standing there in the middle of three hundred acres, +gazing after the car and waving his cap, and I almost broke down then. +It seemed almost as if I were deserting my small son<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> among +strangers—enemies, perhaps, for he did not know a soul; my little son +who had never before been away from home a single night without Eve or +me. For Eve had taught him up to that time, and I had done what I +could,—with his Latin and the groundings of his Greek, the very +beginnings of it,—what one of my students once called the radishes. I +had not the heart to inflict science upon him. I hate it. I ought not +to, for I was bred in it, and taught it for some years, which are well +behind me. But that was small comfort to me then, and I had hard work to +keep myself in control all the way home. But Pukkie did not break down. +He may have come near it. I do not know. He has never said anything +about it. I have—to Eve. She <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>understood. She always understands. That +is the comfort of it.</p> + +<p>But Eve had made no reply. She was still regarding me with that look +that I could not fathom, although I looked deep into her eyes.</p> + +<p>"I think I could manage it," I said, feeling strangely uneasy.</p> + +<p>"Manage what?" she asked. "Pukkie's going?"</p> + +<p>"Heaven forbid! It was that civilian business that I meant. I think I +could manage to change my condition."</p> + +<p>"No, no. I want you here, Adam. There is no need to change, is there?" I +shook my head, and Eve reached out and took my hand. "You need not +change—anything."</p> + +<p>It was as if with her love for me, she had great sorrow, and great +pity;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> though why I was to be pitied was beyond my understanding. I do +not regard myself as a proper subject for pity. But there are many +things beyond my understanding. Eve will enlighten me in her own good +time. And as we sat, there was another step on the grass behind us, not +soft, but hasty. And Eve unclasped her fingers from mine, and turned. It +was Ann, the nurse.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Ann?" Eve said. "Where's Tidda? Gone again?"</p> + +<p>Then Ann explained that she had but turned her back for a minute, had +gone into the house for her knitting, and come right back—had run every +step of the way going and coming—and Tidda had disappeared. Tidda is +our daughter, aged eight. Her name is not Tidda, but Eve, as it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> should +be. She has a propensity for running away, although I do not think that +her excursions are planned. She is a true apostle of freedom, and when +she observes that nobody is about, she regards it as an opportunity +heaven-born, and she makes the most of it. I can hardly blame her. A +girl of eight, and tied to the worthy Ann's apron strings! How should I +have liked it, at the age of eight? She would sympathize with our aims +in this war we have undertaken. But Eve had risen, and was about to go.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I had better stop at Cecily's," she said, "and at every house +on the road to father's. She may turn up there. Ann can stay here. I +wish," she added, laughing, "that I knew some way—"</p> + +<p>"I'll go with you."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p><p>"I'd love to have you, Adam, but you'd better go around by the shore. +Meet me at father's. Good-bye."</p> + +<p>And she was gone, swiftly. She always has some ill-concealed anxiety +over these disappearances of Tidda's, and so, for that matter, have I. I +got up slowly and started toward the head of that steep path to the +shore; but stopped halfway, and turned and went to my shed, and got my +hoe and my rubber boots. It was yet early in the season for clamming, +but my way led past the clam beds, and the tide was almost down, and I +might at least see how they were getting on. So, my hoe and my boots in +my hand, I went down the steep path, and strode along the shore. And, as +I came nearer that place which is ever near my heart—where the sod +breaks off to the sand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> just above my clam beds—I thought I got a +glimpse of drapery behind a tree-trunk. There are trees there, pretty +near the edge of the three-foot bluff, the beginning of a grove which is +Old Goodwin's; and a path runs back to his house. I saw that the gleam +of white I had seen was from a white dress, a small white dress, a dress +that somehow seemed familiar; and I saw a small leg in the air, its +stocking in the process of removal. I stepped forward without caution, +and I grinned down at my small daughter. It is impossible to be cross +with her, she is always so perfectly confident of having done nothing +which she should not have done.</p> + +<p>So I grinned down at her, and she looked up and grinned back at me.</p> + +<p>"Going in wading," she announced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> cheerfully, continuing to push the +stocking, which did not seem to want to come off.</p> + +<p>"Going wading, are you? Well, don't be in a hurry, Tidda. Let's talk it +over."</p> + +<p>She did not relax her efforts, but she shook her head.</p> + +<p>"Haven't got time to talk now," she said. "Daddy, you help me get my +stockings off. They won't un-come. They're an awful bother."</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute." I stepped back and looked up at my bluff. There was Ann +watching me, and evidently anxious. I signalled to her that Tidda was +found—we have a code for the purpose, and Ann is letter-perfect in +it—and she signalled that she was much relieved and would find Eve and +tell her. Then she disappeared.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p><p>I sat down beside my daughter. "Now, Tidda," I said, "there are several +good reasons why you should not go wading. The water is very cold still, +and—"</p> + +<p>"Pull this one, daddy," she said, ignoring my remarks, and sticking out +toward me the leg with its stocking half off. "If you take hold of the +toe and the heel and pull, it'll un-come. I can't do it, because I can't +get hold from that end."</p> + +<p>I laughed.</p> + +<p>"I was saying that the water is very cold, and that mother wouldn't want +you to go wading."</p> + +<p>She pointed accusingly at my rubber boots. "You're going."</p> + +<p>"Not necessarily. I only brought them down in case I should want to."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p><p>"Well, I do want to."</p> + +<p>"If you had rubber boots and warm stockings under them—"</p> + +<p>"Get me some rubber boots."</p> + +<p>I sighed and laughed. "I will," I said, "but I can't get them this +minute. Will nothing less satisfy you? You sit here, and I'll go and see +how the clams are getting on. I will bring you one."</p> + +<p>She was on the verge of tears. "I was going to see how the clams were +myself. Dig 'em with a stick. I can find 'em. I've found lots."</p> + +<p>"What do you do with them when you've found them?"</p> + +<p>"We play with 'em, and we had a clambake once."</p> + +<p>"Were the clams good?"</p> + +<p>"Pretty good. There were six of 'em, one apiece and two for Ann. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +she didn't eat hers. She said they weren't done, and that she wasn't a +fish to eat raw clams. Oh, look, daddy!"</p> + +<p>Old Goodwin's ocean steamer was lying at her anchor, but I could see +nothing unusual about her.</p> + +<p>"No," said Tidda, "not grandpa's, but out that way. Is it coming in +here? It comes fast, doesn't it?"</p> + +<p>Set right by Tidda's pointing finger, I saw the steamer, but I could not +make out what she was, whether yacht or war vessel. She had the lines of +a torpedo boat, and was painted gray, with lines of bull's-eyes along +her sides, and no deck to speak of, where one could sit in comfort; but +plainly she was no torpedo boat, and as plainly she was not a steam +yacht of the common type. She was nearly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> two hundred feet long, I +judged, and of great speed.</p> + +<p>"It is coming here," cried Tidda in some excitement. "See! It's going +close to grandpa's."</p> + +<p>As she spoke the vessel rounded to an anchorage at a safe distance from +Old Goodwin's. She came at very nearly full speed, then there was a +tremendous commotion under her stern which seemed to stop her short, her +chain rattled out, and she lay quiet, the only evidence of her effort +being the white water, which spread on either side of her and for a long +distance ahead. A motor launch was lowered before her anchor touched +bottom, several men got in, and it made for Old Goodwin's landing.</p> + +<p>We had not heard the step behind us.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p><p>"So here's my little girl," said Eve. "Oh! What boat is that, Adam?"</p> + +<p>"That is a little boat of Tidda's. She found it. But I'm glad you have +come, Eve."</p> + +<p>Eve laughed and sat beside me, and she began to pull Tidda's stockings +into place. But she said nothing about it, and Tidda did not notice it. +And when she had the stockings smooth on the little legs she stood her +daughter on her feet and straightened her dress with a touch. Then she +got up.</p> + +<p>"Come, Adam," she said, "let's go up to father's. He wants to see you. +He told me as I came down."</p> + +<p>And I got up without a word, and I took one of my daughter's hands in +mine, and Eve took the other, and Tidda danced along between us on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> the +path all the way up through the grove to the great house. And I looked +at Eve, and I smiled a smile of content, and she smiled back at me. Then +her smile changed to one of amusement as she saw what was in my other +hand, and I looked, and I was carrying my old battered boots and my clam +hoe. But Old Goodwin would not mind.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>II</span></h2> + +<p>Old Goodwin saw us coming from afar, Eve and me and our daughter, and he +ambled down to meet us. He gave me his old slow smile of peace.</p> + +<p>"You see," I said, holding up my boots and my clam hoe, "I'm getting +flustered. I didn't know I had them. I should have left them at the +shore."</p> + +<p>"I see," he said. "Let me take them, Adam. You will need these. But +perhaps you had better take them with you. You might forget again."</p> + +<p>"I'll hang them on my watch chain. But Tidda ran away again."</p> + +<p>"I know," he said. Tidda had run<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> to him, and was clinging to his hand. +He stooped and swung her up to his shoulder. She has got to be a heavy +load for a man's shoulder, and he an old man. But Old Goodwin did not +look like an old man. "I wish Pukkie were here," he said, "to balance."</p> + +<p>"We wish he were—to balance. It is less than two months now, and he +will be."</p> + +<p>"Put her down, father," said Eve. "She is heavy."</p> + +<p>"I like her up here," he said, "where she is near. I'll put her down if +she gets too heavy."</p> + +<p>And he led the way to the house, and up the steps, and through various +sections of piazza, each with its tables and chairs and cushions, to +that ample section on the water side, with its telescope and its view of +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> bay. There, before us, were the ocean steamer of Old Goodwin and +the new arrival, as yet unknown to me; and beside us was Mrs. Goodwin, +and as I turned to greet her I saw a girl sitting beside her, but a +little withdrawn and in the deeper shadows. In the glance I gave, I saw +only that she was of pleasing countenance, and quiet eye that seemed to +take in all that passed, and mouth with little curves of humor about the +corners, and she had hair of the colors of Eve's great beaver muff. +There are beautiful colors in that beaver muff. Introductions followed. +I missed her name, as I always miss new names; and before the +introductions were well over, there trooped in Jimmy Wales, and Bobby +Leverett, and a young fellow whom I did not know, all in uniform of one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +sort or another, and Tom Ellis, whom I did know. He lives almost across +the road from me.</p> + +<p>More introductions followed; but when it came the turn of the young +fellow whom I did not know, the girl laughed, and held out her hand.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Jack," she said with evident satisfaction. "I had no idea that I +should see you here."</p> + +<p>"Nor I you," he replied. "But aren't you glad? I am."</p> + +<p>And she laughed again, and bade him wait and see.</p> + +<p>The young fellow's name was Jack Ogilvie. And when I had found that out +we drifted into chairs, and began to ask questions. I was next to Bobby, +who is a cousin of Eve's.</p> + +<p>"What boat is that, Bobby?"</p> + +<p>"Rattlesnake," said Bobby. "She<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> was the Ebenezer, but they changed it. +Too bad, when we had a name that just fitted. We're in the navy now, you +know. We're all U.S.N.R.F., Class four. The Ebenezer belonged to Jimmy +and me, but the Rattlesnake belongs to the U.S. We offered it to them, +and they took it so quick it almost took our breath away. She makes +thirty miles an hour easy, and a little better if we drive her. You know +that I'm a partner of Jimmy's now."</p> + +<p>I nodded. Seven years ago he was office boy, just out of college.</p> + +<p>"Any clams on this piazza, Adam?" Bobby asked. "I see—"</p> + +<p>"Yes," I interrupted, "anybody might. These boots are not invisible. I +wish they were. Neither is the clam hoe. Circumstances beyond my +control, Bobby,—But what is Jimmy?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p><p>"Jimmy? Oh, Jimmy's lieutenant commander."</p> + +<p>"And you are an admiral?"</p> + +<p>"Well, no. They offered me that rank, of course, but I thought I'd +rather be under Jimmy. I'm a lieutenant. Ogilvie'll be an ensign as soon +as he's of age. They don't often give commissions to fellows until they +are twenty-one. He's not through college yet."</p> + +<p>"Chasing submarines, Bobby? How many periscopes have you shot off?"</p> + +<p>Bobby laughed. "That information I am unable to impart, Adam. +Undoubtedly it would give comfort to the enemy. But we shall be chasing +submarines pretty soon. That is to be our job, so far as we know now. We +have a number of chasers under our command. Personally, I'd like to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +in patrol work out in the steamer lanes. Our boat is too good for this +in-shore work. You know the Smith saw a submarine a week or two ago."</p> + +<p>I shook my head. I have no faith in that report. Everybody has been +seeing submarines from Eastport to the Gulf.</p> + +<p>"We picked up Ogilvie at Newport," Bobby continued. "I knew him, and +he'd been doing police duty there, and going through training that he +knew as well as his alphabet; nothing that was any mortal use. So I +asked for him, and he was transferred. They don't seem to get on very +fast at Newport with our fellows. I don't know why. They have more boats +than they are using, but most of them are small and slow, and they have +been busy with men for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> regular navy. I suppose they'll get around +to the rest of them in time. We are going to have good big chasers some +time soon."</p> + +<p>"Ah, Bobby, but when? I could give you some statistics of our navy, but +I won't, for I don't believe you'd stay. I have been reading an article +packed full of valuable information which ought to be of some comfort to +the enemy. It seems that nearly all of our vessels are old or slow or +both—or they are in reserve in one form or another, without full crews; +and we have no submarine chasers—literally none that would be of any +use in chasing. We shall not get any before next January, and then only +a beggarly hundred or so. It looks pretty bad, Bobby. We might as well +surrender at once."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p><p>Bobby smiled. "I know where you got that dope. I saw it too, and I +wonder what good the chap thinks he is doing by making out that we have +gone to the dogs. He's a knocker. Pay no attention to him, Adam. I have +faith that all our navy men aren't fools. There may even be one or two +who know almost as much as he does. You ought to conduct a few patriotic +meetings. And be a speaker, Adam. You could make glorious speeches. I'd +come."</p> + +<p>"Flags flying,—to the great advantage of the Bunting Trust,—and 'The +Star Spangled Banner' sung several times, and you'd have to stand with +your hat off, and take cold in early May, and hear every man in the +county who has ever held office give the history of the country,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> and +Washington's Farewell Address, and Lincoln's Gettysburg Speech delivered +by a talented young lady from our high school,—if we had one,—and +brass bands, and parades, and me for drum-major, I suppose, Bobby. +Buncombe! There wouldn't be an able-bodied man in the glorious +assemblage—except the band and the speakers. Humbug and buncombe! True +patriotism doesn't go about waving the flag and shouting. Patriotic +meetings are essentially for women and children."</p> + +<p>Bobby laughed delightedly. "Noble sentiments, Adam. But I wish you +would."</p> + +<p>I shook my head. "Never," I said. "But I could give you some hints for +your submarine chasing. You could put them in as your own ideas<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> too. I +promise not to dispute your claims."</p> + +<p>"I'm a little shy of your hints, but fire away."</p> + +<p>"Well, this is my best. I have others, but they are too obvious. First +you would have to set a spindle on Great Ledge, a spindle with a +capacious cage at the top. Another one on Sow and Pigs, and one on Hen +and Chickens, and on Devil's Bridge. Then, when there were some +submarines over here,—Germany says there are none now, and I believe +it,—when they came, put a live pig in each of the cages. It's in the +nature of baiting the trap, you see. All you'd have to do would be to +sit tight, and remove the wrecks. They'd all pile up on those ledges. +Germans can't resist the lure of pig."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p><p>"That's not a half bad idea, Adam," Bobby said. "Of course it might be +necessary to renew the bait or feed the pig, but that would be easy; and +pig is pretty high just now. There's a good pun there, but I'll leave it +to you.—Jimmy!"</p> + +<p>Jimmy was talking to the girl whose name I did not yet know, but he +turned at Bobby's hail.</p> + +<p>"Jimmy," Bobby said, "Adam's just given me a most valuable hint for +trapping submarines. Here it is in all its beauty." And he proceeded to +give my idea in more detail than I had done, adding some more ledges +which appealed to him as likely spots, Watch Hill Ledge, to the east of +Fisher's Island being one, I remember. "You forgot that, Adam. It would +be a crackerjack, almost level<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> with the water. In any sea at all, and +the tide right, the water opens every little while and shows the rock. +It's fearsome."</p> + +<p>"Is Adam going to leave all the work of danger," asked Jimmy, "to us?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," Bobby cried, "that's what I want to know. Like baiting the traps, +you know. It'll be no snap to get the pigs into their cages."</p> + +<p>"You can't expect to have all your problems solved for you, Bobby," I +said. "You would always have the benefit of my counsel, and giving +counsel to you and Jimmy is not without its dangers. Besides," I added, +modestly I hope, "I did have something else in mind. In addition to the +arduous toil of tilling the soil—"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p><p>"Cut that," said Bobby. "As if you didn't always till the soil!"</p> + +<p>"In addition to that," I continued with dignity, "I thought of +organizing a company to protect some of our most valuable property here. +It would be a sort of Home Guard. Submarines, if they escaped the traps +and the hawk eyes of the patrol fleet, and the stings of the wasps, +might get into the harbor. Then they would surely get aground, possibly +on my clam beds, and they would ruin the dispositions of my clams. So I +thought of mounting a gun on the point—with Mr. Goodwin's +permission—and enrolling all here present in the Clam Beds Protective +Company, of which I should be captain."</p> + +<p>Old Goodwin applauded the idea at once, but as well as I could judge in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> +the confusion which followed, Jimmy and Bobby and Tom Ellis were not of +the same mind.</p> + +<p>Finally Tom made himself heard. "What I want to know, Adam," he asked, +"is where do we come in? I think I voice a general question."</p> + +<p>"I was about to nominate Mr. Goodwin for colonel,—honorary, if he +prefers,—and Jimmy for adjutant, and Bobby and Mr. Ogilvie for +lieutenants. Those posts would have to be honorary also, unless the navy +could be prevailed upon to assign them to that duty. I don't see that +there is anything left for you, Tom, but to be the private. It would be +a highly honorable office. You would be the only private."</p> + +<p>"I say," Tom protested, "I like that! But I have an idea. What<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> about +the Susies who sew shirts for soldiers? Aren't you going to give them a +chance?"</p> + +<p>Eve interrupted at this point. I was glad to have her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, he will," she said. "I promise that he will."</p> + +<p>"Seems to me that Eve ought to be elected captain," Tom observed. "But +perhaps it isn't necessary. She will be anyway." They all laughed at +that—all but me and Ogilvie. Eve noticed that. I did not see anything +ridiculous about the idea. I am glad to serve under Eve, and everybody +knows it.</p> + +<p>"I will enroll Cecily," Tom pursued; "but, Adam, make me a sergeant, +won't you?" he added in a hoarse whisper. "I want to have some authority +over her."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p><p>"I'll see about it. I shall have to think it over, and perhaps get some +advice." And Tom turned at once to Eve, and whispered, and she smiled +and nodded.</p> + +<p>"The uniform, Adam?" asked Old Goodwin. "Don't put us to any unnecessary +expense."</p> + +<p>"I was about to speak of that. I have brought some samples with me." And +I held up my boots and my clam hoe.</p> + +<p>Old Goodwin smiled. "That is very satisfactory." He looked at Tom. "If +anybody prefers a rake for arms, I suppose there would be no objection, +Adam?"</p> + +<p>I shook my head. Then there were objections from Jimmy and Bobby, on the +ground that they would have to buy boots and hoe, and that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> boots +would be new and not in keeping. But I said that, as their offices were +honorary, they would not have to provide themselves with uniforms, and +they could go clamming in their naval uniforms if they liked. I should +not object.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Bobby thoughtfully, "we have boots and slickers and +sou'westers. Perhaps they will do. When is the first meeting of our +company—at the clam beds, Adam?"</p> + +<p>I told him that it was a trifle early for that yet. It would be as soon +as I thought it safe for the clams. Then a thought struck me.</p> + +<p>"How does it happen," I asked, "that a patrol boat can be coming in +here—for all the world like a yacht—and all its officers come ashore, +as if they had nothing to do?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p><p>Eve had been silent for some minutes, occupied with her daughter, who +stood silent beside her. Tidda had been strangely quiet.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Bobby," said Eve, "account for yourself. What are you here for? It +is not for nothing."</p> + +<p>"Sh! The movements of shipping are not to be reported. But I don't mind +telling you, Eve, that we regard this as a base, in a sense. I came +because my superior officer ordered it. I don't know his reasons, but I +surmise that he hoped that some of you people would be charitable enough +to ask us to dinner."</p> + +<p>Jimmy grinned, and Old Goodwin smiled, but he said nothing. Jimmy Wales +and Bobby are especial favorites of his, and Bobby is his nephew.</p> + +<p>"I speak," said Eve, "for Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> Ogilvie. You can't come, Bobby. You'll +have to stay here with Jimmy."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I say, Eve!"</p> + +<p>"No. You may bring Mr. Ogilvie within sight of the house, and show it to +him." She turned to Ogilvie. "You'll come?" she asked, holding out her +hand.</p> + +<p>Ogilvie seems a nice young chap. He bowed very prettily over Eve's hand, +and said something nice, I am sure, for I was watching Eve's face. I can +tell always. And Ogilvie smiled, and Eve got up to go, and I got up too, +of course, and Jimmy and Bobby and everybody got up one at a time, as if +it were a prayer-meeting. It broke up the party to have Eve go. Eve's +going is very apt to break up any party.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p><p>Bobby came out with us through the interminable series of piazzas.</p> + +<p>"I say," he whispered, "who's the new girl, Adam? Do you know?"</p> + +<p>I shook my head. "I didn't hear her name, Bobby, and I don't know +anything about her. She is attractive."</p> + +<p>"M-m. I'll ask Eve."</p> + +<p>Eve said that the girl's name was Elizabeth Radnor, but she knew nothing +about her, and had never heard of her before. "But," she added, "why +don't you ask Jimmy?—or Mr. Ogilvie? He knew her before."</p> + +<p>"So he did. Good idea, Eve. I will. But Jimmy ought to be ashamed of +himself. He's married, and I might tell Madge. We never know what we +might do."</p> + +<p>Eve laughed at him. "Did you think you could worry Margaret?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p><p>"I thought perhaps I could worry Jimmy. But he doesn't worry much." We +were at the head of the steps. "Well, good-bye, hard heart, spurning the +beggar from your door. I hope your conscience will give you no rest."</p> + +<p>Eve laughed again, and Tidda piped up a good-bye, and Bobby turned back. +And, by the time we had reached the bottom of the steps, Old Goodwin had +caught us, and had taken Tidda's hand.</p> + +<p>"I thought I'd better come, Adam," he said, "and see about the +emplacement for that gun."</p> + +<p>So we wandered down to the bank, where the sod breaks off to the sand, +and we lingered there, saying nothing and watching the sun get lower. +And the day, that had been as warm<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> as summer, grew somewhat chill as +the sun sank nearer to the bearded hills, and our daughter was restless +and wanted to go home. So we wended along the shore, and Old Goodwin +left us, and we went up the steep path that leads to my bluff, and there +we found Ogilvie under my pine, standing silent and looking out over the +harbor to the west.</p> + +<p>Ogilvie was modest and unassuming and pleasant. He spoke when he was +spoken to, and sometimes when he was not, but he did not volunteer +anything about himself, although he was very ready to answer questions. +Eve succeeded in finding out something about him without seeming to try. +He went down to Newport about the first of April. Naturally enough, he +seemed a little disappointed that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> the authorities at Newport had not +seemed to be ready for him, and that his preparation had been largely a +waste of time. He had been four days on a watch boat, guarding Newport +harbor, piloting vessels in through the nets, and incidentally, one very +thick night, carrying away the mooring buoys of one of the nets; then he +had been put on police duty in Newport, running in drunken sailors, or +just walking back and forth on his beat, trying to keep awake. Then +there had been more drill, and he had been transferred to the +Rattlesnake.</p> + +<p>Then we talked of books, the theatre, and gardening, in which he had had +experience. My heart warmed to him, and we discussed corn and melons and +asparagus and peas<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> and beans and squashes and cucumbers and chard and +okra and such like for more than an hour. From them we progressed to +more intimate things, when suddenly a noise started just outside the +window, and he rose with a smile, saying that it was a noise of Jimmy +and Bobby singing "Poor Butterfly," and he supposed it meant that he +must go. And he thanked us very nicely, and went out into the night. I +went with him and asked them in, but they assured me that I was an +ungrateful wretch, and they would have nothing to do with me and my +invitation.</p> + +<p>So they went off down my steep path to the shore, still singing "Poor +Butterfly," I suppose, although I am unfamiliar with modern classics. +And Eve came out and joined me, and we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> heard them going along the +shore, stumbling over great pebbles, and the poor butterfly fluttering +off into the distance. And when we could hear no more of it we went in, +and I shut the door as softly as I could, but the sound of its shutting +went booming through the house; and I smiled as I blew out the candles, +and I was smiling still as Eve took my hand in hers and we mounted the +stairs together.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>III</span></h2> + +<p>Joffre was in Boston on Saturday, the 12th of May. Viviani also was +there, and some others, but the marshal, the hero of the Marne, was the +attraction. Eve acknowledged as much to me on the evening before the +event.</p> + +<p>"I do want to see him," she said, "and I suppose you'll think it +foolish, but I'm going up. Probably I shall cry when I see him. Adam," +she added somewhat wistfully, "you don't want to go, I suppose? Father +will take us in his car—the new one."</p> + +<p>That about the "new one" was plainly nothing more than bait.</p> + +<p>"Why should I want to go," I said, "except to go with you? I always<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +want to do that. And I should be glad to be with your father, but no +more in his new one than on our bank at the shore. Not so much. There is +much to do here. Why should I want to go, Eve? I don't want to cry."</p> + +<p>She laughed. "No reason, Adam, unless it is to stir your imagination."</p> + +<p>"My imagination is stirred sufficiently here. You know that I detest +crowds, and parades. And I was going to plant again to-morrow."</p> + +<p>She sighed softly, and smiled adorably. "Well, Adam, plant then. I knew +it would bore you to go. The middle of a crowd watching a parade is no +place for you. I should love to have you with me, but I think you had +better not come. I don't want <i>you</i> to cry." And she laughed a little, +unsteadily.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p><p>"I might," I said somewhat gruffly. "It is conceivable. But there is +one thing. I hate to speak of it. Your father ought not to go off on +these long trips any more without a chauffeur. There may be hard work to +do, and he is—not young, Eve. Besides—"</p> + +<p>"He is going to take a chauffeur," said Eve, interrupting me hurriedly. +"I think it almost breaks his heart to acknowledge it, but he realizes +that he ought to. Of course that wouldn't make any difference about your +going."</p> + +<p>I shook my head. It was no part of my objection that I might be called +upon to do some hard work. I had planned to do a good deal of hard work +at home.</p> + +<p>So Eve set off about eleven the next<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> morning alone with her father and +the chauffeur. Old Goodwin was in the driver's seat, and it did not seem +likely that the chauffeur would have anything to do. And I stood in my +garden clothes, leaning on my hoe, and waved a good-bye to them, feeling +half regretful and wholly self-reproachful; and Eve made her father +stop, and she called me, and I came running, and she leaned out and +kissed me, and she went off smiling. I looked after them, and they had +not gone more than a hundred yards or so when they stopped again, and +Tom Ellis and Cecily came out of their door and got into the back seat +with Eve. And I smiled, and turned, and went back to my garden, thinking +that the best of women—and I gave a little start, for it had occurred +to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> me that the chauffeur was a Frenchman. And I wondered if they—but +of course they did. Such things do not happen by accident—with Old +Goodwin and Eve.</p> + +<p>It was cold for the season. It had been cold and wet for three weeks, +and my corn was not up, nor my melons that I had put in three weeks +before, nor my beans. My experiment with melons has not yet been a +failure if it has not been a success this year. I was doubtful about the +corn, so I dug up a kernel, and I found it sprouted, and I put it back +and covered it. My peas were up, and doing bravely, and the beans were +about breaking through, for the earth was cracked all along the rows. +And I got out my sections of stout wire fencing, and put them in place +along the rows<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> of peas. They take the place of pea-brush, and are much +easier to put up and to take down. The fencing is fastened to stout +posts, and the posts have pieces of iron, about a foot and a half long, +shaped much like a marlin-spike, bolted to them for driving into the +ground. I can take my sledgehammer and drive the posts, and get a row of +peas wired in a tenth the time needed to set brush, and the fencing is +much less expensive, in the long run. My fences have done service for +thirteen years already, and they are perfectly good.</p> + +<p>So I fussed around among the peas, and planted more corn and more beans, +and more melons, and a row of chard, and two rows of okra, and some +other things. I often think that the place for tall green okra is the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +flower garden. The blossoms are beautiful, delicate things, more +beautiful than most of the hollyhocks. And now and then I stopped my +planting—a man has to rest his back—and I leaned on my hoe or my rake +or whatever I happened to have in my hand, and I thought my thoughts. +They were many, and they were not, at such moments, of my planting.</p> + +<p>The harbor was almost empty still. There was but one fisherman's boat +and two motor boats, little fellows, not suited to patrolling. And the +sky was gray, and getting darker, and the winter gulls flying across, +and wheeling and screaming harshly. Occasionally a gull beat across my +garden, flying low and screaming his harsh note. I watched them, and +envied them until I saw a fish-hawk sailing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> high up among the clouds. +Then I envied him: his calmness and serenity, and his powers of wing and +eye, seeing the swimming fish from that height, and perfectly secure. +Then, naturally enough, I thought of aeroplanes, sailing and circling +like the great hawk, and seeing their prey as surely as he. I never had +the slightest wish to go up in an aeroplane. The hawk seems secure in +his sailing, the aeroplane does not, and I may envy the hawk while +shrinking unaccountably from the aeroplane. But if they can see the +submarine from up there, and can pounce upon it as surely as the hawk +strikes his fish—well, if we had a plague of submarines, it would be a +comfort to see a hawk now and then. And I thought of Jimmy Wales and +Bobby Leverett<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> and Ogilvie searching the waters for that which was not.</p> + +<p>Jimmy has put in here every few days. It is hard to see why, but we have +seen a good deal of Ogilvie and Bobby, and Bobby has seen more or less +of Elizabeth Radnor. She is still rather a mystery to me, a girl that +Mrs. Goodwin chanced upon somewhere, and took a great fancy to. That is +not strange, that Miss Radnor should have been fancied, but it is +strange that Mrs. Goodwin should have taken the fancy, and that she +should have asked her here for an indefinite stay. Mrs. Goodwin did not +use to fancy obscure teachers of athletics or gymnastics or dancing in +girls' schools, and Miss Radnor is or was something of the kind. She may +be giving lessons in dancing to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> Mrs. Goodwin for all I know—or to +Bobby. It is not of much consequence. If Bobby should really come upon +submarines, it would be of little consequence to him.</p> + +<p>Thinking upon submarines, there came into my head the account that I had +just seen in the London "Times" of the capture of a submarine by a +trawler. As I recollect it, the trawler was going about her business in +the North Sea—a business not unconnected with submarines—when suddenly +a submarine began to emerge from the deep just ahead. The trawler put on +all the speed she had time for, and rammed the submarine amidships, +sliding up on its body half her length, so that the captain found +himself well-nigh stranded near the periscope. Whereupon he called for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> +an axe, and smashed that periscope into scrap iron and fragments of +glass. The trawler then slid off, and the submarine opened, and the crew +poured forth upon her deck and forthwith surrendered, and the trawler +towed them into an English port. Thinking upon this, I laughed aloud to +the gulls and the hawk. I had refrained from going to Boston to have my +imagination stirred by looking at a parade and listening to the bands!</p> + +<p>To stir my imagination! I had but to picture to myself the destroyer +fight in the Channel on the night of April 20, two English destroyers, +Swift and Broke, against six German destroyers, in the darkness of a +black night; a five-minute battle, but those five minutes crowded full. +Ramming, torpedoing, repelling boarders, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>fighting with pistols and +cutlases and bayonets, responding to a treacherous call to save—it was +all worthy of the times of Drake. Stir my imagination! I found myself +starting forward and brandishing the hoe, my breath coming fast, and my +eyes, I have no doubt, flashing fire. I laughed again. It was raining. +It had been raining, I suppose, for five minutes at least, and I had not +known it. I gathered up my tools, put them in the shed, and went into +the house to change my clothes, and to consume my pint of milk, while my +daughter, opposite me, consumed hers—and some other things besides.</p> + +<p>After luncheon I put on my rubber boots and went out. It was still +raining, a good hard drizzle from the southeast. It suited me well +enough,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> and I wandered the shores all the afternoon, or stood in the +shelter of a tree and looked out over the bay. I liked it. There is +something soothing and at the same time stirring in such a day and such +a place. There was a good heavy breeze, and the seas marched, and the +sound of their breaking, and the fresh wet wind on my cheek, and the +gray veil of rain over the rolling water, with not a sail or so much as +a smudge of smoke in sight—well, it is hardly worth while to say how it +affects me. Those who feel as I do will not need to be told, and for +those who do not it would be useless. But man seems a little thing, and +the affairs of man of no importance—absolutely none.</p> + +<p>As the afternoon wore on, the drizzle became less and finally stopped,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +although it was still gray. And then the clouds began to break, and I +wandered homeward along the shore, and I climbed the steep path, and sat +me on the seat under my great pine, where I could see the water and the +sun when he was ready to show his face. A long time I sat there, and I +heard no sound from the harbor except the screams of the gulls, and no +sound from the land except the sound of the wind blowing among the +needles of the pine above my head. And at last the gulls were gone, and +the sun peeped out from under the edge of the ragged and scudding cloud, +and I felt a gentle touch upon my arm. And I turned my head and looked, +and there was Pukkie; Pukkie, my little son, my well-beloved.</p> + +<p>I put both arms around him, and I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> hugged him shamelessly. I was glad to +feel that he hugged me in turn, and hugged me hard. Usually I put my arm +around him gently and surreptitiously, for I would not draw his +attention to the act. I dread the time when he will shrink from my +embraces; but that time does not seem to have come yet.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Pukkie!" I cried. "My dear little son, where in the world did you +come from?"</p> + +<p>He laughed delightedly. "From school," he said; and he nestled against +me.</p> + +<p>"But how did you get here? Your mother went—but have you seen her? +Where is she?"</p> + +<p>He glanced up over my shoulder, and smiled. "Turn around, daddy."</p> + +<p>And there came from over my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> head a low ripple of laughter, and I looked +up into Eve's lovely, smiling face. She slipped down upon the seat +beside me, and I reached out for her hand, that was already reaching out +for mine, and her fingers clasped mine close.</p> + +<p>"My goodness, Eve," I said, "but I'm glad to have you back—and Pukkie."</p> + +<p>"You're no gladder to have me than I am to get back. I don't ever want +to go anywhere without you, Adam. But I've seen him—seen Joffre—and I +waved with all my might, and I cried. I knew I should."</p> + +<p>"And Pukkie?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, father stopped for him on the way up. He said until the end of the +year was too long to wait, and he'd bring him back in two days. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +headmaster didn't want to let him go, but father generally has his way. +And it began to rain, but we didn't mind."</p> + +<p>"And when you saw Joffre you wept?"</p> + +<p>"Not exactly. There was a young fellow standing in the crowd quietly, +with his arm in a sling. He was hardly more than a boy, and he looked +sick. He had beautiful sombre eyes, with a look in them that—well, as +if he had seen so much, and as if he did not quite understand. You +should have seen his eyes. Like a wild thing. And when Joffre came, I +thought he would go crazy. He waved his cap frantically, and the tears +just streamed out of his eyes, and you should have heard him. Joffre +heard, and saw, and he leaned out of the car, and he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>saluted that boy. +My! That boy was proud. You can guess—that was when I cried. And we got +him into the car with us. He didn't look able to go far. He was a +soldier who had been with the Canadians over there, a Frenchman by +birth. He told us a little about it, but he didn't seem to want to talk. +He had been wounded, and sick, and had come back over here on sick leave +or something of the kind. And he and Lejeune, the chauffeur, got to +talking, and we took him home. He wants to get back into the fighting as +soon as he can. And when he got out, Lejeune got out too. He was going +to enlist."</p> + +<p>"Left you on the spot?"</p> + +<p>Eve laughed. "Yes," she said, "but I rather guess that it wasn't +unexpected. I shouldn't be surprised<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> if that was what father took him +for. At any rate, father just smiled, and gave them both his blessing, +and told Lejeune to come back when the war was over. And he gave him +some money, and said that they could divide it between them."</p> + +<p>"How much, I wonder?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know how much, but a good deal, considerably more than a +hundred dollars. He had a note already written, too, a 'character,' as +the maids call it, saying that he was a good chauffeur. Then Tom—he had +been getting uneasy—said that he wanted to be in on this too, but he +wasn't so well prepared as father. And he gave them all he had with him, +except a dollar or two. That was too much for the French boy, and he +waved his cap again, and cried, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>'<i>Vive la France! Vive l'Amérique!</i>' +with the tears streaming down his face again. And I cried some more, and +so did Cecily. Oh, I had a lovely time, Adam."</p> + +<p>Eve was laughing again, and pressing closer to me. "That French boy was +a machinist before he went to the war, and Lejeune is a good chauffeur, +and I shouldn't wonder if they'd both get into driving when they get +over there. I hope so. But he wasn't thinking of that, the French boy. +He is ready to go back, when his time comes, and meet his fate with a +high heart. With a high heart, Adam. Oh," she cried, "don't you think it +is stirring—just a little—to the imagination? Don't you?" And she gave +me a little shake.</p> + +<p>I nodded soberly, and hugged <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>Pukkie closer. "I rejoice, Eve," I said +irrelevantly, "that Pukkie is not yet eleven."</p> + +<p>Eve did not reply directly. Her eyes filled with tears, and she drew +Pukkie around between us. "I suppose it is selfish," she said. "If a +French machinist goes—only about eight or nine years older than +Pukkie—and can stir me all up with the idea of it—why—"</p> + +<p>She did not finish, so I did not know what she would have asked. But I +could guess.</p> + +<p>"War is wicked," I said. "There is no novelty in that idea. But if a +wicked war is started, it may be more wicked to keep out of it than to +go in, and there may be more misery involved in keeping out than in +going in. I don't know about this one, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> I don't believe that anybody +knows. One thing I do know, and that is that wars will continue to occur +at intervals as long as human nature is what it is. Man is a fighting +animal. When he ceases to be, the time of his fall will have arrived. I +have spoken."</p> + +<p>Eve laughed merrily. "But you have not finished. Go on, oracle."</p> + +<p>"No more from the oracle. Only a purely personal observation. I could go +into the fighting with a sort of a titillation—an unholy joy in +fighting for its own sake, quite apart from any feeling for any cause. I +believe that that is the feeling which animates most men who volunteer +to fight. Of course they choose their side from conviction. At least, it +is to be hoped that they do. But as for the actual combat, there is a +joy in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> the fight—why, that alone accounts for all our games, at +bottom."</p> + +<p>Eve was looking at me doubtfully. "But, Adam," she said slowly, "you +don't mean to—you aren't going to—"</p> + +<p>I shook my head. "I have no such intention. Make your mind easy. I have +a dependent family. I don't know what you would do without my efforts to +support you. It would be a terrible misfortune if you were cast upon +your father's shoulders. You might starve."</p> + +<p>Eve seemed to be amused. But Pukkie had been getting uneasy, and he +began to squirm. Then he seized my arm.</p> + +<p>"Look, daddy. See that big schooner. I never saw her before. What is +it?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p><p>I looked. A great white schooner was headed in, and she was almost at +the entrance of the harbor. The wind had fallen light with the approach +of the sun to his setting; the schooner had all her light sails set and +came on fast. Suddenly the light sails began to come off, slacking down, +wrinkling, and gathered in, and stowed, as a man would take off his +coat. Before one was well in another would start slacking down, +wrinkling, gathered in, and stowed, almost as fast as I tell it. That +meant a big crew well trained. All her kites were stowed, and she began +rounding into the wind, letting her jibs go as she came around. She shot +a long way, but stopped at last, and her chain rattled out, and she +began to drift astern. Then her foresail came down steadily,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> and before +it was down, sailors swarmed out upon the footropes of the mainboom, and +the great mainsail began to come down, slowly and steadily, gathered in +as it came by the men upon the footropes. By the time all her chain was +paid out, and she was finally at rest, all her sails were furled, and +they were getting out the covers.</p> + +<p>A shining mahogany launch was dropped into the water, run back to the +gangway, and a girl ran lightly down the steps.</p> + +<p>"Elizabeth Radnor," said Eve, wondering. "What can she be doing there?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps the owners take lessons in dancing," I suggested.</p> + +<p>Eve smiled. "She gives lessons in swimming too," she said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p><p>A man followed Miss Radnor. He seemed strangely familiar.</p> + +<p>"Bobby!" cried Eve. "I think it's funny. I'm sure it's Bobby."</p> + +<p>I was sure it was Bobby. It might be funny, but it was not strange. The +launch made for Old Goodwin's landing at forty miles an hour.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>IV</span></h2> + +<p>I lay against the bank above my clam beds, with my hands clasped behind +my head, and I gazed up at the whitish blue of the sky, and at the +little floating clouds flecking the blue, and at an occasional herring +gull flying across my field of vision with moderate wing-beats and with +no apparent object, and at the procession of screaming terns busy at +their fishing. For the terns have come, which always marks the change of +season for me, but the winter gulls have not all gone. And I looked at +the tree over my head, and I cast back over the years. I could see the +tree merely by raising my eyes, without raising my head.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p><p>That tree has associations and a history: for under that tree Eve stood +the fifth time that I saw her,—I remember each time,—and it was +raining, a hard drizzle from the southeast, and the water dripped from +her wide felt hat, and shone upon her long coat, and she was smiling. So +that tree has associations for me—and for Eve as well, I believe. And +sundry pairs of rubber boots have been hung in a crotch of it, both +Eve's, and at a somewhat later time, Old Goodwin's; wherefore it has a +history. And here, too, just where my head was pillowed, Eve had sat but +a scant two hours after I had found her out,—I had thought she was a +governess in Old Goodwin's house,—and she had set us both right for +ever. And now there were many happy years<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> behind us, and more happy +years ahead of us, and there were Pukkie and Tidda; but most of all +there was Eve.</p> + +<p>So I lay and drank in the sunshine, and basked in its warmth, and my +mind was a blank save for these pleasant musings. My poor little son! +All of the Sunday that he was here—two days ago—it rained hard. He did +not seem to mind it, but dragged me out in it—he had not such hard work +to get me out. I like the wet well enough, but we have had a long +stretch of cold and wet. But he got me out, and wandered the shore, clad +in his rubber coat, and his rubber boots, and his little sou'wester, and +he watched the white schooner; but on the schooner there was no sign of +life save some sailors standing like<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> statues in their dripping +oilskins, and a man in a pea-jacket and faded old blue cap, who paced +back and forth at the stern, or stood still by the rail for long +periods, and then took up his pacing again. And Pukkie looked up at me +and asked whether I thought he was the captain or the mate, and would +have gone out there in one of Old Goodwin's boats, with me to help him +row. But I refused. It is wet and uncomfortable rowing in a pouring +rain; better standing.</p> + +<p>And he would go up to his grandfather's in the hope of finding Bobby +Leverett. So we went, and we found Bobby sitting on the piazza with the +telescope and Miss Radnor; and Pukkie bearded Bobby in his chair, and +asked him point-blank what he had been doing in that schooner. We<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> had +told Pukkie about the Rattlesnake, and Jimmy Wales and Ogilvie.</p> + +<p>And Bobby grinned at my son, and answered him, if you call it an answer.</p> + +<p>"Sorry not to be able to tell you, Puk, old chap," he said, "but you +know we are enjoined not to publish information of the movements of +vessels, and the plans of the navy are a dead secret. It might give +information to the enemy." And he pointed at me.</p> + +<p>"Do you know the plans of the navy?" asked Pukkie.</p> + +<p>Bobby laughed, and so did Miss Radnor. "I refuse to answer," said Bobby, +"on the ground that it would incriminate me. We may have been out +baiting our traps. Ask your father about it."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe the navy has any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> plans," I said, "so far as you are +concerned. They just want to make you think that you are busy."</p> + +<p>"Treason!" Bobby cried loudly. "Treason! I'm afraid it's my duty to lay +charges against you, Adam."</p> + +<p>"And I," I retorted, "will expel you from membership in the Clam Beds +Protective Company—if you persist."</p> + +<p>"There!" said Miss Radnor. "How will you like that, Mr. Leverett?"</p> + +<p>"I'll have to give in," Bobby replied. "It's a cruel and unusual +punishment, and therefore unconstitutional, but Adam wouldn't mind a +little thing like that. I am moved by the thought of Eve's grief, +although you wouldn't think that a good sport like Eve would object to a +traitor's taking off. I surrender, Adam. Be merciful."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p><p>Our noise had attracted Old Goodwin, and he joined us. And, thinking +that Bobby might as well be left to the society of the telescope and +Miss Radnor, we left him, we three, and betook ourselves to the shore. +On the white schooner the man in the pea-jacket and old faded blue cap +was still pacing back and forth by the rail, and Pukkie turned to his +grandfather and asked him the question which I could not answer.</p> + +<p>At that moment the man caught sight of Old Goodwin, and waved his arm, +and Old Goodwin answered the wave.</p> + +<p>"That is Captain Fergus, Pukkie. He's the captain. Some years ago he was +captain of vessels that sailed the deep oceans."</p> + +<p>My son was astonished. Captains<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> who sail the deep oceans command his +unbounded respect. I inferred from his reply that skippers of yachts, +even of great white schooner yachts, do not.</p> + +<p>"Was he?" he said. "How does it happen that he is skippering a yacht +then?"</p> + +<p>Old Goodwin laughed his pleasant, quiet laugh.</p> + +<p>"He owns the yacht—or he did. I think it likely that he gave up going +to sea on account of his wife. He was married four or five years ago."</p> + +<p>"Oh, his wife!" my son replied in accents of deep scorn. It was +evidently incomprehensible to him that a man should give up such a +delightful occupation for a mere wife.</p> + +<p>Old Goodwin laughed again. "I'd take you out there if it weren't so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> +wet. But never mind. She'll be in here again some time when you're at +home."</p> + +<p>Then we wandered the shores until the rain stopped and the sky was a +mass of heavy gray clouds, but the sun did not come out; and Pukkie had +to go in.</p> + +<p>The next morning Pukkie found that the yacht had gone, and Old Goodwin +took him back to school, alone with him in the great car. Pukkie did not +mind going back. He has become acclimated at school, and he likes to +ride with his grandfather, sitting in the front seat with all the clocks +and meters and switches and the little lamps like eyes and the levers +and pedals spread out before him. There is reason to suppose that Old +Goodwin gets some pleasure out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> of it. That is why neither Eve nor I +went. There is more pleasure for him when they two are alone. Old +Goodwin and his grandson are great chums.</p> + +<p>When I had got to this point in my ruminations, I realized that the +great pebbles under me, although partly cushioned by sand and by the +dried seaweed which had washed up among them, had been getting harder +and harder. I moved, and groaned involuntarily, and sat up—and rubbed +my eyes. There was the white schooner lying quietly at anchor, her sails +all furled and covered, and no movement on her decks. She lay so still +that she seemed immovable; as firmly fixed as the breakwater itself, or +as the Long Stone, or as one of the distant islands, which swam high in +a bluish haze and flickered in mirage.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p><p>I got up slowly, and heard a noise of a rolling pebble; and I turned, +and there was Eve coming along the shore. I went to meet her, and we +came back and sat upon the bank. And Eve looked up at me and smiled, and +her hand went out slowly, and mine met it, and we put our clasped hands +down between us.</p> + +<p>"<i>Now</i> they can't see," said Eve. "Can they?"</p> + +<p>I smiled and shook my head.</p> + +<p>"And it wouldn't make any difference," Eve pursued, "if they could. +Would it? Say quickly, Adam," she cried, shaking our clasped hands in +mid air. "You are too slow. Would it?"</p> + +<p>"No, Eve," I answered, smiling again. Indeed I had not stopped smiling. +"But we might excite envy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> in their breasts, which is a sin we pray to +be delivered from."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well," she said, "there is nobody to see but Captain Fergus, and he +has not been married long. I love this place, Adam. Do you +remember—here were your pebbles, in the sod just here. And here I sat +when you warned me not to spot my dress,—when I took you for a +fisherman,—and you took me for a governess."</p> + +<p>"Did you think I could forget?"</p> + +<p>And we fell silent, and presently Eve would have me row her out upon the +water, for it was as warm as summer. And, that pleasing me,—although it +would have been enough for me that I was pleasing Eve,—we wandered to +Old Goodwin's stone pier, and took one of his boats, and rowed out. And +I paddled about,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> having nowhere in particular to go, and we found +ourselves near the great white schooner, almost under her stern; and I +looked up, and read her name, Arcadia, and there was Captain Fergus, in +his faded old blue cap, looking down at us over the rail. His face was +bronzed by sun and wind and rain, and there were little wrinkles about +his eyes after the manner of your seafaring men, and his eyes were of a +deep blue—the blue of the deep sea. They made me think of Old Goodwin's +eyes, although Old Goodwin's eyes are not blue.</p> + +<p>He touched his cap. "Won't you come aboard?" he asked in a deep voice +which made one think of rolling seas and fresh winds and bellying sails.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p><p>"Thank you." I hesitated, and looked at Eve, but she did not wait for +me.</p> + +<p>"We shall be glad to," she said. And she turned to me. "Hurry, Adam, and +row around to the ladder."</p> + +<p>So I got us around to the steps, and there was a sailor with a boat-hook +to hold the boat for us and to take charge of it, and Captain Fergus +waiting at the gangway. And I introduced myself, but Eve did not wait +for introductions, but smiled at him, and said that she thought he knew +her father.</p> + +<p>The wrinkles about Captain Fergus's pleasant eyes deepened.</p> + +<p>"You are very like him," he said. And he led us over to the port side, +toward some chairs from one of which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> had risen a slender woman, with a +pleasant face and hair beginning to be well streaked with gray, but not +many years older than Eve. Mrs. Fergus, I found, had been Marian Wafer; +had been Miss Wafer for so long that she had become confirmed in the +habit of spinsterhood, and did not find it easy to get out of that habit +now that she was married.