Jed sighed. "There"s a crank here," he drawled, "but it wouldn"t be much use around automobiles, I"m afraid. I"m it."
"What? I don"t understand."
"I say I"m it. My pet name around Orham is town crank. That"s why Phineas sent you to my shop. He said you OUGHT to find a crank here. He was right, I"m "most generally in."
This statement was made quietly, deliberately and with no trace of resentment. Having made it, the speaker began picking up the vanes and sailors he had spilled when he proffered his visitor the chair.
Major Grover colored, and frowned.
"Do you mean to tell me," he demanded, "that that fellow sent me over here because--because--"
"Because I"m town crank? Ye-es, that"s what I mean."
"Indeed! That is his idea of a joke, is it?"
"Seems to be. He"s an awful comical critter, Phin Babbitt is--in his own way."
"Well, it"s not my way. He sends me over here to make an a.s.s of myself and insult you--"
"Now, now, Major, excuse me. Phin didn"t have any idea that you"d insult me. You see," with the fleeting smile, "he wouldn"t believe anybody could do that."
Grover turned sharply to the door. Mr. Winslow spoke his name.
"Er--Major Grover," he said, gently, "I wouldn"t."
The major paused. "Wouldn"t what?" he demanded.
"Go over there and tell Phin and the rest what you think of "em.
If "twould do "em any good I"d say, "For mercy sakes, go!" But "twouldn"t; they wouldn"t believe it."
Grover"s lips tightened.
"Telling it might do ME some good," he observed, significantly.
"Yes, I know. But maybe we might get the same good or more in a different way. . . . Hum! . . . What--er--brand of automobile is yours?"
The major told him. Jed nodded.
"Hum . . . yes," he drawled. "I see. . . . I see."
Grover laughed. "I"ll be hanged if I do!" he observed.
"Eh! . . . Well, I tell you; you sit down and let Babbie talk Petunia to you a minute or two. I"ll be right back."
He hurried into the back shop, closing the door after him. A moment later Grover caught a glimpse of him crossing the back yard and disappearing over the edge of the bluff.
"Where in the world has the fellow gone?" he soliloquized aloud, amused although impatient. Barbara took it upon herself to answer.
Uncle Jed had left the caller in her charge and she felt her responsibilities.
"He"s gone down the sh.o.r.e path," she said. "I don"t know where else he"s gone, but it"s all right, anyway."
"Oh, is it? You seem quite sure of it, young lady."
"I am. Everything Uncle Jed does is right. Sometimes you don"t think so at first, but it turns out that way. Mamma says he is petunia--no, I mean peculiar but--but very--re-li-a-ble," the last word conquered after a visible struggle. "She says if you do what he tells you to you will be "most always glad. I think "always"
without any "most,"" she added.
Major Grover laughed. "That"s a reputation for infallibility worth having," he observed.
Barbara did not know what he meant but she had no intention of betraying that fact.
"Yes," she agreed. A moment later she suggested: "Don"t you think you"d better sit down? He told you to, you know."
"Great Scott, so he did! I must obey orders, mustn"t I? But he told you to talk--something or other to me, I think. What was it?"
"He told me to talk Petunia to you. There she is--up there."
The major regarded Petunia, who was seated upon the heap of mill- sides, in a most haphazard and dissipated att.i.tude.
"She is my oldest daughter," continued Barbara. "She"s very advanced for her years."
"Dear me!"
"Yes. And . . . oh, here comes Mamma!"
Mrs. Armstrong entered the shop. The major rose. Barbara did the honors.
"I was just going to come in, Mamma," she explained, "but Uncle Jed asked me to stay and talk to Mr.--I mean Major--Grover till he came back. He"s gone out, but he won"t be long. Mamma, this is Mr.
Major Grover, the one who kept Uncle Jed from being spied, over at the flying place that day when I found the plan paper and he made a shingle boat sail out of it."
Ruth came forward. She had been walking along the edge of the bluff, looking out over the tumbled gray and white water, and the late October wind had tossed her hair and brought the color to her cheeks. She put out her hand.
"Oh, yes," she said. "How do you do, Major Grover? I have heard a great deal about you since the day of Babbie"s picnic. I"m sure I owe you an apology for the trouble my small daughter must have caused that day."
She and the major shook hands. The latter expressed himself as being very glad to meet Mrs. Armstrong. He looked as if he meant it.
"And no apologies are due, not from your side at least," he declared. "If it had not been for your little girl our missing plan might have been missing yet."
Fifteen minutes elapsed before the owner of the windmill shop returned. When he did come hurrying up the bluff and in at the back door, heated and out of breath, no one seemed to have missed him greatly. Major Grover, who might reasonably have been expected to show some irritation at his long wait, appeared quite oblivious of the fact that he had waited at all. He and Barbara were seated side by side upon a packing case, while Ruth occupied the chair.
When Jed came panting in it was Babbie who greeted him.
"Oh, Uncle Jed!" she exclaimed, "you just ought to have been here.
Mr.--I mean Major Grover has been telling Mamma and me about going up in a--in a diggible balloon. It was awf"ly interesting. Wasn"t it, Mamma?"
Her mother laughingly agreed that it was. Jed, whose hands were full, deposited his burden upon another packing case. The said burden consisted of no less than three motor car cranks. Grover regarded them with surprise.
"Where in the world did you get those?" he demanded. "The last I saw of you you were disappearing over that bank, apparently headed out to sea. Do you dig those things up on the flats hereabouts, like clams?"
Jed rubbed his chin. "Not"s I know of," he replied. "I borrowed these down at Joshua Rogers" garage."