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“‘Who? Oh–er–Brown?’ he says. ‘Why, he’s–‘

“‘Brown?’ says I. ‘Thought you said ’twas Jones?’

“Well, that kind of upset him, and he took some cherry-rum to grease his memory. Then I asked more questions and he tried to answer ’em, and got worse tangled than ever. Finally I had to laugh.

“‘Look here, Ben,’ says I. ‘You can’t fetch port on that tack. The truth’s ten mile astern of you. Who does own that yacht, anyway?’

“He looked at me mighty solemn–cherry-rum solemn. ‘Obed,’ he says, ‘you’re a good feller. Don’t you give me away, now, or I’ll lose my berth. The man that owns that yacht’s named Davidson, and he’s got a summer place right in this town.’

“‘Davidson!’ says I. ‘DAVIDSON? Not young Allie Davidson?’

“‘That’s him,’ says he. ‘And he’s the blankety blankest meanest low-down cub on earth. There! I feel some better. Give me another drink to take the taste of him out of my mouth.’

“‘But young Davidson’s gone to Boston,’ I says. ‘Went this morning.’

“‘That be hanged!’ says Ben. ‘All I know is that I got a despatch from him at Newport on Monday afternoon, telling me to have the yacht abreast this town at twelve o’clock to-night, ’cause he was coming off to her then in his launch with a friend. Friend!’ And he laughed and winked his starboard eye.

“I didn’t say much, being too busy thinking, but Ben went on telling about other cruises with ‘friends.’ Oh, a steam-yacht can be a first-class imitation of hell if the right imp owns her. Henry got speaking of one time down along the Maine coast.

“‘But,’ says I, referring to what he was telling, ‘if she was such a nice girl and come from such nice folks, how–‘

“‘How do I know?’ says he. ‘Promises to marry and such kind of lies, I s’pose. And the plain fact is that he’s really engaged to marry a swell girl in Newport.’

“He told me her name and a lot more about her. I tried to remember the most of it, but my head was whirling–and not from cherry rum, either. All I could think was: ‘Obed, it’s up to you! You’ve got to do something.’

“I was mighty glad when the sailors hailed from the shore and Ben had to go. He ‘most cried when he said good-by, and went away stepping high and bringing his heels down hard. I watched the dingey row off–the tide was out, so there was barely water for her to get clear–and then I went back home to think. And I thought all the afternoon.

“Two and two made four, anyway I could add it up, but ’twas all suspicion and no real proof, that was the dickens of it. I couldn’t speak to Phoebe Ann; she wouldn’t b’lieve me if I did. I couldn’t telegraph Cap’n Eben at Provincetown to come home that night; I’d have to tell him the whole thing and I knew his temper, so, for Barbara’s sake, ‘twouldn’t do. I couldn’t be at the shore to stop the launch leaving. What right had I to stop another man’s launch, even–

“No, ’twas up to me, and I thought and thought till after supper- time. And then I had a plan–a risky chance, but a chance, just the same. I went up to the store and bought four feet of medium- size rubber hose and some rubber tape, same as they sell to bicycle fellers in the summer. ‘Twas almost dark when I got back in sight of my shanty, and instead of going to it I jumped that board fence that me and Prince had negotiated for, hustled along the path past the notice boards, and went down the bluff on t’other side of Davidson’s p’int. And there in the deep hole by the end of the little pier, out of sight of the house on shore, was Allie’s launch. By what little light there was left I could see the brass rails shining.