Flood Tide

orld seemed swept and garnished as for a festival, Zenas Henry Brewster drew rein before the Spence cottage, hitched the Admiral to the picket fence that bor

or, poking his head across the th

breakfast dishes, glanced up

omewheres. He and Jan Eldridge have been tinkerin' with the pump since early mornin'. They've had it apart a h

Henry

n' fur a cent either, an' I drove round thinkin' I'd fetch Willie home with me to have a look at it.

to move away a

the mood for gossip, had no m

, dropping her dishcloth into the

e. "Captain Benjamin's shoulder pesters him some about layin', bu

orry Benjamin's shoulders should hector him so. We're gettin' old, Zenas Henry, that's the plain truth of it,

re nimble

Abb

s! The sun rises an' sets in that woman, Celestina. What she can't do ain't worth doin'! Tu

ina la

no mistake gettin' married

repeated

child, either," went on Celest

en and a glow of tend

the sun should rise in the mornin'. The child was meant fur us-fur us an' fur nobody else on earth. Was she our own daughter we couldn't be fonder of her than we are. It's ten years now since the

a regular beauty,"

blind that I don't know she's pretty. Her hair is wonderful, an' she's got them big brown eyes an' pink cheeks. I'm proud as Tophet of her. If it warn't fur Abbie I figger the three captains an' I would have the child clean spoilt. But Abbie's alwa

test way in the world with her, too. A body couldn't see her an' not love her. I guess there's many a young

g abruptly about. "Indeed she hasn't.

y. You said so yo

ively. "Why, I'm three times that already an' more too

nty, Zenas Henry,"

t of

all," continued the woman softly. "

out, Celestina? Delight marry? Not she! She's too young. Besides, she's well enough

ct a creature as pretty as she is n

urse she's goin' to get married sometime by a

y, she'll be thirty or thirty-fiv

before I married, an' it didn't d

livin' with Abbie all

now

ed thou

it was Abbie an' I didn't have our first youth together. It

light should do that,

y on the defensive. "Delight's another matter altogether. She's nothi

d the turf with th

, it was quite evident t

in a calmer tone, "I reckon I'

he gaunt, loose-jointed figure stride out into the s

scow was making its way out of the channel, and above it circled a screaming cloud of tern that had been routed from their nesting place on the margin of white sand that bordered the path to the open sea. Mingling with their cries an

o be cooped up indo

rth of the garden. Voluptuously she stretched her arms and yawned; then straightening to her customary erectness she went into the house, being probab

na. There were intervals, it is true, when he toiled steadily, feverishly, all day long and far into the night, forgetting either to eat or sleep; then would follow days together when he simply pottered about, or did even worse and remained idle in the sunny shelter of the grape arbor. Here on a rude bench constructed from a

lips. Yet despite all his coaxings and cajolings, the iron pump opposite the shed door still refused to do anything but emit from its throat a few dry, profitless gurgles that seemed forced upward from the ve

r pump?" called Zenas Henry

smile half humorous, half conte

here gapin' at the darn thing," was his laconic response. "It's just t

n' fur machinery," Z

note of pessimism that

d he, a suggestion of crispness in his tone. "I shan't stir foot f

the declaration of wa

led. "If I was to be goin' up higher'n a kite every time, fur instance, that the seaw

with the alertness of

he repeat

Henry

e fur doin' away with

ck at the thing-Captain Jonas, Captain Phineas, Captain Benjamin, an' me-an

ed Willie, str

anyhow," went on Zenas Henry with a short laugh. "In fact, Abbie's

grimy hands and chuckled, b

there had been no digression from the topic, "I

" assented

holds up y

y agreed with the sa

like a baby in a cradle 'ti

-hu

a moment o

hoppy sea like as if you was a chip on the waves,

ain

d yourself in a fix like tha

o? There ain't no choice left you but to hang head downwards over the

t into a de

talk to me of motor-boats! A good old-fashioned skiff with a leg-o

was for

t these new fangled motor-boats, with their noise an

e just in time to catch the

w a clean do

tered,

a straight wholesome smell of cod ain't to be mentioned in

Henry

smell of," he said tartly. "You

he time I don't see's you do much sailin'," taunted Jan. "'Pears to

th rising ire. "It's only sometimes

he channel fur a couple of hours yester

n quite a batch of weeds, an' they washed up round the boat before I could get out of their way; quicker'n a wink we were neatly snarled up in 'em. Capt

n' up an' down in one spot fur two mortal hours

that Wilton had scant sympathy with his motor-boat, the first

attention from motor-boats

fled by the thrust. "As you say, if you chose to wind

once more over the pump and adjusted a

said, as he tightened the screws.

ious that he did not anticipate success. But contrary to his expectations there was a sudden subterranean groan, followed by a rumbl

ere she blows, Willie! Ain

n him, but it was evident he was gratified by his success for, as he

first place," he remarked. "Well, if we knew as much when we're born as we do

irritation Zen

r pump to-day," he ventured with hesitation. "Ours

Willie was

ot yours?

an' now to save our souls we can't put it together again," Zenas Henry explained.

admire to. A pump that won't work is like a fishline without a ho

ur

said the inventor, stoop

hem into a jagged piece of sailcloth and prepared to ti

in', Willie?"

Henry's to me

"It's ten o'clock, an' you ain't had

an regarded

in'?" he inquire

ishin', an' then you found the pump wasn't worki

I ha

ollection overspread

you h

Yes, now you speak of it, I will own to feelin' a mite

ome in an' have your

h me out a slice of bread or a doughnut. We've got to get at that p

looked dis

fur you since seven o'clock,

n ingratiating glance into her eyes. "You just keep it hot

kin' five hours

tranquil voice. "Think of that! An' it didn't s

and Celestina had not the heart to cloud

some apple turnovers fur you, an' Jan, an' Zenas Henry. They'll be nice fur you go

e sees the rest of you eatin' he'll remember to eat himself. If he don't, though, remind h

ottom of the carriage but the slice of bread remained untouched in his fingers. Now that triumph had brought a respite in his labors he seemed si

of yours, Zenas Henry-it must

some further comment would come from the little inventor, but as Willie remained sile

notion what we could do ab

shrugged h

ghost," was h

mer. She rose, and lighting her candle, tip-toed into the hall. It was one o'clo

lame in her hand and crept back benea

symptoms on

e again "kitch