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"But I shouldn't think he would care whether he was on the school-committee or not. It isn't such an exalted position." Captain Eri's answer was in the form of a parable. "Old Laban Simpkins that lived 'round here one time," he said, "was a mighty hard ticket. Drank rum by the hogshead, pounded his wife till she left him, and was a tough nut gin'rally.
If the announcement of Captain Perez' engagement caused no surprise, that of Captain Eri's certainly did surprise and congratulation on the part of those let into the secret, for it was decided to say nothing to outsiders as yet. Ralph came over that evening and they told him about it, and he was as pleased as the rest.
So he lit one and smoked in silence as the Captain filled his pipe. "Web" knew that this was something more than an ordinary social visit. Captain Eri's calls at the billiard room were few and far between. The Captain, for his part, knew what his companion was thinking, and the pair watched each other through the smoke.
Orham people had begun to say that John Baxter was "billiard-saloon crazy." And John Baxter was Captain Eri's friend, a friendship that had begun in school when the declaimer of Patrick Henry's "Liberty or Death" speech on Examination Day took a fancy to and refused to laugh at the little chap who tremblingly ventured to assert that he loved "little Pussy, her coat is so warm."
Captain Perez looked surprised, and then some of the trouble discernible in Eri's face was apparent in his own. "Why, no," he replied slowly, "I ain't seen him, now you speak of it. Everybody in town's here, too. Queer, ain't it? "Haven't you seen him, either, Jerry?" Captain Jerry answered with a shake of the head.
"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.
Captain Eri's answer was something like this: "Perez," he said, "do you remember old man Sanborn, that kept school here when you and me was boys? Well, when the old man run foul of a youngster that was sassy and uppish he knocked the sass out of him fust, and then talked to him like a Dutch uncle.
But as we was being took off in the Dutchman's yawl, Hammond thumps the thwart with his fist and says he: "'I've got it! he says; 'she's 'is mother-in-law! "''Course she is! says I. 'We might have known it!" Cap'n Jonadab said that the South Seas and them islands was full of queer happenings, anyhow. Said that Eri's yarn reminded him of one that Jule Sparrow used to tell.
"You don't mean to tell me you're 'Liz'beth Baxter's gal Elsie! Well! Well! I want to know! If this don't beat all! Set down! Take your things right off. I'm mighty glad to see you." Captain Eri's hand, with Miss Preston's hidden in it, was moving up and down as if it worked by a clock-work arrangement.
Captain Perez, on the contrary, grew more and more disgusted with the delay. He spent a good deal of time wondering why there were no replies, and he even went so far as to suggest writing to the editor of the Chime. He was disposed to lay the blame upon Captain Eri's advertisement, and hinted that the latter was not "catchy" enough.
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