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I did fancy bein' Cap'n Am'zon 'stead o' myself. And the worst of it is, Niece Louise, I can't have nothin' new to tell 'bout Cap'n Am'zon's adventures. He's drowned, an' he can't never go rovin' no more." "But think of what you've done, Cap'n Abe," Louise urged. "You feared the sea and you overcame that fear.
"No. I never happened on Cap'n Am'zon when I was sea-farin'. And he ain't never been to Cardhaven to my knowledge." "Never been here?" murmured Lawford Tapp more than a little surprised. "Wasn't he born and brought up here?" "No. Neither was Cap'n Abe. The Silts flourish, as ye might say or, useter 'fore the fam'ly sort o' petered out down New Bedford way.
Good comes out o' bad sometimes. Bitter from the sweet as well. And when a man's got a repertation to maintain There was that feller Hanks, on the Lunette, out o' Nantucket. I've heard Cap'n Am'zon tell it " "Cap'n Abe!" gasped Louise. "Hi-mighty! There I go again," said the storekeeper mournfully. "You can't teach an old dog new tricks nor break him of them he's l'arned!"
"Cap'n Am'zon!" exclaimed several excited voices. But only one and that Louise Grayling's uttered another name: "Cap'n Abe! Isn't he with you? Didn't you bring him ashore?" "By heaven! that's so, Louise!" groaned Lawford. "They must both be out there. The two brothers are marooned on that rotten wreck!"
Go take a look at that Uncle Am'zon of yourn. He's in the store." "Uncle Amazon?" burst out Louise. "A pirate?" "That's what he looks like," repeated Betty Gallup, nodding her head on which the man's hat still perched. "I never saw the beat! Why, that man give me the shock of my life when I came in here just now!" "What do you mean?" the amazed girl asked,
Cap'n Am'zon says that many's the time he's thanked his stars he knowed how to knit." "I shall be glad to meet him," said Louise. "If he comes," Cap'n Abe rejoined, "an' I go away as I planned to, 'twon't make a mite o' difference to you, Niece Louise. You feel right at home here and so'll Cap'n Am'zon, though he ain't never been to Cardhaven yet.
Suddenly the captain's gaze descried a figure well back in the crowd one who had not pushed forward during these exciting moments, but who had been chained to the spot by the fascination of what was happening. "Ain't that Cap'n Am'zon Silt back there?" demanded the skipper of the lifeboat crew. "You pull a strong oar, I know, Cap'n Am'zon. We need you."
"He says you are the 'salt of the earth' that is his very expression." "Yes. We're pretty average salt, I guess," admitted Cap'n Abe. "I never seen your father but once or twice. You see, Louise, your mother was a lot younger'n me an' Am'zon." "Who?" "Cap'n Am'zon. Oh! I ain't the only uncle you got," he said, watching her narrowly. "Cap'n Am'zon Silt " "Have I another relative?
She suddenly kissed him in gratitude, impostor though she knew him to be, and then ran away. Cap'n Joab hissed across the counter: "Ye don't know that Cap'n Abe's on that there craft, Am'zon Silt!"
Come here yesterday for the fust time. Lemme tell you, Miss Grayling, we've knowed Cap'n Abe around here for twenty year and more. Course, he ain't Cardhaven born; but we know him. He's as diff'rent from this pirate that calls himself Cap'n Am'zon Silt as chalk is from cheese." The mush was on the table, Louise called Cap'n Amazon from the store.
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