</p> + +<p>We settled ourselves in the chairs, and had some pleasant, desultory +talk; and the sun shone, not too brightly, through a bluish haze; there +was hardly a breath of wind to ruffle the calm surface of the bay, and +peace was on the face of the waters. The stillness almost seemed to +drowse and to make a soft noise, like the distant sound of locusts in +August. It soothed us, and the talk died, and we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> sat motionless and in +silence, gazing out at the distant islands in their misty blue veils, or +at two tiny sails, motionless too, two or three miles away, or, nearer +yet, at an empty expanse of glassy water.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a cat's-paw swept over the surface like a breath over a mirror, +and the shining launch of the Arcadia shot out from Old Goodwin's +landing, and came toward us at great speed; not at forty miles an hour, +for the landing was not far off. She was towing an aquaplane, which +stood very nearly perpendicular in the water, and I saw one man standing +up and steering, and the heads of three or four people showing +occasionally above the deck. The launch itself was at a pretty angle, +with daylight showing under ten feet of her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> keel, and throwing +cataracts out from either side like a fire engine; and she hid her +passengers until she swerved. She was not bringing her passengers aboard +the Arcadia, for she slackened speed and curved prettily, and drifted +before us, almost within reach, and I saw that the people aboard of her, +besides an officer and a sailor, were Old Goodwin and Elizabeth Radnor +and another girl, a stranger. Miss Radnor and the stranger were clad in +bathing-suits.</p> + +<p>Eve did not seem as much surprised as I should have expected, and she +smiled and spoke to her father and Miss Radnor, and he waved his hand; +and the strange girl arose, stood poised for a moment on the rail, +tossed her arms high above her head, dived overboard and struck out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> for +the aquaplane. Miss Radnor instantly arose and followed, without +bothering to poise, and they had a race for it. The strange girl swam +well, but Miss Radnor had more power, and she gained.</p> + +<p>Captain Fergus's great voice rang out. "Go it, Olivia! You're almost +there. Once more and more power to you!"</p> + +<p>And Olivia spurted, but got to laughing and lost a stroke; and Elizabeth +Radnor caught her, but she got to laughing too, so that both seized +their goal at the same instant. They drew themselves partly upon it, but +the aquaplane sank under their weight, and the water swirled about their +knees, for the launch was barely moving. But it began to surge ahead, +faster and faster, so that the two girls<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> found a firm support beneath +their feet as they rose carefully. Olivia held two ropes fastened at the +forward corners, and Miss Radnor steadied herself behind, with a hand on +Olivia.</p> + +<p>The launch twisted and turned, and made loops and circles and spirals, +and Olivia still stood straight, like a Greek charioteer, holding the +lines with hands and rigid arms that were beginning to ache; but Miss +Radnor's knees were bending more and more, and she was swaying. And she +laughed.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, Olivia," she said; and she dived sidewise, and came up again, +and was swimming easily.</p> + +<p>The launch stood in nearer to the schooner, and Olivia staggered as they +turned; but she got her balance, and once more stood straight. And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> the +launch began to twist and double and turn in loops and circles, faster +and faster. Olivia stood upright for two or three turns, then she began +to sway; and she saw that it was the beginning of the end, and she +stooped quickly, and swung her arms low, then high above her head, and +she gave a spring backward, and turned a half-somersault—and a little +more.</p> + +<p>"Good!" cried Captain Fergus. "A pretty backward dive! Olivia's a good +swimmer—capital. Almost as good as Elizabeth." He turned to us. "Just +wait until you see Elizabeth do some of her stunts. Have you ever seen +her?"</p> + +<p>I smiled and shook my head. "Miss Radnor seems an extremely competent +person—in many ways."</p> + +<p>Captain Fergus looked sharply at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> me for an instant, then he chuckled as +though there was a good joke somewhere within hail.</p> + +<p>"So she is," he said; "so she is, very competent. She's an able seaman. +Elizabeth's a great favorite of mine, rather more of a favorite than—"</p> + +<p>"Dick!" said Mrs. Fergus warningly.</p> + +<p>"Eh?" He turned to Mrs. Fergus, and smiled the smile that crinkled all +about his pleasant eyes. His eyes smiled too, those eyes of deepest +blue. "I wasn't going to say anything imprudent, Marian, only that +Elizabeth is rather more of a favorite than some others that I could +name. Oh, I'm not going to call any names, Marian. You needn't be +scared. Marian's always afraid," he said to Eve and me, "that I'm going +to be indiscreet,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> and I've never in my life been indiscreet. Have I, +Marian?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fergus laughed. "How should I know? I've no doubt that you have +been, many times. You aren't politic, Dick."</p> + +<p>"Heaven save us!" said Captain Fergus under his breath. "I hope not. +Neither are you, Marian. I don't know of anybody less politic than you."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fergus laughed again, merrily. "Richard was a sailor for so many +years," she said, "that he can't get out of his sailor's ways."</p> + +<p>"They are good ways," I said. "Don't you think so, Mrs. Fergus?"</p> + +<p>"They are good ways," Mrs. Fergus repeated, looking at her husband, "and +I like them." And Eve smiled across at me.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p><p>The launch had stopped her engine, and was waiting for the two girls. +Elizabeth Radnor reached her first, a white arm shot out of the water +and the hand grasped the gunwale, and Old Goodwin helped her aboard, and +she stood on the deck and dripped. And Olivia came up on the other side, +and Old Goodwin helped her aboard, but she did not stand on the deck to +drip. She jumped into the cockpit, and dripped on the cushions.</p> + +<p>"There!" Mrs. Fergus exclaimed. "If that isn't just like her to run +streams of water on the cushions. Why couldn't she do as Elizabeth does, +and—"</p> + +<p>"Doesn't matter," Captain Fergus growled. "Cushions waterproof, and the +sun'll dry the top in five minutes."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fergus made a motion of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>impatience, and there was a slight +compression of her lips.</p> + +<p>"I know that it doesn't really matter," she said, "a little thing like +wetting the cushions—when they could have been kept dry just as easily. +Elizabeth—"</p> + +<p>"It really isn't any matter about the cushions," Captain Fergus +interrupted gently. "Big crew doing nothing—they'll be set to work +presently scrubbing the launch inside and out. What's a little water? +Doesn't hurt anything."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fergus laughed softly. "You'd let them do anything, Dick,—stick +pins into you—"</p> + +<p>"If it would be any fun for them," said Captain Fergus gruffly, "I guess +I could stand it. What's a pin anyway?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p><p>Mrs. Fergus laughed again. "You'd find out. But I was really thinking +of the difference in the girls. Elizabeth is naturally considerate, +Olivia is not. Olivia is a good swimmer, of course, and she is pretty +and sweet and attractive, but she has done some outrageous things in the +last three years. Nothing bad, but absolutely inconsiderate." She was +talking to us now more than to her husband. "She swims so well that she +jumps in—or she used to—whenever she feels like it, clothes and all. +Why, she even took her mother's parasol in with her one day. It ruined +the parasol, of course. She was all dressed up for a party, and had on a +lovely dress, with a beautiful old ribbon sash, which was spoiled. +Luckily her dress was a wash dress, but it had to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> done up again, and +the Greshams had no money to waste." She broke out in sudden laughter. +"But it was funny, Dick, to see her swimming about, holding the parasol. +Do you remember? At sixteen Olivia Gresham was just a pirate, and she is +more or less of one at eighteen. Look at Jack Ogilvie and the way she +treats him, and he as nice a boy as ever lived."</p> + +<p>"You may look at Jack Ogilvie now," said Captain Fergus quietly, "if you +will raise your eyes. There he comes."</p> + +<p>Accordingly we raised our eyes, all of us, and we saw nothing but those +two tiny sails that I have mentioned, almost in the same place in which +they had been for the last half hour; and a motor-boat, almost hidden +in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> the haze and very difficult to make out, seeming to be soaring over +the tops of the waves toward us. It must have been five miles away.</p> + +<p>"But, Dick," said Mrs. Fergus, "where is Jack? Is he—"</p> + +<p>"In that motor-boat. Don't you see it? Head on."</p> + +<p>He whistled shrilly. The launch had been lying idly before us, her +engine stopped, and Miss Radnor sat upon the deck with her feet dangling +over the side. At the whistle she glanced down the bay, then looked +around at us and waved her hand. Then she simply straightened out and +slipped into the water feet first, and disappeared.</p> + +<p>"Captain Fergus," asked Eve, "how can you possibly tell who is in that +boat? I can hardly see the boat."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p><p>He laughed. "I can't tell," he said, "of course, because I can't see +any of her crew; but I know the boat, and Ogilvie should be in it."</p> + +<p>"But how can you know the boat? One motor-boat looks much like another +at that distance—to me."</p> + +<p>"I don't know how, but I know the boat. How do you know your friends as +far off as you can see them?"</p> + +<p>And Eve laughed, and she went on marvelling. But Miss Radnor, who had +disappeared so quietly, had not reappeared, and Mrs. Fergus seemed to be +getting anxious. She looked at her husband.</p> + +<p>"Dick," she began, "I wish Elizabeth wouldn't stay under so long. +Where—"</p> + +<p>At that moment a red cap bobbed up on the surface of the glassy water<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> +almost at the side of the yacht, and Miss Radnor laughed up at us. She +swam to a boat swinging at the boom, climbed in and up the little rope +ladder to the boom, and so on deck.</p> + +<p>"Sorry," she called, "to drip on your deck, but I want to dive."</p> + +<p>And she went up the rigging as far as she could go, which was not +far—was not far enough, it seemed.</p> + +<p>"You should have the mainsail up," she said. "I could go up on the +rings. It is such a disappointment! I wanted to try it from the +spreaders."</p> + +<p>"I'll send you up in a sling." And forthwith two sailors came running, +and unhooked a halliard from somewhere, and got out a boatswain's chair, +and hooked it on, and she put her legs through, and they hoisted her up +to the spreaders. She looked very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> small up there, as she held on to the +spreader, and gingerly got herself out of the chair, and stood up, +holding by the stay. And, still holding on carefully, she pulled on the +halliard with her free hand, until the boatswain's chair was far enough +down again to go down of its own weight. Then she edged out to the end +of the spreader, and got her feet clear of the stay, though how she did +it I could not imagine, holding on to the stay behind her back. But she +did it, and I could see her moving her feet ever so slightly, to get the +right grip. Then, suddenly she let go, and swung her arms up slowly, and +shot outward in a beautiful swan dive that rivalled Annette Kellerman at +her best; and she struck the water as straight as a pikestaff. There was +not much spray<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> when she struck. It reminded me of scaling stones in the +way we used to call "cutting the devil's throat." Her slender body +entered the water with much the same kind of a noise.</p> + +<p>There was nothing shallow about that dive, for she did not come up for a +long time. At last I saw a shadow in the water shooting slowly toward +the launch, and the red cap came floating to the surface as if it were +only a red rubber balloon; and a white arm shot out, and the hand +grasped the gunwale, and again Old Goodwin helped her aboard, and she +sat on the deck and dabbled her feet in the water, as she had before, +but this time she sat beside Olivia. And Jack Ogilvie—if it was he—in +his motor-boat was almost in. I could see the crew of the boat pretty +well, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> there was none among them who looked like Ogilvie, except the +one in an ensign's uniform, and Ogilvie was not an ensign. Then the boat +was abreast of the launch, and Elizabeth Radnor turned her head, and +waved and called, and beckoned.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Elizabeth!" the ensign called in return, and the boat began to +turn. "Sorry I wasn't nearer to see your dive, but I saw it pretty well. +You couldn't repeat it for my benefit, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>Elizabeth laughed and shook her head. "Not to-day, Jack."</p> + +<p>So Ogilvie was an ensign. Eve had noted that too.</p> + +<p>"He must be twenty-one, Adam," she whispered, "and he must have had a +birthday. I wish we had known it. I would have had a party for him."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p><p>"Is it too late?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"I'll see about it," she answered, smiling. Eve likes Ogilvie.</p> + +<p>But the motor-boat had stopped not far from the launch. They were near +enough for us to hear pretty well over that quiet water. Ogilvie's crew +tried not to show undue interest.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Olivia," said Ogilvie, standing very straight. He looked rather +wistful, I thought.</p> + +<p>"Hello," she said, neither turning her head nor lifting her eyes. It was +the essence of indifference. "What are you doing here?"</p> + +<p>It was more than indifference. It was as if Ogilvie bored her. My gorge +began to rise, and my color rose a little, I am afraid, and I moved my +chair, so that Eve looked over at me.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> I felt, I suppose, much as +Captain Fergus did, when he said that Elizabeth was more of a favorite +of his than some others.</p> + +<p>Ogilvie seemed to be familiar with that attitude of Olivia's, for he +smiled faintly, and stepped back.</p> + +<p>"Nothing much," he said; "just cruising—cursing about the bay. Like +Captain Cook, who went cursing about the Pacific Ocean. That's what you +said in school, Olivia. Remember?"</p> + +<p>"If I don't," Olivia flung back petulantly, "it isn't because I haven't +been reminded of it."</p> + +<p>Elizabeth raised her head and sent forth a merry peal of laughter.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Olivia, did you really? When was it? Oh, that's too good to keep."</p> + +<p>Olivia was picking at the deck of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> the launch. There may have been a +speck of dust there.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I did. It was when I was very small, and the teacher asked me +what Captain Cook did, and 'cruise' looked like 'curse' to me. But if +you ever tell, Elizabeth," she flared out, "I'll never forgive you."</p> + +<p>Once more Elizabeth's laughter rang out.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Olivia! It won't be necessary for me to tell, but I'd almost be +willing to be never forgiven." Then she heard Ogilvie give orders to +start. "Wait, Jack. I can't do my dive over again, but Olivia and I will +show you some aquaplaning. Won't we, Olivia?"</p> + +<p>Olivia shook her head. "I don't believe I want to."</p> + +<p>"Very well, then. I'll do it all by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> myself. I see you've got it, Jack. +Congratulations!"</p> + +<p>At that Olivia looked up. "Got what? Oh, a new uniform. Captain Ogilvie, +I suppose."</p> + +<p>But Elizabeth had slid into the water, and Olivia slid in from the other +side of the launch, and Ogilvie waited, but the launch did not. +Elizabeth was swimming under water, as seemed to be her habit, and the +launch had quite a little way on before the red cap emerged. She had +heard it, of course, and had calculated very nicely, and came to the +surface just as the aquaplane was going by; and she seized it and swung +herself upon it, and landed standing on her feet. It was like the centre +ring in a circus; and it made me think more and more of that centre +ring, and of great white<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> horses cantering around it, as Elizabeth went +through the most extraordinary feats of agility and skill, diving off +and jumping on again as it seemed with but a quirk of her wrist, making +the aquaplane do the work for her. And to end the exhibition the launch, +which had been doing a modest ten miles an hour, went up to twenty-five, +and the aquaplane stood nearly straight, and bounced around, with sudden +sidewise jumps and swerves and jerks. It was no longer the great white +horse cantering around the ring, but a balky, bucking horse that gave +Elizabeth some trouble. I could see how carefully she was balancing with +bent knees that gave to every jump, and brought it back again. But when +the launch began to twist and turn and loop she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> could not keep her +balance for very long. She knew she could not, and before she had more +than begun to lose it she laughed aloud, and she gave a spring straight +up, and turned backward in the air, and entered the water behind the +aquaplane, straight and true. As a backward dive it surpassed Olivia's +as you would expect the finished performance of a professional acrobat +to surpass the best attempts of an amateur.</p> + +<p>In watching Elizabeth's performance I had entirely forgotten Olivia, and +so had all the others, unless Ogilvie had not. I cannot speak for him. +If he had forgotten he was quickly to be reminded, for suddenly about +half a bucket of water shot up and drenched his cap and his new uniform.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p><p>He smiled quietly, and bent forward and looked into the mocking eyes of +Olivia.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Olivia," he said, the water dripping from his cap and his +coat. "Was that intended as a christening?"</p> + +<p>Olivia made no reply, but turned and swam to the launch. Elizabeth was +climbing aboard, and sat in her old place on the deck, her feet +dangling.</p> + +<p>"Was it a good show, Jack?"</p> + +<p>"It was worthy of you, Elizabeth. I can't give any higher praise. Thank +you very much. You have given me a great deal of pleasure. You are +always giving other people pleasure. Good-bye."</p> + +<p>And he waved his hand to the launch and then to us, and his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>motor-boat +went on her business up the harbor, whatever that business was.</p> + +<p>Captain Fergus looked after him thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"Now, I wonder," he remarked, "why he didn't come aboard. He ought to +want to see me."</p> + +<p>I had got up with him, and we were standing at the gangway. The launch +came nosing around, with the two girls enveloped in raincoats. Olivia +had recovered her spirits. She stood up, and saluted with a stiff +finger.</p> + +<p>"Here's a load of lumber for you, Captain Fergus," she said. "Will you +have it aboard? Where will you have it stowed?"</p> + +<p>Captain Fergus looked grimly at her, and shook his head slowly, but his +eyes, looking out from the shadow of the shiny visor of his old blue<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> +cap, were pleasant and smiling and humorous. The little wrinkles about +them deepened.</p> + +<p>"Don't you know better," he growled sternly, "than to bring me wet +lumber? I can't take it. You'll have to take it ashore and dry it."</p> + +<p>"Aye, aye, sir," said Olivia; and she sat down, and I regret to say that +she giggled.</p> + +<p>I had gone down the steps, and I was regarding a red rubber cap and a +dun-colored raincoat. The red cap was pulled well down over the ears, +concealing entirely the colors of Eve's great beaver muff. I spoke.</p> + +<p>"Miss Radnor," I said, "what have you done with Bobby?"</p> + +<p>She looked up quickly, and her eyes met mine frankly. They—hers, not +mine, my eyes being nothing to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> look at, only to see with; but +hers—they were hazel, I should guess, and they were veiled mischief as +they looked into mine.</p> + +<p>"Bobby?" she asked. "Mr. Leverett? Oh, we transferred him yesterday. We +took him down in the Arcadia. We'll take you some day soon."</p> + +<p>I have no wish to be transferred. But I do not wonder that Bobby is much +taken with Elizabeth Radnor.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>V</span></h2> + +<p>Tilling the soil, if the man who tills be working alone, tends to +reflection,—provided that man possesseth wherewith to reflect,—and it +promotes straight and simple thinking, thoughts which may be straight +and true or they may not; but the thoughts of the tiller of the soil are +more likely to be straight and true than the thoughts of the same man +riding in a motor-car or working on the twenty-fifth floor of an office +building. If such a man be the president of the company it is one thing; +he may be puffed up with the pride of a little brief authority or he may +be the simple, true man that Old Goodwin is. His sense of the values<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> of +things must be warped and distorted unless he tills the soil at times or +does something that is equivalent, like sailing the deep blue oceans, +where there is so very little between him and the workings of nature; +and I do not mean sailing as a passenger in an ocean steamer or a yacht, +in which he will have as little to do with the workings of nature as he +would in a great hotel.</p> + +<p>In such a man the sense of values must be distorted nearly as much, +though in a different way, as that of a man who sits at one of an +interminable row of desks, on another floor of the same office building, +from eight-thirty in the morning until five in the afternoon, with an +hour for luncheon; and knows himself to be but a cog in a huge machine, +a cog which can and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> will be replaced as soon as it gives a sign of +running unsmoothly. What a dreadful thought that you are but a cog in a +machine! How very dreadful it must be to realize that you are growing +old and are still nothing but a cog! How pregnant of rebellions, little +futile rebellions! And how it must tear the very soul of that man to +know beforehand that his rebellions must be little and futile! I can +understand that a man in that state would welcome death; that he would +be stood up against a wall and shot rather than go back to that desk of +the interminable row—number thirteen, it might be. But there is nobody +to stand him up against a wall. They will have none of him. He is too +old. Too old to be shot, although he may have fighting instincts +stirring fiercely within<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> him. So they take his son, it may be, and he +goes back to his desk. There is no escape for him. They will not even +let him die as a man should in these times. Life is a series of +disappointments, and the last is the most bitter. Hope takes herself +away until he can hardly see her through the fog.</p> + +<p>I was thinking such thoughts as these, leaning on my hoe. I had come out +early to work in my garden, and I would start the planting of a row, and +the next thing I knew I would find myself standing—or squatting, in +accordance with my most recent activity—and gazing out over the waters +of the bay, dreaming and musing of the bitterness of disappointment, or +of little souls clothed with authority, or of Old<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> Goodwin, and of men +like him—if there are such. Old Goodwin's is not a little soul. The +first time that I thought on such things and lost myself in thinking, I +was using my wheel hoe on the ground between the rows of corn and peas +and beans. A wheel hoe is not a thing to lean on, but it fails you when +you most need its support, and gives way under you and brings your +thoughts to earth with a thump—and you as well, if you are not used to +its vagaries and careful. So I took my hand hoe. It is friendly and will +bear me up.</p> + +<p>It was the twenty-sixth of May, and I had much planting to do, but I did +not do it. I thought upon what had happened in the past few days, and I +worked my wheel hoe. Wheel-hoeing does not interfere with my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> thinking. +I believe I could do it in my sleep. I have only to walk along slowly, +and to work my arms back and forth at every step, and unless the ground +is very hard I can think perfectly. My corn showed as little +yellowish-green tubes about an inch and a half long, just poked through +a couple of days before, it was so cold early in the month; and it has +not come up well. As I ran the hoe along beside the row, it was a rank +of soldiers—soldiers of the first line. There were great gaps in the +line. There have been many gaps, and there will be many more. It has not +chanced to hit any friends of mine yet, but it will.</p> + +<p>Then I thought upon the report of ten days before, that seven German +submarines had been destroyed at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> sea on their way over here. It was +gratifying to know that they had been destroyed, but the report was +strangely disquieting to me. If they had sent a fleet of seven, they +might send as many more. There was food for thought in that. I had seen +no further mention of the matter in the papers, and most probably the +report was untrue, but it set me thinking, and I wondered whether the +information would not be considered of value to the enemy. If no report +of their destruction had been published, Germany might not have known of +it for weeks. Weeks of freedom for us knocked in the head by the +newspapers.</p> + +<p>And I was through with the corn, and had come to the beans, strange +grotesque, misshapen things, pushing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> out of the ground like toads. Some +of them were not through yet, but were raising great clods of earth, +leaving holes which looked for all the world like toad-holes. There were +two that looked like sinking ships. And I thought upon the report of a +great naval battle, with many of our ships sunk. I do not believe it. In +fact, I have heard vaguely of a denial by our Navy Department. And my +eye was caught by a flash of scarlet near some trees by my wall, and +there was a tanager. I stopped my hoeing and stood still and watched. It +is some years since I have seen a tanager. He flew about in little short +flights, aimlessly it seemed, from one low branch to another, then upon +the ground, then back to a tree again, paying no attention to me +standing like a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>scarecrow in my garden. Then he perched high and sang +his cheerful song, very like a robin's. If I were not noticing nor +thinking about it, I might think it a robin's—if I gave it a thought. I +have heard that tanagers have been seen this spring in places where they +have never been seen before. I have never seen one here, and I hoped +this one would stay.</p> + +<p>And then that talking machine of my neighbor's began reciting something +in a loud voice—"Cohen at the telephone" or some such thing—and my +tanager flew away, and I went savagely to my hoeing again. And I thought +again of that obsolescent man who is too old to be shot, but not too old +to be condemned to a ball and chain; and whose son they have taken while +they have scornfully <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>rejected him. And he would fight if they would let +him. How he would fight! For there is nothing left for him but to choose +the best death he can get. He may not be free even to do that. The +father of Jack Ogilvie may be just such a man. I stopped again, and +stood holding the handles of my hoe and looking off to sea, and thought +of Ogilvie and Bobby and Jimmy Wales going to and fro upon the waters +seeking that which is not.</p> + +<p>I grasped my hoe handles more tightly, and turned my head, and looked at +the dirt before me, and pushed my hoe savagely. What care I how they go +to and fro upon the waters? I wander the shores, and I dig my clams, and +I am content. But am I? And as I had got to this point<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> in my +meditations, from my neighbor's window came the rich voice of Harry +Lauder singing "Breakfast in bed on Sunday morning." I smiled to +myself—there was nobody to see me if I chose to smile at an +absurdity—and my hoe went more and more slowly, for there was no power +behind it. And I listened shamelessly to Harry Lauder's last whisper and +his last mellow laugh, so that I did not hear the light steps behind me; +but I heard the voice that I loved.</p> + +<p>"Adam! Adam!" said the voice, chiding. "Listening to Harry Lauder—and +enjoying it! Take shame to yourself."</p> + +<p>And I turned, and saw Eve, and Tidda with her. Eve was smiling, and I +smiled back at her.</p> + +<p>"Surely, Eve," I said, "a man may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> rest when he is weary. And if my +neighbor choose to have a talking machine spouting out of his window, I +cannot stop him. I wish I could. Imagine Judson with a talking machine!"</p> + +<p>"I can imagine it very easily. The dear old man would have enjoyed it, I +am sure. And if it gives them pleasure, Adam—why, some of the things +give you pleasure. You needn't try to deny it."</p> + +<p>"I don't, Eve. I deny nothing. But some of the things are—"</p> + +<p>Eve nodded. "Yes," she said, "some of them certainly are. But they +needn't bother you much."</p> + +<p>At that moment we heard a giggle from somewhere on the other side of the +wall, and something came whizzing. It was nothing but an old rotten<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> +piece of wood, and it fell short, but it stirred Tidda.</p> + +<p>"I'm going after that Sands girl," she cried. "She shan't fire old +pieces of wood at us." And she set off at top speed straight for the +wall. Tidda is not becoming obsolescent.</p> + +<p>I would have stopped her.</p> + +<p>"No," Eve said. "Let her go. It can't do any harm." She dismissed the +matter from her mind. "Tell me, Adam, what made you so savage as we were +coming up. What were you thinking about?"</p> + +<p>I laughed rather shamefacedly. "It was of no consequence, Eve. I was +thinking that life, for some people, is just one disappointment after +another." I must remember that Eve has pacifist tendencies.</p> + +<p>Eve looked up at me with sober eyes.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p><p>"Were you thinking of anything in particular?"</p> + +<p>"Of the unimportant men in a great office with long rows of desks and +endless routine; especially of men who are growing old in it and can see +no escape. I was thinking of the same thing, I remember, on Wednesday, +down on the shore. It was a driving drizzle from the northeast, and +gray, with rolling seas. It made the round of an office seem so futile +and so useless. I envied Jimmy and Bobby and Ogilvie, off on patrol. I +would have liked to be on patrol myself."</p> + +<p>"Would you?" asked Eve. There was speculation in her eyes—and something +else that I had seen there before. I could not fathom it. "How many of +the men in the office—the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> men who are growing old—would exchange the +comforts of the office for a driving drizzle out of the northeast, and +gray and rolling seas—and a motor-boat? Not one in ten."</p> + +<p>"It was that one I was thinking of."</p> + +<p>Eve looked away from me and nodded slowly.</p> + +<p>"Can't you leave your gardening? Come and sit down."</p> + +<p>So I left my tools in the field, as a poor farmer leaves his tools where +he has last used them in the fall, the plough beside the furrow, and the +mowing-machine and the horserake at the edge of the meadow; and in the +spring he is sorrowful, and wonders and bemoans the winter. And Eve took +my hand in hers, and we went to my great pine and sat us down upon the +bench. And, behind us,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> came Tidda over the wall, dragging the reluctant +Sands girl, who giggled and held back; and they sat by the hole that is +scooped in the ground and lined with great stones, for they would play +at having a clambake. The chatter of our daughter's tongue was like an +accompaniment; and nobody pays any attention to an accompaniment.</p> + +<p>"Now, Adam," said Eve, "for the important business. You know we decided +that Jack Ogilvie must have had a birthday, or he would not have got his +commission. I have been making inquiries. He did; and I find that +everybody can come next Saturday, probably,—a week from to-day."</p> + +<p>Eve looked thoughtful and counted up on her fingers, which I released +for the purpose—"the second of June.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> Do you think, Adam," she went on, +"that clams will be ripe on the second of June?"</p> + +<p>I laughed. "We can see. But many things will be lacking which belong to +a clambake. Do you want me to issue a call to the Clam Beds Protective +Company?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, Adam. How will it run? To assemble, at their armory,—that is +the bank above the clam beds,—in uniform, with arms and accoutrements, +an hour before low tide. When will that be? But never mind. And shall I +tell father?" She glanced toward the hole scooped in the ground. "He +will be glad to—but mercy on us, Adam, where is Tidda?"</p> + +<p>She sighed and started to her feet. I laughed, and pointed along the +shore.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></p><p>"Stole away," I said. Tidda and the Sands girl were picking their way +among the great pebbles of the shore, Tidda with light feet skipping +from pebble to pebble, the Sands girl going more cautiously and +clumsily.</p> + +<p>Eve sighed again. "We may as well follow. There is no knowing what they +will be up to next."</p> + +<p>So I rose and we turned to follow, and there was Elizabeth Radnor not +ten steps away, smiling and regarding us with friendly eyes. As she drew +near her eyes looked gray-green, not hazel, calm and humorous and +knowing. Perhaps they are of the changeable kind. I have seen changeable +eyes before. I would like to know what thoughts lie behind those eyes to +give them their peculiar light. And at a guess I think that Bobby would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> +give something to know. But they were friendly eyes, and they gave you a +look that was straight and true.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Elizabeth,"—Eve has got that far with her, which is in her favor. +I have never yet known Eve to be deceived in people—"Oh, Elizabeth, we +have to go after Tidda, just along the shore. Will you come? Tidda leads +us a chase. Her spirit of adventure will lead her into trouble."</p> + +<p>Elizabeth laughed. We were descending the steep path to the shore.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I had a spirit of adventure as great as Tidda's," she said; +"fortunately no disaster happened to me, although I must have been +rather a trial to my mother. And as to going into the water when I +shouldn't—why, I was in the water all the time—whenever I could get +in. You<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> see the unhappy result. We were poor, you know; in what is +called straitened circumstances. My father died when I was a little tot, +and we never had a maid until a few years ago. You go on in your own +way. It is pretty sure to be right."</p> + +<p>I do not know whether Eve thought Elizabeth was referring to the path, +but she turned and began to descend again.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you think so," she flung back over her shoulder, "but I am not +so sure. I really think that it would be better for Tidda if she were +left more to her own devices—she has plenty—but I just can't do it."</p> + +<p>We had got down to the shore, and Elizabeth turned to me.</p> + +<p>"I am always saying things," she said, "that I don't mean. It is one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> of +the results of too much freedom."</p> + +<p>"So am I," I replied, "and this is one of them."</p> + +<p>And Elizabeth looked at me queerly, and laughed suddenly, and looked +away. I wondered if she understood. I wondered further about her. A +reputation for unconsidered speech is the best of protections for +secrets. I did not believe that she was generally guilty of unconsidered +speech. And we had come to the clam beds, but the bank was too wet to +sit on, and we stood around until I found some stones that were dry, and +we sat on the stones in a row, like three crows. Eve said nothing to +Tidda and the Sands girl, but watched them as they pulled off their +stockings. And, Tidda having trouble with hers,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> as usual, Eve got up +from her stone and helped her.</p> + +<p>While Eve was busy with stockings, I spoke.</p> + +<p>"Miss Radnor," I said, "what—"</p> + +<p>She was gazing fixedly at the water over the clam beds—there was about +a foot of it—and her thoughts were far away. But at the sound of her +name she started almost imperceptibly, and looked at me, and smiled.</p> + +<p>"My name is Elizabeth," she said, interrupting. "Perhaps you didn't know +it. Yes, that is a hint."</p> + +<p>Her eyes were like deep pools under a summer sun, and all sorts of +colors played over them, flashing and sparkling gently and merrily, so +that there was no telling what depths lay beneath, or what in the +depths—except humor. They seemed to be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>looking always for a joke, and +usually finding one too good to tell. What else they were looking for I +did not know, but there was something.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," I replied. "I take hints on occasion. And my name is Adam. +That is a hint too. If you can reconcile the use of it with the respect +due to age,—to a man too old to fight,—I shall be glad. It is a very +old name and quite respectable."</p> + +<p>She nodded and laughed. "Thank you, Adam. But you were going to ask me +something."</p> + +<p>"I was going to ask you, Elizabeth, if you know what has become of +Bobby. We haven't seen him for a long time."</p> + +<p>The pools flashed and sparkled once more. "Why do you ask me? Am I +Bobby's keeper?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p><p>"You seemed to be. And you transferred him, and we haven't seen him +since."</p> + +<p>"Captain Fergus transferred him. I have no doubt that he will turn up in +time."</p> + +<p>Eve had finished with the stockings, and she came and sat down again +upon her stone, while the children splashed noisily into that foot of +water. Tidda had a stout stick, and she began immediately to poke about +with it.</p> + +<p>"Who will turn up in time?" asked Eve. "What are you talking about?"</p> + +<p>"Bobby," I answered. "I wish I could share Elizabeth's faith. I must +notify Bobby."</p> + +<p>"I think you will have an opportunity," said Elizabeth, "if you have a +little patience."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p><p>"I will notify you meanwhile, Elizabeth. The Clam Beds Protective +Company meets here next Saturday at nine o'clock. In uniform, with arms +and equipment. If you lack anything, speak to Eve. I'm sorry to make it +quite so early, but the tide, you know—and Eve has set the day."</p> + +<p>"I'm going to have a birthday party for Jack Ogilvie, Elizabeth. It's a +little late, but I didn't know in time, and Jimmy and Bobby and Ogilvie +can come then, I think. I wish you'd tell me something more about him."</p> + +<p>"About Jack? What shall I tell you? I've known him always, since he was +knee-high to a grasshopper. He's as good as there is made. His family +are nice people, with a very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> moderate income, just about enough to keep +them going, and not enough to put him through college, although they +would be willing to sacrifice a good deal to do it. But Jack prefers to +put himself through, and he was doing it very well until he went into +the navy. He has been preparing for that for a year or more. He doesn't +make nearly as much in the navy, even as an ensign—but I don't know +about that. I guess he does. An ensign's pay is pretty good for a boy of +twenty-one."</p> + +<p>"And his father," Eve pursued; "what does he do? Is he in some great +office, grinding away for Jack?"</p> + +<p>Elizabeth smiled again. "No. He is a country doctor, and a very good +one. I don't know what the town would do without him. But a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>country +doctor, you know, can't make much."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad," said Eve.</p> + +<p>"Why? Because he can't make much?"</p> + +<p>Eve laughed. "Glad that he's a doctor. I wish I could manage to swell +his income."</p> + +<p>Tidda and the Sands girl had been pursuing the elusive clam with some +success. Tidda's hands were full of clams which she had dug out with the +stick and her hands, burrowing into the sand and mud under the water, +and her skirt was wet, and her sleeves were wet nearly to the shoulder. +I called Eve's attention to that fact as she splashed out, ran to the +bank, and deposited her clams in an old rusty tin can with jagged edges, +which she drew from some hiding<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> place evidently in familiar use. She +must have done that same thing many times, and this was the first that +we knew of it.</p> + +<p>Eve glanced up and smiled.</p> + +<p>"Never mind, Adam. Let them have their fun. I'll put dry clothes on her +when we get home." Then she turned again to Elizabeth. "And Olivia," she +said, "is—"</p> + +<p>"I think," said Elizabeth, interrupting, "that Olivia is coming now."</p> + +<p>As she spoke there was a slight rustling in the path through the +greenery, and Olivia emerged upon the edge of the bank. She was stepping +lightly, diffident and hesitating, a hand over her heart. It was like a +young doe coming out of the woods.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" she said. "I beg your pardon."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p><p>And Elizabeth laughed silently, mostly with her eyes; but Eve rose and +went to meet Olivia.</p> + +<p>"What's the joke, Elizabeth?" I asked in her ear. "Tell me, won't you?"</p> + +<p>She turned merry eyes to mine. "Olivia's the joke," she said. "I can't +explain, but if you knew her as well as I do—"</p> + +<p>She did not finish, for Eve was speaking.</p> + +<p>"We were just thinking of you, Olivia."</p> + +<p>"How very nice of you! May I come?"</p> + +<p>She advanced—still with that diffident and hesitating step like a +doe's. I got up and offered her my stone.</p> + +<p>Olivia looked startled; but Olivia<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> had a way of looking startled, so it +seemed.</p> + +<p>"Oh," she protested, "oh, I don't want to take your seat."</p> + +<p>"Don't feel that you are putting me to an inconvenience," I said. "That +stone is harder than it was. I am sorry that we can offer you nothing +better than a stone, but it is all we have."</p> + +<p>And Olivia laughed politely, and took my stone, and looked about.</p> + +<p>"Clams!" she cried. "I have dug clams."</p> + +<p>"Many?" I asked.</p> + +<p>Olivia looked up at me and laughed again. "Oh, a good many," she +replied, "in all sorts of places; and baked them too."</p> + +<p>"A recruit for our company," I said, looking at Elizabeth and Eve.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> +"Will you join the company?" I asked Olivia.</p> + +<p>"I shall be glad to," she answered. "What is it?"</p> + +<p>And Eve laughed, and I explained, and Olivia seemed delighted. But +Elizabeth was more amused than ever.</p> + +<p>"What is it now, Elizabeth?"</p> + +<p>"Olivia knows," said she.</p> + +<p>"Elizabeth!" Olivia cried from her stone. "I didn't either come for—"</p> + +<p>She stopped suddenly, her hand over her mouth.</p> + +<p>"If she came for that purpose, Elizabeth," I said, "she is to be +commended. Do you think that Captain Fergus and Mrs. Fergus would join? +Would you speak to them about it?"</p> + +<p>And Elizabeth signified that she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> would, and there was other noise in +the path through the greenery, a noise which was something more than a +rustling, and Old Goodwin appeared, and behind him came Bobby. When +Bobby appeared, I looked hard at Elizabeth, but I could detect no sign +of confusion. She is so sunburned and tanned that a flush would not show +anyway.</p> + +<p>"What did you tell me about Bobby, Elizabeth?"</p> + +<p>She looked up. "I don't remember. Nothing that wasn't true."</p> + +<p>Her eyes were filled with light, but she veiled them quickly, and Bobby +wandered over to us. Old Goodwin had sat him down on the bank, and Tidda +had put into his hands some more clams dripping mud, and was asking his +advice, her elbows on his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> knees; and he listened soberly and with +interest.</p> + +<p>Eve told Bobby of the meeting of our company for the next week and the +party.</p> + +<p>He turned to me. "Doesn't that notice have to be in writing?" he asked.</p> + +<p>I shook my head. "You'd better accept it. The whole company will turn +out. It's to be a party for Ogilvie—birthday party."</p> + +<p>And Olivia pricked up her ears at that, and listened shamelessly while +Eve told Bobby about it.</p> + +<p>"That's very good of you, Eve," he said, when she had finished. "I'll +tell Jimmy, and I'll get word to Ogilvie. We can come unless something +turns up. Something may turn up, you know, at any minute. We never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> +know. If a fleet of submarines should get over here, and should start +getting caught in our traps we'd have to go."</p> + +<p>"Traps all set, Bobby?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Set but not baited," he replied. "I'm looking for bait now, +likely-looking little pigs, Adam, and for somebody to feed 'em, and keep +'em squealing. It would be interesting work, and a pleasant sail every +day. If you were really patriotic you'd be glad to do that much for your +country. But you won't. I see it in your eye. I'll have to do it +myself."</p> + +<p>And he heaved a prodigious sigh, and turned to Elizabeth and Olivia, and +he began to talk lightly with them; and Olivia's face was all eagerness +and light and gentleness. She was beautiful so. Bobby noticed it, and +smiled at her, and talked to her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> for a minute or so, and she listened +in a sort of silent rapture, which Elizabeth observed. And Bobby, +glancing at Elizabeth, saw the changing light in those two deep pools, +and saw her half-smile of amusement, and forgot what he was saying to +Olivia, and stopped.</p> + +<p>"You know, Miss Radnor," he said, forgetting the rest of us, "I have to +go in half an hour." It was a sort of challenge.</p> + +<p>She nodded, still smiling that half-smile of amusement. "I know."</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>Thereupon Eve rose quietly from her stone, and dragged Olivia up from +hers, much against her will, and they wandered off to see the children +at their clamming; but she gave me a significant look as she went. So I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> +obediently drifted off along the shore. I was sorry to go, for I would +have liked to hear what followed. And I drifted back again, and to and +fro, like a shadow, but always Bobby was talking earnestly to Elizabeth, +and Elizabeth looked up at Bobby, and laughed and shook her head. And at +last Elizabeth rose, and they two wandered off down the shore toward Old +Goodwin's stone pier. I caught a word or two of Bobby's as they went. I +thought he was asking her what she was. "What are you?" was all I heard; +and she replied, very probably, that she was a teacher of swimming and +dancing. And she turned and waved her hand to us, and they were gone.</p> + +<p>Then Eve stirred, and called Tidda, who came hugging close her old tin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> +can dripping mud down upon her dress. Olivia was already on the path to +the great house, but Old Goodwin turned back.</p> + +<p>"Adam," he said, smiling, "I have retired from business. I thought you +might like to know. It seemed as good a time as any."</p> + +<p>It was what I have been urging upon him these ten years.</p> + +<p>"There will be enough to keep me occupied," he added, answering my +unspoken question. "A matter that I have in mind. I will tell you about +it soon."</p> + +<p>And he turned again, and was gone up the path.</p> + +<p>I walked with Eve along the shore, and I wondered. I must have been +mistaken in those words of Bobby's. How could he have asked her that?</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>VI</span></h2> + +<p>On that second day of June it befell that I was stirring early, and I +was out at dawn, for I had much to do; but I did not do it then, as I +had meant. When I was come out into the fresh breath of morning, and was +walking over the dewy grass to my shed, of a sudden my soul was drenched +with the sense of a great truth, even as my feet and legs were drenched +with dew. And the truth was this: All work is useless. It is but a waste +of time that might be better spent in watching the sun come up through +the mists of morning to rule over his kingdom; or in seeing him sink +behind the bearded hills in the golden haze of evening. At either<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> time +the old earth is at peace, and the waters stilled or just waking, but +the dawn is the better. I would contemplate the majesty of the sunrise +and consider upon it. It restoreth my soul.</p> + +<p>So my cares slipped from off my shoulders as a garment, and I turned my +steps to the steep path, and came to the shore, and over the sand and +pebbles to my clam beds at the point; and I hurried, for I would not +miss the rising of the sun. But I did miss it, and saw the sun shining +through a thick haze, with his lower edge just risen out of the sea. The +tide was high, and the waters whispered gently at my feet, and stretched +away in all manner of opalescent colors until, toward the south, they +were lost in a tender pearl-gray that seemed to cover everything.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p><p>One needs to be alone at such a time; alone or with one other. And Eve +had not divined my intention any more than I had, but she had been +sleeping sweetly, with one white arm curved above her head upon the +pillow, and she had smiled in her sleep, and I had withdrawn cautiously +and quietly. She supposed that I would be working at my preparations. +Working! And I laughed silently to myself. But I wished that I had known +what I should do. Perhaps she would not have minded being waked.</p> + +<p>So I stood there, scarcely moving, looking out into that tender +pearl-gray, until the sun was half an hour high or more. Some of the +magic was gone, and I knew that it was to be hot; hot and moist and +sticky. And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> a fisherman crawled out into the bay, and then another, +their sails hanging in wrinkles. They were not afraid of submarines. Who +could be afraid of submarines in that quiet, opalescent water, that +pearl-gray haze? Submarines there!</p> + +<p>I laughed and turned away. Work no longer seemed so useless a waste of +time. I must be at mine. There are many things to be seen to besides the +digging of clams. I marched back along the shore, and up the path, and +through the wet grass. The grass must be cut. Usually I keep it cut, but +there is a dearth this year of men who work by the day, and I can get no +man to help me. What is done I shall have to do myself.</p> + +<p>So I came to the hole scooped in the ground just without the shadow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> of +my pine, and I cleared it out, the accumulation of the winter, down to +the lining of great stones. And I brought out the plain wooden benches, +and the great pine planks laid on wooden horses, to serve as tables, and +I set them in their places, and I rubbed the tops of the tables till +they were all shining white. And a big wagon came with a load of +seaweed—rockweed—all fresh and wet and dripping, its little brown +bladders soft and swollen, and the load of wet weed was dumped in a +slippery pile. There were chickens also to come, and lobsters, and fish, +whatever kinds the fishermen brought in, but no bluefish caught in the +bay these many years; and many loaves of brown bread. But all those +things would come later, and I had no <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>concern with them save to bake +them—but not the brown bread. So I looked about, and seeing all things +done that were to do at that time, I went in to breakfast.</p> + +<p>I was restless, and dragged Eve out, and we went prowling along the +shore, although it yet lacked an hour of the time set for the assembling +of our company; but there was Old Goodwin leaning against a tree above +the clam beds, gazing out over the water.</p> + +<p>I followed his gaze, and I saw his ocean steamer lying there, at anchor. +She had come in since sunrise, for the water then had been empty of +steam yachts. And men were swarming over her rail and were getting +settled upon stagings—planks—that hung there.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p><p>Old Goodwin turned to us. "Good-morning," he said, smiling his quiet +smile of peace.</p> + +<p>"Good-morning," I returned. "It seems like afternoon to me. It is a long +time since sunrise. Your boat wasn't there then. What are they doing to +her? Painting a gold band around her?"</p> + +<p>He smiled once more. "No gold," he said. "She needed paint. I thought +that gray would be a good color. It wears well, and doesn't show +bruises."</p> + +<p>"He has given her to the navy," Eve whispered. Her eyes were shining.</p> + +<p>"I thought I might as well," said Old Goodwin as if apologizing. "I have +given up New York—for a time anyway—and shall not need her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> That is +the matter I spoke of. I shall want your advice, Adam."</p> + +<p>"Now?" I asked. "It is rather sudden."</p> + +<p>He laughed. "Not now. There is hardly time. There comes the Arcadia."</p> + +<p>I had seen her looming through the haze. She seemed to be coming +rapidly, and there was little wind. I mentioned it.</p> + +<p>"Fergus had a motor put in her this year," Old Goodwin answered. "He +hated to. Said it was spoiling a beautiful boat, but he had to do it."</p> + +<p>Then there was a noise up the path, and Tom Ellis appeared with Cecily.</p> + +<p>"Hello, people," he said. "Are we the first? I was afraid we would be, +but I couldn't hold Cecily any longer."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p><p>Cecily smiled. "Don't take any notice of him, Eve, and he'll run down +pretty soon."</p> + +<p>"And," Tom went on, "Cecily could have painted for another half hour and +earned fifty dollars more. You see what a sacrifice I have made for +you."</p> + +<p>"And your country."</p> + +<p>"Country comes first, doesn't it, Adam? Ought to, but I'm afraid the +clams had a good deal to do with it. What do you think of my uniform?"</p> + +<p>Tom had on the worst looking clothes that I have ever seen on a +respectable man who did no work. They were soaked with a mixture of oil +and grease and dirt, and spattered with mud, which covered them in great +patches here and there, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> one sleeve of his coat was torn nearly off. +It looked as if a machinist, in his oily jumper, had rolled in wet clay. +His rubber boots were those of a mixer of mortar and concrete.</p> + +<p>"I am lost in admiration, Tom," I said. "The others will hardly be able +to equal that."</p> + +<p>"No," Tom returned proudly; and he threw down his rake. He had brought +an instrument very like a potato digger, a short-handled rake with huge +tines. "The only private, you know. I thought my uniform ought to have +distinction. Cleaned up Mr. Goodwin's cars for the purpose." Old Goodwin +laughed suddenly at that. "Then I whitewashed the henhouse, with this +artistic result. It's quite fun whitewashing henhouses. Ever try it, +Adam? Did it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> with a pump and hose. Whitewash on the windows is an inch +thick."</p> + +<p>I laughed. "I have had that pleasure in the distant past, and I don't +want any more of it. But you have not accounted for the mud."</p> + +<p>Tom surveyed the mud and shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Can't account for it," he said. "Haven't been near any mud. I can't +imagine how it got there, unless Cecily borrowed the clothes. But this +party, Adam, is a sort of farewell party for me. I've enlisted. I go +to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Go to-morrow!" I cried. "Where? And what have you enlisted for?"</p> + +<p>"That is somewhat ambiguous as a question, but I will answer all its +meanings. I've enlisted because my country needs me. All the posters<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> +say so. That one of the old gentleman in the star-spangled hat looking +right at you and pointing right at you, and saying, 'Your country needs +YOU,' or words to that effect, was what got me finally. I couldn't get +away from it. He was pointing at me and looking at me, wherever I went. +And I've enlisted for four years, and—"</p> + +<p>"Four <i>years</i>!" gasped Cecily, wide-eyed. "You never told me that, Tom."</p> + +<p>"Didn't I? It must have been an oversight, Cecily. You won't mind, will +you? And I've enlisted to go to Newport and drive some admiral or other +around in a large gray car. Oh, it's not half bad. When the submarines +begin to school off Nantucket, perhaps they'll let me go out there once +in a while and get a load."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p><p>"Tom," said Eve, patting his arm, her eyes shining again, "I think it's +splendid. I could kiss you for it."</p> + +<p>"Wait, Eve, until Cecily's not around," Tom whispered; "and perhaps Adam +could be spared. <i>Then</i>, if you like—"</p> + +<p>"I'm going to Newport to-morrow," Cecily broke in decidedly. "I'm going +to <i>live</i> there."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I say!" said Tom. And Old Goodwin offered to take them both over +next day in his new car, and let Tom drive. And he offered further to +ferry Cecily back and forth as often as she liked, and to lend them a +car if they wished.</p> + +<p>So everybody was happy,—excepting perhaps Tom and Cecily,—and the +Arcadia was just rounding to her anchorage, and we watched while<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> the +shining mahogany launch put off. But, before coming in, the launch went +slowly along the whole length of Old Goodwin's ocean steamer. I could +see Captain Fergus looking at the work as though he were inspecting it, +and once he boomed forth a question, which was answered as if he had a +right to ask it, and then the launch made for the landing.</p> + +<p>I wondered at it, but I wondered more at Eve. For Eve has pacifist +leanings, as I have reason to know and as I have said before; and here +she was with all the signs of approval for Tom's action, and ready to +kiss him for it. It might be that Eve was entirely willing that the war +should be fought vicariously, and that she would sacrifice all her +friends in the cause—but not her family. That<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> was not like Eve. I +refused to believe it of her. And I turned away and was musing upon this +matter when there came down the path Captain Fergus and Mrs. Fergus, and +Jimmy Wales and Bobby and Ogilvie; and, some distance behind them, +Elizabeth and Olivia. And that was strange, too, that those two girls +should be coming by themselves when Bobby and Jack Ogilvie were just +ahead; but I could not be bothering myself about all the queer things +that people did—or did not do. They did not concern me. There were +enough things that did concern me to bother about.