Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1872-09-20

was not native step; no native sets hi
foot down as If 1t were of the slightest i'm
portance when he lifted II again. There
was meaning and energy in this football
aud hastily rose to face the intruder. L
was my gray, sturdy, faithful captain.
"Well, my little girl r. cried the hearty
familiar voice; shows this? Out here a.
lone this time o. day2 The women folks
will all be down upon you for breaking the
rules"
IL thought you had sailed" was my
response, as I burst into tears in spite o
myself.
Whereat the captain burst into that hon
est, friendly laugh of his, which seemed SC
thoroughly 10 set aside trouble and diff
Guilty, shedding them like so many cob
webs.
"well, wellr' he said swell, well,
well r.
Which was his sole comment.
Taking my hand under his arm, he drew
me away from the path, up toward the lev
el of the hill, where n little breeze stirred
siumhruusly, and a solitary lake, shut in
with foliage of bamboo and cambering
vine, cooled the air.
"Rest here bit, and wipe your eyes"
said the captain, spreading his red hand
kerchief on the ground for me to sit on. 81
am on my way to Sonora Marie's 10 break
fast, but there's no hurry. Neither she nor
all her lazy slaves can get it ready before
twelve O'Clock, you know" He looked at
his watch with seaman's exactitude, and
sitting down beside me opened his great
umbrella over my head to shut out the sun.
felt sheltered and comforted.
$50 you thought had sailed, Lisbeth ?"
he said. "You must have high opinion
of your poor old captains good manners"
The tears welled to my eyes again. I
could not answer.
Tut, tut!' said my companion, choeri-
ly. "You must not be so down hearted,
Lisbeth, when Mrs. Marie has taken so
kindly to you. But you'll get on better
when the ship is fairly out of sight. You'll
feel more settled"
"If you were here" broke forth.
"Oh, what do you want of me? You'll
be with the young senors and senoritas, and
all the rest of it, They will treat you like
princess. I'm no company for such.
They don't want an old sea-dog like me-"
Always from my childhood the captain
had come and gone out of my life like a
myth; his ship waited in the harbor; he
had wings he was not like any one else.
And for this reason his going from mel now
seemed to shut me away forever out of
sight into a living death. Something OF
this l muttered incoherently, clinging to
him as though he might vanish while 1
wept.
The captain stopped and looked into nv
excited face 4; his gray scintilating eye shot
a strange ray into mine.
lymph! y he said, tanning himself with
his great sombrero. cts hot; there's not
breath stirring, and it is only ten in the
morning."'
There was silence for a moment-a tropic
silence, unbroken by chirp of bird or fall
of leaf. My eyes followed the far glimpse
of the ocean. with the occasional sail head
ing toward the harbor.
"You like ships, Lisbeth?' said the cap-
tain.
81 love them y I cried with enthusiasm.
"Just so, just so. You like @ things with
will but, my little girl, if you expend so
much feeling on every thing, what will you
have for some good man when he asks you
to like him?"
"That would be different" My voice
shook.
"What would be difIerent?" said the
captain, turning suddenly and harshly up
on me. "Lisbeth," he said, more softly,
laying his great brown hand on my arm,
'you know l mean to be your friend.
want you to remember that AFTER l am
gone. If any trouble comes to you, you
know where to write; yet, after all, it will
be strange to sail away without my little
girl"
/ could make no reply.
~ wish the wife was here" said the cap
tain, with a troubled voice; "she would
tell me what to do.'
"There is nothing to do, captain; you
have done all you could for me.'
"You must hunt up that engineer, Lis
beth" The captain was feeling in the
depths of his fathomless pockets for an ex-
ira handkerchief as he uttered this Jest
but saw tear wander down over the
bridge of his nose before he could find it.
81 don't want to hear that joke again ~
cried angrily. "I mean to live alone. I
don't want any help from anybody"
"Softly there, my girl, softlyp' was the
answer; you do not know what you are
saying. It's hard shift to live alone; 1
have found it so, rowing old dog though l
am. Do not say that you will live alone,
Lisbeth rather than that, would even
ask you to marry an old fellow like me y
What / said then l do net know, what
did do not remember. Like one rescued
from shipwreck, 1 looked into the face of
my friend, and thanked God.
And so 1t came about that we two were
wed. There is little chapel down by the
water in that far island, tiny chapel with
out seats, and with dim flicker of tapers
burning before the shrine of the Virgin.
There one morning, before the sun was up,
and before the ship spread her homeward
sails in the harbor, wandering priest read
the marriage service over two strangers,
while the stout sonora aud her dark-eyed
little ones stood in a hushed group looking
on, and Liza looked in at the doorway with
her finger ON her lips.
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