"Ye ain"t sick, little woman, be ye?" he called out as he opened the door.
There was no response. He walked quickly through the kitchen, pa.s.sed into the small hall, calling her as he went, mounted the narrow stairs, and opened the bedroom door softly, thinking she might be asleep. The shutters were closed, the room was in perfect order. The bed was empty. The sheet and covering were turned neatly on his side, and the bedding was clean and had not been slept in. At its foot, within reach of his hand, lay his big carpet slippers that she had made for him. He stooped mechanically, gazing at the untouched pillow, still wondering why she had turned the sheet, his mind relieved now that she was not ill.
Then he remembered that it was not yet dark, and that, on account of the coming storm, he was an hour earlier than usual in getting home.
His face lightened. He saw it all now: Betty had not expected him so soon, and would be home in a little while.
When he entered the kitchen again he saw the table. There was but one plate laid, with the knife and fork beside it. This was covered by a big china bowl. Under it was some cold meat with the bread and b.u.t.ter.
Near the table, by the stove, a freshly ironed shirt hung over a chair.
He understood it all now. She had put his supper and his shirt where he would find them, and was not coming home till late. He would "clean up" right away, so as to be ready for her.
When he had washed, dressed himself in his house clothes, and combed his big beard, he dragged a chair out on the front porch, to watch for her up and down the road.
The men going home, carrying their dinner-pails, nodded to him as they pa.s.sed, and one stopped and leaned over the gate long enough to wonder whether the big August storm would break that night, adding, "We generally has a blow "bout this time."
While he sat waiting the butcher stopped to leave the weekly piece of meat for Sunday,-the itinerant country butcher, with his shop in one of the neighboring villages, and his customers up and down all the roads that led out of it; supplies for every household in his wagon, and the gossip of every family on his lips.
His wagon had sides of canvas painted white, with "Fish, Meat and Poultry" in a half-moon of black letters arching over the owner"s name, and was drawn by a horse that halted and moved on, not by the touch of the lines,-they were always caught to a hook in the roof of the wagon,-but by a word from the butcher, who stood at the tail-board, where the scales dangled, sorting fish, hacking off pieces of red meat, or weighing scraggly chickens proportionate to the wants and means of his various customers. He was busying himself at this tail-board, the dripping of the ice pock-marking the dusty road below, when he caught sight of Caleb.
"Wall, I kind"er hoped somebody"d be hum," he said to himself, wrapping the six-pound roast in a piece of yellow paper. With a tuck to his blue over-sleeves, he swung open the gate. "So ye didn"t go "long, Caleb, with Mis" West? I see it begin to blow heavy, and was wond"rin" whether you"d get in-best cut, you see," opening the paper for Caleb"s inspection, "and I broke them ribs jes" "s Mis" West allers wants "em. Then I wondered agin how ye could leave the Ledge at all to-day. Mis" Bell tol" me yesterday the cap"n was goin" to set them derricks. I see "em a-layin" on the dock "fore that Cape Ann sloop loaded "em, an" they was monstrous, an" no mistake. Have some b.u.t.ter? She didn"t order none this mornin", but I got some come in this forenoon, sweet"s a nut,-four pounds for a dollar, an""-
Caleb looked at him curiously. "Where did the wife say she was a-goin"?" he interrupted.
"Wall, she didn"t say, "cause I didn"t ketch up to her. I was comin"
down Nollins Hill over to Noank, when I see her ahead, walkin" down all in her Sunday rig, carryin" a little bag like. I tho"t maybe she was over to see the Nollins folks, till I left seven pounds fresh mackerel nex" door to Stubbins"s, an" some Delaware eggs. Then I see my stock of ice was nigh gone, so I druv down to the steamboat dock, an" there I catched sight of "er agin jes" goin" aboard. I knowed then, of course, she was off for Greenport an" New York, an" was jes"
sayin" to myself, Wall, I"ll stop an" see if anybody"s ter hum, an" if they"re all gone I won"t leave the meat, but"-
"Put the meat in the kitchen," said Caleb, without rising from his chair.