</p> + +<p>All the company were there. I drew near to Eve.</p> + +<p>"If Alice Carbonnel were here now," I said, "and Harrison, we should be +complete."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p><p>"Alice!" Eve returned. "I wish that I knew!"</p> + +<p>Alice Carbonnel was in Belgium, the last we knew, and Harrison Rindge, +her husband, was hunting for her. I hope he has found her—safe. We are +very fond of Alice Carbonnel, Eve and I.</p> + +<p>"There is somebody else to come, Adam," said Eve. "You would never +guess. It is my mother."</p> + +<p>I smiled, remembering another day when I had met Eve just at that spot +to take her to another clambake; a smoking dome upon a point, beneath a +pine.</p> + +<p>The point and the pine belonged to a queer fellow that I knew—knew +well, I thought sometimes, and sometimes not.</p> + +<p>And so I smiled, remembering.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> "Eve," I said, "do governesses have +mothers?"</p> + +<p>And she smiled too, and she slipped her hand within my arm, and looked +up at me with that light in her eyes that makes them pass all wonders.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Adam," she said, "that was a happy day—for me. Oh, but it was +hard, and I was afraid."</p> + +<p>"A happier day for me," I said, pressing her arm close to my side. "But +here comes your mother."</p> + +<p>And Mrs. Goodwin came sailing down the path, with our little daughter +skipping beside her, and she smiled as she came, which was not what she +had been used to do in that time that I remembered. And our company +being all assembled, and the beds being uncovered, although the tide was +not yet at its lowest, I gave the order<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> to dig. So we dug, even Mrs. +Goodwin digging three clams, and she was not clad as a clammer should be +clad, but she had some rubber boots, new ones and thin as gossamer, +which a clamshell cut through. And thereafter she sat upon the bank and +cheered us on, and gibed at our raiment; as if the body were not more +than raiment.</p> + +<p>We dug for an hour, and got clams enough for a regiment. All the baskets +were filled to overflowing. And we stopped digging, one by one, and +straightened our backs slowly, with many creaks and groans, and we +drifted to the bank and in and out; and when the drifting process was +over, I found myself next to Eve, with Elizabeth on the other side of +her, and Ogilvie completing the circle. Bobby stood afar off, looking +out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> over the water as if he were seeing his best friend swallowed by a +submarine; and Olivia watched him from a distance.</p> + +<p>"I notice, Jack," Elizabeth observed, "that Olivia has a lonesome look."</p> + +<p>Ogilvie turned and looked, and turned back again and smiled.</p> + +<p>"She has, hasn't she? Bobby too."</p> + +<p>Elizabeth never quivered. "Don't you want to relieve her loneliness?"</p> + +<p>He shook his head. "<i>I</i> couldn't relieve it. I told you. I'll try +later—her last chance."</p> + +<p>Elizabeth laughed. I was picking up a bushel basket filled with clams. +Clams are a heavy fruit. Ogilvie seized one handle.</p> + +<p>"Here!" cried Elizabeth. "I'm going to take that side. I want to help<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> +Adam. You go with Eve, Jack. She has something for you to carry."</p> + +<p>Ogilvie protested, and so did I, but she was firm.</p> + +<p>"I want to go with you, Adam. You needn't think I can't carry my side, +for I can."</p> + +<p>So we set off, Eve and Jack Ogilvie with a market basket of clams and +various hoes, and Elizabeth and I carrying that bushel of clams between +us. Elizabeth was strong, I found, and sure-footed; surer than I. The +others came straggling after, carrying their loads.</p> + +<p>"Elizabeth," I began, "what is the matter with Bobby?"</p> + +<p>She smiled and turned to observe Bobby. "I'm sure I don't know. He seems +to be well occupied with Olivia." Then she changed suddenly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> "That was +not honest, Adam," she said. "I do know, but it is nothing that I can +help. He will get over it in time—perhaps. I wish he would, for it is +not amusing as it is."</p> + +<p>And she sighed softly, and then she smiled up at me. It was a brave +attempt, and almost a success.</p> + +<p>"And Ogilvie?" I asked softly.</p> + +<p>She laughed, and spoke low. "Jack has found a little yeogirl. He was +telling me about her. She is the loveliest thing that ever was, and the +sweetest and the gentlest. She may be all that, of course, but there are +some lovely, sweet, and gentle girls of his own kind. But, at any rate, +Olivia is nothing to him now. It has done him that much good already."</p> + +<p>I was silent, thinking. I wondered how I should like it if Pukkie, +being<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> of age and his own master, should elect a yeogirl to the high +place in his regard now held by his mother and me; should elect the +yeogirl to a higher place. It would be a blow. I could not deny it. But +we had been ascending the steep path, and we set our bushel of clams +beside the hole lined with stones and the slippery pile of brown +rockweed. I sighed as we set the basket down, and so did Elizabeth. Then +we both laughed.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad that's done," said Elizabeth.</p> + +<p>"Amen!" said I.</p> + +<p>Then came Tom Ellis and Cecily, and set their basket down; and Tom, +without stopping, went to my pile of cordwood, and brought an armful and +laid the sticks in order on the stones.</p> + +<p>"Come, Adam," he said, soberly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> "Remember, it's my last clambake for +four years."</p> + +<p>"Don't say it, Tom!" cried Cecily sharply. "I'll help you with your +wood."</p> + +<p>So there was a procession of us going to the woodpile and back, and the +sticks were laid in order, three layers, on the stones; then another +layer of great stones, each stone as big as a football, on the top of +the wood. Then I came with a can of kerosene, and sprinkled the wood +liberally. Eve had some matches, and she held one out to Ogilvie.</p> + +<p>"Light up, Ogilvie," said Tom. "It's your honor."</p> + +<p>And Ogilvie lighted the pile, and Tom made some feeble joke about a +funeral pyre, and Cecily almost wept; and the fire blazed up fiercely, +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> we all drew back. It was hot enough without the fire, and would +have been almost unbearable but for the southwest breeze which had +started up, and which was sweeping gently, over my bluff. And we watched +the fire, as anyone will watch any fire—there is fascination in it—but +they began to drift away—to get off their rubber boots and to prepare +themselves. No doubt they would have fasted if there had been time. And +at last there were left only Old Goodwin and Tom and Ogilvie and I. Eve +had gone into the house to fetch the things, and Cecily and Elizabeth +with her.</p> + +<p>When the fire had burned long and the stones were hot, we raked the +ashes off; and shook down upon the stones fresh seaweed from the pile,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> +and on the seaweed laid the clams. Then more seaweed; and the other +things, in layers, orderly, with the clean, salt-smelling weed between; +then the loose stones, hot stone footballs, and over all we piled the +weed and made a dome that smoked and steamed and filled the air with +incense. And the others, having rested from their labors, leaning on +their forks or sitting on the ground, went their several ways; for they +would garb themselves.</p> + +<p>Eve did not place her guests. She considered, a pretty thoughtfulness in +her eyes and about her mouth, and cast her place-cards in a little heap +on the table, saying that they might place themselves; for she did not +know what was going on, and feared to make a bad matter worse.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p><p>They did place themselves, after much hesitation and drifting about. +Elizabeth sat next to me. She seemed to think me a kind of refuge. And +Ogilvie sat at Eve's right,—she saw to that,—and Olivia next because +she could not help it, and then Bobby. Where the rest sat did not +matter. And Old Goodwin and Tom and I took our forks and opened the +smoking dome, and set upon the table chicken and fish and lobsters and +brown bread, and great pans of clams steaming in their gaping shells. +Then all would have set themselves to the business of eating; but I had +my instructions. I took an old dust-encrusted bottle from Eve's place, +and opened it, and went about and poured into the glasses luminous +golden stuff from that old bottle.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> Then Eve rose, and proposed +Ogilvie's health. And we all drank it, but Ogilvie flushed and did not +know what to do.</p> + +<p>"Oh," he said to Eve, "I never had that done to me before."</p> + +<p>And we all laughed, and fell to eating. We opened the clams with our +fingers, and took the clam by the head, and gave him a swirl in the +saucer of melted butter, and threw our heads back, and took his body +into our mouths, and bit him off and cast the head aside, and took the +next one. All there had had much experience in the process, and the +clams that had seemed enough for a regiment were soon eaten, and there +was a prodigious pile of shells under the table so that one could not +move his feet without rattling. And the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>lobsters were gone, and the +chickens, and most of the fish, and much of the brown bread. And first +one sat back with a sigh, and smiled, and then another; and at last all +were sitting, smiling at nothing and doing nothing else—all but Bobby +and Olivia. Bobby, it is true, had a smile graven upon his face, but it +was a smile of the face and not of the heart; and Olivia seemed out of +sorts and did not take the trouble to smile at all. And the bake was but +an empty wreck. Then Eve rose quietly, and they all got themselves +slowly upon their feet, and began to drift about the bluff.</p> + +<p>My place is not very big, only the clipped lawn in front of the house, +and about an acre on the south side ending in the bluff, and a couple +of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> acres to the north, where lies my garden and the rest a hayfield. I +should have ploughed up that hayfield and put it into potatoes if I +could have found anybody to do the ploughing. But it is just as well as +a hayfield. Everybody has been planting potatoes this year. I almost +expect to see the gutters sprouting potatoes as I ride along with Old +Goodwin in his car. Potatoes will be cheap next winter. And if I had +ploughed up that field it would have been even less inviting for our +guests to wander over.</p> + +<p>Not that any of them showed any disposition to wander over it. The older +ones seemed well content to settle down again under my pine, Bobby was +mooning alone at the edge of the bluff, Elizabeth was standing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> talking +with Jimmy Wales, and Jack Ogilvie was trying to persuade Olivia to walk +to a little clump of trees. I had seen Eve showing him the clump of +trees earlier in the day. At last they did walk off toward the trees, +Olivia obviously discontented and watching Bobby out of the corner of +her eye.</p> + +<p>I drifted toward Eve, and she drifted toward me, and we came together, +which might be reprehensible but was not strange. We generally do come +together. She was clad all in light, filmy white, with two red roses at +her bosom, and her hair a glory. And her eyes—there are no other such +eyes as hers.</p> + +<p>"Eve," I whispered, "do you want to be disgraced? How can you expect +anything else when you dress as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> you did for that other clambake that I +remember, and your eyes smiling, and that light upon your hair?"</p> + +<p>It was more than her eyes that smiled as she looked at me.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she whispered in return. "I want to be. Shan't I show you our +clump of trees?" She laughed as she finished.</p> + +<p>I hesitated. "But Ogilvie—and Olivia."</p> + +<p>"Stupid!" she said. "I did not show him every nook. Come!"</p> + +<p>So we wandered about, but we brought up at a secluded nook in our clump, +and Eve held up her face to mine. But when I had done it she put her +finger on my lips and listened.</p> + +<p>"Sh!" she breathed. And I sh-sh-ed, and heard Ogilvie's voice, but I +could not distinguish any words.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> Then came Olivia's voice, shrill and +petulant.</p> + +<p>"They are not having a good time," Eve whispered.</p> + +<p>"He is," I answered; for Ogilvie laughed. It was a merry laugh.</p> + +<p>"We don't want to snoop, Adam," said Eve. "Let's—"</p> + +<p>"Shall we join the others?" Ogilvie asked, still laughing.</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i> may if you like," said Olivia in a voice filled with discontent.</p> + +<p>"And leave you here?"</p> + +<p>"And leave me here. I'll take care of myself."</p> + +<p>"Very well. Good-bye, Olivia. I may not see you again."</p> + +<p>"Not see me again? You mean to-day?" Was she regretting?</p> + +<p>"I mean for a great many days. Perhaps never."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p><p>"Are you going away?"</p> + +<p>"I can't tell you. I go where I am sent. Good-bye."</p> + +<p>There was a silence. Then, as we stole out, the sound of a single sob. +Then sounds of anger. As we emerged from one side Olivia emerged from +the other. She made straight for Bobby, where he yet stood on the edge +of the bluff, looking silently over the water.</p> + +<p>A maid came running out of the house, and went to Jimmy Wales, and +called him to the telephone. In two minutes he came hurrying out again.</p> + +<p>"Bobby!" he called. "Jack! Come along. It's a hurry call for the +Nantucket lightship. We'll go with you, Jack. Just as you are."</p> + +<p>He whispered to me as he passed. "Submarines reported off the Nantucket +lightship," he said. "All the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> available destroyers and chasers ordered +there."</p> + +<p>Elizabeth was standing near, and she heard. Jack and Bobby and Jimmy +started on a run.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, Jack," Elizabeth called in a clear voice.</p> + +<p>He turned and waved.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, Bobby," she called again, but her voice was not so loud.</p> + +<p>He turned. "Good-bye," he said. It was like casting at her head a chunk +of ice. Ice would not be the most disagreeable thing on that day, but +one would prefer it in some other way than thrown at his head. Elizabeth +seemed to think so, for she shrugged her shoulders almost imperceptibly, +and I saw tears in her eyes as she turned away.</p> + +<p>Captain Fergus hurried after the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> others, and our other guests melted +away. I found myself standing at the edge of the bluff, just where Bobby +had been standing, and I gazed out over the waters of the bay—as if I +could see the Nantucket lightship! Ogilvie's boat shot out at full +speed, and I watched her until she was a gray speck vanishing into the +grayness. Gazing out and seeing nothing, and thinking of submarines! It +was absurd. They are not, and yet they haunt me. And I looked down at +the little strip of marsh at the foot of my bluff, its waving greens +turned to orange under the afternoon sun. A blackbird was flying over +those green stems waving in the water. The tide was full, and the Great +Painter spread his colors on the little waves. It breathed peace, and +here was I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> thinking of submarines. I cannot get rid of them. What if +one of these reports turn out to be true? Why, anything might be +happening out by the lightship.</p> + +<p>And I saw the red shoulders of the blackbird as he flew. He lighted on a +reed stem, which swayed down nearly to the surface of the water; and so +swaying up and down, he sent out his clear whistle again and again. He +is not troubled by the thought of submarines. His heart is not in +turmoil over them.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>VII</span></h2> + +<p>Over my hayfield, that morning toward the last of June, a pleasant +breeze was blowing, and from the southwest, as is the habit of breezes +hereabout. A man clad in white flannels, and wandering slowly about, +would have found that hayfield cool enough and pleasant, I have no +doubt. I found it pleasant, but not cool, for I was mowing. For weeks I +sought some one—any one—who would cut my grass, and cut it in June, +for I have a prejudice in favor of June for cutting hay. In the last +week of June the grass is in full flower—tiny blossoms of a pale violet +color—and the stems are swollen with the juices, and rich and tender. +I, in my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> ignorance, believe that it makes more succulent hay than if +cut in July, when the stalks have begun to dry up and become thin and +wiry. Besides, if it is cut in June it is out of the way, and I can use +my hayfield for a ball-field if I am so minded.</p> + +<p>I am no mower, and I have not known what a scythe should be. I was dimly +aware that my old scythe was not everything that could be desired, for I +remember that when I took it to be ground the man applied it lightly to +his stone, then harder, then cursed and bore on with all his might, and +cursed again and sweated for half an hour, and charged me ten cents, +holding the scythe out to me as if he never wanted to see it again. He +observed that it was the hardest scythe he ever see; and I smiled and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> +thanked him, and thought no more of the matter, and walked off with my +scythe. And I struggled with that scythe for ten years, never being able +to keep it sharp, and spending much more time with the whetstone than I +did in mowing, but I did but little mowing, only trimming around here +and there. I never <i>got</i> the scythe sharp. I know that now, but I did +not know it then, attributing the fault to my own lack of skill.</p> + +<p>I got a new scythe the other day, being unwilling to whet through two +acres. I can get it as sharp as a razor in half a dozen strokes of the +stone. When I tried it the other afternoon, just before dinner, I found +myself laughing, and I should have gone at the hayfield then if Eve had +not stopped me. Now I go about with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> my scythe in my hand, and hunt for +clumps of grass tall enough to cut, for the hayfield is shorn close and +tolerably smooth, and the grass lies in the sun and gives off all manner +of sweet odors.</p> + +<p>The mowing of that hayfield with that new scythe was simply a joy—a +delight. I swung to and fro with the rhythmic motion of rowing—mowing +is not unlike rowing, and one swings about thirty or more to the +minute—with my eyes on the ground, and I listened to the sounds: a soft +ripping with a little metallic <i>ting</i> as the scythe advanced, and a +gentle <i>swish</i> as it swung back again. Yes, mowing is a delight—with a +good scythe; but it is a hot sort of amusement. If I could regulate +matters mowing time should fall in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>November. All mowing should be done +by hand, and mowing should be compulsory for all able-bodied men. They +would be the better for it.</p> + +<p>I stood for a few minutes, leaning on my scythe and letting the breeze +blow through me and gazing down the bay. Then I went at my mowing again +and the scythe sang a new song. It was <i>sub—marine; sub—marine</i>, over +and over. And I kept at my mowing mechanically while I thought my +thoughts. There had been no reports of submarines since the day of Eve's +party, and nothing further said of the report of that day. Even Bobby +would say no more than that they did not find any; and when I would have +rallied him, remarking that I feared he had not baited his traps +properly, he glowered at me,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> which hurt my feelings. It was not like +Bobby to glower. But Bobby seemed tormented by that restlessness which +seizes on men in a certain case. I did not laugh at him, for I feared +lest he take it but ill, but I did counsel him to take to clamming; at +which he gave me a smile that would have brought tears to Eve's eyes. He +has not yet found that fount of eternal youth, and whether he will find +it or not no one can guess. I hope he will, and that joy and peace will +be in his abiding place forever. And the one who should show him the +fount is not far to seek, as he well knows; but, as I think, and Eve +too, he is stubborn and cherishes some fancied grievance, hugging it to +his heart. The poor fool!</p> + +<p>Then I stopped mowing, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> straightened my back, and rested. And, on a +sudden, that talking machine of my neighbor began pouring forth a +strident voice, and I looked and there was the little Sands girl +watching me over the wall. She no longer throws things. But I was not +giving an exhibition of mowing, and I nodded to her, and went back to my +garden. Melons are a lottery; but I looked at my peas—my second look +that morning—to make sure that they will be ready for the Fourth, and I +took a turn about the garden. And all the while I listened, much against +my will, to that strident voice. And when it had finished that +particular humorous selection, I fled, my scythe on my arm, for fear +that I should have some sort of secret liking for the next selection; +and I came to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> my pine, and I sat me down on the seat, and again my gaze +ran across the waters of the harbor, well ruffled by the breeze and +dancing in the sun, to the shore opposite; and down that curving line of +shore to the lighthouse on its rock; and over the blue-gray water +beyond, that was lightly veiled in haze, to the islands floating high. +And on the water between the lighthouse and the islands I saw the +Arcadia. She was coming fast, with all her light canvas set, a thing of +beauty. It would be a fast submarine I thought, that could damage +her—in any sort of breeze. Then I thought idly of Captain Fergus, and +of Elizabeth and Olivia, and Bobby and Ogilvie, and of Eve and Pukkie. +That is the goal—Eve and Pukkie and Tidda—little Eve.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p><p>Elizabeth has been our guest for the past two weeks when she has not +been on the Arcadia. She puzzles me yet. What is she doing here so +long—a poor girl, seeming to be loafing out the summer? She should be +conducting her classes in swimming. It is likely enough that the same +question has been a puzzle to Bobby; but he takes it harder than I. I am +content to let the question go unanswered and have her stay with us. She +is a good comrade, and a comfort to Eve, and she is fond of Tidda, and +Pukkie is her willing slave. For Pukkie is at home again.</p> + +<p>He came on the twelfth. I remember that we had had a hard rain for two +days before, and that all the ploughed land was no better than a bog, +and all the fields were covered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> with water under their cover of grass, +so that the water was running out through the crevices of the stone +walls, through each crevice a rivulet. But not my field, and my garden +was no bog. And I waited, sitting just where I was at that moment and +gazing idly at the same things that were there before my eyes. I could +not work in peace, nor sit in peace for many minutes at a time, but I +spent the morning going like a shuttle from garden to pine and wandering +the shore, then back again.</p> + +<p>Eve had gone with Old Goodwin in his fastest car to bring him +back—"him" being Pukkie, my son. But as the time approached for his +arrival I sat upon the bench and simulated peace and content, and gave +no outward sign of other; but every muscle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> was tense, and every nerve +on edge; I listened so hard that it hurt, and I wished devoutly that Old +Goodwin's car was not so perfect and so silent, and I resolutely kept my +gaze fixed upon the distant hills, and did not see them.</p> + +<p>At last I heard the latch of the gate click faintly, as though somebody +had tried to lift it without noise, and I heard an excited chuckle, +instantly subdued. And I turned quickly, forgetting that I had resolved +not to turn, and there was Pukkie running toward me. And I whipped up +and ran, and I sank upon one knee and held my arms wide. And Pukkie ran +into them at full speed, almost knocking me over, and he threw his arms +around my neck, and he hugged me. He hugged me so tight that I was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> +nearly strangled; but not quite—not so nearly but that I could hug him +close and whisper in his ear.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Pukkie!" I whispered. "My dear little son! My well beloved!"</p> + +<p>For answer he but hugged me the harder, and gave an excited little laugh +that was near to tears. That was enough for me. Indeed, I was not so far +from tears. I looked up at Eve, who had followed close, and tears stood +in her eyes, but she was smiling. Oh, such a smile! A smile that belongs +to wives and mothers—of a certain kind. And, seeing her, I gave thanks. +But that is nothing new that I give thanks for that, for I have done the +same many times a day for many years.</p> + +<p>Then Old Goodwin came up behind Eve.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p><p>"If you and Pukkie can spare the time," he said to me, "I should be +glad to have you ride home with me—you and Eve. I have something to +show you."</p> + +<p>Pukkie went somewhat eagerly, and Eve and I, having devoted ourselves to +following our son about, went after, not so eagerly. And Old Goodwin +took us down to his boathouse, which is at the head of his stone pier +and gives upon his artificial harbor, and out of the car and into the +boathouse.</p> + +<p>"Grandfather," said Pukkie, trying in vain to keep all signs of +excitement out of his voice, "is it my dory that we're going to see? Is +it?"</p> + +<p>Old Goodwin smiled to himself. "Well, no, Pukkie. It isn't your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> dory. I +didn't manage that. But it's something of that nature."</p> + +<p>"Oh," said Pukkie in low tones of disappointment, "I didn't know but—" +Old Goodwin had opened the door at the other side. "Oh! What's that?"</p> + +<p>Made fast to the stage there lay a perfect little sloop about twenty +feet long which seemed to be an exact reproduction in miniature of a +large boat. Every sail was there which the large boats carried, every +rope and block and stay, although they had drawn the line at a separate +topmast. I realized at a glance that there were too many ropes and +blocks and stays for her size. It would take more of a crew to handle +her easily than she could carry.</p> + +<p>But Pukkie realized nothing of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> kind. He ran toward her, and stood +beside her, touching with a fearful hand her smooth deck, and the pretty +blocks and cleats of shining brass, and smiling.</p> + +<p>There was even a gangway ladder, and her gunwale not much more than a +foot above the water.</p> + +<p>Pukkie turned his shining face to me.</p> + +<p>"Oh, daddy," he cried, "look at her dear little jibs. Aren't they +cunning?"</p> + +<p>They were cunning and tiny.</p> + +<p>Old Goodwin, simple-hearted gentleman that he was, was as pleased as +Pukkie. He seemed delighted.</p> + +<p>"There are other sails," he said, smiling and eager. "In the sail locker +you will find a gafftopsail and a jibtopsail and a flying jib.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> We +couldn't very well manage any more," he added to me.</p> + +<p>"They are quite enough," I returned, "for her size—and for her crew to +manage."</p> + +<p>"She is rather deep for her length," Old Goodwin went on. "A boy can +stand straight in her cabin, and a man very nearly. Go aboard, Puk, and +see. Go down into the cabin."</p> + +<p>So Pukkie, excited and solemn, went aboard, stepping carefully, and +opened the cabin doors, and disappeared. We followed him on deck and +looked down. There was a little table in the middle which would fold up +out of the way, and there were two small transoms with little netted +hammocks for the sleeper's clothes, like a sleeping-car. And there was a +silver pitcher for ice water, and racks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> for glasses and dishes, and +shelves with brass rails around them, and lockers tucked away in every +corner, and a door at the forward end which should have led to the +galley. Old Goodwin saw my look of incredulity, and he smiled.</p> + +<p>"There is a galley," he said, "although a very small one. But I think a +boy could manage it. About the size of a cupboard." Old Goodwin pushed +the slide farther back. "We had to put this slide on her," he said +apologetically, "or there couldn't have been a cabin of any use to +anybody. I was sorry."</p> + +<p>I was not sorry. It would help to keep the seas off. But Pukkie took one +last look around, drew one long, quivering breath, and came up.</p> + +<p>"Oh, see!" he cried.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p><p>I turned and looked where he was pointing. There was the little wheel, +which we had seen before; and there too was a tiny binnacle with its +compass, cunningly contrived to take no room, set just forward of the +wheel.</p> + +<p>"Do you like it, Pukkie?" Old Goodwin asked somewhat wistfully. "Do you +think that you'll like her as well as you would have liked a dory?"</p> + +<p>"Like her!" cried Pukkie. "Like her! Oh, grandfather!"</p> + +<p>And he leaped at his grandfather, and seized him about the neck, and hid +his face; and Old Goodwin patted Pukkie's shoulder, somewhat awkwardly, +and smiled at Eve and me. I wonder what is the market value of the time +that Old Goodwin wastes upon his grandson.</p> + +<p>Then Pukkie would go sailing at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> once. It did not matter that it was +time for luncheon, although my clock that I carry beneath my belt told +me that it was. He was not hungry. It did not occur to him to wonder +about me, or he would have offered to get me a luncheon in his galley. +So we set forth to sail the raging main; a little sail of half an hour, +with Eve and Old Goodwin to see us off.</p> + +<p>So we set all the little sails, but we did not get out from the sail +locker that gafftopsail and the jibtopsail and that wonderful flying +jib. The wind was moderately strong. And we glided out from Old +Goodwin's harbor with me at the wheel, and Pukkie sitting beside me with +shining face. The little boat was handy, and she went about her business +with no fuss, and the water began to hiss<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> past under her rail. And I +sat the straighter. Truly, what is luncheon?</p> + +<p>We passed some fishermen going out—the same way that we were going, and +we passed them as if they were at anchor; and they gazed in amazement +and I saw them pointing. I headed for a lighter that I saw dimly through +the light haze—she was anchored by a wreck, as I chanced to know—and I +gave up the wheel to Pukkie.</p> + +<p>He had never steered with a wheel, but I undertook to teach +him—although the art of steering, whether with a wheel or with a +tiller, cannot be taught. One learns to steer by feeling. And Pukkie was +alert and anxious to learn. I told him to keep the boat headed for the +lighter, at which he looked at me in surprise,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> and suggested that it +might be too far to get back in half an hour. It was; but I did not tell +him so.</p> + +<p>Thereafter, for some time, the boat cut some astonishing capers, which +must have set those fishermen to wondering. We passed the fish traps, +with men in rowboats busy with taking in the catch; and we passed +innumerable terns, or, rather, they passed us, and they were fishing and +sending forth their harsh metallic cry; and we saw a pair of fishhawks, +and they too were fishing. All fishing. Truly, the business of the +waters is catching fish. And Pukkie was getting the hang of the wheel +and steering a straighter course, so that he could give some attention +to other matters.</p> + +<p>There were rocks which looked like monsters just risen from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> deep, +and with the water washing over their backs.</p> + +<p>"They look like submarines," said Pukkie. "Don't they, daddy?"</p> + +<p>I explained to him the appearance of the back of a modern submarine; but +the rocks did remind me of submarines. Everything reminds me of +submarines. And we saw, afar off upon the water, a small gray speck. And +the speck grew until it became a motor-boat, painted a dark gray. Why +they paint them a gray that is almost black is a mystery. There is no +concealment in it. This motor-boat was small, and was heading right for +us, it seemed.</p> + +<p>"Is that a chaser, daddy?" Pukkie seems to have the jargon pat. Probably +he learned it at school. "It isn't very fast, is it? It couldn't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> catch +a submarine, could it? It wouldn't be any use to chase with that." His +words held a depth of scorn. Always submarines. I cannot get away from +them. "Why don't you go out and chase them, daddy? I should think you +would like to. I would."</p> + +<p>I am thankful that he cannot. I gave him some answer that seemed to +satisfy him.</p> + +<p>"That chaser is trying to meet us," he resumed. "Whichever way I go, she +goes too."</p> + +<p>It did look so; but it was a small boat and slow. I thought that we +could beat her likely enough, if it came to a chase, but Pukkie would +not have it so. He wanted to meet her, and asked me to steer.</p> + +<p>We met in a few minutes, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> pleasant-faced ensign hailed me and +asked if I had a license or a permit or something. I knew nothing of any +permit, and I told him so, and he said that they were required, and we +had to turn about and sail back again. It was just as well, for we were +like to be over our half-hour; and we got in well ahead of the +motor-boat.</p> + +<p>Since that day I have been out with Pukkie every afternoon, for he must +be taught to sail if he has a boat. He is well used to going with me in +my dory and he swims passing well for a boy of ten. He will be eleven in +October. And Elizabeth has taken him in hand. She sails nearly as well +as she swims, and she sails with him nearly every morning; and sometimes +Eve and she go with us in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> afternoon. I feared a little at first to +take so many, for I thought it might swamp the boat; but the boat will +carry all she will hold.</p> + +<p>I had got to this point in my meditations, and I was well rested, and I +was somewhat cooler than I was; and my scythe rested against the bench +beside me, and I gazed down the bay at the Arcadia, and I wondered idly +about Captain Fergus. If Elizabeth was a mystery, he was no less. He did +not seem the sort of man to be sailing idly about in a beautiful, fast +yacht when everybody else was busy in looking for something to fight; +everybody but Old Goodwin and me, and Old Goodwin is nearly seventy. +Fergus is a fighter if ever I saw one, the very kind of man that would +stick out his jaw and damn the torpedoes.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p><p>Since Tom Ellis is gone, I have no moral support against my +conscience—if it is my conscience that makes me vaguely +uncomfortable—except the knowledge of Eve's pacifist attitude. I try +not to say anything that would give her concern, but it is hard +sometimes. It gets harder as time goes on. Gardening is well enough, but +I hate to be left alone and gardening. Gardening seems but a poor +occupation for a man when other matters are afoot, although it is +better, perhaps, than acting as chauffeur for a lot of naval officers. +But Tom seems to like it well enough, and says that he has put himself +entirely in their hands, and does whatever he is called upon to do, +without a thought for the morrow, which is, no doubt, the proper +attitude. Cecily<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> likes it too, and spends most of her time in Newport, +going to and fro in Old Goodwin's car. I went over with them one day, +and the first thing my eyes alighted upon was the Arcadia just come to +anchor, and Captain Fergus landing at the War College. Perhaps his +conscience was too much for him. Fergus is a year or two older than I +am, and—confound it!—there is some fight left in me yet. If there were +only something more than phantoms to fight! And this frantic search for +what is not!</p> + +<p>I heard the sound of a screen door slamming, and looked around the +tree-trunk, and saw Pukkie running over the grass toward me; and behind +him there came, at a somewhat more sedate pace, Eve and Elizabeth.</p> + +<p>"Daddy," Pukkie called as soon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> as he saw me, "don't you want to go +swimming? We're going. Tidda's at grandmother's."</p> + +<p>Being indulged, of course, with unlimited cookies and raisins and +anything else she took a fancy to. Grandmothers have a talent for +indulging, and Tidda has a genius for accepting indulgences.</p> + +<p>"I do, Pukkie. That is exactly what I want. I have been mowing. Is your +mother going swimming? You going in, Eve?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, she's going." And Eve smiled and nodded.</p> + +<p>So I put my scythe in the shed, and we went down the steep path, and +along the shore where the water lapped high; and past my clam beds to +the bathhouse near the stone pier. The bathhouse is Old Goodwin's, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> +any might guess, and the little beach is Old Goodwin's, and the +float-stage a little way out, with its springboard. It is good bathing +at that little beach only when high water covers the sand. Beyond the +sand are great pebbles covered with rockweed and barnacles.</p> + +<p>Eve came out hesitating, her eyes smiling and tender as she looked at +me; but a dark green cap covered her glorious hair except some wisps +which ever bother her with their straggling, and the sun shone upon the +wandering locks and framed her head in fine spun copper.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think, Adam," she asked timidly, "we might go in here? It is +a good tide—and I'm afraid I can't manage the float."</p> + +<p>Eve does not swim very well, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>although confidence is all she lacks to +make her a passable swimmer. And I was quite willing, but Elizabeth +would not hear of it, promising that she would look out for Eve; and she +had us all in the boat and rowing out before we could make our +objections heard.</p> + +<p>And no sooner were we well clear of the beach, than Elizabeth dived, and +when she came up again,—it was some distance that she was under +water—she called to Pukkie. And Pukkie, with supreme confidence in +Elizabeth, stood up on the seat and dived over the side, and swam beside +her.</p> + +<p>Eve seemed to have more confidence in Elizabeth than she had in me, +which is not strange, for I have observed that, in matters of skill or +knowledge or judgment, a woman<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> will trust the veriest stranger before +her husband, although in this matter of skill and knowledge Elizabeth +was well past me.</p> + +<p>So Eve trusted herself utterly to Elizabeth, and she made some progress +in her swimming. And we all floundered about there in the cool, clean +water until Elizabeth said that Eve was cold, and then we all drew +ourselves, dripping, on to the float, and there, but a little way off, +was the Arcadia anchored, and her sails nearly furled.</p> + +<p>As I gazed at her I thought I saw something queer about her topmast +stays—a little thing. It looked almost like aerials for wireless. I +asked Elizabeth about it.</p> + +<p>She was looking at it too, almost with satisfaction.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span></p><p>"Yes," she said, "I see. It does look as if it might be."</p> + +<p>Why should she know? And then the tender put off with Captain Fergus and +Bobby and made for the landing, going rather close to us huddled on the +float. They hailed us, Bobby very solemnly, but they did not stop.</p> + +<p>There was a light of mischief in Eve's eyes.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to have Bobby to dinner to-night," she whispered.</p> + +<p>"If he'll come," I said in her ear.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he'll come."</p> + +<p>And he did.</p> + +<p>Eve and I were standing alone together and silent and hand in hand upon +the edge of my bluff, watching while the Great Painter spread his colors +as he was wont to do. The still waters were covered with all manner<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> of +reds and purples. The grasses of the little marsh below us waved gently +above the shining mud, and now and then there broke a wave that ran in +among the grass stems in ripples of color, and left the wet mud +glistening in a coat of shimmering green, and set the grass waving anew.</p> + +<p>As we stood there looking down, Bobby came silently and stood beside us, +and breathed a long sigh, and gazed for a long time. Then he looked at +Eve and smiled.</p> + +<p>"Lovely," he said, "and peaceful. For the matter of that, it would be +hard to find a more peaceful-looking place than the lightship—in good +weather."</p> + +<p>"Then, Bobby," I said, "I take it that not many periscopes have fallen +to your bow and spear."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p><p>He shook his head. "I'm disgusted. I'm beginning to think that the +Germans have no submarines, and that all these tales are fables. Your +traps, Adam, are no good. I'd just like to get a chance to go across to +the North Sea or Ireland or the Channel. I'll tell you in strict +confidence—we have been warned not to talk about these things—a mine +sweeper went to Boston a few days ago, on the way over. Nobody knows +when she will leave Boston. I was greatly tempted to try for a place on +her. But I'll get there yet."</p> + +<p>"No doubt there would be occupation for idle hands over there. But what +has become of Ogilvie? We have not seen him since the clambake."</p> + +<p>"He's busy. He's going over<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>—to go on a chaser. Lucky chap! He had his +orders that very morning. Waiting for the chaser. But I'd be tried for +high treason if you were to tell anybody—even Miss Radnor, for +instance."</p> + +<p>I had turned about, and there was Elizabeth. She must have heard it all, +for she turned pale, and the light in her eyes went out suddenly, +leaving them cold as stones. It was a pity.</p> + +<p>She came forward slowly. "Why are you afraid of me, Mr. Leverett?"</p> + +<p>"Afraid of you?" asked Bobby in surprise. "I am not. Why should I be?" +It was a challenge. "We have been warned to be cautious."</p> + +<p>"It was not I who was incautious," said Elizabeth.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p><p>Bobby smiled, and his smile was not pleasant to see, but he spoke in a +faultless manner.</p> + +<p>"You are never incautious," he said. "Trust you for that."</p> + +<p>Then Pukkie came running, with Tidda after him, and they pitched upon +Bobby and created a diversion, which we welcomed.</p> + +<p>Our dinner was not a success, as may well be imagined. Elizabeth was +cold and silent, which was not like her. We had come to know Elizabeth +pretty well, and we liked her; and we knew Bobby very well, and we liked +him. And it is unpleasant and awkward when people whom you like and who +like each other—I knew it well enough—speak together little and look +upon one another with hostility which is but ill<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> concealed. And, dinner +over, we withdrew to our candles, but Elizabeth went up with Tidda, and +Pukkie followed her. Bobby laughed mirthlessly at that, and muttered +something. It sounded to me like "latest victim."</p> + +<p>We had a pleasant but short evening with Bobby, and he left early, +making an excuse of duty. As we turned away we encountered Elizabeth, +who murmured that she had just got the children to sleep, and said that +she was going out for a few minutes.</p> + +<p>"I was glad to hear that news of Jack," she said. "To say truth, I have +known it for a long time. Jack told me." Truly, she was not incautious. +"It will settle the yeogirl. That was a joke, he wrote me. But,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> whether +it was or not, it will settle her."</p> + +<p>"And Olivia?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Olivia is settled already. She has gone home."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>VIII</span></h2> + +<p>Indeed, a conscience is a most distressing comrade. And, albeit a +conscience is not for a fisherman,—he cannot afford it,—a clammer may +be pricked and stabbed and plagued by that he would willingly get rid +of. For I suppose it was my conscience that impelled me to buy—in +secret, for I would not have Eve know of it lest it give her anxiety—a +little card with two revolving discs and pictures of a signalman in +every position that is possible to a signalman.</p> + +<p>By diligent use of that card and much practice in the proper manner of +waving my arms I hoped to make myself duly proficient in the art of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> +signalling by the wigwag method.</p> + +<p>I found the card at a nautical instrument store in the city on the day +after our dinner; and as I looked at it somewhat doubtfully, the clerk +pulled out a little book that gave the matter more at length. I bought +them both, and I have been practising the motions for a week in secret. +And that has its difficulties too, that I do it in secret, for if I +practised in the house it was not secret, nor was it secret in my garden +or in the hayfield or on my bluff. At last I hit upon that little clump +of trees. No one could see me there.</p> + +<p>To-day being the Fourth of July, I thought it fit that I practise more +diligently than usual. So, having gathered my first peas, a generous +mess of them, I repaired to the clump<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> of trees; and having propped the +book upon a branch and hung the card upon a twig, I began. But no sooner +had I got to work at it than somebody came running out of the house, +softly calling, "Adam! Adam!" It was the voice of Eve, and she was +waving a paper, for I could hear it rustling. And I swept the book off +its branch and the card from its twig, tearing the card in my haste, and +I stepped from my hiding-place on to the bluff, so that I should seem to +be but gazing out over the water, as is my wont.</p> + +<p>I was just putting the book and the card in my pocket when Eve came upon +me, but she was so intent that she did not notice. The paper that she +had is published in the nearest city, and it is a good paper, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> better +paper than any published in Boston. It suits me even better than the +London "Times," to which I subscribe, for although the "Times" has the +war news in greater detail than we have it, it is usually three weeks +old; and news which one has read three weeks before is old enough to +have been forgotten.</p> + +<p>She held the paper up before my eyes.</p> + +<p>"See, Adam," she said. "Here is good news for the Fourth. Our transports +have beaten the submarines, great flocks of them, and have sunk some of +them, and they have arrived safely, every ship and every man."</p> + +<p>I smiled at her enthusiasm. "That should be good news. To be sure, the +submarines that were sunk carried their crews down with them to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> +drowned like rats in a trap, and we used to think that Germans were +pretty good—"</p> + +<p>"Good!" she cried. "When they have committed so many murders on the +sea!"</p> + +<p>"Well, these Germans will commit no more murders. Let me see your +paper."</p> + +<p>There it was in great staring lines of type before my eyes. I had but +just digested the headlines, and was preparing to read the solid columns +when Eve snatched it away.</p> + +<p>"I can't wait for you to read it all. I want to show it to father."</p> + +<p>There was probably nothing there that Old Goodwin did not know already. +He has a way of knowing things; but I said nothing of it. I smiled again +at Eve, and let her go.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span></p><p>"Adam," she said anxiously, turning back, "<i>you</i> wouldn't commit +murders on the sea, would you? <i>You</i> couldn't persuade yourself that it +was right?"</p> + +<p>"Well," I answered gravely, "I have none in contemplation, but I have +not given the matter much consideration. If I were sailing the high +seas, and were to meet—also sailing the raging main—Sands and his +talking machine, I might—"</p> + +<p>Eve laughed. "Yes, you might." And she came back and kissed me. "You're +no sort of a murderer."</p> + +<p>"You don't know, Eve," I protested, "what sort of a murderer I might be. +I would not boast, and I speak in all modesty, but I try to do as well +as I can whatever I set my hand to. I venture to say<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> that I should do +my murdering thoroughly."</p> + +<p>She laughed again, merrily, and again she kissed me.</p> + +<p>"The murdering that you will do will not amount to that." And she +snapped her fingers. "Jack Ogilvie is like to do more of it,—if you +call that murder." She sighed and turned away. "Now I will go."</p> + +<p>And she was gone down the steep path and along the shore, stopping now +and then to wave at me. It hurt me somewhat not to go with her, but I +must be at my signalling.</p> + +<p>So, as soon as Eve was out of sight in the greenery, I began again, +standing on the bluff where I was, an imprudent thing to do. I laid my +book and my card upon the ground, and began to wave my arms gently,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> +stooping now and then to the book to be sure that I had it right, and +saying the names of the letters to myself as I waved. For each letter +has a name in the signal book. And as I waved, I thought upon Eve's sigh +that she had sighed as she turned away, and it seemed almost as if she +were sorry that I was not as Ogilvie; but that could not be that she +would have me go, for had she not said other? And, without knowing what +I was doing, I proclaimed it to the world. "Eve would have me murder," +was the sentence I was signalling. "Eve would have me murder on the sea +even as Ogilvie." I was even shouting the names of the letters by this. +And I looked and there was a big gray motor-boat just without the +harbor, and Ogilvie himself standing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> up on her deck and watching +me—and wondering, I had no doubt.</p> + +<p>The motor-boat came on swiftly, and Ogilvie watched me as if he thought +I had gone daft, while I, out of bravado I fear, signalled again that +message about Eve, no better than a lie. And directly opposite my bluff +the motor-boat came to a stop, and Ogilvie began to wave his arms, so +that any that saw might well think there were two madmen in the harbor. +And to my delight, I could read it, and read it easily. It was a brief +message, it is true. "What!" said Ogilvie with his waving arms. +"Repeat."</p> + +<p>I did not repeat, but I sent him another message. "Come up here and I +will explain. I am practising. Give me some more."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p><p>So he gave me more, and I could read it, although his messages were not +simple. It filled my soul with an unreasonable joy, as a boy's when he +finds that he has mastered at school some task which he thought that he +had not. And we waved our arms at each other, two gone clean crazy, for +a long time, and Ogilvie smiled more and more, until at last he laughed.</p> + +<p>"Well done," he signalled. "I will be there in half an hour."</p> + +<p>And the motor-boat started again, and I turned, smiling, well pleased +with myself, and there sat Eve on the bench under the pine, and she was +laughing.</p> + +<p>"Adam," she said, "come here and sit beside me, and explain. Oh, bring +your book." For in my awkwardness I was leaving it there on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> the grass. +"I saw it. I have been watching you."</p> + +<p>And I turned meekly as that same boy at school caught in some mischief, +and I went and sat beside her, but I did not explain.</p> + +<p>"Where is Elizabeth?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Elizabeth," she said, "has gone sailing with Pukkie. You might have +known it. Now, what were you doing, and why were you doing it?"</p> + +<p>I have found the truth to serve me best, and I would not tell Eve other +than the truth in any littlest thing. So I told her all, and showed her +the matter all set forth in the book. And she was interested and +pleased, and would learn wigwagging herself.</p> + +<p>"You must teach me, Adam," she said, "and we will do it together."</p> + +<p>And that pleased me mightily,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> that we do it together. And she clasped +my arm in both her hands, and bent forward and looked up into my face. +And in her eyes as she looked was even greater tenderness than was wont +to be, and that was a marvel; and there was a great joy too.</p> + +<p>"Tell me, Adam," she said softly. "Why did you do it? What set you at +it?"</p> + +<p>"The nature that God gave me," I said, "or conscience, which is the same +thing. I do not know. It—it is hard, Eve, to be forty-three when one +would be twenty-three—for a reason. As for the signalling," I added, +"that is nothing much, save that we be learning it together."</p> + +<p>"I know," she said. "A symptom."</p> + +<p>I did not know what she meant, whether my conscience or the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>signalling. +But still she was looking up at me with joy in her eyes, and happiness; +and she gave a little soft cry and a little happy laugh, and she +squeezed my arm between her hands.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Adam, Adam!" she cried low. "I love you—you don't know how much. +And I don't wish that <i>I</i> was twenty-three. Do you know why?"</p> + +<p>I could not guess.</p> + +<p>"At twenty-three I was not married," said Eve. "I did not even know +you."</p> + +<p>What I did then any may guess. No doubt it was imprudent too. And we +were once more sitting decorous, and about Eve's lips and in her eyes +was that smile of joy and happiness.</p> + +<p>"You will see, Adam," she said. "It will all come right."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p><p>"What will come right?" asked a voice. "Is anything wrong?"</p> + +<p>And we turned, and there was Jack Ogilvie.</p> + +<p>"I do not know what Eve meant," I answered him, "unless she referred to +my signalling. No doubt that is wrong enough."</p> + +<p>He shook his head. "Nothing wrong about that. You do it very well."</p> + +<p>Then I asked him for the latest news from the seat of war.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "we are forbidden to tell the news, although there +isn't any. But if you were to go to Newport you would see a big British +cruiser lying there. And if you had your glass with you you could read +her name." He gave her name, but I have forgotten it. "It is supposed to +be a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> secret, and has not been in the papers, but everybody at Newport +knows it. They can't help it. The officers go about very swagger and +very stiff, carrying little canes. You may see me carrying a little cane +one of these days, but I have not yet arrived at that dignity—or folly, +whichever you call it."</p> + +<p>I smiled. "Did you never carry a little cane in college?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, sometimes, for the sake of doing it, because I had a right to. But +this is real."</p> + +<p>"When you come back from England, or France, or wherever you are going, +perhaps you will carry a cane." He seemed startled, but only for a +moment.</p> + +<p>"What makes you think I am going over?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span></p><p>"Bobby told us—in confidence. When?"</p> + +<p>He seemed relieved. "If Bobby told you that lets me out. I was afraid I +might have dropped it somehow. I don't know when, but soon, I think."</p> + +<p>"Jack," said Eve suddenly—it was the first time I had heard her call +Ogilvie Jack—"Jack, we will have a clambake for a farewell. I hope they +will give you some days' notice of your going."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," he returned, smiling. "It is more likely to be hours' +notice. But I will come to your clambake if I can."</p> + +<p>"And can you bring," Eve asked, "your yeogirl? I invite her, and ask you +to deliver the invitation."</p> + +<p>He laughed suddenly. "My yeogirl—did you hear she was a joke?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> She is a +real girl, but I don't know her, and I couldn't bring her over here,—or +anywhere. No, I'm afraid you will have to get somebody else to deliver +the invitation. How would Mr. Wales do?—or Bobby?"</p> + +<p>"Jimmy has a wife, my cousin."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know. But Bobby—he hasn't any."</p> + +<p>"Poor Bobby would be in greater trouble than ever. Besides, he wouldn't +do it. Bobby has developed a nasty temper lately. I wanted the yeogirl +for you, and if you don't want her—I am sorry Olivia has gone."</p> + +<p>"Olivia would never do for me," he said, shaking his head. "I guess I +shall have to devote myself to the clams—or to Elizabeth."</p> + +<p>"You might do worse, young man," I said severely.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p><p>"I might," he assented. "In fact I have done worse."</p> + +<p>I did not know whether he referred to the clams or to Elizabeth; but it +was true in either case. And he said nothing more, and thereupon a +silence fell, which is no misfortune and no embarrassment when the +people are suited to it. I had been seeing Pukkie's yacht for some time, +and she had just disappeared behind Old Goodwin's pier. And she had +three people in her, when I supposed she carried only Elizabeth and +Pukkie. I mentioned it to Eve, who was as much surprised as I; and we +watched the pier and the shore.</p> + +<p>And presently we saw coming along the shore, where the little waves were +breaking, three figures. The figures were those of Elizabeth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> and +Pukkie—of those two I was certain—and the third looked like Bobby. I +had to look several times before I was sure of him. He was walking +beside Elizabeth, and his attitude betokened a strange mixture of +devotion and distaste. As I looked again I saw that Elizabeth and Pukkie +had been recently wet—very wet—and they were not yet dry. Bobby was +not wet. The inference was obvious: Elizabeth and Pukkie had been +overboard, and Bobby had not. But where had Bobby come from? Eve and I +hurried down the steep path, and met them at its foot.</p> + +<p>Elizabeth raised her eyes to me, and I saw two deep pools under a summer +sun, and all manner of colors played over them, concealing the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> depths. +Then for an instant the lights were quenched that concealed the depths, +and her eyes became as two dark wells with yet a sort of light +illumining the darkness, and there I saw content, but not +satisfaction—if those two can be reconciled. It was for but an instant, +and then the lights came back, and her eyes danced, and she laughed at +me.