Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper Part 10

Louise burst into gay laughter--she could not help it.

"I see by this letter Cap'n Abe left for me that you're his niece--his ha'f sister's child--name, Louise Grayling; and that you've come to stay a spell."

"Yes," the girl rejoined, still dimpling. "And I know you must be Mrs.

Gallup!"

"Bet Gallup. Yep. Ain't much chance of mistaking me," the woman said, still staring at Louise. "Humph! you're pretty 'nough not to need m'la.s.ses to ketch flies. Why didn't Cap'n Abe stay to home when you come visiting him?"

"Why, he had his plans all laid to go away, if Uncle Amazon came."

"Ya-as. That's so. You are _his_ niece, too, I s'pose."

"Whose niece? Uncle Amazon's? I suppose I am," Louise gayly replied, "though when I came I had no idea there was a second uncle down here on the Cape."

"What's that?" demanded Betty Gallup, her speech crackling like a rifle shot.

"I had not heard before of Cap'n Amazon," the girl explained. "You see, for several reasons, I have known very little about my mother's kinfolk. She died when I was a baby. We have traveled a good deal, father and I."

"I see. I been told you worked for them movin' pictures. Mandy Card was over to my house last night. Well! what do you think of your Uncle Am'zon?"

"I can express no opinion until I have met him," Louise returned, again dimpling.

"Haven't ye seen him?" gasped Betty in astonishment.

"Not yet."

"Ye didn't see him when he came last night?"

"I was in bed."

"Then how--how d'ye know Cap'n Abe's gone? Or that this man is Am'zon Silt? n.o.body ever seen this critter 'round Cardhaven before," Betty Gallup declared with strong conviction.

"Oh, no; Uncle Amazon has never been here to visit Cap'n Abe before.

Cap'n Abe told me all about it," the girl explained, fearing that scandal was to take root here and now if she did not discourage it.

"Of course Uncle Abe went away. He came to my door and bade me good-bye."

Louise was puzzled. She saw an expression in Betty Gallup's face that she could not interpret.

"Ye heard Cap'n Abe _say_ he was goin'," muttered Betty. "_His_ voice sounds mighty like Cap'n Abe's. But mebbe Abe Silt didn't go after all--not rightly."

"What _do_ you mean, Mrs. Gallup?" demanded Louise in bewilderment.

"Well, if you ask me, I should say we'd been boarded by pirates. Go take a look at that Uncle Am'zon of yourn. He's in the store."

CHAPTER VII

UNDER FIRE

"Uncle Amazon?" burst out Louise. "A pirate?"

"That's what he looks like," repeated Betty Gallup, nodding her head on which the man's hat still perched. "I never saw the beat! Why, that man give me the shock of my life when I came in here just now!"

"What _do_ you mean?" the amazed girl asked,

"Why, as I come in--I was a lettle early, knowin' you was here--I heard as I s'posed Cap'n Abe in the sittin'-room. I saw this letter, sealed and directed to me, on the dresser there. 'Humph!' says I, 'Who's writin' billy-doos to _me_, I'd admire to know?' And I up and opened it and see it's in Cap'n Abe's hand. Just then I heard him behind me----"

"Heard _who_? Not Cap'n Abe?"

"No, no! This other feller--this Cap'n Am'zon Silt, as he calls himself. But I _thought_ 'twas Cap'n Abe's step I heard. He says: 'Oh! you've found the letter?' I declare I thought 'twas your uncle's voice!"

"But it was my uncle's voice, of course," Louise reminded her, much amused, "Cap'n Amazon Silt is my uncle, too."

"Humph! I s'pose so. Looks to be. If 'tis him. Anyhow," pursued the jerkily speaking Betty Gallup, "I turned 'round when he spoke spectin'

to see Cap'n Abe--for I hadn't read this letter then--_and there he warn't_! Instead--of all the lookin' critters! There! you go take a peek at him and see what you think yourself. I'll put the breakfast on the table. He's made coffee and the mush is in the double-biler and the biscuits in the oven are just browning. I reckon he's as handy 'round the kitchen as Cap'n Abe is. Lots of these old sailors be."

"Fancy! an uncle who is a pirate!" giggled Louise and she ran through the living-room and the dividing hall to the door of the store. First she saw Cap'n Amazon from the rear. The red bandana swathing his bead, below which was a lank fringe of black hair, was the only bizarre thing she noticed about her new-found relative. He seemed to have very quick hearing for almost instantly he swung smartly around to face her.

"Oh!" was expelled from the girl's lips, for she was as startled as Lawford Tapp and Betty Gallup had been.

Compared with the mild-appearing, heavily whiskered Cap'n Abe, this brother of the storekeeper was in looks what Betty had p.r.o.nounced him.

His dark complexion, the long mustache, as black and glossy as a crow's wing, the gold rings in his ears, with the red handkerchief to top it all, made Cap'n Amazon Silt as romantic a figure as ever peered out of a Blackbeard or a Henry Morgan legend.

There were intricate traceries on his forearms in red and blue ink; beneath the open collar of his shirt the girl gained a glimpse of other tattooing. There was a faint scar traced along his right jaw, almost from ear to chin, which added a certain grimness to his expression.

Yet his was not at all a sinister face. His eyes twinkled at her kindly--almost like Cap'n Abe's eyes--and the huge mustache lifted in a smile.

"Ahoy!" he cried jovially. "So this is my niece, Louise, is it? Well, to be sure! Abe didn't overpraise you. You _be_ a pretty tidy craft."

The girl dimpled, coming forward to give him her hand. As on the day before, her hand was lost in a warm, firm clasp, while her uncle continued to look her over with approval.

"Yes, sir!" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed. "You look to me like one o' the tidiest craft I ever clapped eyes on. I don't scarcely see how Abe could go away and leave you. Dunno's he's got an eye for a pretty woman like me. Bless you! I been a slave to the women all my life."

"Yet never married, Uncle Amazon?" she cried roguishly.

"Tell you how 'twas," he whispered hoa.r.s.ely, his hand beside his mouth.

"I never could decide betwixt and between 'em. No, sir! They are all so desir'ble that I couldn't make up my mind. So I stayed single."

"Perhaps you showed wisdom, Uncle Amazon," laughed the girl.

"Still--when you grow old----"

"Oh! there's plenty of sailors' snug harbors," he hastened to say.

"And time enough to worry about that when I _be_ old."

"I thought----Why! you look younger than Cap'n Abe," she said.