When the butcher drove off, the diver had not moved. His gaze was fixed on the turn of the road. Beads of sweat stood out on his forehead. A faint sickness unnerved him. Had he been cross or impatient with her the last time he was at home, that she should serve him so? Then a surge of anxiety swept over him, as he thought of Betty going without letting him know. Why should she walk all the way to Noank and take the boat across the Sound, twenty miles away, if she wanted to go to New York? The railroad station was nearer and the fare through was cheaper. He would have taken her himself, if he had only known she wanted to go. He could have asked Captain Joe to give him a couple of days off, and would have gone with her. If she had only left some message, or sent some word by the men to the Ledge! Then, as his thoughts traveled in a circle, catching at straws, his brain whirling, his eye fell upon the clump of trees shading Captain Joe"s cottage.
Aunty Bell would know, of course; why had he not thought of that before? Betty told Aunty Bell everything.
The busy little woman sat on the porch sh.e.l.ling peas, the pods popping about her bright tin pan, as Caleb came up the board walk.
"Why, ye needn"t hev give yerself the trouble, Caleb, to come all the way down!" she called out as he came within hearing. "Lonny Bowles"s jest been here and told me cap"n ain"t comin" home till Monday. I"m "mazin" glad them derricks is up. He ain"t done nothin" but worrit about "em since spring opened, "fraid somebody"d get hurted when he set "em. Took a lantern, here, night "fore last, jest as we was goin"
to bed, after he"d been loadin" "em aboard the Screamer all day, an"
went down to the dock to see if Bill Lacey"d shrunk them collars on tight enough. Guess Betty"s glad yer home. I ain"t see her to-day, but I don"t lay it up agin her. I knowed she was busy cleanin" up "gin ye come."
Caleb"s heart leaped into his throat. If Betty had not told Aunty Bell, there was no one else who would know her movements. It was on his lips to tell her what the butcher had seen, when something in his heart choked his utterance. If Betty had not wanted any one to know, there was no use of his talking about it.
A man of different temperament, a nervous or easily alarmed or suspicious man, would have caught at every clue and followed it to the end. Caleb waited and kept still. She would telegraph or write him and explain it all, he said to himself, or send some one to see him before bedtime. So he merely answered he was glad Aunty Bell knew about Captain Joe, nodded good-night, and pa.s.sed slowly down the board walk and up the road, his head on his chest, his big beard blowing about his neck in the rising wind. He kept saying to himself that Betty would telegraph or write and explain it all, or send some one to see him before bedtime.
It was dark when he reached home. He lit the kerosene lamp and pulled down the shades. He did not want pa.s.sers-by to know he was alone. For an hour or more he strode up and down the kitchen, his thumbs in his suspenders, his supper untouched. Now and then he would stop as if listening for a footfall, or fix his eye minutes at a time on some crack in the floor or other object, gazing abstractedly at it, his thoughts far away. Once he drew the lamp close and picked up the evening paper, adjusting his big gla.s.ses; reading the same lines over and over, until the paper fell of itself from his hands. Soon, worn out with the hard fight of the day, he fell asleep in his chair, awaking some hours after, his mind torn with anxiety. Then he took off his shoes and crept upstairs in his stocking feet, holding to the bal.u.s.trade as a tired man will do, entered his bedroom, and dropped into a chair.
All through the night he slept fitfully; waking with sudden starts, roused by the feeling that some horrible shadow had settled upon him, that something he could not name to himself was standing behind him-always there, making him afraid to turn and look. When he was quite awake, and saw the dim outlines of the untouched bed with its smooth white pillows, the undefinable fear would slowly take shape, and he would start up in his chair, and as if to convince himself he would take a long look at the bed, with the relief of one able at last to explain a horror the vagueness of which had tortured him. "Yes, I know, Betty"s gone." Then, overcome with fatigue, he would doze again.
With the breaking of the day he sprang from his chair, half dazed, threw up the narrow sash to feel the touch of the cool, real world, and peered between the slats of the shutters, listening to the wind outside, now blowing a gale and dashing against the blinds.
None of the other houses were open yet. He was glad of that, glad of their bare, cold, indifferent exteriors, blind to the outside world.