</p> + +<p>"Are you wondering," she asked, "what has happened to us, and what Bobby +Leverett is doing here?"</p> + +<p>"It is easy to guess," I answered, "that you and Pukkie have been +overboard, although why you should go in swimming in all your clothes is +another matter. But I must confess to some wonder about that matter +standing fidgeting there." And I pointed an accusing finger at Bobby.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span></p><p>Bobby was ill at ease, and struggling between the constraint that was +upon him and a wish to tell his tale.</p> + +<p>"Well, you see, Adam," he began, "I—we were cruising—"</p> + +<p>"Who," I asked, interrupting, "is 'we'?"</p> + +<p>"Bobby," said Elizabeth quietly, "you'd better let me tell it first. Puk +and I," she continued, addressing Eve and me, "were sailing along too +calmly, and he wanted to put up the gafftopsail. So he got it out, and +ran with it, and he caught his foot in some of the superfluous ropes and +blocks, and went overboard—topsail and all. I was afraid he might be +tangled in the sail, so I let all the halliards go on the run, and I +went after him. I got him, and saved the sail, and there was a boat from +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> Rattlesnake, with Bobby. He helped us on board again, and insisted +upon coming with us."</p> + +<p>Bobby again opened his mouth to speak.</p> + +<p>"One moment, Bobby," I said. "Tell me, Elizabeth, did the Rattlesnake +spring so suddenly?"</p> + +<p>She smiled and glanced at Bobby. "Oh, we had seen her before. That was +why Puk was wanting the topsail. He wanted to see if we could beat her."</p> + +<p>"Oh," said I, and I looked at Bobby, who squirmed as a caterpillar on a +stick.</p> + +<p>"We happened to be near," he said. He spoke calmly enough, but I saw +that he was very uncomfortable. "I thought I ought to come, for Pukkie +was very wet, and I wanted to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> sure he was all right. Miss Radnor had +rather a nasty time getting him clear of that sail."</p> + +<p>"Bobby!" said Elizabeth warningly. And suddenly she smiled as if she was +much amused at something, perhaps at Bobby.</p> + +<p>"Bobby," said Eve softly, "it was very good of you. Did Elizabeth save +Pukkie's life?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not sure," Bobby answered slowly, "that Pukkie's life was in +danger, but I'm not sure that it was not."</p> + +<p>Eve clasped Pukkie to her, wet as he was. I would have done the same.</p> + +<p>"Bobby," Eve said again, looking up at him, "was there no one else that +was very wet? I'm ashamed of you." She had spoken low.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span></p><p>"Er—you see," Bobby answered wriggling, "I knew very well that +Eliz—Miss Radnor would be all right. She is—er—very competent."</p> + +<p>And Elizabeth laughed at him and dropped a curtsey. "Thank you," she +said.</p> + +<p>Bobby was struggling with his desire to smile and with his dignity.</p> + +<p>"I've got to get back somehow," he said. "Hello, there's Ogilvie." +Ogilvie had been standing in plain sight at the top of the bluff. "He +can take me—that is, if you can spare him." He beckoned to him, and +Ogilvie came down. "You'll have to take me out, Jack."</p> + +<p>Ogilvie grinned and saluted, and they started off together. But they had +gone only a few steps when Bobby turned.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p><p>"I almost forgot to say good-bye."</p> + +<p>He smiled unhappily, and was turning back, but Elizabeth ran to him and +held out her hand.</p> + +<p>"You can be on your dignity if you like, Bobby," she whispered, not so +low but that I heard it, "but I'm not going to be. Good-bye, and thank +you."</p> + +<p>And Bobby had taken the hand that she held out. He held it for a long +time, but said nothing that I could hear, but only looked. And he +relinquished her hand—actually flung it from him—and strode away after +Ogilvie. And Elizabeth came back to us quietly, but her eyes shone and +she was smiling.</p> + +<p>"Now," she said, "Puk and I will get on some dry clothes. You may as +well rub him, Eve."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span></p><p>It must have been a narrower escape than Elizabeth would admit. As we +ascended the steep path, I thought upon the manner of journey that would +have been if there had been no escape at all. Pukkie, my dearly beloved +son! And I reached forward and hugged him, and for the rest of the way +my arm lay along his shoulders.</p> + +<p>That night we heard firing from the fort, perhaps a dozen shots. We hear +that firing every few nights. Eve and I looked out—we were just going +to bed—and saw the flashes against the sky above the trees, and heard +the sound as if cannon balls were being dropped on the floor over our +heads. Eve wondered what it was, and I told her it was probably some tug +trying to go in or out of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> harbor to the east of us at a forbidden +time.</p> + +<p>"Oh," she said, relieved, "I thought that it might be submarines—or +fireworks."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>IX</span></h2> + +<p>It was on a Saturday morning about the middle of July, and it had been +foggy; and I had watched the fog retreating stealthily, withdrawing one +long vaporous arm and then another, slinking back like a wraith before +the sun, as if trying to get away unperceived. There was no writhing and +twisting in the anguish of defeat and dissolution, no jets and shreds +vanishing into the hot air above. But the ways of the fog over the sea +are a mystery, and I am not yet at the end of them.</p> + +<p>I had gone over to Old Goodwin's to take my daughter, and I had left her +with one of the army of starched and stiff imitations of men in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>buttons +who haunt the house. They guard every door, so that a man cannot so much +as turn a handle for himself; and one is to be found in each passage, +and at every turn. They might be wooden images from a Noah's Ark, +endowed with movement, but not with life. There are not so many of them +as there were some years ago. They are none of Old Goodwin's doing, and +Mrs. Goodwin has somewhat lost her fancy for them; and some of them, Old +Goodwin told me, have enlisted. Fancy! Those men in buff uniform and +many buttons enlisting! But they will be well used to wearing a uniform, +and they will be well used to doing without question what they are told +to do, and to keeping their faces like masks. They will make good +soldiers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> I have no doubt, and they may be in France at this moment.</p> + +<p>The buttons who admitted us was not so very starched and stiff, and he +seemed to have been endowed with life as well as movement, and to have +become actually a human being. For he smiled when he saw my daughter, +and spoke pleasantly to her, so that I was persuaded that he was even +glad to see her. And she, having thrown him some pleasantry, and a smile +with it, dashed past him through the great hall and vanished. And he, +still smiling, closed the door upon me, and I went in search of Old +Goodwin, who deals not in uniforms and buttons.</p> + +<p>I found him on that part of his piazza where stands the great telescope +on its massive tripod. Before<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> him there lay his ocean steamer at +anchor, and he gazed at her steadily—but not through the telescope.</p> + +<p>He turned his head as I came, and gave me his quiet smile of peace.</p> + +<p>"Good-morning, Adam," he said. "I was just wishing that you would come."</p> + +<p>Old Goodwin with his quiet smile—even in his clammer's clothes and his +old stained rubber boots—is yet Goodwin the Rich. It is a marvel.</p> + +<p>"Good-morning," I said. "And here I am to do with what you will—for the +space of some hours."</p> + +<p>"It may take some hours," he returned, "and it may be done in less."</p> + +<p>I did not in the least know what he was talking about, but I was to find +out. He was silent for some while.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span></p><p>"Any news lately?" he asked then.</p> + +<p>"War news, I suppose you mean," I said, "and submarines. Nothing that +you have not seen; a submarine in Hampton Roads about a week ago. But +that report was in all the papers. No doubt Jimmy has given you later +news."</p> + +<p>"I believe that all boats were sent out from Newport in a hurry last +Sunday. I have heard nothing since. I wonder," he continued, smiling, +"if whales have not something to do with these reports—or sharks. I +hear that there has been a great slaughter of whales in the North Sea in +the last three years."</p> + +<p>"Whales have no periscopes."</p> + +<p>"They may yet develop them in self-defence if this keeps on long enough. +But I would not cast doubt.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> You see my boat out there. What do you +think of the color?"</p> + +<p>She was all gray, and has been so for some time.</p> + +<p>"Why, it is a good color if you like it. She looks like a lump of lead. +I cannot see why the navy does not paint its ships some lighter shade, +with streaks of greens and blues and purples and some white here and +there. Those are the colors that the water shows, although the water is +of a different color in every different light. But I would be willing to +guarantee that I could do better than that—much better."</p> + +<p>He looked at me thoughtfully. "That is worth thinking of, Adam. I am +sure you could do better. You couldn't do much worse if the idea is +concealment." He chuckled. "You<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> know the water and its colors. How +would you like to do it?"</p> + +<p>"Why, I don't know," I said slowly. "I have never thought of it. The +fact is," I blurted out, and choked upon my words. Why should I confess +to Old Goodwin what I had been unwilling to confess to myself? But the +impulse was too strong. "The fact is," I began again more quietly, "I am +not satisfied. I cannot be content to till the ground—which any Western +Islander could do as well or better—and to moon upon my bluff when +every one I know is doing more. Could you?"</p> + +<p>He smiled and shook his head. "I could not in your place. But come out +to my boat with me. I want to show you the changes I have made."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p><p>So we went in his tender which was lying at his landing with her men in +her, that had been waiting for us. And on the way out he asked me +casually and seemingly without interest, how I liked steamers; and he +had his gaze fixed upon his great vessel as though he had an affection +for her.</p> + +<p>"They are good for getting somewhere quickly," I answered him, "if you +mean such as yours. For the rest, one might as well be in some great +modern hotel on an island in the midst of the sea. There is no more +pleasure in them. Now tell me, is there?"</p> + +<p>He laughed a hearty laugh. "I can well imagine, Adam, the pleasure you +would have in being in a great hotel, whether it was in the midst of the +sea or in the midst of the city,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> but I have had some pleasure in that +boat. I have some regard for her."</p> + +<p>"Then I ask your pardon," I said, "for the answer that I gave. I should +have said other. But what I meant was clear enough. A sailing vessel is +a living thing, and each has ways of her own. You feel her response to +each movement of the wheel or each change of sail or trim of sheet, and +that response is sometimes willing and sometimes unwilling. She is like +a woman, responding instantly and gladly to a man who persuades her with +sympathy and understanding, and doing her best; while to a man without +true understanding of her she is reluctant and contrary and stubborn. I +have no experience in vessels of size, but you can ask Captain Fergus."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span></p><p>He laughed again. "Fergus is of the same opinion," he said. "But what I +meant to ask was whether you have experience of steamers."</p> + +<p>I shook my head.</p> + +<p>"Too bad," he said, and sighed. "A steamer is a living thing too, I +think, but less like a woman; going straight where she is going like a +man; more straightforward. I like a steamer well enough. But Fergus +agrees with you. And Fergus has to go in a steamer, and it almost breaks +his heart. He is to command her." And he waved at the huge hull towering +above us, for we were at the gangway.</p> + +<p>I was following after him up the steps.</p> + +<p>"And is Captain Fergus in the navy?" I asked.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span></p><p>"In the Reserve. He has been since the beginning. They were only +waiting for a ship."</p> + +<p>"And the Arcadia?"</p> + +<p>He turned and smiled. "She is enrolled too, but it is a secret. I don't +know why a secret."</p> + +<p>So that explained her activities. There might be other secrets; and I +thought of Elizabeth and Bobby. Elizabeth could be trusted to keep a +secret well, and Bobby knew it. And Elizabeth had been away much of the +time for two weeks or more, always going in the Arcadia wherever she +went, but usually home for the night. By "home" I mean our house. I +thought she was but a guest of Mrs. Fergus, but there might be some +other explanation. It did not matter. Elizabeth was Elizabeth, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> Eve +rejoiced to see her face with its crown of beaver-colored hair, and her +calm and smiling eyes. I have not yet decided what is the color of her +eyes, but they suit Eve.</p> + +<p>And I looked up, and I saw the Arcadia just stretching her sails as a +man will stretch his arms and legs in preparation for the using of them. +She had been there all night. And I saw that noble yacht of Pukkie's +casting off from the stage in the little harbor of Old Goodwin's, and +Pukkie and Elizabeth in her. And Pukkie saw me—he had been waiting to +catch my eye—and they both waved to me as the boat caught the wind and +stood out of the harbor. She was tiny, that yacht of Pukkie's, but she +was complete; as complete as the Arcadia. Indeed, she was not unlike<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> +her, save that one was a schooner and the other a sloop. To see that +boat of Pukkie's out upon the water with no other near enough to compare +them, you might think she was of any size, even a big boat—until you +saw the two huddled in the cockpit or one of them stretched upon the +deck, almost covering it.</p> + +<p>"See," I said to Old Goodwin, "there goes Pukkie."</p> + +<p>He stood at the head of the gangway, and he smiled a happy smile.</p> + +<p>"I see. He will go near all the lobster buoys, and the fish traps, and +the rocks uncovered by the tide, and pretend that they are submarines. +He has told me. And he pretends that the Yankee is a vessel that has +been sunk by a submarine. What it is to be a boy!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span></p><p>"And what are we but boys?" I said. "We pretend that there are +submarines in all the waters from Montauk to Chatham, and we go about +looking for them. It is much more satisfactory to have something that +you can see, as Pukkie has,—and just as useful, so long as we must +pretend. Submarines! They well-nigh turn me sick."</p> + +<p>He laughed. "They turn many sick."</p> + +<p>"Sick at heart," I said, "looking for what is not. We might +request—through the proper diplomatic channels—that Germany send some +over, one for each district."</p> + +<p>He laughed again. "It would relieve the monotony, and put spirit into +our men. Imagine Fergus if there were any. He is a war-horse."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span></p><p>And he led the way, waving some officer aside, and took me through the +boat and showed me everything. He had made changes. I should not have +known it for the same boat. The staterooms, that had been palatial, had +been divided, but were large in their new state; and new quarters had +been provided for the crew, who would be twice as many men as he had +ever carried; and she had been strengthened for the mountings of the +guns. Many other changes had been made, but it was these that he +lingered over. They had been some months in making the changes, and he +had carried a small army of mechanics about with him.</p> + +<p>He had been showing me the officers' quarters for the third time, and at +last he turned away.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span></p><p>"I am given to understand," he observed, "that any recommendations I +may make will receive due consideration. Fergus is made a commander, but +there are vacancies."</p> + +<p>He meant me, of course. The finger of destiny always points at me. It +was as much as an offer, but I should have been ashamed to accept it. A +man should enroll, and then let the navy do what they will with him. Of +course he should; but that is ascribing all wisdom to the men who have +all power. They are but men, and have not all wisdom; they are but men +as we are, and some of them a little less.</p> + +<p>I smiled. "I am sorry," I said, "that I know nothing of steamers and the +running of them, or I should be tempted to try for one of the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>vacancies. I do not suppose I could qualify for anything; a +coal-passer, or even a third-class quartermaster perhaps, no better. And +I should not like to have fingers of scorn pointed at me as being the +admiral's pet or something of the kind. It would smack of politics and +influence."</p> + +<p>Old Goodwin laughed. "It is not an improper use of influence to point +out a man's virtues," he answered, "but quite proper. The authorities do +not know you, but I do, and I consider you well qualified. The knowledge +of your duties you could pick up soon enough. You could pass the +examination for a lieutenant's commission in two weeks. I would not be +afraid to promise it. You can navigate, Adam."</p> + +<p>I nodded. "I wish it could be done.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> But you forget that I am +forty-three. They don't want men of forty-three."</p> + +<p>"It might be done," he said. "Fergus is forty-four, but many years a +master. It might be done, but if you don't want—"</p> + +<p>I interrupted him. "You forget Eve. She is a pacifist—as bad as +Cecily."</p> + +<p>He smiled. "Eve is not so much a pacifist—nor Cecily. I would not worry +about Eve."</p> + +<p>That was news to me—if he was right. And I did want to do something, if +only to restore my self-respect, that was well-nigh gone from me. It was +but to find that something that I could do better than another, if such +there was.</p> + +<p>"I will think about it," I said.</p> + +<p>"Do," he returned, "and so will I.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> It may be that this vessel is not +the place for you. I should like it better if there was something that +would keep you here or hereabouts—and so would Eve. It should be +something that no one else can do."</p> + +<p>I laughed and said nothing. What was there for me to say? But my laugh +had no merriment in it. It was simple: I had but to find that which I +could do and no one else; but stay—it must be useful in the present +case. And I laughed again savagely, and I looked up, and there was the +Rattlesnake anchored beside the Arcadia.</p> + +<p>"They are well in time for the clambake," I remarked, "although they +have digged no clams."</p> + +<p>For this was the day of Ogilvie's farewell. He had written Eve, and she +had got the note the day before;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> and all the afternoon I had been busy +with getting my supplies, and in the early morning of this day we had +digged the clams. It was but a remnant of my company that gathered +there, only Old Goodwin and Eve and Elizabeth and Cecily and me—and +Captain Fergus. I almost forgot Captain Fergus, but he dug few clams. +The burden of the day fell upon Old Goodwin and me. Jimmy and Bobby and +Ogilvie and Tom and Mrs. Fergus and Olivia were absent. And now there +was naught to do but to start the bake. Old Goodwin and I went in +silence to the tender, and ashore.</p> + +<p>"Think hard," said Old Goodwin as I was leaving him. "There must be +something."</p> + +<p>"If only we can find it," I returned. "I have little hope."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p><p>He smiled his old smile of peace. "I have much," he said. "I can take +you over to Newport on any day you wish. I will be over to help you with +the bake."</p> + +<p>Our clambake was a good clambake, and the clams were good, being +fresh-digged and well baked, and the lobsters tender, being +small—indeed, I was glad that no inspectors from the police boat were +there to measure them. I did not measure them, being well enough content +to take the word of the fishermen. And the chickens were good and all +things else; but there was something lacking, something wrong, and that +something was in the spirits of the guests. Old Goodwin was cheerful, +and Elizabeth seemed cheerful enough, and Jimmy; but upon the spirits of +the rest of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> us there sat an incubus. Ogilvie said but little, and Bobby +was restless and discontented. He had hard work to sit still long enough +to eat; and thereafter he wandered to and fro like a lost soul, standing +at the edge of the bluff and looking out moodily, then wandering over to +my garden and regarding it critically, then back to the pine, taking his +knife from out his pocket and tapping it upon the table, then wandering +aimlessly to the clump of trees, then to the bluff again.</p> + +<p>My garden is not on exhibition. It is not weedless, as Judson's used to +be, but is for use; and it is not to be regarded critically. And the +tapping of knives on the smooth pine planks of the table is not to be +commended. I came very near speaking to him about it, and then I saw Eve +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>watching Bobby with an anxious look, and I caught for an instant a +glimpse of Elizabeth's eyes. They hurt me. It was but for an instant, +then she veiled them, and the lights played upon them. She was watching +Bobby too.</p> + +<p>So we got through an uncomfortable afternoon, and it came time for them +to go. Eve had Jack Ogilvie by himself at the edge of the bluff, and +they talked earnestly, and he took her hand and smiled his pleasant +smile, and they came back to us. Bobby was tapping his knife upon the +smooth pine boards.</p> + +<p>"I envy you, Jack," he said, heaving a tremendous sigh. "I'll be there +too, if there is any way." He turned suddenly to Old Goodwin. "Can't you +say a word for me? What is the use of influential relatives, anyway?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span></p><p>And Old Goodwin laughed. "They are of little use, Bobby. And I am +surprised that you are willing to use influence in such a matter."</p> + +<p>And he looked at me and winked.</p> + +<p>"Use influence!" Bobby cried under his breath. "I'd use anything—a +crowbar, if that would get me there."</p> + +<p>Then they said their farewells, and Bobby shook hands with Eve and me, +but not with Elizabeth. She stood there, her hands hanging at her sides, +and a smile upon her lips,—not in her eyes,—while Bobby turned away.</p> + +<p>But he turned back again as if it were against his will and some great +force turned him.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, Elizabeth," he said low, and he half held out his hand.</p> + +<p>She went forward quickly. "Good-bye, Bobby," she said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span></p><p>And Bobby gripped her hand so that it must have hurt, and held it long +and hard. Then he flung it from him as I had seen him do once before, +and strode away abruptly, and ran down the steep path after the others. +Elizabeth came back to us smiling—with her lips and eyes and heart; and +Eve kissed her suddenly, and she laughed and cast down her eyes, and +they went in together.</p> + +<p>I stood upon the edge of my bluff when the sun was low in the west, and +I watched the colors that the Great Painter spread upon the still +waters. And I saw again that little strip of marsh below me, each grass +stem standing straight and motionless and dark in the still water, but +each stem was edged with greenish gold. Little waves rippled in—from +some boat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> out in the harbor—and the grass stems rippled gently with +it, and the bars of gold upon the waves and the waving lines of gold +upon the grass stems advanced with it until the wave broke upon the +store. I looked out to see what boat it was, and it was Ogilvie's, and +he stood and gazed and waved to me, and I waved back, and then I +bethought me of my signalling. So I waved my arms like a semaphore gone +mad, and I sent him a message in farewell; and he understood, and +thanked me and sent a farewell to Eve. Then he was gone out into the +pearl-gray of the coming twilight, and his gray boat was lost in the +gray of sky and sea.</p> + +<p>I looked down at the little marsh. The grass was still again, and two +blackbirds flew across it. I saw the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> red shoulders of one as he guided +his waving flight, and the grass stems standing up darkly above the +bright water, as if they were set in glass. It seemed infinitely +beautiful and sweet, and infinitely sad.</p> + +<p>I was wakened in the night by a noise outside our window; a little +noise, as if somebody were trying not to make it. A greater noise, one +made as if by right, would not have awakened me. And I took a stick that +I have—a straight hickory handle for a sledge fits the hand well, and +makes an admirable weapon—and I went out, thinking of German spies. +There was no moon, but I saw him. My spy was doing nothing but gazing up +at the window, and I came upon him from behind and caught him by the +collar. That collar was stiff with braid.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span></p><p>He turned quickly and wrenched himself free.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean, Adam," he asked, "by your murderous assault upon a +peaceful relative?"</p> + +<p>It was Bobby. "You're no relative of mine," I said. "What are you doing, +anyway? Don't you know that the window you are gazing at is mine—Eve's +and mine?"</p> + +<p>"All the windows in the house are yours, aren't they?" he growled. "And +I'm not looking at any window. But why can't I if I want to? Answer me +that."</p> + +<p>There was no answer to that. "It is lucky," I observed, "that I keep no +dog—a dog like Burdon's. I think of getting one."</p> + +<p>Bobby laughed at that. Burdon had a great dog, a vicious beast,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> which +amused himself one day by chasing Burdon into the hencoop, growling and +snarling savagely. He kept him there for hours until there came along a +boy who had owned the dog until his father decided that the dog was too +vicious and gave him to Burdon. The boy seized the dog by the collar, +and dragged him away and chained him, and told Burdon that he could come +out.</p> + +<p>"Don't you do it, Adam," Bobby said. "Think how you would feel if you +came out and found only my mangled remains. And I am doing no harm—only +wandering about."</p> + +<p>So he was but wandering about. He should have been in bed. And we stood +there and talked for a few minutes, and Bobby wandered off to my steep +path and down to the shore,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> and I heard the sound of great pebbles +rolling, and I heard him whistling softly some mournful air. I went in +and to bed. Elizabeth sleeps in the room down the hall, and her windows +are around the corner. I heard a little noise from her room as I turned +into mine.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>X</span></h2> + +<p>One morning—it was the first of August, the middle of that hot week—I +was sitting on the seat under my great pine, and Eve sat beside me. I +was waiting for Elizabeth, for the time had come again for the Arcadia +to be about her mysterious business on the sea, and this time I was to +go. It was what Elizabeth called "transferring" something or somebody. +What it was and where it was I was to find out. I wished that Eve was +going—and Pukkie. I said as much.</p> + +<p>"Elizabeth has not asked us," she replied. "I could not go if I were +asked, for I promised to go to mother's. She has one of her bad turns. +But Pukkie would love it."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span></p><p>I murmured my regret at Mrs. Goodwin's illness. Her illnesses are not +serious and do not last long, and the cause of them is not far to seek. +She eats most heartily and takes no exercise, and that practice ever +bred illness. I would have her mowing for remedy.</p> + +<p>Eve slipped her hand within my arm and clasped the other over it.</p> + +<p>"Adam," she said, giving my arm a gentle squeeze, "what is it that is +troubling you? Something does. It has for a long time."</p> + +<p>Now that was what I did not expect, that Eve should think me troubled, +for I thought that I had been most careful. But I should have known +better. Eve always knows. And the thing that had been troubling me more +than any other was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> that I had not thought of that no one else could do +but I.</p> + +<p>I looked down into her eyes, and I saw there many things; but love and +longing most of all, the longing to comfort me if she could but lay her +finger on the hurt.</p> + +<p>I smiled. "It is not so bad as that," I said.</p> + +<p>"Well, kiss me, Adam," she said, "and tell me."</p> + +<p>I obeyed orders—or part of them.</p> + +<p>"On the day of the draft," I said, "I was in the village, and I saw all +the inhabitants assembled, and they scanned each batch of numbers as the +news came, but not a third of them knew what their own numbers were. +Some did, and I saw two that were drafted. One of the two went out from +that assembly with eyes that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> saw nothing, looking as if he went to his +execution. The other laughed, and said that that settled it, and he was +glad. And tell me if you can the answer to my riddle—which has nothing +to do with the assembly in the village—and say what there is that I can +do, but no one else."</p> + +<p>She laughed. "Is that the matter? And must the thing be useful? I know +several things that no one else can do, but they are not useful. If it +must be useful,—well,—I cannot think of it at this moment, but I have +no doubt I shall." She leaned forward, and tried to look into my eyes; +and failing that, she shook me. "What is the nature of this thing that +you must do? Look at me, and tell me."</p> + +<p>I was afraid to look at her lest she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> guess, and I was not ready to tell +her. I might never be ready.</p> + +<p>"It is nothing, Eve," I said: "nothing of importance. It is not worth a +minute's worry." And that was true too.</p> + +<p>"Foist it upon somebody else then," she answered quickly. "There are +persons to decide those things."</p> + +<p>I looked at her then. "I cannot believe that I get your meaning. You +could not know. Truly there are persons to decide those things, but +Heaven knows whether they are competent to decide anything. No doubt +they would cheerfully and light-heartedly consign me to—what I should +not do."</p> + +<p>I stopped abruptly. I had almost told her that which I had determined +not to tell her—yet. I looked into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> her eyes, and there I saw laughter +and joy and hope and great love; and I saw the same tender wistfulness +that I had seen so many times in the past weeks. But joy and laughter +conquered.</p> + +<p>"I hear Elizabeth coming," she said, "and I hope you may read your +riddle. Now we must be most proper. Are you proper, Adam?"</p> + +<p>And Elizabeth came while I was yet straightening my hair, and getting it +into a comfortable condition. It feels most uncomfortable when it is +rumpled and each separate hair taking a different direction, like the +brush that is used to black the stove. It feels as that brush looks.</p> + +<p>Elizabeth laughed at me unfeelingly. And she turned to Eve. But people +always turn to Eve. "I'm going<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> to take Pukkie, Eve, if you don't mind. +Captain Fergus did not ask him, but I'm going to take him anyway. I've +told him."</p> + +<p>And Eve smiled and said nothing, and we started, and Pukkie came +running, his face expressing his delight. And when we were in the launch +and starting from the landing, Eve wished me once more the proper +reading of my riddle, and she threw a kiss to us, and stood there until +we were aboard the Arcadia; then we saw her wending up the slope toward +the great house.</p> + +<p>The sails were already hoisted and the anchor hove short. Elizabeth and +Captain Fergus and Pukkie and I were settled in chairs along the rail, +and the crew went about their business so quickly and so quietly that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> +the first I knew of our being under way was the gentle canting of the +deck beneath my feet. We had slipped out.</p> + +<p>The wind was very light, but it was making rapidly, and there was a +long, heaving swell from the Atlantic—perhaps two hundred feet from +crest to crest—which made the big Arcadia pitch gently and bury her bow +to the eyes. At last one of these seas, higher than most of those which +made up the great procession, crept up higher yet and slopped over upon +the deck. And her bows rose, and there was a rush of water along the +deck, and there came the noise of falling water from hawse pipes and +scuppers.</p> + +<p>Pukkie laughed with delight, and Captain Fergus looked up.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span></p><p>"Crack on," he said; and they set more sail.</p> + +<p>Presently there came another of those mighty rollers. She took it over +her bows, a flood of green water, and it came roaring aft. Again there +was the sound of many waters, more mighty yet, as hawse pipes and +scuppers spouted forth their loads.</p> + +<p>Captain Fergus looked up at the masts. "Crack on," he said again. And he +got up and wandered to and fro across the deck, gazing up at the masts +and at the men setting the light sails.</p> + +<p>"She'd do better," he said, stopping for an instant by my chair, "if I +hadn't had to put that confounded engine in her. You wouldn't believe +what a drag a screw is, even when it is feathering."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span></p><p>She was doing well enough. All her light sails were set, and she was +furnished forth with all her frills and furbelows, so that there was no +place where she could carry another stitch. She bent to her business and +sailed. And Captain Fergus smiled a smile of satisfaction—in spite of +that dragging screw.</p> + +<p>Pukkie had left his comfortable chair, and was leaning against my knee, +saying nothing, but looking back at me now and then, his face a study. +It was a pleasure just to watch him. Captain Fergus seemed to find it +so, and Elizabeth had been watching him for some time.</p> + +<p>"Come, young man," Captain Fergus said suddenly. "Don't you want to walk +a while with me—to pace the deck with measured tread, while<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> +what-you-may-call-it on the dead? Eh?"</p> + +<p>And Pukkie smiled more than ever—if that were possible—and jumped and +joined him; and they walked—paced the deck with measured tread for some +time in solemn silence. Captain Fergus would glance aloft, and Pukkie +would glance aloft; and at last I smiled and Elizabeth laughed.</p> + +<p>"Don't you feel like pacing the deck with measured tread?" I asked.</p> + +<p>And she got up as if she had been sitting on a spring, and we paced the +deck in solemn silence behind those other two.</p> + +<p>Captain Fergus turned suddenly. "This young man ought to have a +uniform," he said. "I've got one that he could wear. Steward!"</p> + +<p>And the steward, having come <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span>instantly and received his instructions, +vanished below, and immediately reappeared, bearing an ensign's coat and +cap. These were fitted upon my son. They were too large, but he could +wear them.</p> + +<p>"But, Captain Fergus," said Elizabeth, laughing, "the regulations!"</p> + +<p>"Jigger the regulations!" remarked Captain Fergus, smiling. "I pay +mighty little attention to regulations when I'm on my own vessel. +Pukkie's my first officer."</p> + +<p>My little son beamed at this, and turned to show me his uniform.</p> + +<p>"When you command that yacht of Mr. Goodwin's," said Elizabeth, "you'll +have to pay some attention to the regulations."</p> + +<p>"Have to sleep in my uniform, like as not," Captain Fergus growled.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> +"According to the order we are not to unbutton a button of the coat on +any occasion. If that doesn't mean sleep in your uniform, what does it +mean?"</p> + +<p>"You can't have Pukkie for your first officer then," Elizabeth pursued. +"Can you?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose not. Probably some yachting chaps who have been prominent +socially and got their pictures in the papers. I hope not, though. There +are some good men in the Reserve. I only hope they may give me men who +have had experience in steamers. I don't want any of these pets who have +commissions merely because they had influence, or because they were rich +enough to give a boat."</p> + +<p>I said nothing. I had the light that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> I was looking for, although it did +not illumine my problem, but was what I had supposed it would be. After +all, if a man do but use the sense that God gave him and stand by his +judgments, he will do well enough. I would have none of Old Goodwin's +steamer. What was I, to be officer on a great steamer? I might command a +rowboat, or a yacht like Pukkie's if need were.</p> + +<p>"You do not have a very high opinion," I said, "of the navy?"</p> + +<p>"What?" he said. "High opinion? Oh, yes, I have. Good men and fine +vessels, many of them. It's a sailor's right to growl at the service +he's in. You mustn't take what he says too seriously."</p> + +<p>"Would you advise a man to enroll in the navy?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span></p><p>"Depends on the man. If he has a taste for the sea, he'd be more +contented in the navy than in the army, but many men have a strong +distaste for it. I'd advise your man to get the best rank he can, and to +have no modesty about it. If he doesn't get it some other fellow will +who is not troubled by modesty."</p> + +<p>And Captain Fergus took up his pacing the deck again, and Pukkie walked +beside him, taking as long a stride as he could. Elizabeth watched them, +a smile of affection in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Isn't he fine in his uniform?" she whispered. "But he would be happier +if he could wear his old blue coat and his old blue cap."</p> + +<p>He was fine, and he looked the sailor and the fighter. But I knew that +old blue coat and that old blue<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> cap, hanging in his cabin. The sun had +shone caressingly upon them many times, and seemed to like them almost +as well as he liked them; and they had changed their colors, as +everything does under the caresses of the sun, until they were blue no +longer, but of a purplish cast, shot with red.</p> + +<p>The wind grew, as winds will, until two or three in the afternoon, and +the sea grew with it, but always there were those great rollers coming +in from the Atlantic. And the Arcadia was doing her twelve knots, bowing +majestically and buffeting the great seas, tearing the tops from them +and sending sheets of spray, which rattled upon her deck or upon the +surface of the water like hail; and the water hissed past the rail, and +there was the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> gentle cluck of blocks, deep in their throats, with the +heave of the sea, and there was the sound of wind in the rigging and of +ropes beating on taut sails. Altogether it made glad my heart; and +Elizabeth seemed to like it, and Pukkie's heart was swollen almost to +bursting. And the captain paced to and fro, saying nothing, or he stood +by the rail looking out over the waters, his cap pulled down low, an +unquenchable light in his deep blue eyes and a happy smile on his lips.</p> + +<p>We had passed the colored cliffs of Gay Head shining in the sun, and we +were passing Nomansland, and the great rollers were greater yet. There +was fog out beyond, lying in wait. Captain Fergus nodded to Elizabeth.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span></p><p>"Better see if we can pick them up," he said.</p> + +<p>She turned to go below, and stopped at the companionway.</p> + +<p>"Look," she said.</p> + +<p>We looked where she pointed. There, on the surface of the sea, about two +miles away, was some great thing glistening in the sun, the water +washing over it. A thick haze, or the advance guard of the fog, made it +hard to see anything clearly except the glisten of the sun.</p> + +<p>"Oh," cried Pukkie, "I see it. Is it a submarine?" And he looked up at +the captain.</p> + +<p>"More likely a whale," the captain answered, smiling; "but we will see."</p> + +<p>And the course of the Arcadia was changed a little so that she was +heading straight for it. She kept on for it,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> and now and then the +sunlight caught it and made it to shine like the windows of a house at +sunset, and again it was a dark body with the water washing over it, and +we could scarcely make it out, lying there in the sea. As we approached +my breath came quicker and my eyes glistened, and I smiled. I know it, +for Elizabeth glanced at me and laughed. It was a mysterious thing, +lying there in that thick haze. It seemed as if it might be a submarine, +although reason told me it was not.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean to do?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Ram him," answered the captain promptly, "if it is a submarine and we +can get there in time. A fast sailing vessel is better, for he could +hear our screw. But it is no submarine.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> It looks more like a vessel's +bilge. There! Ha!"</p> + +<p>The glistening body moved, and great flukes suddenly reared on high, and +the body disappeared.</p> + +<p>"A sleeping whale," Captain Fergus observed. "Another submarine report +gone wrong."</p> + +<p>"Are there any over here?"</p> + +<p>"Not now, I am reasonably sure. Don't believe there will be, although I +may be mistaken. They can use them to better advantage on the other +side. But there may be, in time, unless Germany blows up first. We don't +know what is happening in Germany. They may blow up at any minute, and +they may not. Shouldn't be surprised—and I shouldn't be surprised if +they kept going for a year or two longer. Look at the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span>Russian army, +just got well going and they have mutiny and lose it all. Too bad! I'd +like to see any crew of mine try it!"</p> + +<p>Elizabeth laughed and went below, and Captain Fergus began again his +walking to and fro. Presently Elizabeth came up and spoke to him, and +the course was changed, and in an hour we had sighted a steamer making +for us.</p> + +<p>It was the Rattlesnake; and the two vessels lay quiet on that rolling +sea while our tender went over with a package of papers, and came back +with Bobby. And the Rattlesnake turned about and we soon lost her in the +haze, and we turned about and headed for home.</p> + +<p>Bobby was not talkative on the way back. Indeed, Bobby has not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> been +himself for some weeks; not the Bobby that I knew of old. I cannot fix +the date at which the change occurred, but it was some date that had to +do with Elizabeth. Every date has to do with Elizabeth, so far as he is +concerned. And though he spoke to her when he came over the side—spoke +gravely, I suppose he thought—it seemed more like petulance to me—he +said no word more to her, but sat in his chair and gazed moodily out +over the water. And Elizabeth sat in her chair, and she gazed at Bobby +under lowered lids, and she smiled her smile of suppressed amusement. +And presently, her thoughts being unguarded, she raised her lids a +little, so that I saw all the lights of the sea playing in her eyes, +that were yet regarding Bobby, and there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> came into them a tender light +that was more than all the light on sea and sky. And she glanced at me, +and she saw that I had seen, and she flushed slowly, and got up and went +below.</p> + +<p>"Bobby," I said, "are you not ashamed of yourself?"</p> + +<p>He started. "Ashamed of myself?" he answered, looking at the +companionway down which Elizabeth had disappeared. "No doubt I should +be. I do things enough to be ashamed of. But why?"</p> + +<p>"You have not seemed to notice the honor that has befallen my family. My +son is made ensign or lieutenant commander or something, and you have +not remarked the event. I am afraid that you have hurt his feelings."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span></p><p>Bobby laughed as though he was relieved.</p> + +<p>"So he is—ensign or something, as you say. And I did not observe it. I +ask his pardon, Adam, and yours." And he called to Pukkie, who was +following Captain Fergus about like a pet dog; and Pukkie came, and +Bobby felicitated him upon his promotion. And Pukkie smiled until I +feared lest his face crack.</p> + +<p>"It is a trifle large," Bobby remarked, referring to the uniform, "but +he will grow to it."</p> + +<p>"It is not so much too large as it was," I said. "You should have seen +him swell—like a toad-grunter."</p> + +<p>"Daddy," protested the aggrieved Pukkie, "I'm not like a toad-grunter."</p> + +<p>The toad-grunter is a much despised fish.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span></p><p>"No, Puk," said Bobby, "you're not. I think your father should +apologize."</p> + +<p>"I apologize, Pukkie," I said hastily, for I would not wound my son. +"You are not. And, Bobby, can't you find any? Is that why you are out of +sorts?"</p> + +<p>"Find any what?" asked Bobby, puzzled. "Any toad-grunters? I hope not. +Who wants to find 'em? You speak in riddles, Adam."</p> + +<p>"It was submarines I meant."</p> + +<p>Bobby smiled seraphically. "Your traps, Adam, are no good. But I'm going +to find some submarines pretty soon. Pret—ty soon, you mark my words."</p> + +<p>"Words marked. But what do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"What I say. Now, Puk, what do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> you say to a walk about the deck? Or +would you rather follow your captain?"</p> + +<p>And Bobby strolled off with Pukkie. They went up forward, where the +Arcadia was shouldering aside the great seas. We had the wind on the +quarter, and there was no longer the sound of spray like rolling +musketry. And presently Elizabeth looked out of the companionway, and +seeing me alone, she came and sat in the chair next to mine, and she put +out her hand.</p> + +<p>"Adam," she said with a pretty flush.</p> + +<p>"Elizabeth," I answered, with no flush, but I watched hers flaming.</p> + +<p>"Adam, don't you tell," she said, looking shyly at me. Elizabeth is not +given to shy looks, but to honest ones,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> eye to eye. "Promise me that +you will never tell. Give me your hand on it."</p> + +<p>I took her hand. It was a pretty hand and soft enough, with tapering +fingers, but it was not such a pretty hand as Eve's.</p> + +<p>"Elizabeth," I said to her, "I do not know anything to tell—anything +that would be of interest. But—but you do not mind if I tell Eve, do +you? And," I finished lamely enough, "I hope it—it will."</p> + +<p>She laughed and sighed, and gave my hand a squeeze.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," she said. "But Eve knows, I think."</p> + +<p>Captain Fergus was standing by the rail, sniffing the wind and gazing +out at the waters, and at the little swirls of foam that raced by, and +at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> the bank of fog that chased us in. He was happy. I almost envied +him. He had done his part, and he was doing it.</p> + +<p>"Will you walk?" I asked Elizabeth. And we got up and walked, saying +nothing.</p> + +<p>The afternoon passed, and the wind died. As we drew near to the +lighthouse that stands like a sentinel on its rock just within the +entrance to the bay, the sun was far down in the west, the breeze was +but the gentlest breath, and the surface of the water moved in slow, +oily undulations. I stood with Elizabeth close beside the rail, and we +gazed at the water that was red and gold.</p> + +<p>The shadow of the tall lighthouse was thrown high on the sails, and +passed slowly aft. The red sun was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> sitting on a distant hill bearded +with cedars. The little oily waves were splotched with vermilion and +blue and purple and gold, and the gold dazzled our eyes.</p> + +<p>Not a ripple marked our passage. I gazed at the red sun, and he gazed +back at me; and his red disc was half down behind the hill, and I could +see it sink. And the sun sank behind the hill and had winked his last, +and a broad smooch of red lay upon the western horizon. We watched the +red fade to orange, then to saffron and to green, while two little +saffron clouds with edges of flame floated high above, and the fog crept +in stealthily below. And I heard Elizabeth sigh, and I looked down and +she looked up.</p> + +<p>"If you find this sad," I said, "and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> as if it were the end of all +things, turn about. The sight will fill your soul with peace."</p> + +<p>So we turned about. And the sky toward the east was of a lovely soft, +warm pearl-gray, and the water the same pearl-gray with tints of rose +and of a light blue here and there. The distance was veiled in an +impalpable haze, and water and sky merged into a soft grayish blur +toward the horizon, as if smeared with a dry brush. The water, gray with +its rose tints and its blue, seemed to dimple softly, like a baby +smiling as it sank to sleep. It soothed my soul; it was the very breath +of peace.</p> + +<p>I heard another sigh beside me, and I turned, and there was Bobby.</p> + +<p>"Submarines in that!" he said, and smiled.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span></p><p>We began to turn slowly, and were come to our anchorage, and there was +Old Goodwin's great steamer not far away, and Old Goodwin himself, with +Eve, on his landing, waiting for us.</p> + +<p>As we were about to go ashore, Captain Fergus spoke to me.</p> + +<p>"About that man of yours," he said. "Tell him to go to Newport, and to +put himself in their hands over there. It is the best thing he can do."</p> + +<p>And I thanked him, and said I would tell my man. And we were walking +from the landing, Old Goodwin and I and Eve—Bobby had to walk with +Elizabeth, with Pukkie between them, for there was none other thing that +he could do, but they said nothing that I could hear.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span></p><p>"I am going to take Cecily over to Newport to-morrow," Old Goodwin +observed. "She has not seen Tom for five days. Don't you want to come +along, Adam?"</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span></p> + +<h2><span>XI</span></h2> + +<p>There must have been a conspiracy against my happiness—or for it, +perhaps; but Eve seemed only mildly interested. So I made some excuse to +her—I do not like to make excuses to Eve—and I went to Newport with +Old Goodwin and Cecily. Eve could not go. She did not say why.</p> + +<p>Cecily kept us late in Newport, trying to get a glimpse of Tom. We had +got a glimpse of him, dressed in a sailor suit and driving some admiral +or other in a big gray car, but he would not look at us, and that did +not satisfy Cecily. But she was not discouraged, and we left her to the +pursuit of her quarry, and we went<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> about our business, that took some +time. Then, after a long search, we found Cecily talking to Tom beside +his car. That admiral of his did not appear for hours, and Cecily would +not leave until he did, so we left them alone together on the curbstone, +and we waited around the next corner. We did not get home until nearly +eight, and Old Goodwin took us to his house for dinner, and there were +Eve and Elizabeth and Bobby.</p> + +<p>It was a good dinner, as was fitting for Old Goodwin's house, and when +it was over we all wandered out upon the piazza where stands the +telescope, and from which we could see out upon the bay. This part of +the piazza is like another room, with many rugs upon the floor, and +tables and comfortable chairs; and it is lighted at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> night—dimly, to be +sure, and but so much as lets one see easily where he is going, if he is +going, and descry the faces of the others sitting there. But that is for +those who are gone blind in the dark. I am not blind in the dark, but I +can see well enough if I am but out of doors, where there is always +light enough to see where one is going. It is only lights that blind me. +I do not like lights out of doors. Besides, on this night there was a +reddish moon hanging rather low in the southeast, with wisps of fog +driving under it. I have forgotten my astronomy,—thank heaven!—which +would tell me why the moon sometimes pursues her course high overhead +and sometimes low toward the horizon. The moon is no friend of mine +anyway, and I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> care not at all where she goes, or whether her course is +from west to east or north to south, or whether she shine at all. But on +this night she shone bravely for the time, and there would have been +light enough with no other.</p> + +<p>So we sat there for some time in silence, feeling pleasant and satisfied +because we had just dined well, and Old Goodwin smoked his cigar, and +Bobby and I smoked our pipes. And I was becoming less and less pleasant +and satisfied with those lights above me, and Bobby was getting +restless, being seized with curious alternations of restless nervousness +and pleasant satisfaction. Eve seemed to be satisfied enough, and +Elizabeth sat motionless, her hands in her lap, and a half-smile on her +lips. I could not see her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> eyes, but she seemed to be watching.</p> + +<p>There had been some desultory talk, and the lights had become too much +for me, and I had wandered out with Eve into a sort of balcony that had +no lights. And we sat—closer together than we could have sat if the +balcony had been lighted—and Eve's hand came searching for mine that +was already searching for hers, and we clasped our fingers close, and we +looked out at the waters of the bay that sparkled dimly, and at the +tapering band of moonlight that widened to a broad circle under the +moon, and at the riding lights of the Arcadia and of Old Goodwin's great +steamer,—a great dark shape. Fog hung about. It would be in presently.</p> + +<p>"Tell me, Adam," said Eve softly. "What did you see at Newport?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span></p><p>"Tom," I answered. "He's a sight in his sailor suit."</p> + +<p>She laughed. "Of course; but nothing to what you would be. We're very +fond of Tom, aren't we, and of Cecily? What else?"</p> + +<p>"The beach and the town and the cliffs and the training station and the +new barracks and many vessels at anchor."</p> + +<p>"Exasperating!" And she shook me. "Didn't you go into the War College?"</p> + +<p>"We did. Your father seems to know many there."</p> + +<p>"Adam," said Eve, "aren't you going to tell me?"</p> + +<p>She bent forward and looked up into my eyes, and I looked down into +hers. I kissed her.</p> + +<p>"I will tell you, Eve. Never fear.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> When you look at me like that, I +would tell anything. I tell you everything sooner or later."</p> + +<p>"I like it sooner."</p> + +<p>"I have some fear that you will not like it."</p> + +<p>"If you have done it, Adam, I shall like it. If I do not like it, you +will never know it. Tell me. You did not go to view the country. I know +that well enough."</p> + +<p>"Well," I began, and stopped, somewhat troubled. Scraps of talk had +drifted out to us, now and then, from that room we had left, and by +turning we could get a glimpse of one or another, sitting in the dim +yellow light.</p> + +<p>Bobby had just said something, and then there fell a sudden +silence—absolute silence. It was the silence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> that stopped me, and I +cast back over my unconscious recollection to see if I knew what he had +said. And the things that had happened in there in the last minute took +gradual shape in my mind, as things sometimes do that are heard with the +ear but not consciously noted. Old Goodwin had asked Bobby some +question, I know not what, and Bobby had answered him in a dull, dead +sort of voice. I recalled the voice because it was strange for Bobby to +use it; but he had done many strange things. What had he said in that +dull, indifferent voice that sounded as if all that he cared for were +destroyed utterly? I had it, and so did Eve. It had not taken a half a +minute. He had announced that he was to go to England and join a +destroyer.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span></p><p>No one had spoken in that half-minute, and I peeked through at +Elizabeth. She was sitting as she had been for some time, the same +half-smile upon her lips, her hands in her lap; but I saw that her hands +were clasped together and every muscle tense.</p> + +<p>"Rather sudden news, Bobby," said Cecily at last. "You don't seem as +glad as I should have supposed you would be."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," Bobby answered, "I'm glad enough. I've had enough of chasing +phantoms. There are no submarines over here. I have some reason to +believe that it is different over there. There is nothing, I think," he +added rather bitterly, "to keep me over here—no reason why I should not +be glad to go."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span></p><p>Again that silence fell. I saw Elizabeth's hands twisting slightly, +clasped in her lap.</p> + +<p>"What vessel do you join?" Cecily asked. "And when do you go?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know the vessel," he said, "and I'm sorry that I am not +permitted to tell you when I go. But it will be soon. There are troops +going to France. I suppose I should not tell that, but I trust there are +no spies here." And he laughed shortly.</p> + +<p>Elizabeth had said nothing, nor made any movement, but she had sat as +motionless as a statue—if one had not observed her hands. Now she rose +slowly, as if weary with sitting still, and she wandered slowly from one +thing to another, and seemed not to find comfort in any; and she was +come near the door, and passed out,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> and we heard her light step going +slowly along the piazza behind us and down some steps in the distance. +Then I turned back, and I looked out at the moonlight on the quiet +water, and at the great dark shape with its anchor light and a light or +two more shining through some portholes, and her decks white under the +moon.</p> + +<p>I turned to Eve, for I would have spoken; but she laid her finger on my +lips, and she pressed my arm, and would not let me lean forward. And I +heard a faint rustling, but very faint, and I saw the tops of a great +clump of bushes move in order, as if some creature—some person—moved +along behind them; and there was not wind enough to stir them. Those +bushes were very near to us, almost in front of us. And the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span>movement of +the bushes stopped, and everything was still, and the veiled moon shone +down, making gray and ghostly everything that its half-light shone upon, +and casting black shadows.