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"The next day we got the schooner patched up and off the shoal and 'longside Lazarus' old landing wharf by the shanty. There was a little more tinkering to be done 'fore she was ready for sea, and we cal'lated to do it that afternoon. "After dinner Hammond went down to the spring after some water and Lobelia 'Ankins went along with him.
She was giving him the best of all the vittles, and used to set at the table and look at him, softer'n and sweeter'n a bucket of molasses. Used to walk 'longside of him, too, and look up in his face and smile. I could see that he noticed it and that it was worrying him a heap. One day he says to me: "''Edge, says he, 'I b'lieve that 'ere chromo of a Lobelia 'Ankins is getting soft on me.
Now, 'oo are YOU? "She rattled off a name that had more double j'ints in it than an eel. "'Lordy! says I; 'we never can larn that rigamarole. I tell you! She looks for all the world like old A'nt Lobelia Fosdick at home down on Cape Cod. Let's call her that. "'She looks to me like the mother of a oysterman I used to know in Liverpool. 'Is name was 'Ankins.
Then he put his hands to his ears and made loops of his fingers to show earrings. Then he took off his coat and wrapped it round his knees like make-b'lieve skirts. Hammond and me looked at each other. "''Edge, says Hammond, ''e wants to know w'at's become of Lobelia 'Ankins. "'No, senor, says I to the feller; 'ooman no here. Ooman there! And I p'inted in the direction of our island.
"The Malay at the wheel behind us gave an awful screech. We all turned sudden, and there, standing on the companion ladder, with her head and shoulders out of the hatch, was Lobelia 'Ankins, as large as life and twice as natural. "Hammond dropped the jug and it smashed into finders. We all stood stock-still for a minute, like folks in a tableau.
Then he whistled again, and I see his head sticking out of the top of a palm tree. "'Is she gone? says he. "'Yes, long ago, says I. 'Come down. "It took some coaxing to git him down, but he come after a spell, and he was the scaredest man ever I see. I asked him what the matter was. "''Edge, says he, 'I'm a lost man. That 'ere 'orrible 'Ankins houtrage is either going to marry me or kill me.
But the poor skipper wa'n't satisfied with any of them places; he started for the lee rail, and Lobelia 'Ankins started after him. "She caught him as he was going to jump overboard and yanked him back like he was a bag of meal. She shook him, she boxed his ears, she pulled his hair, and all the time he was begging and pleading and she was screeching and jabbering at the top of her lungs.
"'Now, Lobelia 'Ankins, says I, 'put down that and be sociable, there's a good girl. "'Course I knew she couldn't understand me, but I was whistling to keep my courage up, as the saying is. "''Ammond! says she, p'inting toward the woods. "'Yes, says I, 'Hammond's taking a walk for his health. "''Ammond! says she, louder, and shaking the stick.
Let's split the difference and call 'er Lobelia 'Ankins. "So we done it. "Well, Hammond and me pounded and patched away at the schooner for the next three or four days, taking plenty of time off to sleep in, 'count of the heat, but getting along fairly well. "Lobelia 'Ankins cooked and washed dishes for us.
He swore he'd never come back again while Lobelia 'Ankins was there. "'That's it, says he, 'larf at a feller critter's sufferings. I honly wish she'd try to kiss you once, that's all! "Well, I couldn't make him budge, so I decided to go back and get the lay of the land.
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