It was as though he felt his secret still safe from prying eyes, and he meant to guard it always from them; to let none of them know what his night had been, or that Betty had been away for so long without telling him. When she came home again she would help, he knew, to smooth away the marks of it all, the record of his pain. Her bright face would look up into his, her little hands pat his cheeks, and he would then know all about it, why she went and where, and he would take the little girl wife in his arms, and comfort her in the suffering that would surely come to her when she discovered that her thoughtlessness had caused him any misery.
No! He would tell no one. He would simply wait, all day if necessary, all day and another night. He could trust her. It was all right, he knew. He did not even mind the waiting.
Then while he was still thinking, still determining to keep silent, still satisfying himself that all was well, he turned rapidly and tiptoed downstairs.
With nervous, trembling fingers he took a suit of tarpaulins and a sou"wester from a hook behind the porch door, and walked down to the dock. Some early lobstermen, bailing a skiff, saw him stand for a moment, look about him, and spring aboard a flat-bottomed sharpie, the only boat near by,-a good harbor boat, but dangerous in rough weather. To their astonishment, he raised the three-cornered sail and headed for the open sea.
"Guess Caleb must be crazy," said one man, resting his scoop for a moment, as he watched the boat dip almost bow under. "Thet sharpie ain"t no more fittin" for thet slop sea "n ever was. What do ye s"pose ails him, anyhow? Gosh A"mighty! see her take them rollers. If it was anybody else but him he wouldn"t git to the P"int. Don"t make no difference, tho", to him. He kin git along under water jes" "s well"s on top."
As the boat flew past Keyport Light and Caleb laid his course to the Ledge, the keeper, now that the dawn had come, was in the lantern putting out his light and drawing down his shades. Seeing Caleb"s boat tossing below him, he took down his gla.s.s.
"What blamed fool is that tryin" to get himself measured for a coffin?" he said.
The men were still asleep when Caleb reached the Ledge and threw open the door of the shanty,-all but Nickles, who was preparing breakfast.
He looked at Caleb as if he had been an apparition, and followed him to the door of Captain Joe"s cabin, a little room by itself. He wanted to hear the dreadful news he brought. Unless some one was dead or dying no man would risk such a sea alone,-not even an old sailor like the diver.
Caleb opened the door of the captain"s little room and closed it tight behind him, without a word to the cook. The captain lay asleep in his bunk, one big arm under his head, his short curly hair matted close.
"Cap"n Joe," said Caleb, laying his hand on the sleeping man"s shoulder and shaking him gently,-"Cap"n Joe, it"s me,-Caleb."
The captain raised his head and stared at him. Then he sat upright, trying to collect his thoughts.
"Cap"n, I had to come for ye,-I want ye."
"It ain"t Aunty Bell, is it?" said Captain Joe, springing to the floor. The early hour, the sough of the wind and beating of the rain on the roof of the shanty, Caleb dripping wet, with white drawn face, standing over him, told him in a flash the gravity of the visit.
"No, it"s my Betty. She"s gone,-gone without a word."
[Ill.u.s.tration: "No, it"s my Betty"]
"Gone! Who with?"
Caleb sunk on Captain Joe"s sea-chest, and buried his face in his blistered hands. For a moment he dared not trust himself to answer.
"I don"t know-I don"t know"-The broken words came between his rough fingers. Big tears rolled down his beard.
"Who says so? How do you know she"s gone?"
"The butcher seen "er goin" "board the boat at Noank yesterday mornin". She fixed everythin" at home "fore she went. I ain"t been to bed all night. I don"t know what ye kin do, but I had to come. I thought maybe you"d go home with me."
The captain did not answer. Little sc.r.a.ps of gossip that he had heard now and then among the men floated through his memory. He had never paid any attention to them, except once when he had rebuked Nickles for repeating some slurring remark that Carleton had made one night at table. But even as he thought of them Betty"s face rose before him,-her sweet, girlish face with its dimples.
"It"s a dirty lie, Caleb, whoever said it. I wouldn"t believe it if I see it myself. Ain"t no better gal "n Betty ever breathed. Go with you! Course I will"s soon"s I get my clo"es on." He dressed hurriedly, caught up his oilskins, flung wide the shanty door, and made his way over the platforms towards the wharf.
When they reached the little cove in the rocks below, where the smaller boats were always sheltered, and he saw the sharpie, he stopped short.
"You ain"t come out here in that, Caleb?"