</p> + +<p>Bobby had become uneasy, and he had risen and was wandering slowly +about, as Elizabeth had done; and at last he was come to the door, and +he bolted through it, and we heard his light footsteps running along the +piazza behind us. Bobby was a runner when he was in college, and he ran +with no noise. And he took the steps at a leap, and I heard a faint +chuckle from Old Goodwin.</p> + +<p>Then nothing happened for a long time, and I could feel Eve laughing +silently, and I knew that Bobby was ramping about the place, looking +for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span> somebody that he found not. It was as bad as chasing submarines. +And at last the bushes moved again, and I heard Bobby's voice +whispering, "Elizabeth! Elizabeth! Where are you?" And the bushes near +us shivered, and there came a gasp, and somebody started to run, but +Bobby caught her. I could see nothing, but I could imagine his catching +her by both hands, and I could hear. I could not help hearing.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" she gasped; and "Oh!" again.</p> + +<p>Then he seemed to catch her close.</p> + +<p>"Elizabeth!" he whispered. "Elizabeth! I give up. It's unconditional +surrender, Elizabeth. I've fought against it, but it's no use. I don't +care what you are if you'll only love me."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span></p><p>Elizabeth was between laughter and tears.</p> + +<p>"Even if I am a German spy, Bobby?"</p> + +<p>"Even if you're a German spy," he whispered fiercely. "But you're not. +You couldn't be. You're too honest—and true."</p> + +<p>"Honest and true, Bobby," Elizabeth whispered, clinging to him—I +guessed. "But you don't know what a woman can do. If I were a German +spy, I should be doing just this—to worm your secrets out of you."</p> + +<p>There was a silence.</p> + +<p>"Do it again," he said, "—German spy!"</p> + +<p>She did it again—I guessed.</p> + +<p>"I'm only," she whispered, half-crying on his shoulder, "practising<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span> +wireless on the Arcadia. You knew that, Bobby, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>Eve touched my arm, and we began to withdraw soundlessly.</p> + +<p>"And, oh, Bobby," Elizabeth went on, "I'm afraid that you—that you may +not come back. Those destroyers are—but I'm proud of you, so proud!"</p> + +<p>"I'm coming back," said Bobby. "Trust me, if I have you to come back to. +I always did have luck, and I've always come back. I do have you, don't +I?"</p> + +<p>"You seem to," Elizabeth whispered merrily. "And I—"</p> + +<p>Then Eve and I were out of that balcony at last, and we went along the +piazza as silently as might be, and down the steps. I began to sing +softly, "The cloudless sky is now <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span>serene," and Eve laughed and checked +me.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you ashamed of yourself, Adam?"</p> + +<p>"No, Eve," I said, "but I rejoice mightily."</p> + +<p>"And so do I," she said, "and there is but one thing more needed to make +me very happy. And that you shall tell me."</p> + +<p>And we wended over the grass that was flecked with moonlight—it was wet +too, that grass—and through the greenery that was no more green, but +was of a dense blackness, and came out upon the bank above my clam beds, +where the sod breaks off to the sand. And there Eve sat her down where +the pebbles once shone in the sun, ADAM and EVE.</p> + +<p>"I know it is wet," she said, "and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> I do not care. Now do you finish +what you began to tell me—about yourself."</p> + +<p>I sat beside her. "It seems trivial now. Indeed, it is no great matter, +but I am easier in my mind now that I have done it. I have enrolled in +the navy. And that is all, and soon told. And if you do not like it, +Eve, I am sorry, but I had to do it."</p> + +<p>She laughed, and she gave a glad little cry, and her arms were about my +neck.</p> + +<p>"That is what I wanted to hear, Adam."</p> + +<p>"But I thought that you had pacifist leanings, Eve."</p> + +<p>"Every woman has such leanings, especially where the matter concerns +those she loves. But I know that you will be happier, and not ashamed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> +and that is much to me; and I can be proud. I am very happy, but I am +afraid too—terribly afraid. I pray that you may not be led into any +danger—and if that is wicked I cannot help it."</p> + +<p>I kissed the dear lovely face upturned to mine.</p> + +<p>"And what did they say?" she whispered. "What will they do with you? You +are in the Reserve, aren't you?"</p> + +<p>I laughed. "I enrolled in the navy for any duty that they saw fit to +assign me to. And the officer smiled, and said that I would be called +when I was wanted. I may be a coal-passer, Eve, or I may be a mechanic +to clean Tom's car, or I may breathe the pure air of heaven as I sail +the raging main."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span></p><p>Eve wrinkled her brow. "But I don't like that, Adam. Don't you know +whether you will be afloat or ashore?"</p> + +<p>"I was told that I would be of more value ashore. And that I was sorry +to hear, for I had rather be afloat, except that we should be parted. +And I want to see a German submarine before I die. 'They ain't no sich +an animal.'"</p> + +<p>And Eve laughed, and we got up and wandered home over the pebbles of the +shore. Fog was driving across the face of the moon, so that it was now +hidden, now partially revealed. From above the fog we heard the mutter +of thunder. Eve squeezed my arm.</p> + +<p>"Do you hear the guns, Adam?" she asked. "The gods are warring."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span></p><p>"Never give it a thought, Eve," I said. "What are their wars to us?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Eve, sighing, "but I hope it will be ashore."</p> + +<p>And we climbed the steep path, and went in to our candles, to wait for +Elizabeth. Elizabeth was like to be long in coming.</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p class="center">THE END</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center">The Riverside Press</p> + +<p class="center">CAMBRIDGE. MASSACHUSETTS</p> + +<p class="center">U . S . A</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Clammer and the Submarine, by +William John Hopkins + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CLAMMER AND THE SUBMARINE *** + +***** This file should be named 39456-h.htm or 39456-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/4/5/39456/ + +Produced by Bruce Albrecht, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Clammer and the Submarine + +Author: William John Hopkins + +Release Date: April 15, 2012 [EBook #39456] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CLAMMER AND THE SUBMARINE *** + + + + +Produced by Bruce Albrecht, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +By William John Hopkins + + +THE CLAMMER AND THE SUBMARINE. +THOSE GILLESPIES. Illustrated. +BURBURY STOKE. +CONCERNING SALLY. +THE MEDDLINGS OF EVE. +OLD HARBOR. +THE CLAMMER. + + +_JUVENILE_ + +THE DOERS. Illustrated. +THE INDIAN BOOK. Illustrated. + + +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY +BOSTON AND NEW YORK + + + + +THE CLAMMER AND THE SUBMARINE + +BY + +WILLIAM JOHN HOPKINS + +[Illustration] + +BOSTON AND NEW YORK +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY +The Riverside Press Cambridge +1917 + + +COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY WILLIAM JOHN HOPKINS +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + +_Published September 1917_ + + + + +THE CLAMMER AND THE SUBMARINE + + + + +I + + +Down under my great pine is a pleasant place--even in April, if it is +but warm enough, and if the sun is shining, and if there is no great +wind, and if what wind there is comes from the southwest. It is not so +pleasant--I know many pleasanter--if the wind is from the northwest, +howling and shrieking as it does often in the winter, picking up the +fine snow and whirling it back, leaving the top of my bluff as clean as +though it had been swept. Such a wind roars through the ancient branches +of the pine, and twists them, and tears at them as if it would tear +them off. My pine stands sentinel-like on the top of the bluff, some +distance from the edge, and its branches have withstood the winds of +many winters. Its age must be measured in centuries, for it is a noble +great tree; and in times long past it must have had fellows standing +close. It is a forest tree, and its great trunk rises twenty feet +without a branch. But its fellows are gone, leaving no memory, and the +ancient pine now stands alone. + +From the bench built against the trunk one can see many things: the +harbor, and the opposite shore, and rolling country beyond, and distant +hills, and one hill in particular with a tree upon it like a cross, +which stands out, at certain seasons, right against the disc of the +setting sun. One can see, too, the waters of the bay beyond the harbor, +and certain clam beds just at the point, and a certain water front; and +other things in their season. Old Goodwin's palace on the hill is not +visible, except for a glimpse of red roofs above the tops of the trees. +There is one other thing which I almost forgot to mention, and that is a +hole scooped in the ground just without the shadow of the pine, and +lined with great stones. That stone-lined hole has its uses, but the +time for them is not yet. + +I was sitting on the seat under my old pine, gazing out but seeing +nothing of what lay before my eyes. And that was strange, too, for the +harbor before me was smiling under a warm spring sun, and the hills +beyond were bathed in the blue mist of summer. Indeed, it seemed like +summer. There will be cold weather in plenty, with skies gray and wet. +There is always more than enough of such weather in the first half of +May, but that day seemed like summer. I had had hard work to realize +that it was April until I looked about me and saw the grass just +greening in the moist and sheltered spots, and the trees spreading their +bare arms abroad. The buds were just swelling, some of them showing a +faint pale green or pink at their tips. And my garden was nothing but +freshly turned brown earth, not a spear of green. + +I have put in my early peas, but not very long ago. They should be +poking through, any morning now. And I planted some corn yesterday. It +may get nipped by frost, but I hope not. What would the President think, +when he found that I had let my corn get nipped by frost? I mean to do +my share--in the garden. That is not the only reason why I hope my corn +will not get nipped. It is not likely, for we do not often have frost +here so late. It is much more likely that it will be stunted by the cold +in May. But what if it does not succeed? It will only mean my planting +those two rows over again, and if it escapes I shall be just that much +ahead of the others who did not take the chance. I no longer plant my +corn in hills. Hills have gone out. Corn is planted in drills now. + +I even put in two rows of melons yesterday, but I am not telling my +neighbors about it. They would be amused at my planting melons in +April. Judson would not have been amused. Judson was a fine old man with +an open mind, and he would have been interested to see how the +experiment with melons succeeded. I should have told Judson all about +it,--he might have helped me plant,--but Judson is dead, and so is Mrs. +Judson. It is a loss for Eve and me, for a younger man lives in Judson's +house now, a younger man who is not so fine; and he has a wife and a +small girl--who pelts me with unripe pears when I venture near the +wall--and he has a talking machine which sits in the open window and +recites humorous bits in a raucous voice to the wide world. The +girl--she is not so very small, probably ten or eleven--would have +difficulty in pelting me with pears now, but she might use pebbles +instead. She is a pretty fair shot; and the talking machine is not +dependent upon season. They had the window open at that moment, and I +found myself listening for the raucous voice, while I thought of seed +potatoes--at four dollars a bushel, and scarce at that. + +So the sun shone in under the branches of the pine, and I basked in its +warmth, and I gazed out and saw nothing of what lay before my eyes, and +I thought my thoughts. They came in no particular order, but as thoughts +do come, at random: the season, and peas and corn and melons and Judson +and his successor and the girl and the talking machine and pears and +potatoes. I suppose I should not speak of such rumblings of gray matter +as thoughts, for thoughts, we are told, should come in order, and should +be always under the control of the thinker. Mine are not always under my +control, and they seldom come in order. I might as well say that they +are never under my control, but are controlled by interest of one sort +or another. I make no claim to efficiency. Efficiency is a quality of a +machine, as I take it. When our brains become machines, why, Heaven help +us! But whatever my thoughts were, whether of my planting or my +neighbor's talking machine, they revolved around one idea, and always +came back to the point they started from, which sufficiently accounts +for the fact that I was looking at the harbor and not seeing it. + +War. That was the central idea. We are at war. I looked out upon the +peaceful, smiling water and the peaceful, smiling country beyond, and +the tree like a cross upon its distant hill, and I laughed. I confess +it: What had war to do with that, or with me, or with mine? I could not +realize it. War means nothing to me. It means nothing to many people +over here, I believe, but flags flying, and parades, and brass bands, +and shouting. If we were in France now--but I am thankful that we are +not in France, and that there are two thousand and odd miles of water +between. + +As for submarines--submarines in that harbor, where they could not turn +around without getting stuck in the mud! Or in the bay, where there is +none too much water either, and ledges and rocks scattered around +impartially and conveniently here and there! I know them well: one +ledge in particular which has but one foot of water on it at low tide. +And with a sea running--well, I could lead a submarine a pretty chase. I +would if the submarine was bound for this harbor. It might choose to get +stuck in the mud and sand of my clam beds, which would make them +unproductive for years. Even as a civilian I will defend my own. + +Well, we shall see; but I cannot believe that the matter concerns us +very nearly. And I sighed softly, and smiled, and again I looked at the +harbor, and I saw it; saw it with the warm spring sun on its quiet +water, and the wooded hills beyond bathed in a blue haze. And I heard a +soft footstep behind me, and there came from above my head a low ripple +of laughter, and my head was held between two soft hands and a kiss was +dropped on the top of it. And Eve slipped down on the bench beside me. + +"Why do you sigh?" she asked. "What were you thinking of, Adam?" + +"War," I said, and she sobered quickly. Eve seems to have pacifist +leanings. I smiled at her to comfort her. "I was thinking that if a +submarine should come into this harbor, it might happen to get stuck in +my clam beds, and it would stir them all up, and would be bad for the +clams. I am afraid I should have to take a hand then. Do you suppose +your father would object to my mounting a gun on the point?--say, just +under that tree where he keeps his rubber boots?" + +She laughed, which was what I wanted. Eve is lovely when she +laughs--she is lovely always, as lovely as she was when I first saw her. +And the warm spring sun, shining in under the branches of the pine, +shone upon her hair, and it was red and gold; as red and as shining gold +as it ever was--or so it seemed to me. + +"My father would probably help you mount the gun," she said. "Shall I +ask him?" + +"I will ask him. But your hair, Eve,--" + +"Oh, my hair, stupid, is turning dark. Everybody sees it but you. But I +don't care, and I love you for it. And you must look out now, for I'm +going to kiss you." She seized me about the neck as she spoke, and she +did as she had said she would. "There!" she said, laughing. "Did +anybody see? Look all about, Adam. The mischief's done. As if a woman +couldn't kiss her husband when she wanted to! Now, I'm going to rumple +your hair." + +She proceeded to the business in hand thoroughly. + +"Eve," I cried between rumplings, "there are laws in this State--I don't +believe they have been repealed--which forbid a woman's kissing her +husband whenever she wants to. It can't be done. And--" + +"It can't be done? Oh, yes, it can." She did it. "Now, can it? +Say--quickly." + +"Yes, yes, it can, Eve. I acknowledge it. But the submarine. You +interrupted me. I had not finished." + +"Well," she asked, subsiding upon the bench and smiling up into my +face, "what about your submarine? I know of many things which I think +more important." + +"I've no doubt that there are laws against rumpling hair. There ought to +be. It's important enough. But the submarine," I added hastily, for I +saw indications of further rumpling; "I was only about to remark that if +I were out in the bay--" + +"In a boat?" Eve asked, still leaning forward and looking up into my +face with the smile lurking about her lovely eyes. + +"In a boat. If I were out in the bay, and a submarine suddenly popped up +beside me, I should feel much more inclined to offer the crew my +luncheon than to shoot them." + +"They would all line up on the deck, I suppose, and you would have your +choice." + +I laughed. "I should have no gun. Besides, I am a civilian. That is +against me. Civilians seem to have no chance worth mentioning." + +Eve was looking at me thoughtfully, and there was a look deep in her +eyes that I could not fathom. + +"You are a civilian," she said softly, "and civilians have no--and what +then, Adam? Did you think of--" + +"They don't want doddering old men of forty-three, and there is no need. +But if my clam beds were in danger I should not feel so amiable. I might +even strain a point and try to get a standing that would enable me to +shoot alien trespassers properly. But why, Eve? Did you want me to--" + +"No," she answered quickly. "Oh, no. I was only thinking." + +"I have been thinking. If we had to have a war I am glad that it has +come now. Pukkie cannot possibly go, and he might want to. How would you +like that?" + +Pukkie is our son, and he is ten years old. I knew how it would feel to +have him go. I took him off to school last fall. It is a beautiful +school, with fine men for masters, and dignified buildings and extensive +grounds, nearly three hundred acres, with woods and a lake. I wish I +could have gone to such a school. It would have done me good. I mooned +about with Pukkie, seeing his room and the other dormitories, and the +dining hall and the gymnasium and the classrooms, and the football +field, and the woods and the lake, and I tried to be cheerful, but I +did not make a success of it. I could not say much. Pukkie was silent +too. + +And all too soon it was time for me to start on my three-mile ride for +the station, and I gave him a long hug and a short kiss behind a clump +of bushes; the last kiss, I suppose, that I shall ever give my little +son. I have not forgotten how a boy of ten feels about that. And I +jumped quickly into the car, and we started. I looked back and waved to +him as long as I could see, and he waved to me once or twice. But he +looked very small, standing there in the middle of three hundred acres, +gazing after the car and waving his cap, and I almost broke down then. +It seemed almost as if I were deserting my small son among +strangers--enemies, perhaps, for he did not know a soul; my little son +who had never before been away from home a single night without Eve or +me. For Eve had taught him up to that time, and I had done what I +could,--with his Latin and the groundings of his Greek, the very +beginnings of it,--what one of my students once called the radishes. I +had not the heart to inflict science upon him. I hate it. I ought not +to, for I was bred in it, and taught it for some years, which are well +behind me. But that was small comfort to me then, and I had hard work to +keep myself in control all the way home. But Pukkie did not break down. +He may have come near it. I do not know. He has never said anything +about it. I have--to Eve. She understood. She always understands. That +is the comfort of it. + +But Eve had made no reply. She was still regarding me with that look +that I could not fathom, although I looked deep into her eyes. + +"I think I could manage it," I said, feeling strangely uneasy. + +"Manage what?" she asked. "Pukkie's going?" + +"Heaven forbid! It was that civilian business that I meant. I think I +could manage to change my condition." + +"No, no. I want you here, Adam. There is no need to change, is there?" I +shook my head, and Eve reached out and took my hand. "You need not +change--anything." + +It was as if with her love for me, she had great sorrow, and great +pity; though why I was to be pitied was beyond my understanding. I do +not regard myself as a proper subject for pity. But there are many +things beyond my understanding. Eve will enlighten me in her own good +time. And as we sat, there was another step on the grass behind us, not +soft, but hasty. And Eve unclasped her fingers from mine, and turned. It +was Ann, the nurse. + +"What is it, Ann?" Eve said. "Where's Tidda? Gone again?" + +Then Ann explained that she had but turned her back for a minute, had +gone into the house for her knitting, and come right back--had run every +step of the way going and coming--and Tidda had disappeared. Tidda is +our daughter, aged eight. Her name is not Tidda, but Eve, as it should +be. She has a propensity for running away, although I do not think that +her excursions are planned. She is a true apostle of freedom, and when +she observes that nobody is about, she regards it as an opportunity +heaven-born, and she makes the most of it. I can hardly blame her. A +girl of eight, and tied to the worthy Ann's apron strings! How should I +have liked it, at the age of eight? She would sympathize with our aims +in this war we have undertaken. But Eve had risen, and was about to go. + +"I suppose I had better stop at Cecily's," she said, "and at every house +on the road to father's. She may turn up there. Ann can stay here. I +wish," she added, laughing, "that I knew some way--" + +"I'll go with you." + +"I'd love to have you, Adam, but you'd better go around by the shore. +Meet me at father's. Good-bye." + +And she was gone, swiftly. She always has some ill-concealed anxiety +over these disappearances of Tidda's, and so, for that matter, have I. I +got up slowly and started toward the head of that steep path to the +shore; but stopped halfway, and turned and went to my shed, and got my +hoe and my rubber boots. It was yet early in the season for clamming, +but my way led past the clam beds, and the tide was almost down, and I +might at least see how they were getting on. So, my hoe and my boots in +my hand, I went down the steep path, and strode along the shore. And, as +I came nearer that place which is ever near my heart--where the sod +breaks off to the sand just above my clam beds--I thought I got a +glimpse of drapery behind a tree-trunk. There are trees there, pretty +near the edge of the three-foot bluff, the beginning of a grove which is +Old Goodwin's; and a path runs back to his house. I saw that the gleam +of white I had seen was from a white dress, a small white dress, a dress +that somehow seemed familiar; and I saw a small leg in the air, its +stocking in the process of removal. I stepped forward without caution, +and I grinned down at my small daughter. It is impossible to be cross +with her, she is always so perfectly confident of having done nothing +which she should not have done. + +So I grinned down at her, and she looked up and grinned back at me. + +"Going in wading," she announced cheerfully, continuing to push the +stocking, which did not seem to want to come off. + +"Going wading, are you? Well, don't be in a hurry, Tidda. Let's talk it +over." + +She did not relax her efforts, but she shook her head. + +"Haven't got time to talk now," she said. "Daddy, you help me get my +stockings off. They won't un-come. They're an awful bother." + +"Wait a minute." I stepped back and looked up at my bluff. There was Ann +watching me, and evidently anxious. I signalled to her that Tidda was +found--we have a code for the purpose, and Ann is letter-perfect in +it--and she signalled that she was much relieved and would find Eve and +tell her. Then she disappeared. + +I sat down beside my daughter. "Now, Tidda," I said, "there are several +good reasons why you should not go wading. The water is very cold still, +and--" + +"Pull this one, daddy," she said, ignoring my remarks, and sticking out +toward me the leg with its stocking half off. "If you take hold of the +toe and the heel and pull, it'll un-come. I can't do it, because I can't +get hold from that end." + +I laughed. + +"I was saying that the water is very cold, and that mother wouldn't want +you to go wading." + +She pointed accusingly at my rubber boots. "You're going." + +"Not necessarily. I only brought them down in case I should want to." + +"Well, I do want to." + +"If you had rubber boots and warm stockings under them--" + +"Get me some rubber boots." + +I sighed and laughed. "I will," I said, "but I can't get them this +minute. Will nothing less satisfy you? You sit here, and I'll go and see +how the clams are getting on. I will bring you one." + +She was on the verge of tears. "I was going to see how the clams were +myself. Dig 'em with a stick. I can find 'em. I've found lots." + +"What do you do with them when you've found them?" + +"We play with 'em, and we had a clambake once." + +"Were the clams good?" + +"Pretty good. There were six of 'em, one apiece and two for Ann. But +she didn't eat hers. She said they weren't done, and that she wasn't a +fish to eat raw clams. Oh, look, daddy!" + +Old Goodwin's ocean steamer was lying at her anchor, but I could see +nothing unusual about her. + +"No," said Tidda, "not grandpa's, but out that way. Is it coming in +here? It comes fast, doesn't it?" + +Set right by Tidda's pointing finger, I saw the steamer, but I could not +make out what she was, whether yacht or war vessel. She had the lines of +a torpedo boat, and was painted gray, with lines of bull's-eyes along +her sides, and no deck to speak of, where one could sit in comfort; but +plainly she was no torpedo boat, and as plainly she was not a steam +yacht of the common type. She was nearly two hundred feet long, I +judged, and of great speed. + +"It is coming here," cried Tidda in some excitement. "See! It's going +close to grandpa's." + +As she spoke the vessel rounded to an anchorage at a safe distance from +Old Goodwin's. She came at very nearly full speed, then there was a +tremendous commotion under her stern which seemed to stop her short, her +chain rattled out, and she lay quiet, the only evidence of her effort +being the white water, which spread on either side of her and for a long +distance ahead. A motor launch was lowered before her anchor touched +bottom, several men got in, and it made for Old Goodwin's landing. + +We had not heard the step behind us. + +"So here's my little girl," said Eve. "Oh! What boat is that, Adam?" + +"That is a little boat of Tidda's. She found it. But I'm glad you have +come, Eve." + +Eve laughed and sat beside me, and she began to pull Tidda's stockings +into place. But she said nothing about it, and Tidda did not notice it. +And when she had the stockings smooth on the little legs she stood her +daughter on her feet and straightened her dress with a touch. Then she +got up. + +"Come, Adam," she said, "let's go up to father's. He wants to see you. +He told me as I came down." + +And I got up without a word, and I took one of my daughter's hands in +mine, and Eve took the other, and Tidda danced along between us on the +path all the way up through the grove to the great house. And I looked +at Eve, and I smiled a smile of content, and she smiled back at me. Then +her smile changed to one of amusement as she saw what was in my other +hand, and I looked, and I was carrying my old battered boots and my clam +hoe. But Old Goodwin would not mind. + + + + +II + + +Old Goodwin saw us coming from afar, Eve and me and our daughter, and he +ambled down to meet us. He gave me his old slow smile of peace. + +"You see," I said, holding up my boots and my clam hoe, "I'm getting +flustered. I didn't know I had them. I should have left them at the +shore." + +"I see," he said. "Let me take them, Adam. You will need these. But +perhaps you had better take them with you. You might forget again." + +"I'll hang them on my watch chain. But Tidda ran away again." + +"I know," he said. Tidda had run to him, and was clinging to his hand. +He stooped and swung her up to his shoulder. She has got to be a heavy +load for a man's shoulder, and he an old man. But Old Goodwin did not +look like an old man. "I wish Pukkie were here," he said, "to balance." + +"We wish he were--to balance. It is less than two months now, and he +will be." + +"Put her down, father," said Eve. "She is heavy." + +"I like her up here," he said, "where she is near. I'll put her down if +she gets too heavy." + +And he led the way to the house, and up the steps, and through various +sections of piazza, each with its tables and chairs and cushions, to +that ample section on the water side, with its telescope and its view of +the bay. There, before us, were the ocean steamer of Old Goodwin and +the new arrival, as yet unknown to me; and beside us was Mrs. Goodwin, +and as I turned to greet her I saw a girl sitting beside her, but a +little withdrawn and in the deeper shadows. In the glance I gave, I saw +only that she was of pleasing countenance, and quiet eye that seemed to +take in all that passed, and mouth with little curves of humor about the +corners, and she had hair of the colors of Eve's great beaver muff. +There are beautiful colors in that beaver muff. Introductions followed. +I missed her name, as I always miss new names; and before the +introductions were well over, there trooped in Jimmy Wales, and Bobby +Leverett, and a young fellow whom I did not know, all in uniform of one +sort or another, and Tom Ellis, whom I did know. He lives almost across +the road from me. + +More introductions followed; but when it came the turn of the young +fellow whom I did not know, the girl laughed, and held out her hand. + +"Hello, Jack," she said with evident satisfaction. "I had no idea that I +should see you here." + +"Nor I you," he replied. "But aren't you glad? I am." + +And she laughed again, and bade him wait and see. + +The young fellow's name was Jack Ogilvie. And when I had found that out +we drifted into chairs, and began to ask questions. I was next to Bobby, +who is a cousin of Eve's. + +"What boat is that, Bobby?" + +"Rattlesnake," said Bobby. "She was the Ebenezer, but they changed it. +Too bad, when we had a name that just fitted. We're in the navy now, you +know. We're all U.S.N.R.F., Class four. The Ebenezer belonged to Jimmy +and me, but the Rattlesnake belongs to the U.S. We offered it to them, +and they took it so quick it almost took our breath away. She makes +thirty miles an hour easy, and a little better if we drive her. You know +that I'm a partner of Jimmy's now." + +I nodded. Seven years ago he was office boy, just out of college. + +"Any clams on this piazza, Adam?" Bobby asked. "I see--" + +"Yes," I interrupted, "anybody might. These boots are not invisible. I +wish they were. Neither is the clam hoe. Circumstances beyond my +control, Bobby,--But what is Jimmy?" + +"Jimmy? Oh, Jimmy's lieutenant commander." + +"And you are an admiral?" + +"Well, no. They offered me that rank, of course, but I thought I'd +rather be under Jimmy. I'm a lieutenant. Ogilvie'll be an ensign as soon +as he's of age. They don't often give commissions to fellows until they +are twenty-one. He's not through college yet." + +"Chasing submarines, Bobby? How many periscopes have you shot off?" + +Bobby laughed. "That information I am unable to impart, Adam. +Undoubtedly it would give comfort to the enemy. But we shall be chasing +submarines pretty soon. That is to be our job, so far as we know now. We +have a number of chasers under our command. Personally, I'd like to be +in patrol work out in the steamer lanes. Our boat is too good for this +in-shore work. You know the Smith saw a submarine a week or two ago." + +I shook my head. I have no faith in that report. Everybody has been +seeing submarines from Eastport to the Gulf. + +"We picked up Ogilvie at Newport," Bobby continued. "I knew him, and +he'd been doing police duty there, and going through training that he +knew as well as his alphabet; nothing that was any mortal use. So I +asked for him, and he was transferred. They don't seem to get on very +fast at Newport with our fellows. I don't know why. They have more boats +than they are using, but most of them are small and slow, and they have +been busy with men for the regular navy. I suppose they'll get around +to the rest of them in time. We are going to have good big chasers some +time soon." + +"Ah, Bobby, but when? I could give you some statistics of our navy, but +I won't, for I don't believe you'd stay. I have been reading an article +packed full of valuable information which ought to be of some comfort to +the enemy. It seems that nearly all of our vessels are old or slow or +both--or they are in reserve in one form or another, without full crews; +and we have no submarine chasers--literally none that would be of any +use in chasing. We shall not get any before next January, and then only +a beggarly hundred or so. It looks pretty bad, Bobby. We might as well +surrender at once." + +Bobby smiled. "I know where you got that dope. I saw it too, and I +wonder what good the chap thinks he is doing by making out that we have +gone to the dogs. He's a knocker. Pay no attention to him, Adam. I have +faith that all our navy men aren't fools. There may even be one or two +who know almost as much as he does. You ought to conduct a few patriotic +meetings. And be a speaker, Adam. You could make glorious speeches. I'd +come." + +"Flags flying,--to the great advantage of the Bunting Trust,--and 'The +Star Spangled Banner' sung several times, and you'd have to stand with +your hat off, and take cold in early May, and hear every man in the +county who has ever held office give the history of the country, and +Washington's Farewell Address, and Lincoln's Gettysburg Speech delivered +by a talented young lady from our high school,--if we had one,--and +brass bands, and parades, and me for drum-major, I suppose, Bobby. +Buncombe! There wouldn't be an able-bodied man in the glorious +assemblage--except the band and the speakers. Humbug and buncombe! True +patriotism doesn't go about waving the flag and shouting. Patriotic +meetings are essentially for women and children." + +Bobby laughed delightedly. "Noble sentiments, Adam. But I wish you +would." + +I shook my head. "Never," I said. "But I could give you some hints for +your submarine chasing. You could put them in as your own ideas too. I +promise not to dispute your claims." + +"I'm a little shy of your hints, but fire away." + +"Well, this is my best. I have others, but they are too obvious. First +you would have to set a spindle on Great Ledge, a spindle with a +capacious cage at the top. Another one on Sow and Pigs, and one on Hen +and Chickens, and on Devil's Bridge. Then, when there were some +submarines over here,--Germany says there are none now, and I believe +it,--when they came, put a live pig in each of the cages. It's in the +nature of baiting the trap, you see. All you'd have to do would be to +sit tight, and remove the wrecks. They'd all pile up on those ledges. +Germans can't resist the lure of pig." + +"That's not a half bad idea, Adam," Bobby said. "Of course it might be +necessary to renew the bait or feed the pig, but that would be easy; and +pig is pretty high just now. There's a good pun there, but I'll leave it +to you.--Jimmy!" + +Jimmy was talking to the girl whose name I did not yet know, but he +turned at Bobby's hail. + +"Jimmy," Bobby said, "Adam's just given me a most valuable hint for +trapping submarines. Here it is in all its beauty." And he proceeded to +give my idea in more detail than I had done, adding some more ledges +which appealed to him as likely spots, Watch Hill Ledge, to the east of +Fisher's Island being one, I remember. "You forgot that, Adam. It would +be a crackerjack, almost level with the water. In any sea at all, and +the tide right, the water opens every little while and shows the rock. +It's fearsome." + +"Is Adam going to leave all the work of danger," asked Jimmy, "to us?" + +"Yes," Bobby cried, "that's what I want to know. Like baiting the traps, +you know. It'll be no snap to get the pigs into their cages." + +"You can't expect to have all your problems solved for you, Bobby," I +said. "You would always have the benefit of my counsel, and giving +counsel to you and Jimmy is not without its dangers. Besides," I added, +modestly I hope, "I did have something else in mind. In addition to the +arduous toil of tilling the soil--" + +"Cut that," said Bobby. "As if you didn't always till the soil!" + +"In addition to that," I continued with dignity, "I thought of +organizing a company to protect some of our most valuable property here. +It would be a sort of Home Guard. Submarines, if they escaped the traps +and the hawk eyes of the patrol fleet, and the stings of the wasps, +might get into the harbor. Then they would surely get aground, possibly +on my clam beds, and they would ruin the dispositions of my clams. So I +thought of mounting a gun on the point--with Mr. Goodwin's +permission--and enrolling all here present in the Clam Beds Protective +Company, of which I should be captain." + +Old Goodwin applauded the idea at once, but as well as I could judge in +the confusion which followed, Jimmy and Bobby and Tom Ellis were not of +the same mind. + +Finally Tom made himself heard. "What I want to know, Adam," he asked, +"is where do we come in? I think I voice a general question." + +"I was about to nominate Mr. Goodwin for colonel,--honorary, if he +prefers,--and Jimmy for adjutant, and Bobby and Mr. Ogilvie for +lieutenants. Those posts would have to be honorary also, unless the navy +could be prevailed upon to assign them to that duty. I don't see that +there is anything left for you, Tom, but to be the private. It would be +a highly honorable office. You would be the only private." + +"I say," Tom protested, "I like that! But I have an idea. What about +the Susies who sew shirts for soldiers? Aren't you going to give them a +chance?" + +Eve interrupted at this point. I was glad to have her. + +"Oh, yes, he will," she said. "I promise that he will." + +"Seems to me that Eve ought to be elected captain," Tom observed. "But +perhaps it isn't necessary. She will be anyway." They all laughed at +that--all but me and Ogilvie. Eve noticed that. I did not see anything +ridiculous about the idea. I am glad to serve under Eve, and everybody +knows it. + +"I will enroll Cecily," Tom pursued; "but, Adam, make me a sergeant, +won't you?" he added in a hoarse whisper. "I want to have some authority +over her." + +"I'll see about it. I shall have to think it over, and perhaps get some +advice." And Tom turned at once to Eve, and whispered, and she smiled +and nodded. + +"The uniform, Adam?" asked Old Goodwin. "Don't put us to any unnecessary +expense." + +"I was about to speak of that. I have brought some samples with me." And +I held up my boots and my clam hoe. + +Old Goodwin smiled. "That is very satisfactory." He looked at Tom. "If +anybody prefers a rake for arms, I suppose there would be no objection, +Adam?" + +I shook my head. Then there were objections from Jimmy and Bobby, on the +ground that they would have to buy boots and hoe, and that the boots +would be new and not in keeping. But I said that, as their offices were +honorary, they would not have to provide themselves with uniforms, and +they could go clamming in their naval uniforms if they liked. I should +not object. + +"Well," said Bobby thoughtfully, "we have boots and slickers and +sou'westers. Perhaps they will do. When is the first meeting of our +company--at the clam beds, Adam?" + +I told him that it was a trifle early for that yet. It would be as soon +as I thought it safe for the clams. Then a thought struck me. + +"How does it happen," I asked, "that a patrol boat can be coming in +here--for all the world like a yacht--and all its officers come ashore, +as if they had nothing to do?" + +Eve had been silent for some minutes, occupied with her daughter, who +stood silent beside her. Tidda had been strangely quiet. + +"Yes, Bobby," said Eve, "account for yourself. What are you here for? It +is not for nothing." + +"Sh! The movements of shipping are not to be reported. But I don't mind +telling you, Eve, that we regard this as a base, in a sense. I came +because my superior officer ordered it. I don't know his reasons, but I +surmise that he hoped that some of you people would be charitable enough +to ask us to dinner." + +Jimmy grinned, and Old Goodwin smiled, but he said nothing. Jimmy Wales +and Bobby are especial favorites of his, and Bobby is his nephew. + +"I speak," said Eve, "for Mr. Ogilvie. You can't come, Bobby. You'll +have to stay here with Jimmy." + +"Oh, I say, Eve!" + +"No. You may bring Mr. Ogilvie within sight of the house, and show it to +him." She turned to Ogilvie. "You'll come?" she asked, holding out her +hand. + +Ogilvie seems a nice young chap. He bowed very prettily over Eve's hand, +and said something nice, I am sure, for I was watching Eve's face. I can +tell always. And Ogilvie smiled, and Eve got up to go, and I got up too, +of course, and Jimmy and Bobby and everybody got up one at a time, as if +it were a prayer-meeting. It broke up the party to have Eve go. Eve's +going is very apt to break up any party. + +Bobby came out with us through the interminable series of piazzas. + +"I say," he whispered, "who's the new girl, Adam? Do you know?" + +I shook my head. "I didn't hear her name, Bobby, and I don't know +anything about her. She is attractive." + +"M-m. I'll ask Eve." + +Eve said that the girl's name was Elizabeth Radnor, but she knew nothing +about her, and had never heard of her before. "But," she added, "why +don't you ask Jimmy?--or Mr. Ogilvie? He knew her before." + +"So he did. Good idea, Eve. I will. But Jimmy ought to be ashamed of +himself. He's married, and I might tell Madge. We never know what we +might do." + +Eve laughed at him. "Did you think you could worry Margaret?" + +"I thought perhaps I could worry Jimmy. But he doesn't worry much." We +were at the head of the steps. "Well, good-bye, hard heart, spurning the +beggar from your door. I hope your conscience will give you no rest." + +Eve laughed again, and Tidda piped up a good-bye, and Bobby turned back. +And, by the time we had reached the bottom of the steps, Old Goodwin had +caught us, and had taken Tidda's hand. + +"I thought I'd better come, Adam," he said, "and see about the +emplacement for that gun." + +So we wandered down to the bank, where the sod breaks off to the sand, +and we lingered there, saying nothing and watching the sun get lower. +And the day, that had been as warm as summer, grew somewhat chill as +the sun sank nearer to the bearded hills, and our daughter was restless +and wanted to go home. So we wended along the shore, and Old Goodwin +left us, and we went up the steep path that leads to my bluff, and there +we found Ogilvie under my pine, standing silent and looking out over the +harbor to the west. + +Ogilvie was modest and unassuming and pleasant. He spoke when he was +spoken to, and sometimes when he was not, but he did not volunteer +anything about himself, although he was very ready to answer questions. +Eve succeeded in finding out something about him without seeming to try. +He went down to Newport about the first of April. Naturally enough, he +seemed a little disappointed that the authorities at Newport had not +seemed to be ready for him, and that his preparation had been largely a +waste of time. He had been four days on a watch boat, guarding Newport +harbor, piloting vessels in through the nets, and incidentally, one very +thick night, carrying away the mooring buoys of one of the nets; then he +had been put on police duty in Newport, running in drunken sailors, or +just walking back and forth on his beat, trying to keep awake. Then +there had been more drill, and he had been transferred to the +Rattlesnake. + +Then we talked of books, the theatre, and gardening, in which he had had +experience. My heart warmed to him, and we discussed corn and melons and +asparagus and peas and beans and squashes and cucumbers and chard and +okra and such like for more than an hour. From them we progressed to +more intimate things, when suddenly a noise started just outside the +window, and he rose with a smile, saying that it was a noise of Jimmy +and Bobby singing "Poor Butterfly," and he supposed it meant that he +must go. And he thanked us very nicely, and went out into the night. I +went with him and asked them in, but they assured me that I was an +ungrateful wretch, and they would have nothing to do with me and my +invitation. + +So they went off down my steep path to the shore, still singing "Poor +Butterfly," I suppose, although I am unfamiliar with modern classics. +And Eve came out and joined me, and we heard them going along the +shore, stumbling over great pebbles, and the poor butterfly fluttering +off into the distance. And when we could hear no more of it we went in, +and I shut the door as softly as I could, but the sound of its shutting +went booming through the house; and I smiled as I blew out the candles, +and I was smiling still as Eve took my hand in hers and we mounted the +stairs together. + + + + +III + + +Joffre was in Boston on Saturday, the 12th of May. Viviani also was +there, and some others, but the marshal, the hero of the Marne, was the +attraction. Eve acknowledged as much to me on the evening before the +event. + +"I do want to see him," she said, "and I suppose you'll think it +foolish, but I'm going up. Probably I shall cry when I see him. Adam," +she added somewhat wistfully, "you don't want to go, I suppose? Father +will take us in his car--the new one." + +That about the "new one" was plainly nothing more than bait. + +"Why should I want to go," I said, "except to go with you? I always +want to do that. And I should be glad to be with your father, but no +more in his new one than on our bank at the shore. Not so much. There is +much to do here. Why should I want to go, Eve? I don't want to cry." + +She laughed. "No reason, Adam, unless it is to stir your imagination." + +"My imagination is stirred sufficiently here. You know that I detest +crowds, and parades. And I was going to plant again to-morrow." + +She sighed softly, and smiled adorably. "Well, Adam, plant then. I knew +it would bore you to go. The middle of a crowd watching a parade is no +place for you. I should love to have you with me, but I think you had +better not come. I don't want _you_ to cry." And she laughed a little, +unsteadily. + +"I might," I said somewhat gruffly. "It is conceivable. But there is +one thing. I hate to speak of it. Your father ought not to go off on +these long trips any more without a chauffeur. There may be hard work to +do, and he is--not young, Eve. Besides--" + +"He is going to take a chauffeur," said Eve, interrupting me hurriedly. +"I think it almost breaks his heart to acknowledge it, but he realizes +that he ought to. Of course that wouldn't make any difference about your +going." + +I shook my head. It was no part of my objection that I might be called +upon to do some hard work. I had planned to do a good deal of hard work +at home. + +So Eve set off about eleven the next morning alone with her father and +the chauffeur. Old Goodwin was in the driver's seat, and it did not seem +likely that the chauffeur would have anything to do. And I stood in my +garden clothes, leaning on my hoe, and waved a good-bye to them, feeling +half regretful and wholly self-reproachful; and Eve made her father +stop, and she called me, and I came running, and she leaned out and +kissed me, and she went off smiling. I looked after them, and they had +not gone more than a hundred yards or so when they stopped again, and +Tom Ellis and Cecily came out of their door and got into the back seat +with Eve. And I smiled, and turned, and went back to my garden, thinking +that the best of women--and I gave a little start, for it had occurred +to me that the chauffeur was a Frenchman. And I wondered if they--but +of course they did. Such things do not happen by accident--with Old +Goodwin and Eve. + +It was cold for the season. It had been cold and wet for three weeks, +and my corn was not up, nor my melons that I had put in three weeks +before, nor my beans. My experiment with melons has not yet been a +failure if it has not been a success this year. I was doubtful about the +corn, so I dug up a kernel, and I found it sprouted, and I put it back +and covered it. My peas were up, and doing bravely, and the beans were +about breaking through, for the earth was cracked all along the rows. +And I got out my sections of stout wire fencing, and put them in place +along the rows of peas. They take the place of pea-brush, and are much +easier to put up and to take down. The fencing is fastened to stout +posts, and the posts have pieces of iron, about a foot and a half long, +shaped much like a marlin-spike, bolted to them for driving into the +ground. I can take my sledgehammer and drive the posts, and get a row of +peas wired in a tenth the time needed to set brush, and the fencing is +much less expensive, in the long run. My fences have done service for +thirteen years already, and they are perfectly good. + +So I fussed around among the peas, and planted more corn and more beans, +and more melons, and a row of chard, and two rows of okra, and some +other things. I often think that the place for tall green okra is the +flower garden. The blossoms are beautiful, delicate things, more +beautiful than most of the hollyhocks. And now and then I stopped my +planting--a man has to rest his back--and I leaned on my hoe or my rake +or whatever I happened to have in my hand, and I thought my thoughts. +They were many, and they were not, at such moments, of my planting. + +The harbor was almost empty still. There was but one fisherman's boat +and two motor boats, little fellows, not suited to patrolling. And the +sky was gray, and getting darker, and the winter gulls flying across, +and wheeling and screaming harshly. Occasionally a gull beat across my +garden, flying low and screaming his harsh note. I watched them, and +envied them until I saw a fish-hawk sailing high up among the clouds. +Then I envied him: his calmness and serenity, and his powers of wing and +eye, seeing the swimming fish from that height, and perfectly secure. +Then, naturally enough, I thought of aeroplanes, sailing and circling +like the great hawk, and seeing their prey as surely as he. I never had +the slightest wish to go up in an aeroplane. The hawk seems secure in +his sailing, the aeroplane does not, and I may envy the hawk while +shrinking unaccountably from the aeroplane. But if they can see the +submarine from up there, and can pounce upon it as surely as the hawk +strikes his fish--well, if we had a plague of submarines, it would be a +comfort to see a hawk now and then. And I thought of Jimmy Wales and +Bobby Leverett and Ogilvie searching the waters for that which was not. + +Jimmy has put in here every few days. It is hard to see why, but we have +seen a good deal of Ogilvie and Bobby, and Bobby has seen more or less +of Elizabeth Radnor. She is still rather a mystery to me, a girl that +Mrs. Goodwin chanced upon somewhere, and took a great fancy to. That is +not strange, that Miss Radnor should have been fancied, but it is +strange that Mrs. Goodwin should have taken the fancy, and that she +should have asked her here for an indefinite stay. Mrs. Goodwin did not +use to fancy obscure teachers of athletics or gymnastics or dancing in +girls' schools, and Miss Radnor is or was something of the kind. She may +be giving lessons in dancing to Mrs. Goodwin for all I know--or to +Bobby. It is not of much consequence. If Bobby should really come upon +submarines, it would be of little consequence to him. + +Thinking upon submarines, there came into my head the account that I had +just seen in the London "Times" of the capture of a submarine by a +trawler. As I recollect it, the trawler was going about her business in +the North Sea--a business not unconnected with submarines--when suddenly +a submarine began to emerge from the deep just ahead. The trawler put on +all the speed she had time for, and rammed the submarine amidships, +sliding up on its body half her length, so that the captain found +himself well-nigh stranded near the periscope. Whereupon he called for +an axe, and smashed that periscope into scrap iron and fragments of +glass. The trawler then slid off, and the submarine opened, and the crew +poured forth upon her deck and forthwith surrendered, and the trawler +towed them into an English port. Thinking upon this, I laughed aloud to +the gulls and the hawk. I had refrained from going to Boston to have my +imagination stirred by looking at a parade and listening to the bands! + +To stir my imagination! I had but to picture to myself the destroyer +fight in the Channel on the night of April 20, two English destroyers, +Swift and Broke, against six German destroyers, in the darkness of a +black night; a five-minute battle, but those five minutes crowded full. +Ramming, torpedoing, repelling boarders, fighting with pistols and +cutlases and bayonets, responding to a treacherous call to save--it was +all worthy of the times of Drake. Stir my imagination! I found myself +starting forward and brandishing the hoe, my breath coming fast, and my +eyes, I have no doubt, flashing fire. I laughed again. It was raining. +It had been raining, I suppose, for five minutes at least, and I had not +known it. I gathered up my tools, put them in the shed, and went into +the house to change my clothes, and to consume my pint of milk, while my +daughter, opposite me, consumed hers--and some other things besides. + +After luncheon I put on my rubber boots and went out. It was still +raining, a good hard drizzle from the southeast. It suited me well +enough, and I wandered the shores all the afternoon, or stood in the +shelter of a tree and looked out over the bay. I liked it. There is +something soothing and at the same time stirring in such a day and such +a place. There was a good heavy breeze, and the seas marched, and the +sound of their breaking, and the fresh wet wind on my cheek, and the +gray veil of rain over the rolling water, with not a sail or so much as +a smudge of smoke in sight--well, it is hardly worth while to say how it +affects me. Those who feel as I do will not need to be told, and for +those who do not it would be useless. But man seems a little thing, and +the affairs of man of no importance--absolutely none. + +As the afternoon wore on, the drizzle became less and finally stopped, +although it was still gray. And then the clouds began to break, and I +wandered homeward along the shore, and I climbed the steep path, and sat +me on the seat under my great pine, where I could see the water and the +sun when he was ready to show his face. A long time I sat there, and I +heard no sound from the harbor except the screams of the gulls, and no +sound from the land except the sound of the wind blowing among the +needles of the pine above my head. And at last the gulls were gone, and +the sun peeped out from under the edge of the ragged and scudding cloud, +and I felt a gentle touch upon my arm. And I turned my head and looked, +and there was Pukkie; Pukkie, my little son, my well-beloved. + +I put both arms around him, and I hugged him shamelessly. I was glad to +feel that he hugged me in turn, and hugged me hard. Usually I put my arm +around him gently and surreptitiously, for I would not draw his +attention to the act. I dread the time when he will shrink from my +embraces; but that time does not seem to have come yet. + +"Oh, Pukkie!" I cried. "My dear little son, where in the world did you +come from?" + +He laughed delightedly. "From school," he said; and he nestled against +me. + +"But how did you get here? Your mother went--but have you seen her? +Where is she?" + +He glanced up over my shoulder, and smiled. "Turn around, daddy." + +And there came from over my head a low ripple of laughter, and I looked +up into Eve's lovely, smiling face. She slipped down upon the seat +beside me, and I reached out for her hand, that was already reaching out +for mine, and her fingers clasped mine close. + +"My goodness, Eve," I said, "but I'm glad to have you back--and Pukkie." + +"You're no gladder to have me than I am to get back. I don't ever want +to go anywhere without you, Adam. But I've seen him--seen Joffre--and I +waved with all my might, and I cried. I knew I should." + +"And Pukkie?" + +"Oh, father stopped for him on the way up. He said until the end of the +year was too long to wait, and he'd bring him back in two days. The +headmaster didn't want to let him go, but father generally has his way. +And it began to rain, but we didn't mind." + +"And when you saw Joffre you wept?" + +"Not exactly. There was a young fellow standing in the crowd quietly, +with his arm in a sling. He was hardly more than a boy, and he looked +sick. He had beautiful sombre eyes, with a look in them that--well, as +if he had seen so much, and as if he did not quite understand. You +should have seen his eyes. Like a wild thing. And when Joffre came, I +thought he would go crazy. He waved his cap frantically, and the tears +just streamed out of his eyes, and you should have heard him. Joffre +heard, and saw, and he leaned out of the car, and he saluted that boy. +My! That boy was proud. You can guess--that was when I cried. And we got +him into the car with us. He didn't look able to go far. He was a +soldier who had been with the Canadians over there, a Frenchman by +birth. He told us a little about it, but he didn't seem to want to talk. +He had been wounded, and sick, and had come back over here on sick leave +or something of the kind. And he and Lejeune, the chauffeur, got to +talking, and we took him home. He wants to get back into the fighting as +soon as he can. And when he got out, Lejeune got out too. He was going +to enlist." + +"Left you on the spot?" + +Eve laughed. "Yes," she said, "but I rather guess that it wasn't +unexpected. I shouldn't be surprised if that was what father took him +for. At any rate, father just smiled, and gave them both his blessing, +and told Lejeune to come back when the war was over. And he gave him +some money, and said that they could divide it between them." + +"How much, I wonder?" + +"I don't know how much, but a good deal, considerably more than a +hundred dollars. He had a note already written, too, a 'character,' as +the maids call it, saying that he was a good chauffeur. Then Tom--he had +been getting uneasy--said that he wanted to be in on this too, but he +wasn't so well prepared as father. And he gave them all he had with him, +except a dollar or two. That was too much for the French boy, and he +waved his cap again, and cried, '_Vive la France! Vive l'Amerique!