For a second, only, Captain Eri stood there motionless, stooping over the body of his friend. Then he sprang into vigorous action. He dropped upon his knees and, seizing the shoulder of the prostrate figure, shook it gently, whispering, “John! John!” There was no answer and no responsive movement, and the Captain bent his head and listened. Breath was there and life; but, oh, so little of either! The next thought was, of course, to run for help and for a doctor, but he took but a few steps when a new idea struck him and he came back.

Lighting another match he examined the fallen man hurriedly. The old “Come-Outer” lay in the path with his arms outstretched, as if he had fallen while running. He was bare-headed, and there was no sign of a wound upon him. One coat-sleeve was badly scorched, and from a pocket in the coat protruded the neck of a bottle. The bottle was empty, but its odor was strong; it had contained kerosene. The evidence was clear, and the Captain knew that what he had feared was the truth.

For a moment he stood erect and pondered as to what was best to do. Whatever it was, it must be done quickly, but if the doctor and those that might come with him should find the burned coat and the tell-tale bottle, it were better for John Baxter that consciousness and life never were his again. There might, and probably would, be suspicion; but here was proof absolute that meant prison and disgrace for a man whom all the community had honored and respected.

Captain Eri weighed the chances, speculated on the result, and then did what seemed to him right. He threw the bottle as far away from the path as he could and then stripped off the coat, and, folding it into a small bundle, hid it in the bushes near by. Then he lifted the limp body, and turned it so that the gray head was toward the billiard saloon instead of from it.

Perez and Jerry were still busy with the water buckets when their friend came panting up the knoll to the pump.

“Hello, Eri!” said the former, wiping his forehead with his arm. “It's 'bout out, ain't it? Why, what's the matter?”

“Nothin'; nothin' to speak of. Put down them buckets, and you and Jerry come with me. I've got somethin' that I want you to do.”

Nodding and exchanging congratulations with acquaintances in the crowd on the success of the fire-fighting, Captain Eri led his messmates to a dark corner under a clump of trees. Then he took each of them by the arm and whispered sharply:

“Dr. Palmer's somewheres in this crowd. I want each of you fellers to go diff'rent ways and look for him. Whichever one finds him fust can bring him up to the corner by the post-office. Whistle when you git there and the rest of us 'll come. Don't stop to ask questions. I ain't hurt, but John Baxter's had a stroke or somethin'. I can't tell you no more now. Hurry! And say, don't you mention to a soul what the matter is.”

A sea-faring life has its advantages. It teaches prompt obedience, for one thing. The two mariners did not hesitate an instant, but bolted in opposite directions. Captain Eri watched them go, and then set off in another. He was stopped every few moments and all sorts of questions and comments concerning the fire and its cause were fired at him, but he put off some inquiries with a curt “Don't know” and others with nods or negatives, and threaded his way from one clump of townspeople to another. As he came close to the blackened and smoking billiard saloon, Ralph Hazeltine caught him by the arm.

“Hello!” said the electrician. “Haven't you gone home yet?”

“No, not yit. Say, I'll ask you, 'cause I cal'late you can keep your mouth shut if it's necessary: Have you seen the Doctor anywheres 'round lately? He was here, 'cause I saw him when I fust come.”

“Who, Dr. Palmer? No; I haven't seen him. Is anyone hurt? Can I help?”

“I guess not. John Baxter's sick, but—oh, Lord! Here comes Wingate. He'll talk for a week.”

Seth, panting and excited, was pushing his way toward them, shouting the Captain's name at the top of his voice.

“Hey, Eri!” he hailed. “I want to know if you'll sign a petition to git the town a fire ingyne? I've been talkin' to a couple of the s'lectmen and they—”

“Oh, Mr. Wingate,” interrupted Ralph, “Mr. Mullett's been looking for you. He's over there by the pump, I think.”

“Who, Lem Mullett? Is that so! He's jest the feller I want to see. See you later, Eri.”

The Captain grinned appreciatively as the convert to the hand-engine proposal disappeared.

