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“‘Sam,’ said the captain, ‘I’ve got everything ready for her that I can think of. There isn’t anything more she’d be likely to want. So now I’m goin’ after her, and I’m goin’ to start on Monday mornin’.’

“Sam Twitty was astonished. He had had an idea that Captain Abner would go on preparing for her to the end of his days, and it was a shock to him to hear that the work of preparation, in which he had been interested for so many years, and in which he had so frequently assisted, should now be brought suddenly to a close.

“‘Ready!’ he ejaculated. ‘I wouldn’t have believed it if ye hadn’t told me yourself. And yet, come to think of it, I can’t see for the life of me what else you can do for her.’

“‘There ain’t nothin’ else,’ said Abner, ‘and on Monday mornin’ I’m settin’ out to look for her.’

“‘Do you go by land or by water?’ asked Sam.

“‘Land,’ was the answer. ‘There ain’t no chance of runnin’ across her by sea.’

“‘And how are you goin’? Walkin’?’

“‘No, sir,’ said Abner. ‘I’m goin’ to hire a horse and a buggy. That’s how I’m goin’.’

“‘And where are you goin’ to steer fust?’ asked Sam.

“‘I’m goin’ fust to Thompsontown, and after I’ve took my observations there I’ll fetch a compass and sail every which way, if need be. There’s lots of people of all sorts in Thompsontown, and I don’t see why she shouldn’t be one of them.’

“‘No more do I,’ said Sam Twitty. ‘I think it’s more’n likely she’ll be one of them.’

“Very early the next morning, almost before the first streaks of dawn, Captain Abner was awakened by a voice under his window.

“‘Shipmate ahoy!’ said the voice, which was Sam Twitty’s. In a moment Abner’s head was out of the window.

“‘Cap’n Abner,’ said Sam, ‘I’m goin’ with you.’

“Abner did not immediately answer, but presently he replied: ‘Look here, Sam Twitty; you come around after breakfast and tell me that ag’in.’

“Promptly after breakfast Sam appeared.

“‘Look a’ here,’ said Captain Abner, when they had lighted their morning pipes, ‘that ain’t a bad notion of yours. Somethin’ might turn up when I’d want advice, and you might give me some like you gave me about the king conch-shell and the gilded idol. It ain’t a bad idea, and, as you say so, I’d like you to come along.’

“Sam did not reply with the alacrity that might have been expected of him. He puffed silently at his pipe and gazed upon the ground. ‘You said you was a-goin’ in a buggy,’ he remarked.

“‘Yes; that’s what I’m expectin’ to do.’

“‘Then how am I to get back?’ inquired Sam.

“‘That’s so,’ said Abner. ‘I never thought of that.’

“‘Look a’ here, cap’n,’ said Abner; ‘what do you say to a spring-wagon with seats for four, two in front, and two behind?’

“This suited Captain Abner, and Sam went on to say: ‘There’ll be another good thing about that; if you get her and bring her back–‘

“‘Which is what I’m goin’ for and intend to do.’

“‘Then,’ continued Sam, ‘you two could sit on the back seat, and I could sit in front and drive.’

“‘Did you ever drive, Sam?’ asked Captain Abner.

“‘Not yet; but I wouldn’t mind l’arnin’.’

“‘But you won’t l’arn with me and her,’ said Captain Abner.

“‘How are you goin’ to manage it, then?’ asked Sam. ‘You won’t want me and her to sit on the back seat, and it wouldn’t look jes right for you an’ her to be in front, and me behind all by myself, as if I was company.’

“‘Don’t know,’ said Captain Abner. ‘We’ll get her fust, and then let her sit where she wants to.’

“‘There’s one thing I wouldn’t like to see,’ said Sam Twitty, ‘and that’s you and me sittin’ behind, and her a-drivin’.’

“‘There won’t be none of that,’ said Captain Abner; ‘that ain’t my way.'”

“Is that a good beginning?” asked the Master of the House, suddenly addressing his wife.