Then he put the weapon back in the
inside pocket of his coat. He tapped the knob of his cane for a
pinch of snuff before he said another word. His mighty "A-choon!"
startled the Queen of Sheba almost as it startled Prudence.
"Avast!" exclaimed Cap'n Ira. "Did you ever see such a scary old
lubber, Tunis?"
"But what's it all about?" again demanded the younger man, seizing
the rope halter and aiding the mare to flounder out upon the firmer
sand below high-water mark. "What are you doing up so early? And
what were you going to do with Queenie?"
"I swan!" groaned Cap'n Ira again. "I don't wonder that you ask me
that. It don't really seem reasonable that a sane man would get in
such a jam, does it? Me and the Queen of Sheby sailin' down that
sand pile. Tunis! We'll never be able to get up it in this world."
"No. You must come along to our road, and get up that way," his
young friend told him. "It is longer, but easier. But tell me how
you came down that gully, you and Queenie?"
"I'm sort of ashamed to tell you, Tunis, and that's a fact," the old
captain said, wagging his head. "And don't you ever tell Prudence."
"I'll not say a word to Aunt Prue," promised the captain of the
_Seamew_.
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