“That wasn't so bad,” he said. “I'm much obliged. Hey! There's the whistle. Come on, Mr. Hazeltine, if you ain't in a special hurry. Maybe we WILL need you.”

They reached the corner by the post-office to find Dr. Palmer, who had practiced medicine in Orham since he received his diploma, waiting for them. Captain Perez, who had discovered the physician on the Nickerson piazza, was standing close by with his fingers in his mouth, whistling with the regularity of a foghorn.

“Cut it short, Perez!” commanded Eri. “We're here now.”

“Yes, but Jerry ain't.” And the whistling began again.

“Dry up, for the land's sake! D'you want to fetch the whole tribe here? There's Jerry, now. Come on, Doctor.”

John Baxter was lying just as the Captain had left him, and the others watched anxiously as the doctor listened at the parted lips, and thrust his hand inside the faded blue waistcoat.

“He's alive,” he said after a moment, “but unconscious. We must get him home at once.”

“He heard the bell and was runnin' to the fire when he was took,” said Captain Jerry. “Run out in his shirt sleeves, and was took when he got as fur as here.”

“That's the way I figger it,” said Eri unblushingly. “Lift him carefully, you fellers. Now then!”

“I warned him against over-exertion or excitement months ago,” said the Doctor, as they bore the senseless burden toward the big house, now as black as the grave that was so near its owner. “We must find someone to take care of him at once. I don't believe the old man has a relation within a hundred miles.”

“Why don't we take him to our house?” suggested Captain Jerry. “'Twouldn't seem so plaguey lonesome, anyhow.”

“By mighty!” ejaculated Captain Eri in astonishment. “Well, Jerry, I'll be switched if you ain't right down brilliant once in a while. Of course we will. He can have the spare room. Why didn't I think of that, I wonder?”

And so John Baxter, who had not paid a visit in his native village since his wife died, came at last to his friend's home to pay what seemed likely to be a final one. They carried him up the stairs to the spare room, as dismal and cheerless as spare rooms in the country generally are, undressed him as tenderly as their rough hands would allow, robed him in one of Captain Jerry's nightshirts—the buttons that fastened it had been sewed on by the Captain himself, and were all sizes and colors—and laid him in the big corded bedstead. The Doctor hastened away to procure his medicine case. Ralph Hazeltine, having been profusely thanked for his services and promising to call the next day, went back to the station, and the three captains sat down by the bedside to watch and wait.

Captain Eri was too much perturbed to talk, but the other two, although sympathetically sorry for the sufferer, were bursting with excitement and curiosity.

“Well, if THIS ain't been a night!” exclaimed Captain Jerry. “Seem's if everything happened at once. Fust that darky and then the fire and then this. Don't it beat all?

“Eri,” said Captain Perez anxiously, “was John layin' jest the same way when you found him as he was when we come?”

“Right in the same place,” was the answer.

“I didn't say in the same place. I asked if he was layin' the same way.”

“He hadn't moved a muscle. Laid jest as if he was dead.”

It will be noticed that Captain Eri was adhering strictly to the truth. Luckily, Perez seemed to be satisfied, for he asked no further questions, but observed, “It's a good thing we've got a crowd to swear how we found him. There's a heap of folks in this town would be sayin' he set that fire if 'twa'n't for that.”

“Some of 'em will be sayin' it anyhow,” remarked Jerry.

“Some folks 'll say anything but their prayers,” snapped Eri savagely. “They won't say it while I'm around. And look here! if you hear anybody sayin' it, you tell 'em it's a lie. If that don't keep 'em quiet, let me know.”

“Oh, all right. WE know he didn't set it. I was jest sayin'—”

“Well, don't say it.”

“My, you're techy! Guess fires and colored folks don't agree with you. What are we goin' to do now? If John don't die, and the Lord knows I hope he won't, he's likely to be sick here a long spell. Who are we goin' to git to take care of him? That's what I want to know. Somebody's got to do it and we ain't fit. If Jerry 'd only give in and git married now—”

But Captain Jerry's protest against matrimony was as obstinate as ever. Even Perez gave up urging after a while and conversation lagged again. In a few minutes the Doctor came back, and his examination of the patient and demands for glasses of water, teaspoons, and the like, kept Perez and Jerry busy. It was some time before they noticed that Captain Eri had disappeared. Even then they did not pay much attention to the circumstance, but watched the physician at work and questioned him concerning the nature of their guest's illness.