_' +with the tears streaming down his face again. And I cried some more, and +so did Cecily. Oh, I had a lovely time, Adam." + +Eve was laughing again, and pressing closer to me. "That French boy was +a machinist before he went to the war, and Lejeune is a good chauffeur, +and I shouldn't wonder if they'd both get into driving when they get +over there. I hope so. But he wasn't thinking of that, the French boy. +He is ready to go back, when his time comes, and meet his fate with a +high heart. With a high heart, Adam. Oh," she cried, "don't you think it +is stirring--just a little--to the imagination? Don't you?" And she gave +me a little shake. + +I nodded soberly, and hugged Pukkie closer. "I rejoice, Eve," I said +irrelevantly, "that Pukkie is not yet eleven." + +Eve did not reply directly. Her eyes filled with tears, and she drew +Pukkie around between us. "I suppose it is selfish," she said. "If a +French machinist goes--only about eight or nine years older than +Pukkie--and can stir me all up with the idea of it--why--" + +She did not finish, so I did not know what she would have asked. But I +could guess. + +"War is wicked," I said. "There is no novelty in that idea. But if a +wicked war is started, it may be more wicked to keep out of it than to +go in, and there may be more misery involved in keeping out than in +going in. I don't know about this one, and I don't believe that anybody +knows. One thing I do know, and that is that wars will continue to occur +at intervals as long as human nature is what it is. Man is a fighting +animal. When he ceases to be, the time of his fall will have arrived. I +have spoken." + +Eve laughed merrily. "But you have not finished. Go on, oracle." + +"No more from the oracle. Only a purely personal observation. I could go +into the fighting with a sort of a titillation--an unholy joy in +fighting for its own sake, quite apart from any feeling for any cause. I +believe that that is the feeling which animates most men who volunteer +to fight. Of course they choose their side from conviction. At least, it +is to be hoped that they do. But as for the actual combat, there is a +joy in the fight--why, that alone accounts for all our games, at +bottom." + +Eve was looking at me doubtfully. "But, Adam," she said slowly, "you +don't mean to--you aren't going to--" + +I shook my head. "I have no such intention. Make your mind easy. I have +a dependent family. I don't know what you would do without my efforts to +support you. It would be a terrible misfortune if you were cast upon +your father's shoulders. You might starve." + +Eve seemed to be amused. But Pukkie had been getting uneasy, and he +began to squirm. Then he seized my arm. + +"Look, daddy. See that big schooner. I never saw her before. What is +it?" + +I looked. A great white schooner was headed in, and she was almost at +the entrance of the harbor. The wind had fallen light with the approach +of the sun to his setting; the schooner had all her light sails set and +came on fast. Suddenly the light sails began to come off, slacking down, +wrinkling, and gathered in, and stowed, as a man would take off his +coat. Before one was well in another would start slacking down, +wrinkling, gathered in, and stowed, almost as fast as I tell it. That +meant a big crew well trained. All her kites were stowed, and she began +rounding into the wind, letting her jibs go as she came around. She shot +a long way, but stopped at last, and her chain rattled out, and she +began to drift astern. Then her foresail came down steadily, and before +it was down, sailors swarmed out upon the footropes of the mainboom, and +the great mainsail began to come down, slowly and steadily, gathered in +as it came by the men upon the footropes. By the time all her chain was +paid out, and she was finally at rest, all her sails were furled, and +they were getting out the covers. + +A shining mahogany launch was dropped into the water, run back to the +gangway, and a girl ran lightly down the steps. + +"Elizabeth Radnor," said Eve, wondering. "What can she be doing there?" + +"Perhaps the owners take lessons in dancing," I suggested. + +Eve smiled. "She gives lessons in swimming too," she said. + +A man followed Miss Radnor. He seemed strangely familiar. + +"Bobby!" cried Eve. "I think it's funny. I'm sure it's Bobby." + +I was sure it was Bobby. It might be funny, but it was not strange. The +launch made for Old Goodwin's landing at forty miles an hour. + + + + +IV + + +I lay against the bank above my clam beds, with my hands clasped behind +my head, and I gazed up at the whitish blue of the sky, and at the +little floating clouds flecking the blue, and at an occasional herring +gull flying across my field of vision with moderate wing-beats and with +no apparent object, and at the procession of screaming terns busy at +their fishing. For the terns have come, which always marks the change of +season for me, but the winter gulls have not all gone. And I looked at +the tree over my head, and I cast back over the years. I could see the +tree merely by raising my eyes, without raising my head. + +That tree has associations and a history: for under that tree Eve stood +the fifth time that I saw her,--I remember each time,--and it was +raining, a hard drizzle from the southeast, and the water dripped from +her wide felt hat, and shone upon her long coat, and she was smiling. So +that tree has associations for me--and for Eve as well, I believe. And +sundry pairs of rubber boots have been hung in a crotch of it, both +Eve's, and at a somewhat later time, Old Goodwin's; wherefore it has a +history. And here, too, just where my head was pillowed, Eve had sat but +a scant two hours after I had found her out,--I had thought she was a +governess in Old Goodwin's house,--and she had set us both right for +ever. And now there were many happy years behind us, and more happy +years ahead of us, and there were Pukkie and Tidda; but most of all +there was Eve. + +So I lay and drank in the sunshine, and basked in its warmth, and my +mind was a blank save for these pleasant musings. My poor little son! +All of the Sunday that he was here--two days ago--it rained hard. He did +not seem to mind it, but dragged me out in it--he had not such hard work +to get me out. I like the wet well enough, but we have had a long +stretch of cold and wet. But he got me out, and wandered the shore, clad +in his rubber coat, and his rubber boots, and his little sou'wester, and +he watched the white schooner; but on the schooner there was no sign of +life save some sailors standing like statues in their dripping +oilskins, and a man in a pea-jacket and faded old blue cap, who paced +back and forth at the stern, or stood still by the rail for long +periods, and then took up his pacing again. And Pukkie looked up at me +and asked whether I thought he was the captain or the mate, and would +have gone out there in one of Old Goodwin's boats, with me to help him +row. But I refused. It is wet and uncomfortable rowing in a pouring +rain; better standing. + +And he would go up to his grandfather's in the hope of finding Bobby +Leverett. So we went, and we found Bobby sitting on the piazza with the +telescope and Miss Radnor; and Pukkie bearded Bobby in his chair, and +asked him point-blank what he had been doing in that schooner. We had +told Pukkie about the Rattlesnake, and Jimmy Wales and Ogilvie. + +And Bobby grinned at my son, and answered him, if you call it an answer. + +"Sorry not to be able to tell you, Puk, old chap," he said, "but you +know we are enjoined not to publish information of the movements of +vessels, and the plans of the navy are a dead secret. It might give +information to the enemy." And he pointed at me. + +"Do you know the plans of the navy?" asked Pukkie. + +Bobby laughed, and so did Miss Radnor. "I refuse to answer," said Bobby, +"on the ground that it would incriminate me. We may have been out +baiting our traps. Ask your father about it." + +"I don't believe the navy has any plans," I said, "so far as you are +concerned. They just want to make you think that you are busy." + +"Treason!" Bobby cried loudly. "Treason! I'm afraid it's my duty to lay +charges against you, Adam." + +"And I," I retorted, "will expel you from membership in the Clam Beds +Protective Company--if you persist." + +"There!" said Miss Radnor. "How will you like that, Mr. Leverett?" + +"I'll have to give in," Bobby replied. "It's a cruel and unusual +punishment, and therefore unconstitutional, but Adam wouldn't mind a +little thing like that. I am moved by the thought of Eve's grief, +although you wouldn't think that a good sport like Eve would object to a +traitor's taking off. I surrender, Adam. Be merciful." + +Our noise had attracted Old Goodwin, and he joined us. And, thinking +that Bobby might as well be left to the society of the telescope and +Miss Radnor, we left him, we three, and betook ourselves to the shore. +On the white schooner the man in the pea-jacket and old faded blue cap +was still pacing back and forth by the rail, and Pukkie turned to his +grandfather and asked him the question which I could not answer. + +At that moment the man caught sight of Old Goodwin, and waved his arm, +and Old Goodwin answered the wave. + +"That is Captain Fergus, Pukkie. He's the captain. Some years ago he was +captain of vessels that sailed the deep oceans." + +My son was astonished. Captains who sail the deep oceans command his +unbounded respect. I inferred from his reply that skippers of yachts, +even of great white schooner yachts, do not. + +"Was he?" he said. "How does it happen that he is skippering a yacht +then?" + +Old Goodwin laughed his pleasant, quiet laugh. + +"He owns the yacht--or he did. I think it likely that he gave up going +to sea on account of his wife. He was married four or five years ago." + +"Oh, his wife!" my son replied in accents of deep scorn. It was +evidently incomprehensible to him that a man should give up such a +delightful occupation for a mere wife. + +Old Goodwin laughed again. "I'd take you out there if it weren't so +wet. But never mind. She'll be in here again some time when you're at +home." + +Then we wandered the shores until the rain stopped and the sky was a +mass of heavy gray clouds, but the sun did not come out; and Pukkie had +to go in. + +The next morning Pukkie found that the yacht had gone, and Old Goodwin +took him back to school, alone with him in the great car. Pukkie did not +mind going back. He has become acclimated at school, and he likes to +ride with his grandfather, sitting in the front seat with all the clocks +and meters and switches and the little lamps like eyes and the levers +and pedals spread out before him. There is reason to suppose that Old +Goodwin gets some pleasure out of it. That is why neither Eve nor I +went. There is more pleasure for him when they two are alone. Old +Goodwin and his grandson are great chums. + +When I had got to this point in my ruminations, I realized that the +great pebbles under me, although partly cushioned by sand and by the +dried seaweed which had washed up among them, had been getting harder +and harder. I moved, and groaned involuntarily, and sat up--and rubbed +my eyes. There was the white schooner lying quietly at anchor, her sails +all furled and covered, and no movement on her decks. She lay so still +that she seemed immovable; as firmly fixed as the breakwater itself, or +as the Long Stone, or as one of the distant islands, which swam high in +a bluish haze and flickered in mirage. + +I got up slowly, and heard a noise of a rolling pebble; and I turned, +and there was Eve coming along the shore. I went to meet her, and we +came back and sat upon the bank. And Eve looked up at me and smiled, and +her hand went out slowly, and mine met it, and we put our clasped hands +down between us. + +"_Now_ they can't see," said Eve. "Can they?" + +I smiled and shook my head. + +"And it wouldn't make any difference," Eve pursued, "if they could. +Would it? Say quickly, Adam," she cried, shaking our clasped hands in +mid air. "You are too slow. Would it?" + +"No, Eve," I answered, smiling again. Indeed I had not stopped smiling. +"But we might excite envy in their breasts, which is a sin we pray to +be delivered from." + +"Oh, well," she said, "there is nobody to see but Captain Fergus, and he +has not been married long. I love this place, Adam. Do you +remember--here were your pebbles, in the sod just here. And here I sat +when you warned me not to spot my dress,--when I took you for a +fisherman,--and you took me for a governess." + +"Did you think I could forget?" + +And we fell silent, and presently Eve would have me row her out upon the +water, for it was as warm as summer. And, that pleasing me,--although it +would have been enough for me that I was pleasing Eve,--we wandered to +Old Goodwin's stone pier, and took one of his boats, and rowed out. And +I paddled about, having nowhere in particular to go, and we found +ourselves near the great white schooner, almost under her stern; and I +looked up, and read her name, Arcadia, and there was Captain Fergus, in +his faded old blue cap, looking down at us over the rail. His face was +bronzed by sun and wind and rain, and there were little wrinkles about +his eyes after the manner of your seafaring men, and his eyes were of a +deep blue--the blue of the deep sea. They made me think of Old Goodwin's +eyes, although Old Goodwin's eyes are not blue. + +He touched his cap. "Won't you come aboard?" he asked in a deep voice +which made one think of rolling seas and fresh winds and bellying sails. + +"Thank you." I hesitated, and looked at Eve, but she did not wait for +me. + +"We shall be glad to," she said. And she turned to me. "Hurry, Adam, and +row around to the ladder." + +So I got us around to the steps, and there was a sailor with a boat-hook +to hold the boat for us and to take charge of it, and Captain Fergus +waiting at the gangway. And I introduced myself, but Eve did not wait +for introductions, but smiled at him, and said that she thought he knew +her father. + +The wrinkles about Captain Fergus's pleasant eyes deepened. + +"You are very like him," he said. And he led us over to the port side, +toward some chairs from one of which had risen a slender woman, with a +pleasant face and hair beginning to be well streaked with gray, but not +many years older than Eve. Mrs. Fergus, I found, had been Marian Wafer; +had been Miss Wafer for so long that she had become confirmed in the +habit of spinsterhood, and did not find it easy to get out of that habit +now that she was married. + +We settled ourselves in the chairs, and had some pleasant, desultory +talk; and the sun shone, not too brightly, through a bluish haze; there +was hardly a breath of wind to ruffle the calm surface of the bay, and +peace was on the face of the waters. The stillness almost seemed to +drowse and to make a soft noise, like the distant sound of locusts in +August. It soothed us, and the talk died, and we sat motionless and in +silence, gazing out at the distant islands in their misty blue veils, or +at two tiny sails, motionless too, two or three miles away, or, nearer +yet, at an empty expanse of glassy water. + +Suddenly a cat's-paw swept over the surface like a breath over a mirror, +and the shining launch of the Arcadia shot out from Old Goodwin's +landing, and came toward us at great speed; not at forty miles an hour, +for the landing was not far off. She was towing an aquaplane, which +stood very nearly perpendicular in the water, and I saw one man standing +up and steering, and the heads of three or four people showing +occasionally above the deck. The launch itself was at a pretty angle, +with daylight showing under ten feet of her keel, and throwing +cataracts out from either side like a fire engine; and she hid her +passengers until she swerved. She was not bringing her passengers aboard +the Arcadia, for she slackened speed and curved prettily, and drifted +before us, almost within reach, and I saw that the people aboard of her, +besides an officer and a sailor, were Old Goodwin and Elizabeth Radnor +and another girl, a stranger. Miss Radnor and the stranger were clad in +bathing-suits. + +Eve did not seem as much surprised as I should have expected, and she +smiled and spoke to her father and Miss Radnor, and he waved his hand; +and the strange girl arose, stood poised for a moment on the rail, +tossed her arms high above her head, dived overboard and struck out for +the aquaplane. Miss Radnor instantly arose and followed, without +bothering to poise, and they had a race for it. The strange girl swam +well, but Miss Radnor had more power, and she gained. + +Captain Fergus's great voice rang out. "Go it, Olivia! You're almost +there. Once more and more power to you!" + +And Olivia spurted, but got to laughing and lost a stroke; and Elizabeth +Radnor caught her, but she got to laughing too, so that both seized +their goal at the same instant. They drew themselves partly upon it, but +the aquaplane sank under their weight, and the water swirled about their +knees, for the launch was barely moving. But it began to surge ahead, +faster and faster, so that the two girls found a firm support beneath +their feet as they rose carefully. Olivia held two ropes fastened at the +forward corners, and Miss Radnor steadied herself behind, with a hand on +Olivia. + +The launch twisted and turned, and made loops and circles and spirals, +and Olivia still stood straight, like a Greek charioteer, holding the +lines with hands and rigid arms that were beginning to ache; but Miss +Radnor's knees were bending more and more, and she was swaying. And she +laughed. + +"Good-bye, Olivia," she said; and she dived sidewise, and came up again, +and was swimming easily. + +The launch stood in nearer to the schooner, and Olivia staggered as they +turned; but she got her balance, and once more stood straight. And the +launch began to twist and double and turn in loops and circles, faster +and faster. Olivia stood upright for two or three turns, then she began +to sway; and she saw that it was the beginning of the end, and she +stooped quickly, and swung her arms low, then high above her head, and +she gave a spring backward, and turned a half-somersault--and a little +more. + +"Good!" cried Captain Fergus. "A pretty backward dive! Olivia's a good +swimmer--capital. Almost as good as Elizabeth." He turned to us. "Just +wait until you see Elizabeth do some of her stunts. Have you ever seen +her?" + +I smiled and shook my head. "Miss Radnor seems an extremely competent +person--in many ways." + +Captain Fergus looked sharply at me for an instant, then he chuckled as +though there was a good joke somewhere within hail. + +"So she is," he said; "so she is, very competent. She's an able seaman. +Elizabeth's a great favorite of mine, rather more of a favorite than--" + +"Dick!" said Mrs. Fergus warningly. + +"Eh?" He turned to Mrs. Fergus, and smiled the smile that crinkled all +about his pleasant eyes. His eyes smiled too, those eyes of deepest +blue. "I wasn't going to say anything imprudent, Marian, only that +Elizabeth is rather more of a favorite than some others that I could +name. Oh, I'm not going to call any names, Marian. You needn't be +scared. Marian's always afraid," he said to Eve and me, "that I'm going +to be indiscreet, and I've never in my life been indiscreet. Have I, +Marian?" + +Mrs. Fergus laughed. "How should I know? I've no doubt that you have +been, many times. You aren't politic, Dick." + +"Heaven save us!" said Captain Fergus under his breath. "I hope not. +Neither are you, Marian. I don't know of anybody less politic than you." + +Mrs. Fergus laughed again, merrily. "Richard was a sailor for so many +years," she said, "that he can't get out of his sailor's ways." + +"They are good ways," I said. "Don't you think so, Mrs. Fergus?" + +"They are good ways," Mrs. Fergus repeated, looking at her husband, "and +I like them." And Eve smiled across at me. + +The launch had stopped her engine, and was waiting for the two girls. +Elizabeth Radnor reached her first, a white arm shot out of the water +and the hand grasped the gunwale, and Old Goodwin helped her aboard, and +she stood on the deck and dripped. And Olivia came up on the other side, +and Old Goodwin helped her aboard, but she did not stand on the deck to +drip. She jumped into the cockpit, and dripped on the cushions. + +"There!" Mrs. Fergus exclaimed. "If that isn't just like her to run +streams of water on the cushions. Why couldn't she do as Elizabeth does, +and--" + +"Doesn't matter," Captain Fergus growled. "Cushions waterproof, and the +sun'll dry the top in five minutes." + +Mrs. Fergus made a motion of impatience, and there was a slight +compression of her lips. + +"I know that it doesn't really matter," she said, "a little thing like +wetting the cushions--when they could have been kept dry just as easily. +Elizabeth--" + +"It really isn't any matter about the cushions," Captain Fergus +interrupted gently. "Big crew doing nothing--they'll be set to work +presently scrubbing the launch inside and out. What's a little water? +Doesn't hurt anything." + +Mrs. Fergus laughed softly. "You'd let them do anything, Dick,--stick +pins into you--" + +"If it would be any fun for them," said Captain Fergus gruffly, "I guess +I could stand it. What's a pin anyway?" + +Mrs. Fergus laughed again. "You'd find out. But I was really thinking +of the difference in the girls. Elizabeth is naturally considerate, +Olivia is not. Olivia is a good swimmer, of course, and she is pretty +and sweet and attractive, but she has done some outrageous things in the +last three years. Nothing bad, but absolutely inconsiderate." She was +talking to us now more than to her husband. "She swims so well that she +jumps in--or she used to--whenever she feels like it, clothes and all. +Why, she even took her mother's parasol in with her one day. It ruined +the parasol, of course. She was all dressed up for a party, and had on a +lovely dress, with a beautiful old ribbon sash, which was spoiled. +Luckily her dress was a wash dress, but it had to be done up again, and +the Greshams had no money to waste." She broke out in sudden laughter. +"But it was funny, Dick, to see her swimming about, holding the parasol. +Do you remember? At sixteen Olivia Gresham was just a pirate, and she is +more or less of one at eighteen. Look at Jack Ogilvie and the way she +treats him, and he as nice a boy as ever lived." + +"You may look at Jack Ogilvie now," said Captain Fergus quietly, "if you +will raise your eyes. There he comes." + +Accordingly we raised our eyes, all of us, and we saw nothing but those +two tiny sails that I have mentioned, almost in the same place in which +they had been for the last half hour; and a motor-boat, almost hidden +in the haze and very difficult to make out, seeming to be soaring over +the tops of the waves toward us. It must have been five miles away. + +"But, Dick," said Mrs. Fergus, "where is Jack? Is he--" + +"In that motor-boat. Don't you see it? Head on." + +He whistled shrilly. The launch had been lying idly before us, her +engine stopped, and Miss Radnor sat upon the deck with her feet dangling +over the side. At the whistle she glanced down the bay, then looked +around at us and waved her hand. Then she simply straightened out and +slipped into the water feet first, and disappeared. + +"Captain Fergus," asked Eve, "how can you possibly tell who is in that +boat? I can hardly see the boat." + +He laughed. "I can't tell," he said, "of course, because I can't see +any of her crew; but I know the boat, and Ogilvie should be in it." + +"But how can you know the boat? One motor-boat looks much like another +at that distance--to me." + +"I don't know how, but I know the boat. How do you know your friends as +far off as you can see them?" + +And Eve laughed, and she went on marvelling. But Miss Radnor, who had +disappeared so quietly, had not reappeared, and Mrs. Fergus seemed to be +getting anxious. She looked at her husband. + +"Dick," she began, "I wish Elizabeth wouldn't stay under so long. +Where--" + +At that moment a red cap bobbed up on the surface of the glassy water +almost at the side of the yacht, and Miss Radnor laughed up at us. She +swam to a boat swinging at the boom, climbed in and up the little rope +ladder to the boom, and so on deck. + +"Sorry," she called, "to drip on your deck, but I want to dive." + +And she went up the rigging as far as she could go, which was not +far--was not far enough, it seemed. + +"You should have the mainsail up," she said. "I could go up on the +rings. It is such a disappointment! I wanted to try it from the +spreaders." + +"I'll send you up in a sling." And forthwith two sailors came running, +and unhooked a halliard from somewhere, and got out a boatswain's chair, +and hooked it on, and she put her legs through, and they hoisted her up +to the spreaders. She looked very small up there, as she held on to the +spreader, and gingerly got herself out of the chair, and stood up, +holding by the stay. And, still holding on carefully, she pulled on the +halliard with her free hand, until the boatswain's chair was far enough +down again to go down of its own weight. Then she edged out to the end +of the spreader, and got her feet clear of the stay, though how she did +it I could not imagine, holding on to the stay behind her back. But she +did it, and I could see her moving her feet ever so slightly, to get the +right grip. Then, suddenly she let go, and swung her arms up slowly, and +shot outward in a beautiful swan dive that rivalled Annette Kellerman at +her best; and she struck the water as straight as a pikestaff. There was +not much spray when she struck. It reminded me of scaling stones in the +way we used to call "cutting the devil's throat." Her slender body +entered the water with much the same kind of a noise. + +There was nothing shallow about that dive, for she did not come up for a +long time. At last I saw a shadow in the water shooting slowly toward +the launch, and the red cap came floating to the surface as if it were +only a red rubber balloon; and a white arm shot out, and the hand +grasped the gunwale, and again Old Goodwin helped her aboard, and she +sat on the deck and dabbled her feet in the water, as she had before, +but this time she sat beside Olivia. And Jack Ogilvie--if it was he--in +his motor-boat was almost in. I could see the crew of the boat pretty +well, and there was none among them who looked like Ogilvie, except the +one in an ensign's uniform, and Ogilvie was not an ensign. Then the boat +was abreast of the launch, and Elizabeth Radnor turned her head, and +waved and called, and beckoned. + +"Hello, Elizabeth!" the ensign called in return, and the boat began to +turn. "Sorry I wasn't nearer to see your dive, but I saw it pretty well. +You couldn't repeat it for my benefit, I suppose?" + +Elizabeth laughed and shook her head. "Not to-day, Jack." + +So Ogilvie was an ensign. Eve had noted that too. + +"He must be twenty-one, Adam," she whispered, "and he must have had a +birthday. I wish we had known it. I would have had a party for him." + +"Is it too late?" I asked. + +"I'll see about it," she answered, smiling. Eve likes Ogilvie. + +But the motor-boat had stopped not far from the launch. They were near +enough for us to hear pretty well over that quiet water. Ogilvie's crew +tried not to show undue interest. + +"Hello, Olivia," said Ogilvie, standing very straight. He looked rather +wistful, I thought. + +"Hello," she said, neither turning her head nor lifting her eyes. It was +the essence of indifference. "What are you doing here?" + +It was more than indifference. It was as if Ogilvie bored her. My gorge +began to rise, and my color rose a little, I am afraid, and I moved my +chair, so that Eve looked over at me. I felt, I suppose, much as +Captain Fergus did, when he said that Elizabeth was more of a favorite +of his than some others. + +Ogilvie seemed to be familiar with that attitude of Olivia's, for he +smiled faintly, and stepped back. + +"Nothing much," he said; "just cruising--cursing about the bay. Like +Captain Cook, who went cursing about the Pacific Ocean. That's what you +said in school, Olivia. Remember?" + +"If I don't," Olivia flung back petulantly, "it isn't because I haven't +been reminded of it." + +Elizabeth raised her head and sent forth a merry peal of laughter. + +"Oh, Olivia, did you really? When was it? Oh, that's too good to keep." + +Olivia was picking at the deck of the launch. There may have been a +speck of dust there. + +"I suppose I did. It was when I was very small, and the teacher asked me +what Captain Cook did, and 'cruise' looked like 'curse' to me. But if +you ever tell, Elizabeth," she flared out, "I'll never forgive you." + +Once more Elizabeth's laughter rang out. + +"Oh, Olivia! It won't be necessary for me to tell, but I'd almost be +willing to be never forgiven." Then she heard Ogilvie give orders to +start. "Wait, Jack. I can't do my dive over again, but Olivia and I will +show you some aquaplaning. Won't we, Olivia?" + +Olivia shook her head. "I don't believe I want to." + +"Very well, then. I'll do it all by myself. I see you've got it, Jack. +Congratulations!" + +At that Olivia looked up. "Got what? Oh, a new uniform. Captain Ogilvie, +I suppose." + +But Elizabeth had slid into the water, and Olivia slid in from the other +side of the launch, and Ogilvie waited, but the launch did not. +Elizabeth was swimming under water, as seemed to be her habit, and the +launch had quite a little way on before the red cap emerged. She had +heard it, of course, and had calculated very nicely, and came to the +surface just as the aquaplane was going by; and she seized it and swung +herself upon it, and landed standing on her feet. It was like the centre +ring in a circus; and it made me think more and more of that centre +ring, and of great white horses cantering around it, as Elizabeth went +through the most extraordinary feats of agility and skill, diving off +and jumping on again as it seemed with but a quirk of her wrist, making +the aquaplane do the work for her. And to end the exhibition the launch, +which had been doing a modest ten miles an hour, went up to twenty-five, +and the aquaplane stood nearly straight, and bounced around, with sudden +sidewise jumps and swerves and jerks. It was no longer the great white +horse cantering around the ring, but a balky, bucking horse that gave +Elizabeth some trouble. I could see how carefully she was balancing with +bent knees that gave to every jump, and brought it back again. But when +the launch began to twist and turn and loop she could not keep her +balance for very long. She knew she could not, and before she had more +than begun to lose it she laughed aloud, and she gave a spring straight +up, and turned backward in the air, and entered the water behind the +aquaplane, straight and true. As a backward dive it surpassed Olivia's +as you would expect the finished performance of a professional acrobat +to surpass the best attempts of an amateur. + +In watching Elizabeth's performance I had entirely forgotten Olivia, and +so had all the others, unless Ogilvie had not. I cannot speak for him. +If he had forgotten he was quickly to be reminded, for suddenly about +half a bucket of water shot up and drenched his cap and his new uniform. + +He smiled quietly, and bent forward and looked into the mocking eyes of +Olivia. + +"Thank you, Olivia," he said, the water dripping from his cap and his +coat. "Was that intended as a christening?" + +Olivia made no reply, but turned and swam to the launch. Elizabeth was +climbing aboard, and sat in her old place on the deck, her feet +dangling. + +"Was it a good show, Jack?" + +"It was worthy of you, Elizabeth. I can't give any higher praise. Thank +you very much. You have given me a great deal of pleasure. You are +always giving other people pleasure. Good-bye." + +And he waved his hand to the launch and then to us, and his motor-boat +went on her business up the harbor, whatever that business was. + +Captain Fergus looked after him thoughtfully. + +"Now, I wonder," he remarked, "why he didn't come aboard. He ought to +want to see me." + +I had got up with him, and we were standing at the gangway. The launch +came nosing around, with the two girls enveloped in raincoats. Olivia +had recovered her spirits. She stood up, and saluted with a stiff +finger. + +"Here's a load of lumber for you, Captain Fergus," she said. "Will you +have it aboard? Where will you have it stowed?" + +Captain Fergus looked grimly at her, and shook his head slowly, but his +eyes, looking out from the shadow of the shiny visor of his old blue +cap, were pleasant and smiling and humorous. The little wrinkles about +them deepened. + +"Don't you know better," he growled sternly, "than to bring me wet +lumber? I can't take it. You'll have to take it ashore and dry it." + +"Aye, aye, sir," said Olivia; and she sat down, and I regret to say that +she giggled. + +I had gone down the steps, and I was regarding a red rubber cap and a +dun-colored raincoat. The red cap was pulled well down over the ears, +concealing entirely the colors of Eve's great beaver muff. I spoke. + +"Miss Radnor," I said, "what have you done with Bobby?" + +She looked up quickly, and her eyes met mine frankly. They--hers, not +mine, my eyes being nothing to look at, only to see with; but +hers--they were hazel, I should guess, and they were veiled mischief as +they looked into mine. + +"Bobby?" she asked. "Mr. Leverett? Oh, we transferred him yesterday. We +took him down in the Arcadia. We'll take you some day soon." + +I have no wish to be transferred. But I do not wonder that Bobby is much +taken with Elizabeth Radnor. + + + + +V + + +Tilling the soil, if the man who tills be working alone, tends to +reflection,--provided that man possesseth wherewith to reflect,--and it +promotes straight and simple thinking, thoughts which may be straight +and true or they may not; but the thoughts of the tiller of the soil are +more likely to be straight and true than the thoughts of the same man +riding in a motor-car or working on the twenty-fifth floor of an office +building. If such a man be the president of the company it is one thing; +he may be puffed up with the pride of a little brief authority or he may +be the simple, true man that Old Goodwin is. His sense of the values of +things must be warped and distorted unless he tills the soil at times or +does something that is equivalent, like sailing the deep blue oceans, +where there is so very little between him and the workings of nature; +and I do not mean sailing as a passenger in an ocean steamer or a yacht, +in which he will have as little to do with the workings of nature as he +would in a great hotel. + +In such a man the sense of values must be distorted nearly as much, +though in a different way, as that of a man who sits at one of an +interminable row of desks, on another floor of the same office building, +from eight-thirty in the morning until five in the afternoon, with an +hour for luncheon; and knows himself to be but a cog in a huge machine, +a cog which can and will be replaced as soon as it gives a sign of +running unsmoothly. What a dreadful thought that you are but a cog in a +machine! How very dreadful it must be to realize that you are growing +old and are still nothing but a cog! How pregnant of rebellions, little +futile rebellions! And how it must tear the very soul of that man to +know beforehand that his rebellions must be little and futile! I can +understand that a man in that state would welcome death; that he would +be stood up against a wall and shot rather than go back to that desk of +the interminable row--number thirteen, it might be. But there is nobody +to stand him up against a wall. They will have none of him. He is too +old. Too old to be shot, although he may have fighting instincts +stirring fiercely within him. So they take his son, it may be, and he +goes back to his desk. There is no escape for him. They will not even +let him die as a man should in these times. Life is a series of +disappointments, and the last is the most bitter. Hope takes herself +away until he can hardly see her through the fog. + +I was thinking such thoughts as these, leaning on my hoe. I had come out +early to work in my garden, and I would start the planting of a row, and +the next thing I knew I would find myself standing--or squatting, in +accordance with my most recent activity--and gazing out over the waters +of the bay, dreaming and musing of the bitterness of disappointment, or +of little souls clothed with authority, or of Old Goodwin, and of men +like him--if there are such. Old Goodwin's is not a little soul. The +first time that I thought on such things and lost myself in thinking, I +was using my wheel hoe on the ground between the rows of corn and peas +and beans. A wheel hoe is not a thing to lean on, but it fails you when +you most need its support, and gives way under you and brings your +thoughts to earth with a thump--and you as well, if you are not used to +its vagaries and careful. So I took my hand hoe. It is friendly and will +bear me up. + +It was the twenty-sixth of May, and I had much planting to do, but I did +not do it. I thought upon what had happened in the past few days, and I +worked my wheel hoe. Wheel-hoeing does not interfere with my thinking. +I believe I could do it in my sleep. I have only to walk along slowly, +and to work my arms back and forth at every step, and unless the ground +is very hard I can think perfectly. My corn showed as little +yellowish-green tubes about an inch and a half long, just poked through +a couple of days before, it was so cold early in the month; and it has +not come up well. As I ran the hoe along beside the row, it was a rank +of soldiers--soldiers of the first line. There were great gaps in the +line. There have been many gaps, and there will be many more. It has not +chanced to hit any friends of mine yet, but it will. + +Then I thought upon the report of ten days before, that seven German +submarines had been destroyed at sea on their way over here. It was +gratifying to know that they had been destroyed, but the report was +strangely disquieting to me. If they had sent a fleet of seven, they +might send as many more. There was food for thought in that. I had seen +no further mention of the matter in the papers, and most probably the +report was untrue, but it set me thinking, and I wondered whether the +information would not be considered of value to the enemy. If no report +of their destruction had been published, Germany might not have known of +it for weeks. Weeks of freedom for us knocked in the head by the +newspapers. + +And I was through with the corn, and had come to the beans, strange +grotesque, misshapen things, pushing out of the ground like toads. Some +of them were not through yet, but were raising great clods of earth, +leaving holes which looked for all the world like toad-holes. There were +two that looked like sinking ships. And I thought upon the report of a +great naval battle, with many of our ships sunk. I do not believe it. In +fact, I have heard vaguely of a denial by our Navy Department. And my +eye was caught by a flash of scarlet near some trees by my wall, and +there was a tanager. I stopped my hoeing and stood still and watched. It +is some years since I have seen a tanager. He flew about in little short +flights, aimlessly it seemed, from one low branch to another, then upon +the ground, then back to a tree again, paying no attention to me +standing like a scarecrow in my garden. Then he perched high and sang +his cheerful song, very like a robin's. If I were not noticing nor +thinking about it, I might think it a robin's--if I gave it a thought. I +have heard that tanagers have been seen this spring in places where they +have never been seen before. I have never seen one here, and I hoped +this one would stay. + +And then that talking machine of my neighbor's began reciting something +in a loud voice--"Cohen at the telephone" or some such thing--and my +tanager flew away, and I went savagely to my hoeing again. And I thought +again of that obsolescent man who is too old to be shot, but not too old +to be condemned to a ball and chain; and whose son they have taken while +they have scornfully rejected him. And he would fight if they would let +him. How he would fight! For there is nothing left for him but to choose +the best death he can get. He may not be free even to do that. The +father of Jack Ogilvie may be just such a man. I stopped again, and +stood holding the handles of my hoe and looking off to sea, and thought +of Ogilvie and Bobby and Jimmy Wales going to and fro upon the waters +seeking that which is not. + +I grasped my hoe handles more tightly, and turned my head, and looked at +the dirt before me, and pushed my hoe savagely. What care I how they go +to and fro upon the waters? I wander the shores, and I dig my clams, and +I am content. But am I? And as I had got to this point in my +meditations, from my neighbor's window came the rich voice of Harry +Lauder singing "Breakfast in bed on Sunday morning." I smiled to +myself--there was nobody to see me if I chose to smile at an +absurdity--and my hoe went more and more slowly, for there was no power +behind it. And I listened shamelessly to Harry Lauder's last whisper and +his last mellow laugh, so that I did not hear the light steps behind me; +but I heard the voice that I loved. + +"Adam! Adam!" said the voice, chiding. "Listening to Harry Lauder--and +enjoying it! Take shame to yourself." + +And I turned, and saw Eve, and Tidda with her. Eve was smiling, and I +smiled back at her. + +"Surely, Eve," I said, "a man may rest when he is weary. And if my +neighbor choose to have a talking machine spouting out of his window, I +cannot stop him. I wish I could. Imagine Judson with a talking machine!" + +"I can imagine it very easily. The dear old man would have enjoyed it, I +am sure. And if it gives them pleasure, Adam--why, some of the things +give you pleasure. You needn't try to deny it." + +"I don't, Eve. I deny nothing. But some of the things are--" + +Eve nodded. "Yes," she said, "some of them certainly are. But they +needn't bother you much." + +At that moment we heard a giggle from somewhere on the other side of the +wall, and something came whizzing. It was nothing but an old rotten +piece of wood, and it fell short, but it stirred Tidda. + +"I'm going after that Sands girl," she cried. "She shan't fire old +pieces of wood at us." And she set off at top speed straight for the +wall. Tidda is not becoming obsolescent. + +I would have stopped her. + +"No," Eve said. "Let her go. It can't do any harm." She dismissed the +matter from her mind. "Tell me, Adam, what made you so savage as we were +coming up. What were you thinking about?" + +I laughed rather shamefacedly. "It was of no consequence, Eve. I was +thinking that life, for some people, is just one disappointment after +another." I must remember that Eve has pacifist tendencies. + +Eve looked up at me with sober eyes. + +"Were you thinking of anything in particular?" + +"Of the unimportant men in a great office with long rows of desks and +endless routine; especially of men who are growing old in it and can see +no escape. I was thinking of the same thing, I remember, on Wednesday, +down on the shore. It was a driving drizzle from the northeast, and +gray, with rolling seas. It made the round of an office seem so futile +and so useless. I envied Jimmy and Bobby and Ogilvie, off on patrol. I +would have liked to be on patrol myself." + +"Would you?" asked Eve. There was speculation in her eyes--and something +else that I had seen there before. I could not fathom it. "How many of +the men in the office--the men who are growing old--would exchange the +comforts of the office for a driving drizzle out of the northeast, and +gray and rolling seas--and a motor-boat? Not one in ten." + +"It was that one I was thinking of." + +Eve looked away from me and nodded slowly. + +"Can't you leave your gardening? Come and sit down." + +So I left my tools in the field, as a poor farmer leaves his tools where +he has last used them in the fall, the plough beside the furrow, and the +mowing-machine and the horserake at the edge of the meadow; and in the +spring he is sorrowful, and wonders and bemoans the winter. And Eve took +my hand in hers, and we went to my great pine and sat us down upon the +bench. And, behind us, came Tidda over the wall, dragging the reluctant +Sands girl, who giggled and held back; and they sat by the hole that is +scooped in the ground and lined with great stones, for they would play +at having a clambake. The chatter of our daughter's tongue was like an +accompaniment; and nobody pays any attention to an accompaniment. + +"Now, Adam," said Eve, "for the important business. You know we decided +that Jack Ogilvie must have had a birthday, or he would not have got his +commission. I have been making inquiries. He did; and I find that +everybody can come next Saturday, probably,--a week from to-day." + +Eve looked thoughtful and counted up on her fingers, which I released +for the purpose--"the second of June. Do you think, Adam," she went on, +"that clams will be ripe on the second of June?" + +I laughed. "We can see. But many things will be lacking which belong to +a clambake. Do you want me to issue a call to the Clam Beds Protective +Company?" + +"Oh, yes, Adam. How will it run? To assemble, at their armory,--that is +the bank above the clam beds,--in uniform, with arms and accoutrements, +an hour before low tide. When will that be? But never mind. And shall I +tell father?" She glanced toward the hole scooped in the ground. "He +will be glad to--but mercy on us, Adam, where is Tidda?" + +She sighed and started to her feet. I laughed, and pointed along the +shore. + +"Stole away," I said. Tidda and the Sands girl were picking their way +among the great pebbles of the shore, Tidda with light feet skipping +from pebble to pebble, the Sands girl going more cautiously and +clumsily. + +Eve sighed again. "We may as well follow. There is no knowing what they +will be up to next." + +So I rose and we turned to follow, and there was Elizabeth Radnor not +ten steps away, smiling and regarding us with friendly eyes. As she drew +near her eyes looked gray-green, not hazel, calm and humorous and +knowing. Perhaps they are of the changeable kind. I have seen changeable +eyes before. I would like to know what thoughts lie behind those eyes to +give them their peculiar light. And at a guess I think that Bobby would +give something to know. But they were friendly eyes, and they gave you a +look that was straight and true. + +"Oh, Elizabeth,"--Eve has got that far with her, which is in her favor. +I have never yet known Eve to be deceived in people--"Oh, Elizabeth, we +have to go after Tidda, just along the shore. Will you come? Tidda leads +us a chase. Her spirit of adventure will lead her into trouble." + +Elizabeth laughed. We were descending the steep path to the shore. + +"I'm afraid I had a spirit of adventure as great as Tidda's," she said; +"fortunately no disaster happened to me, although I must have been +rather a trial to my mother. And as to going into the water when I +shouldn't--why, I was in the water all the time--whenever I could get +in. You see the unhappy result. We were poor, you know; in what is +called straitened circumstances. My father died when I was a little tot, +and we never had a maid until a few years ago. You go on in your own +way. It is pretty sure to be right." + +I do not know whether Eve thought Elizabeth was referring to the path, +but she turned and began to descend again. + +"I'm glad you think so," she flung back over her shoulder, "but I am not +so sure. I really think that it would be better for Tidda if she were +left more to her own devices--she has plenty--but I just can't do it." + +We had got down to the shore, and Elizabeth turned to me. + +"I am always saying things," she said, "that I don't mean. It is one of +the results of too much freedom." + +"So am I," I replied, "and this is one of them." + +And Elizabeth looked at me queerly, and laughed suddenly, and looked +away. I wondered if she understood. I wondered further about her. A +reputation for unconsidered speech is the best of protections for +secrets. I did not believe that she was generally guilty of unconsidered +speech. And we had come to the clam beds, but the bank was too wet to +sit on, and we stood around until I found some stones that were dry, and +we sat on the stones in a row, like three crows. Eve said nothing to +Tidda and the Sands girl, but watched them as they pulled off their +stockings. And, Tidda having trouble with hers, as usual, Eve got up +from her stone and helped her. + +While Eve was busy with stockings, I spoke. + +"Miss Radnor," I said, "what--" + +She was gazing fixedly at the water over the clam beds--there was about +a foot of it--and her thoughts were far away. But at the sound of her +name she started almost imperceptibly, and looked at me, and smiled. + +"My name is Elizabeth," she said, interrupting. "Perhaps you didn't know +it. Yes, that is a hint." + +Her eyes were like deep pools under a summer sun, and all sorts of +colors played over them, flashing and sparkling gently and merrily, so +that there was no telling what depths lay beneath, or what in the +depths--except humor. They seemed to be looking always for a joke, and +usually finding one too good to tell. What else they were looking for I +did not know, but there was something. + +"Thank you," I replied. "I take hints on occasion. And my name is Adam. +That is a hint too. If you can reconcile the use of it with the respect +due to age,--to a man too old to fight,--I shall be glad. It is a very +old name and quite respectable." + +She nodded and laughed. "Thank you, Adam. But you were going to ask me +something." + +"I was going to ask you, Elizabeth, if you know what has become of +Bobby. We haven't seen him for a long time." + +The pools flashed and sparkled once more. "Why do you ask me? Am I +Bobby's keeper?" + +"You seemed to be. And you transferred him, and we haven't seen him +since." + +"Captain Fergus transferred him. I have no doubt that he will turn up in +time." + +Eve had finished with the stockings, and she came and sat down again +upon her stone, while the children splashed noisily into that foot of +water. Tidda had a stout stick, and she began immediately to poke about +with it. + +"Who will turn up in time?" asked Eve. "What are you talking about?" + +"Bobby," I answered. "I wish I could share Elizabeth's faith. I must +notify Bobby." + +"I think you will have an opportunity," said Elizabeth, "if you have a +little patience." + +"I will notify you meanwhile, Elizabeth. The Clam Beds Protective +Company meets here next Saturday at nine o'clock. In uniform, with arms +and equipment. If you lack anything, speak to Eve. I'm sorry to make it +quite so early, but the tide, you know--and Eve has set the day." + +"I'm going to have a birthday party for Jack Ogilvie, Elizabeth. It's a +little late, but I didn't know in time, and Jimmy and Bobby and Ogilvie +can come then, I think. I wish you'd tell me something more about him." + +"About Jack? What shall I tell you? I've known him always, since he was +knee-high to a grasshopper. He's as good as there is made. His family +are nice people, with a very moderate income, just about enough to keep +them going, and not enough to put him through college, although they +would be willing to sacrifice a good deal to do it. But Jack prefers to +put himself through, and he was doing it very well until he went into +the navy. He has been preparing for that for a year or more. He doesn't +make nearly as much in the navy, even as an ensign--but I don't know +about that. I guess he does. An ensign's pay is pretty good for a boy of +twenty-one." + +"And his father," Eve pursued; "what does he do? Is he in some great +office, grinding away for Jack?" + +Elizabeth smiled again. "No. He is a country doctor, and a very good +one. I don't know what the town would do without him. But a country +doctor, you know, can't make much." + +"I'm glad," said Eve. + +"Why? Because he can't make much?" + +Eve laughed. "Glad that he's a doctor. I wish I could manage to swell +his income." + +Tidda and the Sands girl had been pursuing the elusive clam with some +success. Tidda's hands were full of clams which she had dug out with the +stick and her hands, burrowing into the sand and mud under the water, +and her skirt was wet, and her sleeves were wet nearly to the shoulder. +I called Eve's attention to that fact as she splashed out, ran to the +bank, and deposited her clams in an old rusty tin can with jagged edges, +which she drew from some hiding place evidently in familiar use. She +must have done that same thing many times, and this was the first that +we knew of it. + +Eve glanced up and smiled. + +"Never mind, Adam. Let them have their fun. I'll put dry clothes on her +when we get home." Then she turned again to Elizabeth. "And Olivia," she +said, "is--" + +"I think," said Elizabeth, interrupting, "that Olivia is coming now." + +As she spoke there was a slight rustling in the path through the +greenery, and Olivia emerged upon the edge of the bank. She was stepping +lightly, diffident and hesitating, a hand over her heart. It was like a +young doe coming out of the woods. + +"Oh!" she said. "I beg your pardon." + +And Elizabeth laughed silently, mostly with her eyes; but Eve rose and +went to meet Olivia. + +"What's the joke, Elizabeth?" I asked in her ear. "Tell me, won't you?" + +She turned merry eyes to mine. "Olivia's the joke," she said. "I can't +explain, but if you knew her as well as I do--" + +She did not finish, for Eve was speaking. + +"We were just thinking of you, Olivia." + +"How very nice of you! May I come?" + +She advanced--still with that diffident and hesitating step like a +doe's. I got up and offered her my stone. + +Olivia looked startled; but Olivia had a way of looking startled, so it +seemed. + +"Oh," she protested, "oh, I don't want to take your seat." + +"Don't feel that you are putting me to an inconvenience," I said. "That +stone is harder than it was. I am sorry that we can offer you nothing +better than a stone, but it is all we have." + +And Olivia laughed politely, and took my stone, and looked about. + +"Clams!" she cried. "I have dug clams." + +"Many?" I asked. + +Olivia looked up at me and laughed again. "Oh, a good many," she +replied, "in all sorts of places; and baked them too." + +"A recruit for our company," I said, looking at Elizabeth and Eve. +"Will you join the company?" I asked Olivia. + +"I shall be glad to," she answered. "What is it?" + +And Eve laughed, and I explained, and Olivia seemed delighted. But +Elizabeth was more amused than ever. + +"What is it now, Elizabeth?" + +"Olivia knows," said she. + +"Elizabeth!" Olivia cried from her stone. "I didn't either come for--" + +She stopped suddenly, her hand over her mouth. + +"If she came for that purpose, Elizabeth," I said, "she is to be +commended. Do you think that Captain Fergus and Mrs. Fergus would join? +Would you speak to them about it?" + +And Elizabeth signified that she would, and there was other noise in +the path through the greenery, a noise which was something more than a +rustling, and Old Goodwin appeared, and behind him came Bobby. When +Bobby appeared, I looked hard at Elizabeth, but I could detect no sign +of confusion. She is so sunburned and tanned that a flush would not show +anyway. + +"What did you tell me about Bobby, Elizabeth?" + +She looked up. "I don't remember. Nothing that wasn't true." + +Her eyes were filled with light, but she veiled them quickly, and Bobby +wandered over to us. Old Goodwin had sat him down on the bank, and Tidda +had put into his hands some more clams dripping mud, and was asking his +advice, her elbows on his knees; and he listened soberly and with +interest. + +Eve told Bobby of the meeting of our company for the next week and the +party. + +He turned to me. "Doesn't that notice have to be in writing?" he asked. + +I shook my head. "You'd better accept it. The whole company will turn +out. It's to be a party for Ogilvie--birthday party." + +And Olivia pricked up her ears at that, and listened shamelessly while +Eve told Bobby about it. + +"That's very good of you, Eve," he said, when she had finished. "I'll +tell Jimmy, and I'll get word to Ogilvie. We can come unless something +turns up. Something may turn up, you know, at any minute. We never +know. If a fleet of submarines should get over here, and should start +getting caught in our traps we'd have to go." + +"Traps all set, Bobby?" I asked. + +"Set but not baited," he replied. "I'm looking for bait now, +likely-looking little pigs, Adam, and for somebody to feed 'em, and keep +'em squealing. It would be interesting work, and a pleasant sail every +day. If you were really patriotic you'd be glad to do that much for your +country. But you won't. I see it in your eye. I'll have to do it +myself." + +And he heaved a prodigious sigh, and turned to Elizabeth and Olivia, and +he began to talk lightly with them; and Olivia's face was all eagerness +and light and gentleness. She was beautiful so. Bobby noticed it, and +smiled at her, and talked to her for a minute or so, and she listened +in a sort of silent rapture, which Elizabeth observed. And Bobby, +glancing at Elizabeth, saw the changing light in those two deep pools, +and saw her half-smile of amusement, and forgot what he was saying to +Olivia, and stopped. + +"You know, Miss Radnor," he said, forgetting the rest of us, "I have to +go in half an hour." It was a sort of challenge. + +She nodded, still smiling that half-smile of amusement. "I know." + +"Well?" + +Thereupon Eve rose quietly from her stone, and dragged Olivia up from +hers, much against her will, and they wandered off to see the children +at their clamming; but she gave me a significant look as she went. So I +obediently drifted off along the shore. I was sorry to go, for I would +have liked to hear what followed. And I drifted back again, and to and +fro, like a shadow, but always Bobby was talking earnestly to Elizabeth, +and Elizabeth looked up at Bobby, and laughed and shook her head. And at +last Elizabeth rose, and they two wandered off down the shore toward Old +Goodwin's stone pier. I caught a word or two of Bobby's as they went. I +thought he was asking her what she was. "What are you?" was all I heard; +and she replied, very probably, that she was a teacher of swimming and +dancing. And she turned and waved her hand to us, and they were gone. + +Then Eve stirred, and called Tidda, who came hugging close her old tin +can dripping mud down upon her dress. Olivia was already on the path to +the great house, but Old Goodwin turned back. + +"Adam," he said, smiling, "I have retired from business. I thought you +might like to know. It seemed as good a time as any." + +It was what I have been urging upon him these ten years. + +"There will be enough to keep me occupied," he added, answering my +unspoken question. "A matter that I have in mind. I will tell you about +it soon." + +And he turned again, and was gone up the path. + +I walked with Eve along the shore, and I wondered. I must have been +mistaken in those words of Bobby's. How could he have asked her that? + + + + +VI + + +On that second day of June it befell that I was stirring early, and I +was out at dawn, for I had much to do; but I did not do it then, as I +had meant. When I was come out into the fresh breath of morning, and was +walking over the dewy grass to my shed, of a sudden my soul was drenched +with the sense of a great truth, even as my feet and legs were drenched +with dew. And the truth was this: All work is useless. It is but a waste +of time that might be better spent in watching the sun come up through +the mists of morning to rule over his kingdom; or in seeing him sink +behind the bearded hills in the golden haze of evening. At either time +the old earth is at peace, and the waters stilled or just waking, but +the dawn is the better. I would contemplate the majesty of the sunrise +and consider upon it. It restoreth my soul. + +So my cares slipped from off my shoulders as a garment, and I turned my +steps to the steep path, and came to the shore, and over the sand and +pebbles to my clam beds at the point; and I hurried, for I would not +miss the rising of the sun. But I did miss it, and saw the sun shining +through a thick haze, with his lower edge just risen out of the sea. The +tide was high, and the waters whispered gently at my feet, and stretched +away in all manner of opalescent colors until, toward the south, they +were lost in a tender pearl-gray that seemed to cover everything. + +One needs to be alone at such a time; alone or with one other. And Eve +had not divined my intention any more than I had, but she had been +sleeping sweetly, with one white arm curved above her head upon the +pillow, and she had smiled in her sleep, and I had withdrawn cautiously +and quietly. She supposed that I would be working at my preparations. +Working! And I laughed silently to myself. But I wished that I had known +what I should do. Perhaps she would not have minded being waked. + +So I stood there, scarcely moving, looking out into that tender +pearl-gray, until the sun was half an hour high or more. Some of the +magic was gone, and I knew that it was to be hot; hot and moist and +sticky. And a fisherman crawled out into the bay, and then another, +their sails hanging in wrinkles. They were not afraid of submarines. Who +could be afraid of submarines in that quiet, opalescent water, that +pearl-gray haze? Submarines there! + +I laughed and turned away. Work no longer seemed so useless a waste of +time. I must be at mine. There are many things to be seen to besides the +digging of clams. I marched back along the shore, and up the path, and +through the wet grass. The grass must be cut. Usually I keep it cut, but +there is a dearth this year of men who work by the day, and I can get no +man to help me. What is done I shall have to do myself. + +So I came to the hole scooped in the ground just without the shadow of +my pine, and I cleared it