After a moment, however, he said, slowly and with apparent irrelevance, "Mr. Hazeltine, I can remember my father tellin' 'bout a feller that lived down on the South Harniss shore when he was a boy. Queer old chap he was, named Elihu Bassett; everybody called him Uncle Elihu. In them days all hands drunk more or less rum, and Uncle Elihu drunk more. He had a way of stayin' sober for a spell, and then startin' off on a regular jamboree all by himself.
He had an old flat-bottomed boat that he used to sail 'round in, but she broke her moorin's one time and got smashed up, so he wanted to buy another. Shadrach Wingate, Seth's granddad 'twas, tried to fix up a dicker with him for a boat he had. They agreed on the price, and everything was all right 'cept that Uncle Elihu stuck out that he must try her 'fore he bought her.
"So Shad fin'lly give in, and Uncle Elihu sailed over to Wellmouth in the boat. He put in his time 'round the tavern there, and when he come down to the boat ag'in, he had a jugful of Medford in his hand, and pretty nigh as much of the same stuff under his hatches.
He got afloat somehow, h'isted the sail, lashed the tiller after a fashion, took a nip out of the jug and tumbled over and went fast asleep. 'Twas a still night or 'twould have been the finish. As 'twas he run aground on a flat and stuck there till mornin'.
"Next day back he comes with the boat all scraped up, and says he, 'She won't do, Shad; she don't keep her course.'
"'Don't keep her course, you old fool!' bellers Shad. 'And you tight as a drumhead and sound asleep! Think she can find her way home herself?' he says.
"'Well,' says Uncle Elihu, 'if she can't she ain't the boat for me.'"Ralph laughed. "I see," he said. "Perhaps Uncle Elihu was wise.
Still, if he wanted the boat very much, he must have hated to put her to the test.""That's so," assented the Captain, "but 'twas better to know it then than to be sorry for it afterwards."Both seemed to be thinking, and neither spoke again until they came to the grocery store, where Hazeltine stopped, saying that he must do an errand for Mr. Langley. They said good-night, and the Captain turned away, but came quickly back and said:
"Mr. Hazeltine, if it ain't too much trouble, would you mind steppin' up to the schoolhouse when you've done your errand? I've left somethin' there with Josiah, and I'd like to have you git it.
Will you?"
"Certainly," was the reply, and it was not until the Captain had gone that Ralph remembered he did not know what he was to get.
When he reached the school he climbed the stairs and opened the door, expecting to find Josiah alone. Instead, there was no one there but Elsie, who was sitting at the desk. She sprang up as he entered. Both were somewhat confused.
"Pardon me, Miss Preston," he said. "Captain Eri sent me here. He said he left something with Josiah, and wished me to call for it.""Why, I'm sure I don't know what it can be," replied Elsie.
"Josiah has been gone for some time, and he said nothing to me about it.""Perhaps it is in his desk," suggested Ralph. "Suppose we look."So they looked, but found nothing more than the usual assortment contained in the desk of a healthy schoolboy. The raised lid shut off the light from the window, and the desk's interior was rather dark. They had to grope in the corners, and occasionally their hands touched. Every time this happened Ralph thought of the decision that he must make so soon.
He thought of it still more when, after the search was abandoned, Elsie suggested that he help her with some problems that she was preparing for the next day's labors of the first class in arithmetic. In fact, as he sat beside her, pretending to figure, but really watching her dainty profile as it moved back and forth before his eyes, his own particular problem received far more attention than did those of the class. Suddenly he spoke:
"Teacher," he said, "please, may I ask a question?""You should hold up your hand if you wish permission to speak," was the stern reply.
"Please consider it held up."
"Is the question as important as 'How many bushels did C. sell?'
which happens to be my particular trouble just now.""It is to me, certainly." Ralph was serious enough now. "It is a question that I have been wrestling with for some time. It is, shall I take the position that has been offered me in the West, or shall I stay here and become superintendent of the station? The superintendent's place may be mine, I think, if I want it."Elsie laid down her pencil and hesitated for a moment before she spoke. When she did reply her face was turned away from her companion.
"I should think that question might best be decided by comparing the salaries and prospects of the two positions," she said quietly.
"The two positions are much alike in one way. You know what the life at the station means the greater portion of the year--no companions of your own age and condition, no society, no amusements. The Western offer means all this and worse, for the situation is the same all the year. I say these things because Ihope you may be willing to consider them, not from my point of view solely, but from yours.""From mine?"
"Yes. You see I am recklessly daring to hope that, whichever lot is chosen, you may be willing to share it with me--as my wife.
Elsie, do you think you could consider the question from that viewpoint?"And--well--Elsie thought she could.
The consideration--we suppose it was the consideration--took so long that it was nearly dark when Elsie announced that she simply MUST go. It was Ralph's duty as a gentleman to help her in putting on her coat, and this took an astonishingly long time. Finally it was done, however, and they came downstairs.
"Dearest," said Ralph, after the door was locked, "I forgot to have another hunt for whatever it was that Captain Eri wanted me to get."Elsie smiled rather oddly.
"Are you sure you haven't got it?" she asked demurely.