“D'you think he'll die, Doctor?” inquired Jerry in a hushed voice, as they came out of the sick room into the connecting chamber.

“Can't say. He has had a stroke of paralysis, and there seem to be other complications. If he regains consciousness I shall think he has a chance, but not a very good one. His pulse is a little stronger. I don't think he'll die to-night, but if he lives he will need a good nurse, and I don't know of one in town.”

“Nor me neither,” said Captain Perez.

“Well, A'nt Zuby might come,” suggested Jerry, “but I should hate to have her nuss me, and as for bein' WELL in a house where she was—whew!”

“A'nt Zuby!” sneered his messmate. “If Lorenzo had a fit and they called A'nt Zuby he'd have another one and die. A'nt Zuby! I'd 'bout as soon have M'lissy and be done with it.”

“Yes, I don't doubt YOU WOULD,” was the anything but gentle retort.

What Perez would have said to this thrust must be surmised, for just then the dining-room door opened and closed again.

“There's Eri,” said Captain Jerry. Then he added in an alarmed whisper, “Who on airth has he got with him?”

They heard their friend's voice warning someone to be careful of the top step, and then the chamber door opened and Captain Eri appeared. There were beads of perspiration on his forehead, and he was carrying a shabby canvas extension-case. Captain Jerry gazed at the extension-case with bulging eyes.

Captain Eri put down the extension-case and opened the door wide. A woman came in; a stout woman dressed in black “alpaca” and wearing brass-rimmed spectacles. Captain Jerry gasped audibly.

“Dr. Palmer,” said Captain Eri, “let me make you acquainted with Mrs. Snow of Nantucket. Mrs. Snow, this is Dr. Palmer.”

The Doctor and the lady from Nantucket shook hands, the former with a puzzled expression on his face.

“Perez,” continued the Captain, “let me make you known to Mrs. Snow—Mrs. Marthy B. Snow,”—this with especial emphasis,—“of Nantucket. Mrs. Snow, this is Cap'n Perez Ryder.”

They shook hands; Captain Perez managed to say that he was glad to meet Mrs. Snow. Captain Jerry said nothing, but he looked like a criminal awaiting the fall of the drop.

“Doctor,” continued the Captain, paying no attention to the signals of distress displayed by his friend, “I heard you say a spell ago that John here needed somebody to take care of him. Well, Mrs. Snow—she's a—a—sort of relation of Jerry's”—just a suspicion of a smile accompanied this assertion—“and she's done consid'rable nussin' in her time. I've been talkin' the thing over with her and she's willin' to look out for John till he gits better.”

The physician adjusted his eyeglasses and looked the volunteer nurse over keenly. The lady paid no attention to the scrutiny, but calmly removed her bonnet and placed it on the bureau. The room was Captain Eri's, and the general disarrangement of everything movable was only a little less marked than in those of his companions. Mrs. Snow glanced over the heap of odds and ends on the bureau and picked up a comb. There were some teeth in it, but they were distant neighbors.

“I don't use that comb very much,” said Captain Eri rather apologetically. “I gin'rally use the one downstairs.”

The new-found relative of Captain Jerry said nothing, but, laying down the ruin, marched over to the extension-case, opened it, and took out another comb—a whole one. With this she arranged the hair on her forehead. It, the hair, was parted in the middle and drawn back smoothly at the sides, and Captain Eri noticed that it was brown with a little gray in it. When the last stray wisp was in place, she turned calmly to the Doctor and said:

“Cap'n Baxter's in here, I s'pose. Shall I walk right in?”

The man of medicine seemed a little surprised at the lady's command of the situation, but he said:

“Why, yes, ma'am; I guess you may. You have nursed before, I think the Captain said.”

“Five years with my husband. He had slow consumption. Before that with my mother, and most of my brothers and sisters at one time or another. I've seen consid'rable sickness all my life. More of that than anything else, I guess. Now, if you'll come in with me, so's to tell me about the medicine and so on.”