out, the accumulation of the winter, down to +the lining of great stones. And I brought out the plain wooden benches, +and the great pine planks laid on wooden horses, to serve as tables, and +I set them in their places, and I rubbed the tops of the tables till +they were all shining white. And a big wagon came with a load of +seaweed--rockweed--all fresh and wet and dripping, its little brown +bladders soft and swollen, and the load of wet weed was dumped in a +slippery pile. There were chickens also to come, and lobsters, and fish, +whatever kinds the fishermen brought in, but no bluefish caught in the +bay these many years; and many loaves of brown bread. But all those +things would come later, and I had no concern with them save to bake +them--but not the brown bread. So I looked about, and seeing all things +done that were to do at that time, I went in to breakfast. + +I was restless, and dragged Eve out, and we went prowling along the +shore, although it yet lacked an hour of the time set for the assembling +of our company; but there was Old Goodwin leaning against a tree above +the clam beds, gazing out over the water. + +I followed his gaze, and I saw his ocean steamer lying there, at anchor. +She had come in since sunrise, for the water then had been empty of +steam yachts. And men were swarming over her rail and were getting +settled upon stagings--planks--that hung there. + +Old Goodwin turned to us. "Good-morning," he said, smiling his quiet +smile of peace. + +"Good-morning," I returned. "It seems like afternoon to me. It is a long +time since sunrise. Your boat wasn't there then. What are they doing to +her? Painting a gold band around her?" + +He smiled once more. "No gold," he said. "She needed paint. I thought +that gray would be a good color. It wears well, and doesn't show +bruises." + +"He has given her to the navy," Eve whispered. Her eyes were shining. + +"I thought I might as well," said Old Goodwin as if apologizing. "I have +given up New York--for a time anyway--and shall not need her. That is +the matter I spoke of. I shall want your advice, Adam." + +"Now?" I asked. "It is rather sudden." + +He laughed. "Not now. There is hardly time. There comes the Arcadia." + +I had seen her looming through the haze. She seemed to be coming +rapidly, and there was little wind. I mentioned it. + +"Fergus had a motor put in her this year," Old Goodwin answered. "He +hated to. Said it was spoiling a beautiful boat, but he had to do it." + +Then there was a noise up the path, and Tom Ellis appeared with Cecily. + +"Hello, people," he said. "Are we the first? I was afraid we would be, +but I couldn't hold Cecily any longer." + +Cecily smiled. "Don't take any notice of him, Eve, and he'll run down +pretty soon." + +"And," Tom went on, "Cecily could have painted for another half hour and +earned fifty dollars more. You see what a sacrifice I have made for +you." + +"And your country." + +"Country comes first, doesn't it, Adam? Ought to, but I'm afraid the +clams had a good deal to do with it. What do you think of my uniform?" + +Tom had on the worst looking clothes that I have ever seen on a +respectable man who did no work. They were soaked with a mixture of oil +and grease and dirt, and spattered with mud, which covered them in great +patches here and there, and one sleeve of his coat was torn nearly off. +It looked as if a machinist, in his oily jumper, had rolled in wet clay. +His rubber boots were those of a mixer of mortar and concrete. + +"I am lost in admiration, Tom," I said. "The others will hardly be able +to equal that." + +"No," Tom returned proudly; and he threw down his rake. He had brought +an instrument very like a potato digger, a short-handled rake with huge +tines. "The only private, you know. I thought my uniform ought to have +distinction. Cleaned up Mr. Goodwin's cars for the purpose." Old Goodwin +laughed suddenly at that. "Then I whitewashed the henhouse, with this +artistic result. It's quite fun whitewashing henhouses. Ever try it, +Adam? Did it with a pump and hose. Whitewash on the windows is an inch +thick." + +I laughed. "I have had that pleasure in the distant past, and I don't +want any more of it. But you have not accounted for the mud." + +Tom surveyed the mud and shook his head. + +"Can't account for it," he said. "Haven't been near any mud. I can't +imagine how it got there, unless Cecily borrowed the clothes. But this +party, Adam, is a sort of farewell party for me. I've enlisted. I go +to-morrow." + +"Go to-morrow!" I cried. "Where? And what have you enlisted for?" + +"That is somewhat ambiguous as a question, but I will answer all its +meanings. I've enlisted because my country needs me. All the posters +say so. That one of the old gentleman in the star-spangled hat looking +right at you and pointing right at you, and saying, 'Your country needs +YOU,' or words to that effect, was what got me finally. I couldn't get +away from it. He was pointing at me and looking at me, wherever I went. +And I've enlisted for four years, and--" + +"Four _years_!" gasped Cecily, wide-eyed. "You never told me that, Tom." + +"Didn't I? It must have been an oversight, Cecily. You won't mind, will +you? And I've enlisted to go to Newport and drive some admiral or other +around in a large gray car. Oh, it's not half bad. When the submarines +begin to school off Nantucket, perhaps they'll let me go out there once +in a while and get a load." + +"Tom," said Eve, patting his arm, her eyes shining again, "I think it's +splendid. I could kiss you for it." + +"Wait, Eve, until Cecily's not around," Tom whispered; "and perhaps Adam +could be spared. _Then_, if you like--" + +"I'm going to Newport to-morrow," Cecily broke in decidedly. "I'm going +to _live_ there." + +"Oh, I say!" said Tom. And Old Goodwin offered to take them both over +next day in his new car, and let Tom drive. And he offered further to +ferry Cecily back and forth as often as she liked, and to lend them a +car if they wished. + +So everybody was happy,--excepting perhaps Tom and Cecily,--and the +Arcadia was just rounding to her anchorage, and we watched while the +shining mahogany launch put off. But, before coming in, the launch went +slowly along the whole length of Old Goodwin's ocean steamer. I could +see Captain Fergus looking at the work as though he were inspecting it, +and once he boomed forth a question, which was answered as if he had a +right to ask it, and then the launch made for the landing. + +I wondered at it, but I wondered more at Eve. For Eve has pacifist +leanings, as I have reason to know and as I have said before; and here +she was with all the signs of approval for Tom's action, and ready to +kiss him for it. It might be that Eve was entirely willing that the war +should be fought vicariously, and that she would sacrifice all her +friends in the cause--but not her family. That was not like Eve. I +refused to believe it of her. And I turned away and was musing upon this +matter when there came down the path Captain Fergus and Mrs. Fergus, and +Jimmy Wales and Bobby and Ogilvie; and, some distance behind them, +Elizabeth and Olivia. And that was strange, too, that those two girls +should be coming by themselves when Bobby and Jack Ogilvie were just +ahead; but I could not be bothering myself about all the queer things +that people did--or did not do. They did not concern me. There were +enough things that did concern me to bother about. + +All the company were there. I drew near to Eve. + +"If Alice Carbonnel were here now," I said, "and Harrison, we should be +complete." + +"Alice!" Eve returned. "I wish that I knew!" + +Alice Carbonnel was in Belgium, the last we knew, and Harrison Rindge, +her husband, was hunting for her. I hope he has found her--safe. We are +very fond of Alice Carbonnel, Eve and I. + +"There is somebody else to come, Adam," said Eve. "You would never +guess. It is my mother." + +I smiled, remembering another day when I had met Eve just at that spot +to take her to another clambake; a smoking dome upon a point, beneath a +pine. + +The point and the pine belonged to a queer fellow that I knew--knew +well, I thought sometimes, and sometimes not. + +And so I smiled, remembering. "Eve," I said, "do governesses have +mothers?" + +And she smiled too, and she slipped her hand within my arm, and looked +up at me with that light in her eyes that makes them pass all wonders. + +"Oh, Adam," she said, "that was a happy day--for me. Oh, but it was +hard, and I was afraid." + +"A happier day for me," I said, pressing her arm close to my side. "But +here comes your mother." + +And Mrs. Goodwin came sailing down the path, with our little daughter +skipping beside her, and she smiled as she came, which was not what she +had been used to do in that time that I remembered. And our company +being all assembled, and the beds being uncovered, although the tide was +not yet at its lowest, I gave the order to dig. So we dug, even Mrs. +Goodwin digging three clams, and she was not clad as a clammer should be +clad, but she had some rubber boots, new ones and thin as gossamer, +which a clamshell cut through. And thereafter she sat upon the bank and +cheered us on, and gibed at our raiment; as if the body were not more +than raiment. + +We dug for an hour, and got clams enough for a regiment. All the baskets +were filled to overflowing. And we stopped digging, one by one, and +straightened our backs slowly, with many creaks and groans, and we +drifted to the bank and in and out; and when the drifting process was +over, I found myself next to Eve, with Elizabeth on the other side of +her, and Ogilvie completing the circle. Bobby stood afar off, looking +out over the water as if he were seeing his best friend swallowed by a +submarine; and Olivia watched him from a distance. + +"I notice, Jack," Elizabeth observed, "that Olivia has a lonesome look." + +Ogilvie turned and looked, and turned back again and smiled. + +"She has, hasn't she? Bobby too." + +Elizabeth never quivered. "Don't you want to relieve her loneliness?" + +He shook his head. "_I_ couldn't relieve it. I told you. I'll try +later--her last chance." + +Elizabeth laughed. I was picking up a bushel basket filled with clams. +Clams are a heavy fruit. Ogilvie seized one handle. + +"Here!" cried Elizabeth. "I'm going to take that side. I want to help +Adam. You go with Eve, Jack. She has something for you to carry." + +Ogilvie protested, and so did I, but she was firm. + +"I want to go with you, Adam. You needn't think I can't carry my side, +for I can." + +So we set off, Eve and Jack Ogilvie with a market basket of clams and +various hoes, and Elizabeth and I carrying that bushel of clams between +us. Elizabeth was strong, I found, and sure-footed; surer than I. The +others came straggling after, carrying their loads. + +"Elizabeth," I began, "what is the matter with Bobby?" + +She smiled and turned to observe Bobby. "I'm sure I don't know. He seems +to be well occupied with Olivia." Then she changed suddenly. "That was +not honest, Adam," she said. "I do know, but it is nothing that I can +help. He will get over it in time--perhaps. I wish he would, for it is +not amusing as it is." + +And she sighed softly, and then she smiled up at me. It was a brave +attempt, and almost a success. + +"And Ogilvie?" I asked softly. + +She laughed, and spoke low. "Jack has found a little yeogirl. He was +telling me about her. She is the loveliest thing that ever was, and the +sweetest and the gentlest. She may be all that, of course, but there are +some lovely, sweet, and gentle girls of his own kind. But, at any rate, +Olivia is nothing to him now. It has done him that much good already." + +I was silent, thinking. I wondered how I should like it if Pukkie, +being of age and his own master, should elect a yeogirl to the high +place in his regard now held by his mother and me; should elect the +yeogirl to a higher place. It would be a blow. I could not deny it. But +we had been ascending the steep path, and we set our bushel of clams +beside the hole lined with stones and the slippery pile of brown +rockweed. I sighed as we set the basket down, and so did Elizabeth. Then +we both laughed. + +"I'm glad that's done," said Elizabeth. + +"Amen!" said I. + +Then came Tom Ellis and Cecily, and set their basket down; and Tom, +without stopping, went to my pile of cordwood, and brought an armful and +laid the sticks in order on the stones. + +"Come, Adam," he said, soberly. "Remember, it's my last clambake for +four years." + +"Don't say it, Tom!" cried Cecily sharply. "I'll help you with your +wood." + +So there was a procession of us going to the woodpile and back, and the +sticks were laid in order, three layers, on the stones; then another +layer of great stones, each stone as big as a football, on the top of +the wood. Then I came with a can of kerosene, and sprinkled the wood +liberally. Eve had some matches, and she held one out to Ogilvie. + +"Light up, Ogilvie," said Tom. "It's your honor." + +And Ogilvie lighted the pile, and Tom made some feeble joke about a +funeral pyre, and Cecily almost wept; and the fire blazed up fiercely, +and we all drew back. It was hot enough without the fire, and would +have been almost unbearable but for the southwest breeze which had +started up, and which was sweeping gently, over my bluff. And we watched +the fire, as anyone will watch any fire--there is fascination in it--but +they began to drift away--to get off their rubber boots and to prepare +themselves. No doubt they would have fasted if there had been time. And +at last there were left only Old Goodwin and Tom and Ogilvie and I. Eve +had gone into the house to fetch the things, and Cecily and Elizabeth +with her. + +When the fire had burned long and the stones were hot, we raked the +ashes off; and shook down upon the stones fresh seaweed from the pile, +and on the seaweed laid the clams. Then more seaweed; and the other +things, in layers, orderly, with the clean, salt-smelling weed between; +then the loose stones, hot stone footballs, and over all we piled the +weed and made a dome that smoked and steamed and filled the air with +incense. And the others, having rested from their labors, leaning on +their forks or sitting on the ground, went their several ways; for they +would garb themselves. + +Eve did not place her guests. She considered, a pretty thoughtfulness in +her eyes and about her mouth, and cast her place-cards in a little heap +on the table, saying that they might place themselves; for she did not +know what was going on, and feared to make a bad matter worse. + +They did place themselves, after much hesitation and drifting about. +Elizabeth sat next to me. She seemed to think me a kind of refuge. And +Ogilvie sat at Eve's right,--she saw to that,--and Olivia next because +she could not help it, and then Bobby. Where the rest sat did not +matter. And Old Goodwin and Tom and I took our forks and opened the +smoking dome, and set upon the table chicken and fish and lobsters and +brown bread, and great pans of clams steaming in their gaping shells. +Then all would have set themselves to the business of eating; but I had +my instructions. I took an old dust-encrusted bottle from Eve's place, +and opened it, and went about and poured into the glasses luminous +golden stuff from that old bottle. Then Eve rose, and proposed +Ogilvie's health. And we all drank it, but Ogilvie flushed and did not +know what to do. + +"Oh," he said to Eve, "I never had that done to me before." + +And we all laughed, and fell to eating. We opened the clams with our +fingers, and took the clam by the head, and gave him a swirl in the +saucer of melted butter, and threw our heads back, and took his body +into our mouths, and bit him off and cast the head aside, and took the +next one. All there had had much experience in the process, and the +clams that had seemed enough for a regiment were soon eaten, and there +was a prodigious pile of shells under the table so that one could not +move his feet without rattling. And the lobsters were gone, and the +chickens, and most of the fish, and much of the brown bread. And first +one sat back with a sigh, and smiled, and then another; and at last all +were sitting, smiling at nothing and doing nothing else--all but Bobby +and Olivia. Bobby, it is true, had a smile graven upon his face, but it +was a smile of the face and not of the heart; and Olivia seemed out of +sorts and did not take the trouble to smile at all. And the bake was but +an empty wreck. Then Eve rose quietly, and they all got themselves +slowly upon their feet, and began to drift about the bluff. + +My place is not very big, only the clipped lawn in front of the house, +and about an acre on the south side ending in the bluff, and a couple +of acres to the north, where lies my garden and the rest a hayfield. I +should have ploughed up that hayfield and put it into potatoes if I +could have found anybody to do the ploughing. But it is just as well as +a hayfield. Everybody has been planting potatoes this year. I almost +expect to see the gutters sprouting potatoes as I ride along with Old +Goodwin in his car. Potatoes will be cheap next winter. And if I had +ploughed up that field it would have been even less inviting for our +guests to wander over. + +Not that any of them showed any disposition to wander over it. The older +ones seemed well content to settle down again under my pine, Bobby was +mooning alone at the edge of the bluff, Elizabeth was standing talking +with Jimmy Wales, and Jack Ogilvie was trying to persuade Olivia to walk +to a little clump of trees. I had seen Eve showing him the clump of +trees earlier in the day. At last they did walk off toward the trees, +Olivia obviously discontented and watching Bobby out of the corner of +her eye. + +I drifted toward Eve, and she drifted toward me, and we came together, +which might be reprehensible but was not strange. We generally do come +together. She was clad all in light, filmy white, with two red roses at +her bosom, and her hair a glory. And her eyes--there are no other such +eyes as hers. + +"Eve," I whispered, "do you want to be disgraced? How can you expect +anything else when you dress as you did for that other clambake that I +remember, and your eyes smiling, and that light upon your hair?" + +It was more than her eyes that smiled as she looked at me. + +"Yes," she whispered in return. "I want to be. Shan't I show you our +clump of trees?" She laughed as she finished. + +I hesitated. "But Ogilvie--and Olivia." + +"Stupid!" she said. "I did not show him every nook. Come!" + +So we wandered about, but we brought up at a secluded nook in our clump, +and Eve held up her face to mine. But when I had done it she put her +finger on my lips and listened. + +"Sh!" she breathed. And I sh-sh-ed, and heard Ogilvie's voice, but I +could not distinguish any words. Then came Olivia's voice, shrill and +petulant. + +"They are not having a good time," Eve whispered. + +"He is," I answered; for Ogilvie laughed. It was a merry laugh. + +"We don't want to snoop, Adam," said Eve. "Let's--" + +"Shall we join the others?" Ogilvie asked, still laughing. + +"_You_ may if you like," said Olivia in a voice filled with discontent. + +"And leave you here?" + +"And leave me here. I'll take care of myself." + +"Very well. Good-bye, Olivia. I may not see you again." + +"Not see me again? You mean to-day?" Was she regretting? + +"I mean for a great many days. Perhaps never." + +"Are you going away?" + +"I can't tell you. I go where I am sent. Good-bye." + +There was a silence. Then, as we stole out, the sound of a single sob. +Then sounds of anger. As we emerged from one side Olivia emerged from +the other. She made straight for Bobby, where he yet stood on the edge +of the bluff, looking silently over the water. + +A maid came running out of the house, and went to Jimmy Wales, and +called him to the telephone. In two minutes he came hurrying out again. + +"Bobby!" he called. "Jack! Come along. It's a hurry call for the +Nantucket lightship. We'll go with you, Jack. Just as you are." + +He whispered to me as he passed. "Submarines reported off the Nantucket +lightship," he said. "All the available destroyers and chasers ordered +there." + +Elizabeth was standing near, and she heard. Jack and Bobby and Jimmy +started on a run. + +"Good-bye, Jack," Elizabeth called in a clear voice. + +He turned and waved. + +"Good-bye, Bobby," she called again, but her voice was not so loud. + +He turned. "Good-bye," he said. It was like casting at her head a chunk +of ice. Ice would not be the most disagreeable thing on that day, but +one would prefer it in some other way than thrown at his head. Elizabeth +seemed to think so, for she shrugged her shoulders almost imperceptibly, +and I saw tears in her eyes as she turned away. + +Captain Fergus hurried after the others, and our other guests melted +away. I found myself standing at the edge of the bluff, just where Bobby +had been standing, and I gazed out over the waters of the bay--as if I +could see the Nantucket lightship! Ogilvie's boat shot out at full +speed, and I watched her until she was a gray speck vanishing into the +grayness. Gazing out and seeing nothing, and thinking of submarines! It +was absurd. They are not, and yet they haunt me. And I looked down at +the little strip of marsh at the foot of my bluff, its waving greens +turned to orange under the afternoon sun. A blackbird was flying over +those green stems waving in the water. The tide was full, and the Great +Painter spread his colors on the little waves. It breathed peace, and +here was I thinking of submarines. I cannot get rid of them. What if +one of these reports turn out to be true? Why, anything might be +happening out by the lightship. + +And I saw the red shoulders of the blackbird as he flew. He lighted on a +reed stem, which swayed down nearly to the surface of the water; and so +swaying up and down, he sent out his clear whistle again and again. He +is not troubled by the thought of submarines. His heart is not in +turmoil over them. + + + + +VII + + +Over my hayfield, that morning toward the last of June, a pleasant +breeze was blowing, and from the southwest, as is the habit of breezes +hereabout. A man clad in white flannels, and wandering slowly about, +would have found that hayfield cool enough and pleasant, I have no +doubt. I found it pleasant, but not cool, for I was mowing. For weeks I +sought some one--any one--who would cut my grass, and cut it in June, +for I have a prejudice in favor of June for cutting hay. In the last +week of June the grass is in full flower--tiny blossoms of a pale violet +color--and the stems are swollen with the juices, and rich and tender. +I, in my ignorance, believe that it makes more succulent hay than if +cut in July, when the stalks have begun to dry up and become thin and +wiry. Besides, if it is cut in June it is out of the way, and I can use +my hayfield for a ball-field if I am so minded. + +I am no mower, and I have not known what a scythe should be. I was dimly +aware that my old scythe was not everything that could be desired, for I +remember that when I took it to be ground the man applied it lightly to +his stone, then harder, then cursed and bore on with all his might, and +cursed again and sweated for half an hour, and charged me ten cents, +holding the scythe out to me as if he never wanted to see it again. He +observed that it was the hardest scythe he ever see; and I smiled and +thanked him, and thought no more of the matter, and walked off with my +scythe. And I struggled with that scythe for ten years, never being able +to keep it sharp, and spending much more time with the whetstone than I +did in mowing, but I did but little mowing, only trimming around here +and there. I never _got_ the scythe sharp. I know that now, but I did +not know it then, attributing the fault to my own lack of skill. + +I got a new scythe the other day, being unwilling to whet through two +acres. I can get it as sharp as a razor in half a dozen strokes of the +stone. When I tried it the other afternoon, just before dinner, I found +myself laughing, and I should have gone at the hayfield then if Eve had +not stopped me. Now I go about with my scythe in my hand, and hunt for +clumps of grass tall enough to cut, for the hayfield is shorn close and +tolerably smooth, and the grass lies in the sun and gives off all manner +of sweet odors. + +The mowing of that hayfield with that new scythe was simply a joy--a +delight. I swung to and fro with the rhythmic motion of rowing--mowing +is not unlike rowing, and one swings about thirty or more to the +minute--with my eyes on the ground, and I listened to the sounds: a soft +ripping with a little metallic _ting_ as the scythe advanced, and a +gentle _swish_ as it swung back again. Yes, mowing is a delight--with a +good scythe; but it is a hot sort of amusement. If I could regulate +matters mowing time should fall in November. All mowing should be done +by hand, and mowing should be compulsory for all able-bodied men. They +would be the better for it. + +I stood for a few minutes, leaning on my scythe and letting the breeze +blow through me and gazing down the bay. Then I went at my mowing again +and the scythe sang a new song. It was _sub--marine; sub--marine_, over +and over. And I kept at my mowing mechanically while I thought my +thoughts. There had been no reports of submarines since the day of Eve's +party, and nothing further said of the report of that day. Even Bobby +would say no more than that they did not find any; and when I would have +rallied him, remarking that I feared he had not baited his traps +properly, he glowered at me, which hurt my feelings. It was not like +Bobby to glower. But Bobby seemed tormented by that restlessness which +seizes on men in a certain case. I did not laugh at him, for I feared +lest he take it but ill, but I did counsel him to take to clamming; at +which he gave me a smile that would have brought tears to Eve's eyes. He +has not yet found that fount of eternal youth, and whether he will find +it or not no one can guess. I hope he will, and that joy and peace will +be in his abiding place forever. And the one who should show him the +fount is not far to seek, as he well knows; but, as I think, and Eve +too, he is stubborn and cherishes some fancied grievance, hugging it to +his heart. The poor fool! + +Then I stopped mowing, and straightened my back, and rested. And, on a +sudden, that talking machine of my neighbor began pouring forth a +strident voice, and I looked and there was the little Sands girl +watching me over the wall. She no longer throws things. But I was not +giving an exhibition of mowing, and I nodded to her, and went back to my +garden. Melons are a lottery; but I looked at my peas--my second look +that morning--to make sure that they will be ready for the Fourth, and I +took a turn about the garden. And all the while I listened, much against +my will, to that strident voice. And when it had finished that +particular humorous selection, I fled, my scythe on my arm, for fear +that I should have some sort of secret liking for the next selection; +and I came to my pine, and I sat me down on the seat, and again my gaze +ran across the waters of the harbor, well ruffled by the breeze and +dancing in the sun, to the shore opposite; and down that curving line of +shore to the lighthouse on its rock; and over the blue-gray water +beyond, that was lightly veiled in haze, to the islands floating high. +And on the water between the lighthouse and the islands I saw the +Arcadia. She was coming fast, with all her light canvas set, a thing of +beauty. It would be a fast submarine I thought, that could damage +her--in any sort of breeze. Then I thought idly of Captain Fergus, and +of Elizabeth and Olivia, and Bobby and Ogilvie, and of Eve and Pukkie. +That is the goal--Eve and Pukkie and Tidda--little Eve. + +Elizabeth has been our guest for the past two weeks when she has not +been on the Arcadia. She puzzles me yet. What is she doing here so +long--a poor girl, seeming to be loafing out the summer? She should be +conducting her classes in swimming. It is likely enough that the same +question has been a puzzle to Bobby; but he takes it harder than I. I am +content to let the question go unanswered and have her stay with us. She +is a good comrade, and a comfort to Eve, and she is fond of Tidda, and +Pukkie is her willing slave. For Pukkie is at home again. + +He came on the twelfth. I remember that we had had a hard rain for two +days before, and that all the ploughed land was no better than a bog, +and all the fields were covered with water under their cover of grass, +so that the water was running out through the crevices of the stone +walls, through each crevice a rivulet. But not my field, and my garden +was no bog. And I waited, sitting just where I was at that moment and +gazing idly at the same things that were there before my eyes. I could +not work in peace, nor sit in peace for many minutes at a time, but I +spent the morning going like a shuttle from garden to pine and wandering +the shore, then back again. + +Eve had gone with Old Goodwin in his fastest car to bring him +back--"him" being Pukkie, my son. But as the time approached for his +arrival I sat upon the bench and simulated peace and content, and gave +no outward sign of other; but every muscle was tense, and every nerve +on edge; I listened so hard that it hurt, and I wished devoutly that Old +Goodwin's car was not so perfect and so silent, and I resolutely kept my +gaze fixed upon the distant hills, and did not see them. + +At last I heard the latch of the gate click faintly, as though somebody +had tried to lift it without noise, and I heard an excited chuckle, +instantly subdued. And I turned quickly, forgetting that I had resolved +not to turn, and there was Pukkie running toward me. And I whipped up +and ran, and I sank upon one knee and held my arms wide. And Pukkie ran +into them at full speed, almost knocking me over, and he threw his arms +around my neck, and he hugged me. He hugged me so tight that I was +nearly strangled; but not quite--not so nearly but that I could hug him +close and whisper in his ear. + +"Oh, Pukkie!" I whispered. "My dear little son! My well beloved!" + +For answer he but hugged me the harder, and gave an excited little laugh +that was near to tears. That was enough for me. Indeed, I was not so far +from tears. I looked up at Eve, who had followed close, and tears stood +in her eyes, but she was smiling. Oh, such a smile! A smile that belongs +to wives and mothers--of a certain kind. And, seeing her, I gave thanks. +But that is nothing new that I give thanks for that, for I have done the +same many times a day for many years. + +Then Old Goodwin came up behind Eve. + +"If you and Pukkie can spare the time," he said to me, "I should be +glad to have you ride home with me--you and Eve. I have something to +show you." + +Pukkie went somewhat eagerly, and Eve and I, having devoted ourselves to +following our son about, went after, not so eagerly. And Old Goodwin +took us down to his boathouse, which is at the head of his stone pier +and gives upon his artificial harbor, and out of the car and into the +boathouse. + +"Grandfather," said Pukkie, trying in vain to keep all signs of +excitement out of his voice, "is it my dory that we're going to see? Is +it?" + +Old Goodwin smiled to himself. "Well, no, Pukkie. It isn't your dory. I +didn't manage that. But it's something of that nature." + +"Oh," said Pukkie in low tones of disappointment, "I didn't know but--" +Old Goodwin had opened the door at the other side. "Oh! What's that?" + +Made fast to the stage there lay a perfect little sloop about twenty +feet long which seemed to be an exact reproduction in miniature of a +large boat. Every sail was there which the large boats carried, every +rope and block and stay, although they had drawn the line at a separate +topmast. I realized at a glance that there were too many ropes and +blocks and stays for her size. It would take more of a crew to handle +her easily than she could carry. + +But Pukkie realized nothing of the kind. He ran toward her, and stood +beside her, touching with a fearful hand her smooth deck, and the pretty +blocks and cleats of shining brass, and smiling. + +There was even a gangway ladder, and her gunwale not much more than a +foot above the water. + +Pukkie turned his shining face to me. + +"Oh, daddy," he cried, "look at her dear little jibs. Aren't they +cunning?" + +They were cunning and tiny. + +Old Goodwin, simple-hearted gentleman that he was, was as pleased as +Pukkie. He seemed delighted. + +"There are other sails," he said, smiling and eager. "In the sail locker +you will find a gafftopsail and a jibtopsail and a flying jib. We +couldn't very well manage any more," he added to me. + +"They are quite enough," I returned, "for her size--and for her crew to +manage." + +"She is rather deep for her length," Old Goodwin went on. "A boy can +stand straight in her cabin, and a man very nearly. Go aboard, Puk, and +see. Go down into the cabin." + +So Pukkie, excited and solemn, went aboard, stepping carefully, and +opened the cabin doors, and disappeared. We followed him on deck and +looked down. There was a little table in the middle which would fold up +out of the way, and there were two small transoms with little netted +hammocks for the sleeper's clothes, like a sleeping-car. And there was a +silver pitcher for ice water, and racks for glasses and dishes, and +shelves with brass rails around them, and lockers tucked away in every +corner, and a door at the forward end which should have led to the +galley. Old Goodwin saw my look of incredulity, and he smiled. + +"There is a galley," he said, "although a very small one. But I think a +boy could manage it. About the size of a cupboard." Old Goodwin pushed +the slide farther back. "We had to put this slide on her," he said +apologetically, "or there couldn't have been a cabin of any use to +anybody. I was sorry." + +I was not sorry. It would help to keep the seas off. But Pukkie took one +last look around, drew one long, quivering breath, and came up. + +"Oh, see!" he cried. + +I turned and looked where he was pointing. There was the little wheel, +which we had seen before; and there too was a tiny binnacle with its +compass, cunningly contrived to take no room, set just forward of the +wheel. + +"Do you like it, Pukkie?" Old Goodwin asked somewhat wistfully. "Do you +think that you'll like her as well as you would have liked a dory?" + +"Like her!" cried Pukkie. "Like her! Oh, grandfather!" + +And he leaped at his grandfather, and seized him about the neck, and hid +his face; and Old Goodwin patted Pukkie's shoulder, somewhat awkwardly, +and smiled at Eve and me. I wonder what is the market value of the time +that Old Goodwin wastes upon his grandson. + +Then Pukkie would go sailing at once. It did not matter that it was +time for luncheon, although my clock that I carry beneath my belt told +me that it was. He was not hungry. It did not occur to him to wonder +about me, or he would have offered to get me a luncheon in his galley. +So we set forth to sail the raging main; a little sail of half an hour, +with Eve and Old Goodwin to see us off. + +So we set all the little sails, but we did not get out from the sail +locker that gafftopsail and the jibtopsail and that wonderful flying +jib. The wind was moderately strong. And we glided out from Old +Goodwin's harbor with me at the wheel, and Pukkie sitting beside me with +shining face. The little boat was handy, and she went about her business +with no fuss, and the water began to hiss past under her rail. And I +sat the straighter. Truly, what is luncheon? + +We passed some fishermen going out--the same way that we were going, and +we passed them as if they were at anchor; and they gazed in amazement +and I saw them pointing. I headed for a lighter that I saw dimly through +the light haze--she was anchored by a wreck, as I chanced to know--and I +gave up the wheel to Pukkie. + +He had never steered with a wheel, but I undertook to teach +him--although the art of steering, whether with a wheel or with a +tiller, cannot be taught. One learns to steer by feeling. And Pukkie was +alert and anxious to learn. I told him to keep the boat headed for the +lighter, at which he looked at me in surprise, and suggested that it +might be too far to get back in half an hour. It was; but I did not tell +him so. + +Thereafter, for some time, the boat cut some astonishing capers, which +must have set those fishermen to wondering. We passed the fish traps, +with men in rowboats busy with taking in the catch; and we passed +innumerable terns, or, rather, they passed us, and they were fishing and +sending forth their harsh metallic cry; and we saw a pair of fishhawks, +and they too were fishing. All fishing. Truly, the business of the +waters is catching fish. And Pukkie was getting the hang of the wheel +and steering a straighter course, so that he could give some attention +to other matters. + +There were rocks which looked like monsters just risen from the deep, +and with the water washing over their backs. + +"They look like submarines," said Pukkie. "Don't they, daddy?" + +I explained to him the appearance of the back of a modern submarine; but +the rocks did remind me of submarines. Everything reminds me of +submarines. And we saw, afar off upon the water, a small gray speck. And +the speck grew until it became a motor-boat, painted a dark gray. Why +they paint them a gray that is almost black is a mystery. There is no +concealment in it. This motor-boat was small, and was heading right for +us, it seemed. + +"Is that a chaser, daddy?" Pukkie seems to have the jargon pat. Probably +he learned it at school. "It isn't very fast, is it? It couldn't catch +a submarine, could it? It wouldn't be any use to chase with that." His +words held a depth of scorn. Always submarines. I cannot get away from +them. "Why don't you go out and chase them, daddy? I should think you +would like to. I would." + +I am thankful that he cannot. I gave him some answer that seemed to +satisfy him. + +"That chaser is trying to meet us," he resumed. "Whichever way I go, she +goes too." + +It did look so; but it was a small boat and slow. I thought that we +could beat her likely enough, if it came to a chase, but Pukkie would +not have it so. He wanted to meet her, and asked me to steer. + +We met in a few minutes, and the pleasant-faced ensign hailed me and +asked if I had a license or a permit or something. I knew nothing of any +permit, and I told him so, and he said that they were required, and we +had to turn about and sail back again. It was just as well, for we were +like to be over our half-hour; and we got in well ahead of the +motor-boat. + +Since that day I have been out with Pukkie every afternoon, for he must +be taught to sail if he has a boat. He is well used to going with me in +my dory and he swims passing well for a boy of ten. He will be eleven in +October. And Elizabeth has taken him in hand. She sails nearly as well +as she swims, and she sails with him nearly every morning; and sometimes +Eve and she go with us in the afternoon. I feared a little at first to +take so many, for I thought it might swamp the boat; but the boat will +carry all she will hold. + +I had got to this point in my meditations, and I was well rested, and I +was somewhat cooler than I was; and my scythe rested against the bench +beside me, and I gazed down the bay at the Arcadia, and I wondered idly +about Captain Fergus. If Elizabeth was a mystery, he was no less. He did +not seem the sort of man to be sailing idly about in a beautiful, fast +yacht when everybody else was busy in looking for something to fight; +everybody but Old Goodwin and me, and Old Goodwin is nearly seventy. +Fergus is a fighter if ever I saw one, the very kind of man that would +stick out his jaw and damn the torpedoes. + +Since Tom Ellis is gone, I have no moral support against my +conscience--if it is my conscience that makes me vaguely +uncomfortable--except the knowledge of Eve's pacifist attitude. I try +not to say anything that would give her concern, but it is hard +sometimes. It gets harder as time goes on. Gardening is well enough, but +I hate to be left alone and gardening. Gardening seems but a poor +occupation for a man when other matters are afoot, although it is +better, perhaps, than acting as chauffeur for a lot of naval officers. +But Tom seems to like it well enough, and says that he has put himself +entirely in their hands, and does whatever he is called upon to do, +without a thought for the morrow, which is, no doubt, the proper +attitude. Cecily likes it too, and spends most of her time in Newport, +going to and fro in Old Goodwin's car. I went over with them one day, +and the first thing my eyes alighted upon was the Arcadia just come to +anchor, and Captain Fergus landing at the War College. Perhaps his +conscience was too much for him. Fergus is a year or two older than I +am, and--confound it!--there is some fight left in me yet. If there were +only something more than phantoms to fight! And this frantic search for +what is not! + +I heard the sound of a screen door slamming, and looked around the +tree-trunk, and saw Pukkie running over the grass toward me; and behind +him there came, at a somewhat more sedate pace, Eve and Elizabeth. + +"Daddy," Pukkie called as soon as he saw me, "don't you want to go +swimming? We're going. Tidda's at grandmother's." + +Being indulged, of course, with unlimited cookies and raisins and +anything else she took a fancy to. Grandmothers have a talent for +indulging, and Tidda has a genius for accepting indulgences. + +"I do, Pukkie. That is exactly what I want. I have been mowing. Is your +mother going swimming? You going in, Eve?" + +"Yes, she's going." And Eve smiled and nodded. + +So I put my scythe in the shed, and we went down the steep path, and +along the shore where the water lapped high; and past my clam beds to +the bathhouse near the stone pier. The bathhouse is Old Goodwin's, as +any might guess, and the little beach is Old Goodwin's, and the +float-stage a little way out, with its springboard. It is good bathing +at that little beach only when high water covers the sand. Beyond the +sand are great pebbles covered with rockweed and barnacles. + +Eve came out hesitating, her eyes smiling and tender as she looked at +me; but a dark green cap covered her glorious hair except some wisps +which ever bother her with their straggling, and the sun shone upon the +wandering locks and framed her head in fine spun copper. + +"Don't you think, Adam," she asked timidly, "we might go in here? It is +a good tide--and I'm afraid I can't manage the float." + +Eve does not swim very well, although confidence is all she lacks to +make her a passable swimmer. And I was quite willing, but Elizabeth +would not hear of it, promising that she would look out for Eve; and she +had us all in the boat and rowing out before we could make our +objections heard. + +And no sooner were we well clear of the beach, than Elizabeth dived, and +when she came up again,--it was some distance that she was under +water--she called to Pukkie. And Pukkie, with supreme confidence in +Elizabeth, stood up on the seat and dived over the side, and swam beside +her. + +Eve seemed to have more confidence in Elizabeth than she had in me, +which is not strange, for I have observed that, in matters of skill or +knowledge or judgment, a woman will trust the veriest stranger before +her husband, although in this matter of skill and knowledge Elizabeth +was well past me. + +So Eve trusted herself utterly to Elizabeth, and she made some progress +in her swimming. And we all floundered about there in the cool, clean +water until Elizabeth said that Eve was cold, and then we all drew +ourselves, dripping, on to the float, and there, but a little way off, +was the Arcadia anchored, and her sails nearly furled. + +As I gazed at her I thought I saw something queer about her topmast +stays--a little thing. It looked almost like aerials for wireless. I +asked Elizabeth about it. + +She was looking at it too, almost with satisfaction. + +"Yes," she said, "I see. It does look as if it might be." + +Why should she know? And then the tender put off with Captain Fergus and +Bobby and made for the landing, going rather close to us huddled on the +float. They hailed us, Bobby very solemnly, but they did not stop. + +There was a light of mischief in Eve's eyes. + +"I'm going to have Bobby to dinner to-night," she whispered. + +"If he'll come," I said in her ear. + +"Oh, he'll come." + +And he did. + +Eve and I were standing alone together and silent and hand in hand upon +the edge of my bluff, watching while the Great Painter spread his colors +as he was wont to do. The still waters were covered with all manner of +reds and purples. The grasses of the little marsh below us waved gently +above the shining mud, and now and then there broke a wave that ran in +among the grass stems in ripples of color, and left the wet mud +glistening in a coat of shimmering green, and set the grass waving anew. + +As we stood there looking down, Bobby came silently and stood beside us, +and breathed a long sigh, and gazed for a long time. Then he looked at +Eve and smiled. + +"Lovely," he said, "and peaceful. For the matter of that, it would be +hard to find a more peaceful-looking place than the lightship--in good +weather." + +"Then, Bobby," I said, "I take it that not many periscopes have fallen +to your bow and spear." + +He shook his head. "I'm disgusted. I'm beginning to think that the +Germans have no submarines, and that all these tales are fables. Your +traps, Adam, are no good. I'd just like to get a chance to go across to +the North Sea or Ireland or the Channel. I'll tell you in strict +confidence--we have been warned not to talk about these things--a mine +sweeper went to Boston a few days ago, on the way over. Nobody knows +when she will leave Boston. I was greatly tempted to try for a place on +her. But I'll get there yet." + +"No doubt there would be occupation for idle hands over there. But what +has become of Ogilvie? We have not seen him since the clambake." + +"He's busy. He's going over--to go on a chaser. Lucky chap! He had his +orders that very morning. Waiting for the chaser. But I'd be tried for +high treason if you were to tell anybody--even Miss Radnor, for +instance." + +I had turned about, and there was Elizabeth. She must have heard it all, +for she turned pale, and the light in her eyes went out suddenly, +leaving them cold as stones. It was a pity. + +She came forward slowly. "Why are you afraid of me, Mr. Leverett?" + +"Afraid of you?" asked Bobby in surprise. "I am not. Why should I be?" +It was a challenge. "We have been warned to be cautious." + +"It was not I who was incautious," said Elizabeth. + +Bobby smiled, and his smile was not pleasant to see, but he spoke in a +faultless manner. + +"You are never incautious," he said. "Trust you for that." + +Then Pukkie came running, with Tidda after him, and they pitched upon +Bobby and created a diversion, which we welcomed. + +Our dinner was not a success, as may well be imagined. Elizabeth was +cold and silent, which was not like her. We had come to know Elizabeth +pretty well, and we liked her; and we knew Bobby very well, and we liked +him. And it is unpleasant and awkward when people whom you like and who +like each other--I knew it well enough--speak together little and look +upon one another with hostility which is but ill concealed. And, dinner +over, we withdrew to our candles, but Elizabeth went up with Tidda, and +Pukkie followed her. Bobby laughed mirthlessly at that, and muttered +something. It sounded to me like "latest victim." + +We had a pleasant but short evening with Bobby, and he left early, +making an excuse of duty. As we turned away we encountered Elizabeth, +who murmured that she had just got the children to sleep, and said that +she was going out for a few minutes. + +"I was glad to hear that news of Jack," she said. "To say truth, I have +known it for a long time. Jack told me." Truly, she was not incautious. +"It will settle the yeogirl. That was a joke, he wrote me. But, whether +it was or not, it will settle her." + +"And Olivia?" I asked. + +"Olivia is settled already. She has gone home." + + + + +VIII + + +Indeed, a conscience is a most distressing comrade. And, albeit a +conscience is not for a fisherman,--he cannot afford it,--a clammer may +be pricked and stabbed and plagued by that he would willingly get rid +of. For I suppose it was my conscience that impelled me to buy--in +secret, for I would not have Eve know of it lest it give her anxiety--a +little card with two revolving discs and pictures of a signalman in +every position that is possible to a signalman. + +By diligent use of that card and much practice in the proper manner of +waving my arms I hoped to make myself duly proficient in the art of +signalling by the wigwag method. + +I found the card at a nautical instrument store in the city on the day +after our dinner; and as I looked at it somewhat doubtfully, the clerk +pulled out a little book that gave the matter more at length. I bought +them both, and I have been practising the motions for a week in secret. +And that has its difficulties too, that I do it in secret, for if I +practised in the house it was not secret, nor was it secret in my garden +or in the hayfield or on my bluff. At last I hit upon that little clump +of trees. No one could see me there. + +To-day being the Fourth of July, I thought it fit that I practise more +diligently than usual. So, having gathered my first peas, a generous +mess of them, I repaired to the clump of trees; and having propped the +book upon a branch and hung the card upon a twig, I began. But no sooner +had I got to work at it than somebody came running out of the house, +softly calling, "Adam! Adam!" It was the voice of Eve, and she was +waving a paper, for I could hear it rustling. And I swept the book off +its branch and the card from its twig, tearing the card in my haste, and +I stepped from my hiding-place on to the bluff, so that I should seem to +be but gazing out over the water, as is my wont. + +I was just putting the book and the card in my pocket when Eve came upon +me, but she was so intent that she did not notice. The paper that she +had is published in the nearest city, and it is a good paper, a better +paper than any published in Boston. It suits me even better than the +London "Times," to which I subscribe, for although the "Times" has the +war news in greater detail than we have it, it is usually three weeks +old; and news which one has read three weeks before is old enough to +have been forgotten. + +She held the paper up before my eyes. + +"See, Adam," she said. "Here is good news for the Fourth. Our transports +have beaten the submarines, great flocks of them, and have sunk some of +them, and they have arrived safely, every ship and every man." + +I smiled at her enthusiasm. "That should be good news. To be sure, the +submarines that were sunk carried their crews down with them to be +drowned like rats in a trap, and we used to think that Germans were +pretty good--" + +"Good!" she cried. "When they have committed so many murders on the +sea!" + +"Well, these Germans will commit no more murders. Let me see your +paper." + +There it was in great staring lines of type before my eyes. I had but +just digested the headlines, and was preparing to read the solid columns +when Eve snatched it away. + +"I can't wait for you to read it all. I want to show it to father." + +There was probably nothing there that Old Goodwin did not know already. +He has a way of knowing things; but I said nothing of it. I smiled again +at Eve, and let her go. + +"Adam," she said anxiously, turning back, "_you_ wouldn't commit +murders on the sea, would you? _You_ couldn't persuade yourself that it +was right?" + +"Well," I answered gravely, "I have none in contemplation, but I have +not given the matter much consideration. If I were sailing the high +seas, and were to meet--also sailing the raging main--Sands and his +talking machine, I might--" + +Eve laughed. "Yes, you might." And she came back and kissed me. "You're +no sort of a murderer." + +"You don't know, Eve," I protested, "what sort of a murderer I might be. +I would not boast, and I speak in all modesty, but I try to do as well +as I can whatever I set my hand to. I venture to say that I should do +my murdering thoroughly." + +She laughed again, merrily, and again she kissed me. + +"The murdering that you will do will not amount to that." And she +snapped her fingers. "Jack Ogilvie is like to do more of it,--if you +call that murder." She sighed and turned away. "Now I will go." + +And she was gone down the steep path and along the shore, stopping now +and then to wave at me. It hurt me somewhat not to go with her, but I +must be at my signalling. + +So, as soon as Eve was out of sight in the greenery, I began again, +standing on the bluff where I was, an imprudent thing to do. I laid my +book and my card upon the ground, and began to wave my arms gently, +stooping now and then to the book to be sure that I had it right, and +saying the names of the letters to myself as I waved. For each letter +has a name in the signal book. And as I waved, I thought upon Eve's sigh +that she had sighed as she turned away, and it seemed almost as if she +were sorry that I was not as Ogilvie; but that could not be that she +would have me go, for had she not said other? And, without knowing what +I was doing, I proclaimed it to the world. "Eve would have me murder," +was the sentence I was signalling. "Eve would have me murder on the sea +even as Ogilvie." I was even shouting the names of the letters by this. +And I looked and there was a big gray motor-boat just without the +harbor, and Ogilvie himself standing up on her deck and watching +me--and wondering, I had no doubt. + +The motor-boat came on swiftly, and Ogilvie watched me as if he thought +I had gone daft, while I, out of bravado I fear, signalled again that +message about Eve, no better than a lie. And directly opposite my bluff +the motor-boat came to a stop, and Ogilvie began to wave his arms, so +that any that saw might well think there were two madmen in the harbor. +And to my delight, I could read it, and read it easily. It was a brief +message, it is true. "What!" said Ogilvie with his waving arms. +"Repeat." + +I did not repeat, but I sent him another message. "Come up here and I +will explain. I am practising. Give me some more." + +So he gave me more, and I could read it, although his messages were not +simple. It filled my soul with an unreasonable joy, as a boy's when he +finds that he has mastered at school some task which he thought that he +had not. And we waved our arms at each other, two gone clean crazy, for +a long time, and Ogilvie smiled more and more, until at last he laughed. + +"Well done," he signalled. "I will be there in half an hour." + +And the motor-boat started again, and I turned, smiling, well pleased +with myself, and there sat Eve on the bench under the pine, and she was +laughing. + +"Adam," she said, "come here and sit beside me, and explain. Oh, bring +your book." For in my awkwardness I was leaving it there on the grass. +"I saw it. I have been watching you." + +And I turned meekly as that same boy at school caught in some mischief, +and I went and sat beside her, but I did not explain. + +"Where is Elizabeth?" I asked. + +"Elizabeth," she said, "has gone sailing with Pukkie. You might have +known it. Now, what were you doing, and why were you doing it?" + +I have found the truth to serve me best, and I would not tell Eve other +than the truth in any littlest thing. So I told her all, and showed her +the matter all set forth in the book. And she was interested and +pleased, and would learn wigwagging herself. + +"You must teach me, Adam," she said, "and we will do it together." + +And that pleased me mightily, that we do it together. And she clasped +my arm in both her hands, and bent forward and looked up into my face. +And in her eyes as she looked was even greater tenderness than was wont +to be, and that was a marvel; and there was a great joy too. + +"Tell me, Adam," she said softly. "Why did you do it? What set you at +it?" + +"The nature that God gave me," I said, "or conscience, which is the same +thing. I do not know. It--it is hard, Eve, to be forty-three when one +would be twenty-three--for a reason. As for the signalling," I added, +"that is nothing much, save that we be learning it together." + +"I know," she said. "A symptom." + +I did not know what she meant, whether my conscience or the signalling. +But still she was looking up at me with joy in her eyes, and happiness; +and she gave a little soft cry and a little happy laugh, and she +squeezed my arm between her hands. + +"Oh, Adam, Adam!" she cried low. "I love you--you don't know how much. +And I don't wish that _I_ was twenty-three. Do you know why?" + +I could not guess. + +"At twenty-three I was not married," said Eve. "I did not even know +you." + +What I did then any may guess. No doubt it was imprudent too. And we +were once more sitting decorous, and about Eve's lips and in her eyes +was that smile of joy and happiness. + +"You will see, Adam," she said. "It will all come right." + +"What will come right?" asked a voice. "Is anything wrong?" + +And we turned, and there was Jack Ogilvie. + +"I do not know what Eve meant," I answered him, "unless she referred to +my signalling. No doubt that is wrong enough." + +He shook his head. "Nothing wrong about that. You do it very well." + +Then I asked him for the latest news from the seat of war. + +"Well," he said, "we are forbidden to tell the news, although there +isn't any. But if you were to go to Newport you would see a big British +cruiser lying there. And if you had your glass with you you could read +her name." He gave her name, but I have forgotten it. "It is supposed to +be a secret, and has not been in the papers, but everybody at Newport +knows it. They can't help it. The officers go about very swagger and +very stiff, carrying little canes. You may see me carrying a little cane +one of these days, but I have not yet arrived at that dignity--or folly, +whichever you call it." + +I smiled. "Did you never carry a little cane in college?" + +"Oh, sometimes, for the sake of doing it, because I had a right to. But +this is real." + +"When you come back from England, or France, or wherever you are going, +perhaps you will carry a cane." He seemed startled, but only for a +moment. + +"What makes you think I am going over?" + +"Bobby told us--in confidence. When?" + +He seemed relieved. "If Bobby told you that lets me out. I was afraid I +might have dropped it somehow. I don't know when, but soon, I think." + +"Jack," said Eve suddenly--it was the first time I had heard her call +Ogilvie Jack--"Jack, we will have a clambake for a farewell. I hope they +will give you some days' notice of your going." + +"Thank you," he returned, smiling. "It is more likely to be hours' +notice. But I will come to your clambake if I can." + +"And can you bring," Eve asked, "your yeogirl? I invite her, and ask you +to deliver the invitation." + +He laughed suddenly. "My yeogirl--did you hear she was a joke? She is a +real girl, but I don't know her, and I couldn't bring her over here,--or +anywhere. No, I'm afraid you will have to get somebody else to deliver +the invitation. How would Mr. Wales do?