The government wireless station at Beaufort is built upon an island, which is separated from the mainland by the narrow channel of New Port River just before it empties into the sea. Now, Captain Jones went at once to the government wharf, where he secured the services of a small boy to row him to the island. On his arrival, he was warmly welcomed, for he was as popular there as with the men of the coast guard. As he entered the small receiving-room, the instruments were spitting out dots and dashes, with all kinds of sparks for accompaniment. The princ.i.p.al operator was taking down a message. As soon as the task was ended, he whirled about and greeted the old fisherman enthusiastically.
"Why, howdy, Captain Ichabod--glad to see you. It"s sure fine of you to come over. I understand there"ve been some exciting times up in your neck of the woods. By the way, what was the name of the yacht that went on the rock?"
"It was _The Isabel_, of New York," replied Ichabod.
"Is that so!" exclaimed the operator. "If that"s the case, I reckon this message I just yanked out of the air will be of interest to you."
He handed the paper to the Captain, who, after finding his spectacles and adjusting them carefully, read aloud the following:
"To all port officers:
"Motor-driven yacht _Isabel_ of New York, put to sea without clearance papers. Investigation shows she was probably stolen.
Daughter of owner a prisoner on board. If located in your vicinity arrest boat and all members of crew. Make diligent search for young woman and release her."
The bulletin was signed by an officer of the Treasury Department.
"Well I"ll be doggoned!" cried the Captain, in great astonishment. "I knowed that feller was some kind o" a bad egg, but now I believe to goodness he was plumb sp"ilt. That poor little brown-eyed gal! What a pity! I wish I"d a held right smack onto her--that I do."
"I suppose," the operator rejoined, "that bulletin has been picked up by all of the stations, so that the boys are keepin" a sharp lookout to overhaul the yacht and pinch the bunch, an" especially to save the girl.
I"ll get this over to the Collector of Customs right away. He"ll want to report the escape of the man and woman and to give the direction they went."
"Ye"d better tell him to mention the dead feller, an" that he was tied down."
"That"s right, Uncle Ichabod. Say, but there"s a lot of mystery about this affair. I"ll bet my boots you haven"t heard the last of it."
"Maybe not," the fisherman admitted. "But, by cracky, since what I"ve been through a"ready they can"t skeer Ichabod. No, not by a d.a.m.ned sight!"
It was very seldom that Captain Jones used a profane expression. When he did, it was with deliberate intention.
Upon this island where the wireless outfit is stationed, the government has another inst.i.tution--a laboratory where studies are made in sea life. It includes a remarkable museum, which is visited by students from far and near. There are power boats equipped for dredging at considerable depth in order to bring to light the secret things of the sea. Many of the curios are contributed by the fishermen, who are continually dragging forth in their nets objects strange to them. When a thing of real rarity is brought to the laboratory, a snug sum is paid to the finder. The Captain himself had always a ready eye for anything that might prove of value, and his finds from time to time netted him a tidy profit. To-day he had with him a variety of sea porcupine new to him, which he had found in his net a few days before. So now, on leaving the wireless station, Ichabod visited the laboratory, where the sea porcupine was duly delivered and brought in return a satisfactory sum of money. Here, too, he retold once again all his experiences in connection with the wreck of _The Isabel_. By the time this was done, the afternoon was well spent. The old man was rowed back to the mainland, where he entered the red skiff and set sail homeward.
As he pa.s.sed up the bay, the tide was low, so that in many places the shoals and rocks were exposed. Captain Ichabod, reclining lazily in the stern sheets of the skiff, tiller in hand, listened to the noisy clatter of the gulls, which in vast swarms were feeding on their favorite scallops.
Ages ago, the gulls discovered that the fluted sh.e.l.l must be broken ere the luscious morsel within could be obtained. It was wholly impossible for them to crush the stonelike casing with their bills. So the birds devised another means. This was to carry the sh.e.l.l high aloft, then drop it on the shoals. If it fell on a hard surface, it would be broken open, and the scallop within would be promptly devoured by the gull following.
