'Twould be pretty hard for me to change my clothes," she added, with a laugh, "seein' that there probably ain't anything but men's clothes in the place." Then, with a sigh, "Poor fellers, they won't need 'em any more.""That's so. And they were all alive and hearty this mornin'. It's an awful thing for Luther. Has he told anything yit 'bout how it come to happen?""Yes, a little. The schooner was from Maine, bound to New York.
Besides her own crew she had some Italians aboard, coal-handlers, they was, goin' over on a job for the owner. Cap'n Davis says he saw right away that the lifeboat would be overloaded, but he had to take 'em all, there wa'n't time for a second trip. He made the schooner's crew and the others lay down in the boat where they wouldn't hinder the men at the oars, but when they got jest at the tail of the shoal, where the sea was heaviest, them Italians lost their heads and commenced to stand up and yell, and fust thing you know, she swung broadside on and capsized. Pashy says Luther don't say much more, but she jedges, from what he does say, that some of the men hung on with him for a while, but was washed off and drownded.""That's right; there was four or five there when we saw her fust.
'Twas Lute's grip on the centerboard that saved him. It's an awful thing--awful!""Yes, and he would have gone, too, if it hadn't been for you. And you talk about MY takin' risks!""Well, Jerry hadn't ought to have let you come.""LET me come! I should like to have seen him try to stop me. The idea! Where would I be if 'twa'n't helpin' you, after all you've done for me?""I'VE done? I haven't done anything!"
"You've made me happier 'n I've been for years. You've been so kind that--that--"She stopped and looked out of the window.
"It's you that's been kind," said the Captain. "You've made a home for me; somethin' I ain't had afore sence I was a boy."Mrs. Snow went on as if he had not spoken.
"And to think that you might have been drownded the same as the rest," she said. "I knew somethin' was happenin'. I jest felt it, somehow. I told Elsie I was sure of it. I couldn't think of anything but you all the forenoon."The Captain sat up on the couch.
"Marthy," he said in an awed tone, "do you know what I was thinkin'
of when I was pullin' through the wust of it this mornin'? I was thinkin' of you. I thought of Luther and the rest of them poor souls, of course, but I thought of you most of the time. It kept comin' back to me that if I went under I shouldn't see you ag'in.
And you was thinkin' of me!"
"Yes, when that Mayo man said he had awful news, I felt sure 'twas you he was goin' to tell about. I never fainted away in my life that I know of, but I think I 'most fainted then.""And you cared as much as that?"
"Yes."
Somehow both were speaking quietly, but as if it was useless longer to keep back anything. To speak the exact truth without reserve seemed the most natural thing in the world.
"Well, well, well!" said the Captain reverently, and still in the same low tone. "I said once afore that I b'lieved you was sent here, and now I'm sure of it. It seems almost as if you was sent to ME, don't it?"The housekeeper still looked out of the window, but she answered simply, "I don't know.""It does, it does so. Marthy, we've been happy together while you've been here. Do you b'lieve you could be happy with me always--if you married me, I mean?"Mrs. Snow turned and looked at him. There were tears in her eyes, but she did not wipe them away.
"Yes," she said.
"Think now, Marthy. I ain't very young, and I ain't very rich.""What am I?" with a little smile.
"And you really think you could be happy if you was the wife of an old codger like me?""Yes." The answer was short, but it was convincing.
Captain Eri rose to his feet.
"Gosh!" he said in a sort of unbelieving whisper. "Marthy, are you willin' to try?"And again Mrs. Snow said "Yes."
When Dr. Palmer came he found Luther Davis still in bed, but Captain Eri was up and dressed, and there was such a quiet air of happiness about him that the man of medicine was amazed.
"Good Lord, man!" he exclaimed, "I expected to find you flat on your back, and you look better than I've seen you for years.
Taking a salt-water bath in mid-winter must agree with you.""It ain't so much that," replied the Captain serenely. "It's the pay I got for takin' it."When the Doctor saw Perez alone, he asked the latter to keep a close watch on Captain Eri's behavior. He said he was afraid that the exertion and exposure might have affected the Captain's brain.
Perez, alarmed by this caution, did watch his friend very closely, but he saw nothing to frighten him until, as they were about to start for home, Captain Eri suddenly struck his thigh a resounding slap "Jerry!" he groaned distressfully. "I clean forgot. I've gone back on Jerry!"