With a short “Humph!” the physician followed her into the sick room, while the three mariners gazed wide-eyed in at the door. They watched, as Doctor Palmer explained medicines and gave directions. It did not need an expert to see that the new nurse understood her business.

When the Doctor came out his face shone with gratification.

“She'll do,” he said emphatically. “If all your relatives are like that, Cap'n Burgess, I'd like to know 'em; 'twould help me in my business.” Then he added in response to a question, “He seems to be a little better just now. I think there will be no change for a while; if there should be, send for me. I'll call in the morning. Gracious! it's almost daylight now.”

They saw him to the door and then came back upstairs. Mrs. Snow was busy, arranging the pillows, setting the room in something like order, and caring for her patient's garments, that had been tossed helter-skelter on the floor in the hurry of undressing. She came to the door as they entered Captain Eri's chamber.

“Mrs. Snow,” said the Captain, “you'd better sleep in my room here long's you stay. I'll bunk in with Perez downstairs. I'll git my dunnage out of here right off. I think likely you'll want to clean up some.”

The lady from Nantucket glanced at the bureau top and seemed about to say something, but checked herself. What she did say was:

“P'raps you'd better introduce me to Cap'n Burgess. I don't think we've ever met, if we ARE relations.”

Captain Eri actually blushed a little. “Why, of course,” he said. “Excuse me, ma'am. Jerry, this is Mrs. Snow. I don't know what's got into me, bein' so careless.”

The sacrifice shook the nurse's hand and said something, nobody knew exactly what. Mrs. Snow went on to say, “Now, I want you men to go right on to bed, for I know you're all tuckered out. We can talk to-morrow—I mean to-day, of course: I forgot 'twas next-door to daylight now. I shall set up with Cap'n Baxter, and if I need you I'll call you. I'll call you anyway when I think it's time. Good-night.”

They protested, of course, but the lady would not listen. She calmly seated herself in the rocker by the bed and waved to them to go, which two of them reluctantly did after a while. The other one had gone already. It would be superfluous to mention his name.

Downstairs again and in Perez' room Captain Eri came in for a questioning that bade fair to keep up forever. He shut off all inquiries, however, with the announcement that he wouldn't tell them a word about it till he'd had some sleep. Then he would explain the whole thing, and they could decide whether he had done right or not. There were all sorts of things to be considered, he said, and they had better take a nap now while they could.

“Well, I'd jest like to ask you this, Eri Hedge,” demanded Captain Jerry. “What in time did you tell the Doctor that she was a relation of mine for? That was a nice thing to do, wa'n't it? I'll have to answer more fool questions 'bout that than a little. What sort of a relation shall I tell folks she is? Jest tell me that, will you?”

“Oh, tell 'em she's a relation by marriage,” was the answer, muffled by the bed clothes. “Maybe that 'll be true by the time they ask you.”

“I'll BET it won't!” snorted the rebel.

Captain Perez fell asleep almost immediately. Captain Jerry, tired out, did the same, but Captain Eri's eyes did not close. The surf pounded and grumbled. A rooster, early astir, crowed somewhere in the distance. Daniel thumped the side of his stall and then subsided for another nap. The gray morning light brightened the window of the little house.

Then Captain Eri slid silently out of bed, dressed with elaborate precautions against noise, put on his cap, and tiptoed out of the house. He walked through the dripping grass, climbed the back fence and hurried to the hill where John Baxter had fallen. Once there, he looked carefully around to be sure that no one was watching. Orham, as a rule, is an early riser, but this morning most of the inhabitants, having been up for the greater part of the night, were making up lost sleep and the Captain was absolutely alone.

Assured of this, he turned to the bush underneath which he had hidden the burned coat, pushed aside the drenched boughs with their fading leaves and reached down for the tell-tale garment.

And then he made an unpleasant discovery. The coat was gone.

He spent an agitated quarter of an hour hunting through every clump of bushes in the immediate vicinity, but there was no doubt of it. Someone had been there before him and had taken the coat away.