When the sh.e.l.l fell in a soft place, and remained unbroken the bird would merely continue its efforts until finally crowned with success.
Ichabod, idly watching such repeated trials, was induced to meditation on the lesson thus taught.
"It sh.o.r.e is a pity that arter Roxana Lee"--the name came easily now--"arter a-stabbin" o" me in the back--yes, it"s a pity that I didn"t do sort o" like that Scotch feller that watched the spider try an" try an" try ag"in till at last he spun his web whar he aimed to. Why, when he saw what that-thar crab-lookin" son-of-a-gun could do, he jumped right up, an", a-bucklin" himself around a leetle tighter, went out and cleaned up a whole mess that was arter him. By cracky! all I had to do was to come right out to these sand shoals an" oyster rocks an" watch them noisy gulls a-tryin" an" a-tryin", an" at last bustin" a scallop. I jest believe, if I"d done that, then I"d have got right square up an"
licked Sandy Mason, an" told Roxana what I thought o" her no-"countness, an" then I might have married the best-lookin" woman in Cartaret County.
"But, then, what"s the use?" he continued, as he drew the sheet in a little closer, so holding the skiff more into the wind, in order to round a point of marsh land. "That"s ancient history, an" I ain"t a-goin" to study it. I"ve done turned over a new leaf. I hope, Ichabod, ye"ll live right an" die happy."
The skiff was nearing the home port. Captain Ichabod"s attention was called to a sound of happy voices--women"s notes, as he expressed it.
Unless he was much mistaken, it came from his own Island.
The old fisherman, true to his instinct of fear in reference to womankind, loosened the sheet, so that the skiff might slide by and let him learn more definitely what might be the meaning of this invasion.
The matter was not long in doubt. As he rounded a point, he saw them. It seemed to him there were a dozen or more of women. They were not only upon the Island: the shack door stood open. There were women actually going in and out through the entrance--busy as bees.... Upon the sh.o.r.e, a great fire was burning.
Ichabod, who had been brave for three days, now began to be afraid of this influx of feminine furbelows--this show of skirts. Twice Ichabod tacked with a desire to take a running look at his own Island; and twice he dared not make a landing because of the feminine contingent on sh.o.r.e.
But, when he sailed the red skiff by his homeland for the third time, he recognized a pudgy figure on the sh.o.r.e, which was waving frantically toward him.
"Oh, h.e.l.l!" Ichabod spoke, with great indignation. "If it ain"t Hudson!
Consarn him, he has took me at my word an" if he hain"t brought a flock o" "em! I didn"t aim to run away, nohow. I jest forgot fer a minute thet I had reformed. I wonder what the fire means? It"s mighty early yet for an oyster roast, but they are a-gittin" fat."
The Doctor met the old fellow at the landing. Ichabod wore a sheepish look, while, on the contrary, the physician"s good-natured face was wreathed in smiles.
"Throw me your painter, Captain!" shouted the medical man. "When I get that in hand I"ll feel sure that you are really here!"
Old Icky went forward, wound the sail neatly around the mast, removed the rudder, pulled up the center-board, and then tossed to Hudson a line to be turned around the piling. Ichabod stepped ash.o.r.e, nonplused. His expression was stern and forbidding as he advanced on his friend, the Doctor, and demanded the meaning of all this.
"Why, Captain Ichabod," came the answer, "the women folks up there have named this meeting Ichabod Jones" coming-out party. You know in great cities where there"s a heap of society, when a girl reaches an age that they think it is time for her to be setting her cap, they arrange a swell party to let the fellows know that the young lady is eligible. So, you see, that"s the case to-day. Only, this time, it"s a man that has come out of his sh.e.l.l, and you can believe me that sh.e.l.l was the hardest one I ever tried to crack!"
"Say, Hudson, did I tell ye I was a-lookin" fer a woman? No, sir; I only said as how they was welcome to come to the Island. This how-dy-do o"
your"n I call a-rubbin" it in pretty hard. If it"s a joke with you, it hain"t with me."