--or Bobby?" + +"Jimmy has a wife, my cousin." + +"Yes, I know. But Bobby--he hasn't any." + +"Poor Bobby would be in greater trouble than ever. Besides, he wouldn't +do it. Bobby has developed a nasty temper lately. I wanted the yeogirl +for you, and if you don't want her--I am sorry Olivia has gone." + +"Olivia would never do for me," he said, shaking his head. "I guess I +shall have to devote myself to the clams--or to Elizabeth." + +"You might do worse, young man," I said severely. + +"I might," he assented. "In fact I have done worse." + +I did not know whether he referred to the clams or to Elizabeth; but it +was true in either case. And he said nothing more, and thereupon a +silence fell, which is no misfortune and no embarrassment when the +people are suited to it. I had been seeing Pukkie's yacht for some time, +and she had just disappeared behind Old Goodwin's pier. And she had +three people in her, when I supposed she carried only Elizabeth and +Pukkie. I mentioned it to Eve, who was as much surprised as I; and we +watched the pier and the shore. + +And presently we saw coming along the shore, where the little waves were +breaking, three figures. The figures were those of Elizabeth and +Pukkie--of those two I was certain--and the third looked like Bobby. I +had to look several times before I was sure of him. He was walking +beside Elizabeth, and his attitude betokened a strange mixture of +devotion and distaste. As I looked again I saw that Elizabeth and Pukkie +had been recently wet--very wet--and they were not yet dry. Bobby was +not wet. The inference was obvious: Elizabeth and Pukkie had been +overboard, and Bobby had not. But where had Bobby come from? Eve and I +hurried down the steep path, and met them at its foot. + +Elizabeth raised her eyes to me, and I saw two deep pools under a summer +sun, and all manner of colors played over them, concealing the depths. +Then for an instant the lights were quenched that concealed the depths, +and her eyes became as two dark wells with yet a sort of light +illumining the darkness, and there I saw content, but not +satisfaction--if those two can be reconciled. It was for but an instant, +and then the lights came back, and her eyes danced, and she laughed at +me. + +"Are you wondering," she asked, "what has happened to us, and what Bobby +Leverett is doing here?" + +"It is easy to guess," I answered, "that you and Pukkie have been +overboard, although why you should go in swimming in all your clothes is +another matter. But I must confess to some wonder about that matter +standing fidgeting there." And I pointed an accusing finger at Bobby. + +Bobby was ill at ease, and struggling between the constraint that was +upon him and a wish to tell his tale. + +"Well, you see, Adam," he began, "I--we were cruising--" + +"Who," I asked, interrupting, "is 'we'?" + +"Bobby," said Elizabeth quietly, "you'd better let me tell it first. Puk +and I," she continued, addressing Eve and me, "were sailing along too +calmly, and he wanted to put up the gafftopsail. So he got it out, and +ran with it, and he caught his foot in some of the superfluous ropes and +blocks, and went overboard--topsail and all. I was afraid he might be +tangled in the sail, so I let all the halliards go on the run, and I +went after him. I got him, and saved the sail, and there was a boat from +the Rattlesnake, with Bobby. He helped us on board again, and insisted +upon coming with us." + +Bobby again opened his mouth to speak. + +"One moment, Bobby," I said. "Tell me, Elizabeth, did the Rattlesnake +spring so suddenly?" + +She smiled and glanced at Bobby. "Oh, we had seen her before. That was +why Puk was wanting the topsail. He wanted to see if we could beat her." + +"Oh," said I, and I looked at Bobby, who squirmed as a caterpillar on a +stick. + +"We happened to be near," he said. He spoke calmly enough, but I saw +that he was very uncomfortable. "I thought I ought to come, for Pukkie +was very wet, and I wanted to be sure he was all right. Miss Radnor had +rather a nasty time getting him clear of that sail." + +"Bobby!" said Elizabeth warningly. And suddenly she smiled as if she was +much amused at something, perhaps at Bobby. + +"Bobby," said Eve softly, "it was very good of you. Did Elizabeth save +Pukkie's life?" + +"I'm not sure," Bobby answered slowly, "that Pukkie's life was in +danger, but I'm not sure that it was not." + +Eve clasped Pukkie to her, wet as he was. I would have done the same. + +"Bobby," Eve said again, looking up at him, "was there no one else that +was very wet? I'm ashamed of you." She had spoken low. + +"Er--you see," Bobby answered wriggling, "I knew very well that +Eliz--Miss Radnor would be all right. She is--er--very competent." + +And Elizabeth laughed at him and dropped a curtsey. "Thank you," she +said. + +Bobby was struggling with his desire to smile and with his dignity. + +"I've got to get back somehow," he said. "Hello, there's Ogilvie." +Ogilvie had been standing in plain sight at the top of the bluff. "He +can take me--that is, if you can spare him." He beckoned to him, and +Ogilvie came down. "You'll have to take me out, Jack." + +Ogilvie grinned and saluted, and they started off together. But they had +gone only a few steps when Bobby turned. + +"I almost forgot to say good-bye." + +He smiled unhappily, and was turning back, but Elizabeth ran to him and +held out her hand. + +"You can be on your dignity if you like, Bobby," she whispered, not so +low but that I heard it, "but I'm not going to be. Good-bye, and thank +you." + +And Bobby had taken the hand that she held out. He held it for a long +time, but said nothing that I could hear, but only looked. And he +relinquished her hand--actually flung it from him--and strode away after +Ogilvie. And Elizabeth came back to us quietly, but her eyes shone and +she was smiling. + +"Now," she said, "Puk and I will get on some dry clothes. You may as +well rub him, Eve." + +It must have been a narrower escape than Elizabeth would admit. As we +ascended the steep path, I thought upon the manner of journey that would +have been if there had been no escape at all. Pukkie, my dearly beloved +son! And I reached forward and hugged him, and for the rest of the way +my arm lay along his shoulders. + +That night we heard firing from the fort, perhaps a dozen shots. We hear +that firing every few nights. Eve and I looked out--we were just going +to bed--and saw the flashes against the sky above the trees, and heard +the sound as if cannon balls were being dropped on the floor over our +heads. Eve wondered what it was, and I told her it was probably some tug +trying to go in or out of the harbor to the east of us at a forbidden +time. + +"Oh," she said, relieved, "I thought that it might be submarines--or +fireworks." + + + + +IX + + +It was on a Saturday morning about the middle of July, and it had been +foggy; and I had watched the fog retreating stealthily, withdrawing one +long vaporous arm and then another, slinking back like a wraith before +the sun, as if trying to get away unperceived. There was no writhing and +twisting in the anguish of defeat and dissolution, no jets and shreds +vanishing into the hot air above. But the ways of the fog over the sea +are a mystery, and I am not yet at the end of them. + +I had gone over to Old Goodwin's to take my daughter, and I had left her +with one of the army of starched and stiff imitations of men in buttons +who haunt the house. They guard every door, so that a man cannot so much +as turn a handle for himself; and one is to be found in each passage, +and at every turn. They might be wooden images from a Noah's Ark, +endowed with movement, but not with life. There are not so many of them +as there were some years ago. They are none of Old Goodwin's doing, and +Mrs. Goodwin has somewhat lost her fancy for them; and some of them, Old +Goodwin told me, have enlisted. Fancy! Those men in buff uniform and +many buttons enlisting! But they will be well used to wearing a uniform, +and they will be well used to doing without question what they are told +to do, and to keeping their faces like masks. They will make good +soldiers I have no doubt, and they may be in France at this moment. + +The buttons who admitted us was not so very starched and stiff, and he +seemed to have been endowed with life as well as movement, and to have +become actually a human being. For he smiled when he saw my daughter, +and spoke pleasantly to her, so that I was persuaded that he was even +glad to see her. And she, having thrown him some pleasantry, and a smile +with it, dashed past him through the great hall and vanished. And he, +still smiling, closed the door upon me, and I went in search of Old +Goodwin, who deals not in uniforms and buttons. + +I found him on that part of his piazza where stands the great telescope +on its massive tripod. Before him there lay his ocean steamer at +anchor, and he gazed at her steadily--but not through the telescope. + +He turned his head as I came, and gave me his quiet smile of peace. + +"Good-morning, Adam," he said. "I was just wishing that you would come." + +Old Goodwin with his quiet smile--even in his clammer's clothes and his +old stained rubber boots--is yet Goodwin the Rich. It is a marvel. + +"Good-morning," I said. "And here I am to do with what you will--for the +space of some hours." + +"It may take some hours," he returned, "and it may be done in less." + +I did not in the least know what he was talking about, but I was to find +out. He was silent for some while. + +"Any news lately?" he asked then. + +"War news, I suppose you mean," I said, "and submarines. Nothing that +you have not seen; a submarine in Hampton Roads about a week ago. But +that report was in all the papers. No doubt Jimmy has given you later +news." + +"I believe that all boats were sent out from Newport in a hurry last +Sunday. I have heard nothing since. I wonder," he continued, smiling, +"if whales have not something to do with these reports--or sharks. I +hear that there has been a great slaughter of whales in the North Sea in +the last three years." + +"Whales have no periscopes." + +"They may yet develop them in self-defence if this keeps on long enough. +But I would not cast doubt. You see my boat out there. What do you +think of the color?" + +She was all gray, and has been so for some time. + +"Why, it is a good color if you like it. She looks like a lump of lead. +I cannot see why the navy does not paint its ships some lighter shade, +with streaks of greens and blues and purples and some white here and +there. Those are the colors that the water shows, although the water is +of a different color in every different light. But I would be willing to +guarantee that I could do better than that--much better." + +He looked at me thoughtfully. "That is worth thinking of, Adam. I am +sure you could do better. You couldn't do much worse if the idea is +concealment." He chuckled. "You know the water and its colors. How +would you like to do it?" + +"Why, I don't know," I said slowly. "I have never thought of it. The +fact is," I blurted out, and choked upon my words. Why should I confess +to Old Goodwin what I had been unwilling to confess to myself? But the +impulse was too strong. "The fact is," I began again more quietly, "I am +not satisfied. I cannot be content to till the ground--which any Western +Islander could do as well or better--and to moon upon my bluff when +every one I know is doing more. Could you?" + +He smiled and shook his head. "I could not in your place. But come out +to my boat with me. I want to show you the changes I have made." + +So we went in his tender which was lying at his landing with her men in +her, that had been waiting for us. And on the way out he asked me +casually and seemingly without interest, how I liked steamers; and he +had his gaze fixed upon his great vessel as though he had an affection +for her. + +"They are good for getting somewhere quickly," I answered him, "if you +mean such as yours. For the rest, one might as well be in some great +modern hotel on an island in the midst of the sea. There is no more +pleasure in them. Now tell me, is there?" + +He laughed a hearty laugh. "I can well imagine, Adam, the pleasure you +would have in being in a great hotel, whether it was in the midst of the +sea or in the midst of the city, but I have had some pleasure in that +boat. I have some regard for her." + +"Then I ask your pardon," I said, "for the answer that I gave. I should +have said other. But what I meant was clear enough. A sailing vessel is +a living thing, and each has ways of her own. You feel her response to +each movement of the wheel or each change of sail or trim of sheet, and +that response is sometimes willing and sometimes unwilling. She is like +a woman, responding instantly and gladly to a man who persuades her with +sympathy and understanding, and doing her best; while to a man without +true understanding of her she is reluctant and contrary and stubborn. I +have no experience in vessels of size, but you can ask Captain Fergus." + +He laughed again. "Fergus is of the same opinion," he said. "But what I +meant to ask was whether you have experience of steamers." + +I shook my head. + +"Too bad," he said, and sighed. "A steamer is a living thing too, I +think, but less like a woman; going straight where she is going like a +man; more straightforward. I like a steamer well enough. But Fergus +agrees with you. And Fergus has to go in a steamer, and it almost breaks +his heart. He is to command her." And he waved at the huge hull towering +above us, for we were at the gangway. + +I was following after him up the steps. + +"And is Captain Fergus in the navy?" I asked. + +"In the Reserve. He has been since the beginning. They were only +waiting for a ship." + +"And the Arcadia?" + +He turned and smiled. "She is enrolled too, but it is a secret. I don't +know why a secret." + +So that explained her activities. There might be other secrets; and I +thought of Elizabeth and Bobby. Elizabeth could be trusted to keep a +secret well, and Bobby knew it. And Elizabeth had been away much of the +time for two weeks or more, always going in the Arcadia wherever she +went, but usually home for the night. By "home" I mean our house. I +thought she was but a guest of Mrs. Fergus, but there might be some +other explanation. It did not matter. Elizabeth was Elizabeth, and Eve +rejoiced to see her face with its crown of beaver-colored hair, and her +calm and smiling eyes. I have not yet decided what is the color of her +eyes, but they suit Eve. + +And I looked up, and I saw the Arcadia just stretching her sails as a +man will stretch his arms and legs in preparation for the using of them. +She had been there all night. And I saw that noble yacht of Pukkie's +casting off from the stage in the little harbor of Old Goodwin's, and +Pukkie and Elizabeth in her. And Pukkie saw me--he had been waiting to +catch my eye--and they both waved to me as the boat caught the wind and +stood out of the harbor. She was tiny, that yacht of Pukkie's, but she +was complete; as complete as the Arcadia. Indeed, she was not unlike +her, save that one was a schooner and the other a sloop. To see that +boat of Pukkie's out upon the water with no other near enough to compare +them, you might think she was of any size, even a big boat--until you +saw the two huddled in the cockpit or one of them stretched upon the +deck, almost covering it. + +"See," I said to Old Goodwin, "there goes Pukkie." + +He stood at the head of the gangway, and he smiled a happy smile. + +"I see. He will go near all the lobster buoys, and the fish traps, and +the rocks uncovered by the tide, and pretend that they are submarines. +He has told me. And he pretends that the Yankee is a vessel that has +been sunk by a submarine. What it is to be a boy!" + +"And what are we but boys?" I said. "We pretend that there are +submarines in all the waters from Montauk to Chatham, and we go about +looking for them. It is much more satisfactory to have something that +you can see, as Pukkie has,--and just as useful, so long as we must +pretend. Submarines! They well-nigh turn me sick." + +He laughed. "They turn many sick." + +"Sick at heart," I said, "looking for what is not. We might +request--through the proper diplomatic channels--that Germany send some +over, one for each district." + +He laughed again. "It would relieve the monotony, and put spirit into +our men. Imagine Fergus if there were any. He is a war-horse." + +And he led the way, waving some officer aside, and took me through the +boat and showed me everything. He had made changes. I should not have +known it for the same boat. The staterooms, that had been palatial, had +been divided, but were large in their new state; and new quarters had +been provided for the crew, who would be twice as many men as he had +ever carried; and she had been strengthened for the mountings of the +guns. Many other changes had been made, but it was these that he +lingered over. They had been some months in making the changes, and he +had carried a small army of mechanics about with him. + +He had been showing me the officers' quarters for the third time, and at +last he turned away. + +"I am given to understand," he observed, "that any recommendations I +may make will receive due consideration. Fergus is made a commander, but +there are vacancies." + +He meant me, of course. The finger of destiny always points at me. It +was as much as an offer, but I should have been ashamed to accept it. A +man should enroll, and then let the navy do what they will with him. Of +course he should; but that is ascribing all wisdom to the men who have +all power. They are but men, and have not all wisdom; they are but men +as we are, and some of them a little less. + +I smiled. "I am sorry," I said, "that I know nothing of steamers and the +running of them, or I should be tempted to try for one of the +vacancies. I do not suppose I could qualify for anything; a +coal-passer, or even a third-class quartermaster perhaps, no better. And +I should not like to have fingers of scorn pointed at me as being the +admiral's pet or something of the kind. It would smack of politics and +influence." + +Old Goodwin laughed. "It is not an improper use of influence to point +out a man's virtues," he answered, "but quite proper. The authorities do +not know you, but I do, and I consider you well qualified. The knowledge +of your duties you could pick up soon enough. You could pass the +examination for a lieutenant's commission in two weeks. I would not be +afraid to promise it. You can navigate, Adam." + +I nodded. "I wish it could be done. But you forget that I am +forty-three. They don't want men of forty-three." + +"It might be done," he said. "Fergus is forty-four, but many years a +master. It might be done, but if you don't want--" + +I interrupted him. "You forget Eve. She is a pacifist--as bad as +Cecily." + +He smiled. "Eve is not so much a pacifist--nor Cecily. I would not worry +about Eve." + +That was news to me--if he was right. And I did want to do something, if +only to restore my self-respect, that was well-nigh gone from me. It was +but to find that something that I could do better than another, if such +there was. + +"I will think about it," I said. + +"Do," he returned, "and so will I. It may be that this vessel is not +the place for you. I should like it better if there was something that +would keep you here or hereabouts--and so would Eve. It should be +something that no one else can do." + +I laughed and said nothing. What was there for me to say? But my laugh +had no merriment in it. It was simple: I had but to find that which I +could do and no one else; but stay--it must be useful in the present +case. And I laughed again savagely, and I looked up, and there was the +Rattlesnake anchored beside the Arcadia. + +"They are well in time for the clambake," I remarked, "although they +have digged no clams." + +For this was the day of Ogilvie's farewell. He had written Eve, and she +had got the note the day before; and all the afternoon I had been busy +with getting my supplies, and in the early morning of this day we had +digged the clams. It was but a remnant of my company that gathered +there, only Old Goodwin and Eve and Elizabeth and Cecily and me--and +Captain Fergus. I almost forgot Captain Fergus, but he dug few clams. +The burden of the day fell upon Old Goodwin and me. Jimmy and Bobby and +Ogilvie and Tom and Mrs. Fergus and Olivia were absent. And now there +was naught to do but to start the bake. Old Goodwin and I went in +silence to the tender, and ashore. + +"Think hard," said Old Goodwin as I was leaving him. "There must be +something." + +"If only we can find it," I returned. "I have little hope." + +He smiled his old smile of peace. "I have much," he said. "I can take +you over to Newport on any day you wish. I will be over to help you with +the bake." + +Our clambake was a good clambake, and the clams were good, being +fresh-digged and well baked, and the lobsters tender, being +small--indeed, I was glad that no inspectors from the police boat were +there to measure them. I did not measure them, being well enough content +to take the word of the fishermen. And the chickens were good and all +things else; but there was something lacking, something wrong, and that +something was in the spirits of the guests. Old Goodwin was cheerful, +and Elizabeth seemed cheerful enough, and Jimmy; but upon the spirits of +the rest of us there sat an incubus. Ogilvie said but little, and Bobby +was restless and discontented. He had hard work to sit still long enough +to eat; and thereafter he wandered to and fro like a lost soul, standing +at the edge of the bluff and looking out moodily, then wandering over to +my garden and regarding it critically, then back to the pine, taking his +knife from out his pocket and tapping it upon the table, then wandering +aimlessly to the clump of trees, then to the bluff again. + +My garden is not on exhibition. It is not weedless, as Judson's used to +be, but is for use; and it is not to be regarded critically. And the +tapping of knives on the smooth pine planks of the table is not to be +commended. I came very near speaking to him about it, and then I saw Eve +watching Bobby with an anxious look, and I caught for an instant a +glimpse of Elizabeth's eyes. They hurt me. It was but for an instant, +then she veiled them, and the lights played upon them. She was watching +Bobby too. + +So we got through an uncomfortable afternoon, and it came time for them +to go. Eve had Jack Ogilvie by himself at the edge of the bluff, and +they talked earnestly, and he took her hand and smiled his pleasant +smile, and they came back to us. Bobby was tapping his knife upon the +smooth pine boards. + +"I envy you, Jack," he said, heaving a tremendous sigh. "I'll be there +too, if there is any way." He turned suddenly to Old Goodwin. "Can't you +say a word for me? What is the use of influential relatives, anyway?" + +And Old Goodwin laughed. "They are of little use, Bobby. And I am +surprised that you are willing to use influence in such a matter." + +And he looked at me and winked. + +"Use influence!" Bobby cried under his breath. "I'd use anything--a +crowbar, if that would get me there." + +Then they said their farewells, and Bobby shook hands with Eve and me, +but not with Elizabeth. She stood there, her hands hanging at her sides, +and a smile upon her lips,--not in her eyes,--while Bobby turned away. + +But he turned back again as if it were against his will and some great +force turned him. + +"Good-bye, Elizabeth," he said low, and he half held out his hand. + +She went forward quickly. "Good-bye, Bobby," she said. + +And Bobby gripped her hand so that it must have hurt, and held it long +and hard. Then he flung it from him as I had seen him do once before, +and strode away abruptly, and ran down the steep path after the others. +Elizabeth came back to us smiling--with her lips and eyes and heart; and +Eve kissed her suddenly, and she laughed and cast down her eyes, and +they went in together. + +I stood upon the edge of my bluff when the sun was low in the west, and +I watched the colors that the Great Painter spread upon the still +waters. And I saw again that little strip of marsh below me, each grass +stem standing straight and motionless and dark in the still water, but +each stem was edged with greenish gold. Little waves rippled in--from +some boat out in the harbor--and the grass stems rippled gently with +it, and the bars of gold upon the waves and the waving lines of gold +upon the grass stems advanced with it until the wave broke upon the +store. I looked out to see what boat it was, and it was Ogilvie's, and +he stood and gazed and waved to me, and I waved back, and then I +bethought me of my signalling. So I waved my arms like a semaphore gone +mad, and I sent him a message in farewell; and he understood, and +thanked me and sent a farewell to Eve. Then he was gone out into the +pearl-gray of the coming twilight, and his gray boat was lost in the +gray of sky and sea. + +I looked down at the little marsh. The grass was still again, and two +blackbirds flew across it. I saw the red shoulders of one as he guided +his waving flight, and the grass stems standing up darkly above the +bright water, as if they were set in glass. It seemed infinitely +beautiful and sweet, and infinitely sad. + +I was wakened in the night by a noise outside our window; a little +noise, as if somebody were trying not to make it. A greater noise, one +made as if by right, would not have awakened me. And I took a stick that +I have--a straight hickory handle for a sledge fits the hand well, and +makes an admirable weapon--and I went out, thinking of German spies. +There was no moon, but I saw him. My spy was doing nothing but gazing up +at the window, and I came upon him from behind and caught him by the +collar. That collar was stiff with braid. + +He turned quickly and wrenched himself free. + +"What do you mean, Adam," he asked, "by your murderous assault upon a +peaceful relative?" + +It was Bobby. "You're no relative of mine," I said. "What are you doing, +anyway? Don't you know that the window you are gazing at is mine--Eve's +and mine?" + +"All the windows in the house are yours, aren't they?" he growled. "And +I'm not looking at any window. But why can't I if I want to? Answer me +that." + +There was no answer to that. "It is lucky," I observed, "that I keep no +dog--a dog like Burdon's. I think of getting one." + +Bobby laughed at that. Burdon had a great dog, a vicious beast, which +amused himself one day by chasing Burdon into the hencoop, growling and +snarling savagely. He kept him there for hours until there came along a +boy who had owned the dog until his father decided that the dog was too +vicious and gave him to Burdon. The boy seized the dog by the collar, +and dragged him away and chained him, and told Burdon that he could come +out. + +"Don't you do it, Adam," Bobby said. "Think how you would feel if you +came out and found only my mangled remains. And I am doing no harm--only +wandering about." + +So he was but wandering about. He should have been in bed. And we stood +there and talked for a few minutes, and Bobby wandered off to my steep +path and down to the shore, and I heard the sound of great pebbles +rolling, and I heard him whistling softly some mournful air. I went in +and to bed. Elizabeth sleeps in the room down the hall, and her windows +are around the corner. I heard a little noise from her room as I turned +into mine. + + + + +X + + +One morning--it was the first of August, the middle of that hot week--I +was sitting on the seat under my great pine, and Eve sat beside me. I +was waiting for Elizabeth, for the time had come again for the Arcadia +to be about her mysterious business on the sea, and this time I was to +go. It was what Elizabeth called "transferring" something or somebody. +What it was and where it was I was to find out. I wished that Eve was +going--and Pukkie. I said as much. + +"Elizabeth has not asked us," she replied. "I could not go if I were +asked, for I promised to go to mother's. She has one of her bad turns. +But Pukkie would love it." + +I murmured my regret at Mrs. Goodwin's illness. Her illnesses are not +serious and do not last long, and the cause of them is not far to seek. +She eats most heartily and takes no exercise, and that practice ever +bred illness. I would have her mowing for remedy. + +Eve slipped her hand within my arm and clasped the other over it. + +"Adam," she said, giving my arm a gentle squeeze, "what is it that is +troubling you? Something does. It has for a long time." + +Now that was what I did not expect, that Eve should think me troubled, +for I thought that I had been most careful. But I should have known +better. Eve always knows. And the thing that had been troubling me more +than any other was that I had not thought of that no one else could do +but I. + +I looked down into her eyes, and I saw there many things; but love and +longing most of all, the longing to comfort me if she could but lay her +finger on the hurt. + +I smiled. "It is not so bad as that," I said. + +"Well, kiss me, Adam," she said, "and tell me." + +I obeyed orders--or part of them. + +"On the day of the draft," I said, "I was in the village, and I saw all +the inhabitants assembled, and they scanned each batch of numbers as the +news came, but not a third of them knew what their own numbers were. +Some did, and I saw two that were drafted. One of the two went out from +that assembly with eyes that saw nothing, looking as if he went to his +execution. The other laughed, and said that that settled it, and he was +glad. And tell me if you can the answer to my riddle--which has nothing +to do with the assembly in the village--and say what there is that I can +do, but no one else." + +She laughed. "Is that the matter? And must the thing be useful? I know +several things that no one else can do, but they are not useful. If it +must be useful,--well,--I cannot think of it at this moment, but I have +no doubt I shall." She leaned forward, and tried to look into my eyes; +and failing that, she shook me. "What is the nature of this thing that +you must do? Look at me, and tell me." + +I was afraid to look at her lest she guess, and I was not ready to tell +her. I might never be ready. + +"It is nothing, Eve," I said: "nothing of importance. It is not worth a +minute's worry." And that was true too. + +"Foist it upon somebody else then," she answered quickly. "There are +persons to decide those things." + +I looked at her then. "I cannot believe that I get your meaning. You +could not know. Truly there are persons to decide those things, but +Heaven knows whether they are competent to decide anything. No doubt +they would cheerfully and light-heartedly consign me to--what I should +not do." + +I stopped abruptly. I had almost told her that which I had determined +not to tell her--yet. I looked into her eyes, and there I saw laughter +and joy and hope and great love; and I saw the same tender wistfulness +that I had seen so many times in the past weeks. But joy and laughter +conquered. + +"I hear Elizabeth coming," she said, "and I hope you may read your +riddle. Now we must be most proper. Are you proper, Adam?" + +And Elizabeth came while I was yet straightening my hair, and getting it +into a comfortable condition. It feels most uncomfortable when it is +rumpled and each separate hair taking a different direction, like the +brush that is used to black the stove. It feels as that brush looks. + +Elizabeth laughed at me unfeelingly. And she turned to Eve. But people +always turn to Eve. "I'm going to take Pukkie, Eve, if you don't mind. +Captain Fergus did not ask him, but I'm going to take him anyway. I've +told him." + +And Eve smiled and said nothing, and we started, and Pukkie came +running, his face expressing his delight. And when we were in the launch +and starting from the landing, Eve wished me once more the proper +reading of my riddle, and she threw a kiss to us, and stood there until +we were aboard the Arcadia; then we saw her wending up the slope toward +the great house. + +The sails were already hoisted and the anchor hove short. Elizabeth and +Captain Fergus and Pukkie and I were settled in chairs along the rail, +and the crew went about their business so quickly and so quietly that +the first I knew of our being under way was the gentle canting of the +deck beneath my feet. We had slipped out. + +The wind was very light, but it was making rapidly, and there was a +long, heaving swell from the Atlantic--perhaps two hundred feet from +crest to crest--which made the big Arcadia pitch gently and bury her bow +to the eyes. At last one of these seas, higher than most of those which +made up the great procession, crept up higher yet and slopped over upon +the deck. And her bows rose, and there was a rush of water along the +deck, and there came the noise of falling water from hawse pipes and +scuppers. + +Pukkie laughed with delight, and Captain Fergus looked up. + +"Crack on," he said; and they set more sail. + +Presently there came another of those mighty rollers. She took it over +her bows, a flood of green water, and it came roaring aft. Again there +was the sound of many waters, more mighty yet, as hawse pipes and +scuppers spouted forth their loads. + +Captain Fergus looked up at the masts. "Crack on," he said again. And he +got up and wandered to and fro across the deck, gazing up at the masts +and at the men setting the light sails. + +"She'd do better," he said, stopping for an instant by my chair, "if I +hadn't had to put that confounded engine in her. You wouldn't believe +what a drag a screw is, even when it is feathering." + +She was doing well enough. All her light sails were set, and she was +furnished forth with all her frills and furbelows, so that there was no +place where she could carry another stitch. She bent to her business and +sailed. And Captain Fergus smiled a smile of satisfaction--in spite of +that dragging screw. + +Pukkie had left his comfortable chair, and was leaning against my knee, +saying nothing, but looking back at me now and then, his face a study. +It was a pleasure just to watch him. Captain Fergus seemed to find it +so, and Elizabeth had been watching him for some time. + +"Come, young man," Captain Fergus said suddenly. "Don't you want to walk +a while with me--to pace the deck with measured tread, while +what-you-may-call-it on the dead? Eh?" + +And Pukkie smiled more than ever--if that were possible--and jumped and +joined him; and they walked--paced the deck with measured tread for some +time in solemn silence. Captain Fergus would glance aloft, and Pukkie +would glance aloft; and at last I smiled and Elizabeth laughed. + +"Don't you feel like pacing the deck with measured tread?" I asked. + +And she got up as if she had been sitting on a spring, and we paced the +deck in solemn silence behind those other two. + +Captain Fergus turned suddenly. "This young man ought to have a +uniform," he said. "I've got one that he could wear. Steward!" + +And the steward, having come instantly and received his instructions, +vanished below, and immediately reappeared, bearing an ensign's coat and +cap. These were fitted upon my son. They were too large, but he could +wear them. + +"But, Captain Fergus," said Elizabeth, laughing, "the regulations!" + +"Jigger the regulations!" remarked Captain Fergus, smiling. "I pay +mighty little attention to regulations when I'm on my own vessel. +Pukkie's my first officer." + +My little son beamed at this, and turned to show me his uniform. + +"When you command that yacht of Mr. Goodwin's," said Elizabeth, "you'll +have to pay some attention to the regulations." + +"Have to sleep in my uniform, like as not," Captain Fergus growled. +"According to the order we are not to unbutton a button of the coat on +any occasion. If that doesn't mean sleep in your uniform, what does it +mean?" + +"You can't have Pukkie for your first officer then," Elizabeth pursued. +"Can you?" + +"I suppose not. Probably some yachting chaps who have been prominent +socially and got their pictures in the papers. I hope not, though. There +are some good men in the Reserve. I only hope they may give me men who +have had experience in steamers. I don't want any of these pets who have +commissions merely because they had influence, or because they were rich +enough to give a boat." + +I said nothing. I had the light that I was looking for, although it did +not illumine my problem, but was what I had supposed it would be. After +all, if a man do but use the sense that God gave him and stand by his +judgments, he will do well enough. I would have none of Old Goodwin's +steamer. What was I, to be officer on a great steamer? I might command a +rowboat, or a yacht like Pukkie's if need were. + +"You do not have a very high opinion," I said, "of the navy?" + +"What?" he said. "High opinion? Oh, yes, I have. Good men and fine +vessels, many of them. It's a sailor's right to growl at the service +he's in. You mustn't take what he says too seriously." + +"Would you advise a man to enroll in the navy?" + +"Depends on the man. If he has a taste for the sea, he'd be more +contented in the navy than in the army, but many men have a strong +distaste for it. I'd advise your man to get the best rank he can, and to +have no modesty about it. If he doesn't get it some other fellow will +who is not troubled by modesty." + +And Captain Fergus took up his pacing the deck again, and Pukkie walked +beside him, taking as long a stride as he could. Elizabeth watched them, +a smile of affection in her eyes. + +"Isn't he fine in his uniform?" she whispered. "But he would be happier +if he could wear his old blue coat and his old blue cap." + +He was fine, and he looked the sailor and the fighter. But I knew that +old blue coat and that old blue cap, hanging in his cabin. The sun had +shone caressingly upon them many times, and seemed to like them almost +as well as he liked them; and they had changed their colors, as +everything does under the caresses of the sun, until they were blue no +longer, but of a purplish cast, shot with red. + +The wind grew, as winds will, until two or three in the afternoon, and +the sea grew with it, but always there were those great rollers coming +in from the Atlantic. And the Arcadia was doing her twelve knots, bowing +majestically and buffeting the great seas, tearing the tops from them +and sending sheets of spray, which rattled upon her deck or upon the +surface of the water like hail; and the water hissed past the rail, and +there was the gentle cluck of blocks, deep in their throats, with the +heave of the sea, and there was the sound of wind in the rigging and of +ropes beating on taut sails. Altogether it made glad my heart; and +Elizabeth seemed to like it, and Pukkie's heart was swollen almost to +bursting. And the captain paced to and fro, saying nothing, or he stood +by the rail looking out over the waters, his cap pulled down low, an +unquenchable light in his deep blue eyes and a happy smile on his lips. + +We had passed the colored cliffs of Gay Head shining in the sun, and we +were passing Nomansland, and the great rollers were greater yet. There +was fog out beyond, lying in wait. Captain Fergus nodded to Elizabeth. + +"Better see if we can pick them up," he said. + +She turned to go below, and stopped at the companionway. + +"Look," she said. + +We looked where she pointed. There, on the surface of the sea, about two +miles away, was some great thing glistening in the sun, the water +washing over it. A thick haze, or the advance guard of the fog, made it +hard to see anything clearly except the glisten of the sun. + +"Oh," cried Pukkie, "I see it. Is it a submarine?" And he looked up at +the captain. + +"More likely a whale," the captain answered, smiling; "but we will see." + +And the course of the Arcadia was changed a little so that she was +heading straight for it. She kept on for it, and now and then the +sunlight caught it and made it to shine like the windows of a house at +sunset, and again it was a dark body with the water washing over it, and +we could scarcely make it out, lying there in the sea. As we approached +my breath came quicker and my eyes glistened, and I smiled. I know it, +for Elizabeth glanced at me and laughed. It was a mysterious thing, +lying there in that thick haze. It seemed as if it might be a submarine, +although reason told me it was not. + +"What do you mean to do?" I asked. + +"Ram him," answered the captain promptly, "if it is a submarine and we +can get there in time. A fast sailing vessel is better, for he could +hear our screw. But it is no submarine. It looks more like a vessel's +bilge. There! Ha!" + +The glistening body moved, and great flukes suddenly reared on high, and +the body disappeared. + +"A sleeping whale," Captain Fergus observed. "Another submarine report +gone wrong." + +"Are there any over here?" + +"Not now, I am reasonably sure. Don't believe there will be, although I +may be mistaken. They can use them to better advantage on the other +side. But there may be, in time, unless Germany blows up first. We don't +know what is happening in Germany. They may blow up at any minute, and +they may not. Shouldn't be surprised--and I shouldn't be surprised if +they kept going for a year or two longer. Look at the Russian army, +just got well going and they have mutiny and lose it all. Too bad! I'd +like to see any crew of mine try it!" + +Elizabeth laughed and went below, and Captain Fergus began again his +walking to and fro. Presently Elizabeth came up and spoke to him, and +the course was changed, and in an hour we had sighted a steamer making +for us. + +It was the Rattlesnake; and the two vessels lay quiet on that rolling +sea while our tender went over with a package of papers, and came back +with Bobby. And the Rattlesnake turned about and we soon lost her in the +haze, and we turned about and headed for home. + +Bobby was not talkative on the way back. Indeed, Bobby has not been +himself for some weeks; not the Bobby that I knew of old. I cannot fix +the date at which the change occurred, but it was some date that had to +do with Elizabeth. Every date has to do with Elizabeth, so far as he is +concerned. And though he spoke to her when he came over the side--spoke +gravely, I suppose he thought--it seemed more like petulance to me--he +said no word more to her, but sat in his chair and gazed moodily out +over the water. And Elizabeth sat in her chair, and she gazed at Bobby +under lowered lids, and she smiled her smile of suppressed amusement. +And presently, her thoughts being unguarded, she raised her lids a +little, so that I saw all the lights of the sea playing in her eyes, +that were yet regarding Bobby, and there came into them a tender light +that was more than all the light on sea and sky. And she glanced at me, +and she saw that I had seen, and she flushed slowly, and got up and went +below. + +"Bobby," I said, "are you not ashamed of yourself?" + +He started. "Ashamed of myself?" he answered, looking at the +companionway down which Elizabeth had disappeared. "No doubt I should +be. I do things enough to be ashamed of. But why?" + +"You have not seemed to notice the honor that has befallen my family. My +son is made ensign or lieutenant commander or something, and you have +not remarked the event. I am afraid that you have hurt his feelings." + +Bobby laughed as though he was relieved. + +"So he is--ensign or something, as you say. And I did not observe it. I +ask his pardon, Adam, and yours." And he called to Pukkie, who was +following Captain Fergus about like a pet dog; and Pukkie came, and +Bobby felicitated him upon his promotion. And Pukkie smiled until I +feared lest his face crack. + +"It is a trifle large," Bobby remarked, referring to the uniform, "but +he will grow to it." + +"It is not so much too large as it was," I said. "You should have seen +him swell--like a toad-grunter." + +"Daddy," protested the aggrieved Pukkie, "I'm not like a toad-grunter." + +The toad-grunter is a much despised fish. + +"No, Puk," said Bobby, "you're not. I think your father should +apologize." + +"I apologize, Pukkie," I said hastily, for I would not wound my son. +"You are not. And, Bobby, can't you find any? Is that why you are out of +sorts?" + +"Find any what?" asked Bobby, puzzled. "Any toad-grunters? I hope not. +Who wants to find 'em? You speak in riddles, Adam." + +"It was submarines I meant." + +Bobby smiled seraphically. "Your traps, Adam, are no good. But I'm going +to find some submarines pretty soon. Pret--ty soon, you mark my words." + +"Words marked. But what do you mean?" + +"What I say. Now, Puk, what do you say to a walk about the deck? Or +would you rather follow your captain?" + +And Bobby strolled off with Pukkie. They went up forward, where the +Arcadia was shouldering aside the great seas. We had the wind on the +quarter, and there was no longer the sound of spray like rolling +musketry. And presently Elizabeth looked out of the companionway, and +seeing me alone, she came and sat in the chair next to mine, and she put +out her hand. + +"Adam," she said with a pretty flush. + +"Elizabeth," I answered, with no flush, but I watched hers flaming. + +"Adam, don't you tell," she said, looking shyly at me. Elizabeth is not +given to shy looks, but to honest ones, eye to eye. "Promise me that +you will never tell. Give me your hand on it." + +I took her hand. It was a pretty hand and soft enough, with tapering +fingers, but it was not such a pretty hand as Eve's. + +"Elizabeth," I said to her, "I do not know anything to tell--anything +that would be of interest. But--but you do not mind if I tell Eve, do +you? And," I finished lamely enough, "I hope it--it will." + +She laughed and sighed, and gave my hand a squeeze. + +"Thank you," she said. "But Eve knows, I think." + +Captain Fergus was standing by the rail, sniffing the wind and gazing +out at the waters, and at the little swirls of foam that raced by, and +at the bank of fog that chased us in. He was happy. I almost envied +him. He had done his part, and he was doing it. + +"Will you walk?" I asked Elizabeth. And we got up and walked, saying +nothing. + +The afternoon passed, and the wind died. As we drew near to the +lighthouse that stands like a sentinel on its rock just within the +entrance to the bay, the sun was far down in the west, the breeze was +but the gentlest breath, and the surface of the water moved in slow, +oily undulations. I stood with Elizabeth close beside the rail, and we +gazed at the water that was red and gold. + +The shadow of the tall lighthouse was thrown high on the sails, and +passed slowly aft. The red sun was sitting on a distant hill bearded +with cedars. The little oily waves were splotched with vermilion and +blue and purple and gold, and the gold dazzled our eyes. + +Not a ripple marked our passage. I gazed at the red sun, and he gazed +back at me; and his red disc was half down behind the hill, and I could +see it sink. And the sun sank behind the hill and had winked his last, +and a broad smooch of red lay upon the western horizon. We watched the +red fade to orange, then to saffron and to green, while two little +saffron clouds with edges of flame floated high above, and the fog crept +in stealthily below. And I heard Elizabeth sigh, and I looked down and +she looked up. + +"If you find this sad," I said, "and as if it were the end of all +things, turn about. The sight will fill your soul with peace." + +So we turned about. And the sky toward the east was of a lovely soft, +warm pearl-gray, and the water the same pearl-gray with tints of rose +and of a light blue here and there. The distance was veiled in an +impalpable haze, and water and sky merged into a soft grayish blur +toward the horizon, as if smeared with a dry brush. The water, gray with +its rose tints and its blue, seemed to dimple softly, like a baby +smiling as it sank to sleep. It soothed my soul; it was the very breath +of peace. + +I heard another sigh beside me, and I turned, and there was Bobby. + +"Submarines in that!" he said, and smiled. + +We began to turn slowly, and were come to our anchorage, and there was +Old Goodwin's great steamer not far away, and Old Goodwin himself, with +Eve, on his landing, waiting for us. + +As we were about to go ashore, Captain Fergus spoke to me. + +"About that man of yours," he said. "Tell him to go to Newport, and to +put himself in their hands over there. It is the best thing he can do." + +And I thanked him, and said I would tell my man. And we were walking +from the landing, Old Goodwin and I and Eve--Bobby had to walk with +Elizabeth, with Pukkie between them, for there was none other thing that +he could do, but they said nothing that I could hear. + +"I am going to take Cecily over to Newport to-morrow," Old Goodwin +observed. "She has not seen Tom for five days. Don't you want to come +along, Adam?" + + + + +XI + + +There must have been a conspiracy against my happiness--or for it, +perhaps; but Eve seemed only mildly interested. So I made some excuse to +her--I do not like to make excuses to Eve--and I went to Newport with +Old Goodwin and Cecily. Eve could not go. She did not say why. + +Cecily kept us late in Newport, trying to get a glimpse of Tom. We had +got a glimpse of him, dressed in a sailor suit and driving some admiral +or other in a big gray car, but he would not look at us, and that did +not satisfy Cecily. But she was not discouraged, and we left her to the +pursuit of her quarry, and we went about our business, that took some +time. Then, after a long search, we found Cecily talking to Tom beside +his car. That admiral of his did not appear for hours, and Cecily would +not leave until he did, so we left them alone together on the curbstone, +and we waited around the next corner. We did not get home until nearly +eight, and Old Goodwin took us to his house for dinner, and there were +Eve and Elizabeth and Bobby. + +It was a good dinner, as was fitting for Old Goodwin's house, and when +it was over we all wandered out upon the piazza where stands the +telescope, and from which we could see out upon the bay. This part of +the piazza is like another room, with many rugs upon the floor, and +tables and comfortable chairs; and it is lighted at night--dimly, to be +sure, and but so much as lets one see easily where he is going, if he is +going, and descry the faces of the others sitting there. But that is for +those who are gone blind in the dark. I am not blind in the dark, but I +can see well enough if I am but out of doors, where there is always +light enough to see where one is going. It is only lights that blind me. +I do not like lights out of doors. Besides, on this night there was a +reddish moon hanging rather low in the southeast, with wisps of fog +driving under it. I have forgotten my astronomy,--thank heaven!--which +would tell me why the moon sometimes pursues her course high overhead +and sometimes low toward the horizon. The moon is no friend of mine +anyway, and I care not at all where she goes, or whether her course is +from west to east or north to south, or whether she shine at all. But on +this night she shone bravely for the time, and there would have been +light enough with no other. + +So we sat there for some time in silence, feeling pleasant and satisfied +because we had just dined well, and Old Goodwin smoked his cigar, and +Bobby and I smoked our pipes. And I was becoming less and less pleasant +and satisfied with those lights above me, and Bobby was getting +restless, being seized with curious alternations of restless nervousness +and pleasant satisfaction. Eve seemed to be satisfied enough, and +Elizabeth sat motionless, her hands in her lap, and a half-smile on her +lips. I could not see her eyes, but she seemed to be watching. + +There had been some desultory talk, and the lights had become too much +for me, and I had wandered out with Eve into a sort of balcony that had +no lights. And we sat--closer together than we could have sat if the +balcony had been lighted--and Eve's hand came searching for mine that +was already searching for hers, and we clasped our fingers close, and we +looked out at the waters of the bay that sparkled dimly, and at the +tapering band of moonlight that widened to a broad circle under the +moon, and at the riding lights of the Arcadia and of Old Goodwin's great +steamer,--a great dark shape. Fog hung about. It would be in presently. + +"Tell me, Adam," said Eve softly. "What did you see at Newport?" + +"Tom," I answered. "He's a sight in his sailor suit." + +She laughed. "Of course; but nothing to what you would be. We're very +fond of Tom, aren't we, and of Cecily? What else?" + +"The beach and the town and the cliffs and the training station and the +new barracks and many vessels at anchor." + +"Exasperating!" And she shook me. "Didn't you go into the War College?" + +"We did. Your father seems to know many there." + +"Adam," said Eve, "aren't you going to tell me?" + +She bent forward and looked up into my eyes, and I looked down into +hers. I kissed her. + +"I will tell you, Eve. Never fear. When you look at me like that, I +would tell anything. I tell you everything sooner or later." + +"I like it sooner." + +"I have some fear that you will not like it." + +"If you have done it, Adam, I shall like it. If I do not like it, you +will never know it. Tell me. You did not go to view the country. I know +that well enough." + +"Well," I began, and stopped, somewhat troubled. Scraps of talk had +drifted out to us, now and then, from that room we had left, and by +turning we could get a glimpse of one or another, sitting in the dim +yellow light. + +Bobby had just said something, and then there fell a sudden +silence--absolute silence. It was the silence that stopped me, and I +cast back over my unconscious recollection to see if I knew what he had +said. And the things that had happened in there in the last minute took +gradual shape in my mind, as things sometimes do that are heard with the +ear but not consciously noted. Old Goodwin had asked Bobby some +question, I know not what, and Bobby had answered him in a dull, dead +sort of voice. I recalled the voice because it was strange for Bobby to +use it; but he had done many strange things. What had he said in that +dull, indifferent voice that sounded as if all that he cared for were +destroyed utterly? I had it, and so did Eve. It had not taken a half a +minute. He had announced that he was to go to England and join a +destroyer. + +No one had spoken in that half-minute, and I peeked through at +Elizabeth. She was sitting as she had been for some time, the same +half-smile upon her lips, her hands in her lap; but I saw that her hands +were clasped together and every muscle tense. + +"Rather sudden news, Bobby," said Cecily at last. "You don't seem as +glad as I should have supposed you would be." + +"Oh, yes," Bobby answered, "I'm glad enough. I've had enough of chasing +phantoms. There are no submarines over here. I have some reason to +believe that it is different over there. There is nothing, I think," he +added rather bitterly, "to keep me over here--no reason why I should not +be glad to go." + +Again that silence fell. I saw Elizabeth's hands twisting slightly, +clasped in her lap. + +"What vessel do you join?" Cecily asked. "And when do you go?" + +"I don't know the vessel," he said, "and I'm sorry that I am not +permitted to tell you when I go. But it will be soon. There are troops +going to France. I suppose I should not tell that, but I trust there are +no spies here." And he laughed shortly. + +Elizabeth had said nothing, nor made any movement, but she had sat as +motionless as a statue--if one had not observed her hands. Now she rose +slowly, as if weary with sitting still, and she wandered slowly from one +thing to another, and seemed not to find comfort in any; and she was +come near the door, and passed out, and we heard her light step going +slowly along the piazza behind us and down some steps in the distance. +Then I turned back, and I looked out at the moonlight on the quiet +water, and at the great dark shape with its anchor light and a light or +two more shining through some portholes, and her decks white under the +moon. + +I turned to Eve, for I would have spoken; but she laid her finger on my +lips, and she pressed my arm, and would not let me lean forward. And I +heard a faint rustling, but very faint, and I saw the tops of a great +clump of bushes move in order, as if some creature--some person--moved +along behind them; and there was not wind enough to stir them. Those +bushes were very near to us, almost in front of us. And the movement of +the bushes stopped, and everything was still, and the veiled moon shone +down, making gray and ghostly everything that its half-light shone upon, +and casting black shadows. + +Bobby had become uneasy, and he had risen and was wandering slowly +about, as Elizabeth had done; and at last he was come to the door, and +he bolted through it, and we heard his light footsteps running along the +piazza behind us. Bobby was a runner when he was in college, and he ran +with no noise. And he took the steps at a leap, and I heard a faint +chuckle from Old Goodwin. + +Then nothing happened for a long time, and I could feel Eve laughing +silently, and I knew that Bobby was ramping about the place, looking +for somebody that he found not. It was as bad as chasing submarines. +And at last the bushes moved again, and I heard Bobby's voice +whispering, "Elizabeth! Elizabeth! Where are you?" And the bushes near +us shivered, and there came a gasp, and somebody started to run, but +Bobby caught her. I could see nothing, but I could imagine his catching +her by both hands, and I could hear. I could not help hearing. + +"Oh!" she gasped; and "Oh!" again. + +Then he seemed to catch her close. + +"Elizabeth!" he whispered. "Elizabeth! I give up. It's unconditional +surrender, Elizabeth. I've fought against it, but it's no use. I don't +care what you are if you'll only love me." + +Elizabeth was between laughter and tears. + +"Even if I am a German spy, Bobby?" + +"Even if you're a German spy," he whispered fiercely. "But you're not. +You couldn't be. You're too honest--and true." + +"Honest and true, Bobby," Elizabeth whispered, clinging to him--I +guessed. "But you don't know what a woman can do. If I were a German +spy, I should be doing just this--to worm your secrets out of you." + +There was a silence. + +"Do it again," he said, "--German spy!" + +She did it again--I guessed. + +"I'm only," she whispered, half-crying on his shoulder, "practising +wireless on the Arcadia. You knew that, Bobby, didn't you?" + +Eve touched my arm, and we began to withdraw soundlessly. + +"And, oh, Bobby," Elizabeth went on, "I'm afraid that you--that you may +not come back. Those destroyers are--but I'm proud of you, so proud!" + +"I'm coming back," said Bobby. "Trust me, if I have you to come back to. +I always did have luck, and I've always come back. I do have you, don't +I?" + +"You seem to," Elizabeth whispered merrily. "And I--" + +Then Eve and I were out of that balcony at last, and we went along the +piazza as silently as might be, and down the steps. I began to sing +softly, "The cloudless sky is now serene," and Eve laughed and checked +me. + +"Aren't you ashamed of yourself, Adam?" + +"No, Eve," I said, "but I rejoice mightily." + +"And so do I," she said, "and there is but one thing more needed to make +me very happy. And that you shall tell me." + +And we wended over the grass that was flecked with moonlight--it was wet +too, that grass--and through the greenery that was no more green, but +was of a dense blackness, and came out upon the bank above my clam beds, +where the sod breaks off to the sand. And there Eve sat her down where +the pebbles once shone in the sun, ADAM and EVE. + +"I know it is wet," she said, "and I do not care. Now do you finish +what you began to tell me--about yourself." + +I sat beside her. "It seems trivial now. Indeed, it is no great matter, +but I am easier in my mind now that I have done it. I have enrolled in +the navy. And that is all, and soon told. And if you do not like it, +Eve, I am sorry, but I had to do it." + +She laughed, and she gave a glad little cry, and her arms were about my +neck. + +"That is what I wanted to hear, Adam." + +"But I thought that you had pacifist leanings, Eve." + +"Every woman has such leanings, especially where the matter concerns +those she loves. But I know that you will be happier, and not ashamed, +and that is much to me; and I can be proud. I am very happy, but I am +afraid too--terribly afraid. I pray that you may not be led into any +danger--and if that is wicked I cannot help it." + +I kissed the dear lovely face upturned to mine. + +"And what did they say?" she whispered. "What will they do with you? You +are in the Reserve, aren't you?" + +I laughed. "I enrolled in the navy for any duty that they saw fit to +assign me to. And the officer smiled, and said that I would be called +when I was wanted. I may be a coal-passer, Eve, or I may be a mechanic +to clean Tom's car, or I may breathe the pure air of heaven as I sail +the raging main." + +Eve wrinkled her brow. "But I don't like that, Adam. Don't you know +whether you will be afloat or ashore?" + +"I was told that I would be of more value ashore. And that I was sorry +to hear, for I had rather be afloat, except that we should be parted. +And I want to see a German submarine before I die. 'They ain't no sich +an animal.'" + +And Eve laughed, and we got up and wandered home over the pebbles of the +shore. Fog was driving across the face of the moon, so that it was now +hidden, now partially revealed. From above the fog we heard the mutter +of thunder. Eve squeezed my arm. + +"Do you hear the guns, Adam?" she asked. "The gods are warring." + +"Never give it a thought, Eve," I said. "What are their wars to us?" + +"Well," said Eve, sighing, "but I hope it will be ashore." + +And we climbed the steep path, and went in to our candles, to wait for +Elizabeth. Elizabeth was like to be long in coming. + + +THE END + +The Riverside Press + +CAMBRIDGE. MASSACHUSETTS + +U. S. A + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Clammer and the Submarine, by +William John Hopkins + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CLAMMER AND THE SUBMARINE *** + +***** This file should be named 39456.txt or 39456.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/4/5/39456/ + +Produced by Bruce Albrecht, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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