"Now, old friend, don"t get peeved. I"ll tell you just how it came about. After you left my house, I went out to pay some professional calls. Ichabod, your name"s in everybody"s mouth. They all asked questions about you, knowing how close friends we are. What could I do but just up and tell how you had seen the light and had hit the trail for happiness; how all women were to be welcome at the Island from now on, and how the latch-string would be hanging always on the outside of the shack door? I had no sooner arrived home than one of these good ladies called me up and asked me if I would mind escorting a few of them to the Island to congratulate you on your quitting playing Rip Van Winkle as far as women were concerned. I just told the pretty creatures I"d be only too glad to go with them.... Shake hands, Ichabod. Let your family physician be the first to welcome you back."
Realizing that the whole trouble had been caused by his talking too much and that no one was to blame save himself, the old man smiled somewhat wryly as he grasped his friend"s extended hand.
"Say, Doc," he declared, "I always did like a joke where it didn"t hurt none. So, I ain"t a-goin" to make ye out untruthful to that pa.s.sal o"
women."
With that, the fisherman slipped his arm within the Doctor"s, and walked forward spiritedly toward his doom--as he mentally termed this social ordeal. It was indeed his coming-out party, and never a debutante so secretly tremulous and shy as Captain Icky.
CHAPTER XVII
STRANGERS AT ICHABOD"S ISLAND
The friendly squeeze that Doctor Hudson was giving Ichabod"s arm as they advanced toward the group of women heartened the old man mightily. A few days since, he would have felt that he was being led as a martyr to be burned at the stake. But now, in the twinkling of an eye, everything was changed. It is true that he felt a keen embarra.s.sment over this introduction to feminine society after his isolation from it for twenty years. Yet his natural courage dominated this embarra.s.sment, so that he faced the trial bravely enough.
The Doctor explained to him that a formal introduction to the ladies would be necessary.
"That is," Hudson continued, "to all except one. You are already acquainted with the one just now coming out of the shack door with your vinegar bottle in her hand. It"s Miss Sarah Porter that I"m referring to. She has told me that you have talked with her on more than one occasion about your domestic troubles and your lonely life. She has told me, too, that she tried her best to give you advice that would be good for you."
Ichabod replied defensively.
"Wall, I cal"late I"ve been a-tryin" to take her advice!"
It was even as Doctor Hudson had said. In spite of the sharp eyes and wagging tongues of the townsfolk, few had known that the old fisherman occasionally visited Miss Porter in the hostelry managed by her for many years, and that there he had listened gratefully to her words of kindly admonition. As a matter of fact, long before the Lee woman entered into the fisherman"s life, he had felt very kindly toward Miss Porter, and his attentions had been well received by her. It is very possible that he might have offered himself to her years ago, had it not been for a conscientious scruple as to his jilted self being unworthy. So, he saw her only at rare intervals, and then only when he brought fish to sell, thus making business his excuse. There had been to him a certain comfort in the fact that this vivacious woman of sixty had never married. He even dared to wonder sometimes with a thrill of vanity if her feeling toward him could have been the cause of her spinsterhood. And this was always followed by an emotion of disgust with himself that he should ever have found the company of Roxana more to his liking than that of the pleasant and wholesome Sarah.
When the Captain saw Miss Porter with the vinegar bottle in her hand, he knew that the visitors were preparing an oyster roast, which, of course, accounted for the fire of twigs and seaweed. Now, the other women stood in a row, while Sarah, her face wreathed in smiles, came forward to greet her old lover. This done, she formally presented Ichabod to the other guests. The fisherman"s increased embarra.s.sment expressed itself in a sheepish grin, when it suddenly dawned on him that every one of the women there before him was unmarried. Dr. Hudson remarked afterward that Ichabod looked to him as if he were convinced that each and every one was "after him!"
Nevertheless, once the introductions were over, the Captain found himself at ease in a manner quite surprising. Every one of the visitors seemed to enter into the spirit of the affair with a whole-hearted geniality that was infectious, and under this benignant influence the host was filled with an unaccustomed happiness. He at once began to a.s.sist in the roasting of the oysters, which the women had gathered from the rocks. He gave them carte blanche to help themselves to plates and forks and such other things as were needful from the shack.