Captain Pott's Minister Part 29

Mr. McGowan laughed heartily, and Miss Pipkin struggled against a like inclination, doing her best to appear shocked.

"Josiah Pott!" she said at last. "I'd think you'd be ashamed telling such things!"

"It ain't nothing more than what Adoniah told, and it happened just as I spun it. You used to think what Adoniah said was all right."

The minister sobered instantly.

"But it ain't right defaming the dead like that."

"I ain't defaming no one. Don't get mad, Clemmie. Adoniah told the yarn himself."

"Well, it ain't to his credit, and I ain't so sure he told it with that bad word in it."

"He sartin did. That's what makes it funny."

"If you wasn't so anxious to use them words you'd not be telling such stories, and, of all people, to the minister."

"He's heerd me say lots worse ones than that. I was telling it for ill.u.s.tration. You see, Jim has got the idea that he's looking to his laurels, and he ain't doing nothing but barking at his barrels, and empty ones at that."

"You'd best not try to ill.u.s.trate if you can't use words decent enough to listen to," answered Miss Pipkin as she left the room.

Late that evening Mr. McGowan drew the Captain into his study. A cheery fire was crackling in the fire-back. The minister placed a chair before the grate and slid another near. For some time the two men sat looking into the fire. As Mr. McGowan tossed in another stick of wood, he turned toward the seaman.

"I did not know that you had a brother by the name of Adoniah," he said.

"It ain't often I make mention of him. I wa'n't over fond of him. He didn't treat Clemmie fair. Then, he wa'n't nothing but a half-brother."

"Don't tell me his last name was Phillips?"

"Sartin was.... What was that you said, Mack?"

"I didn't speak. I was just thinking."

"I'd a heap sight rather you'd speak out loud than grunt like that. What in tarnation is the matter with you?"

"If you can throw any light on this man Phillips, I wish you'd do it.

I've heard his name mentioned twice, by two different people, with quite different effects."

"What do you mean by me throwing light on him?"

"Tell me about him, all you know, good and bad. What does Miss Pipkin know about him? Where is he?"

"Heave to, there, Mack! One at a time. I don't know if Clemmie has any idea where he is now. She was purty thick with him once, and heerd from him once or twice after he went off to sea."

"She was in love with him?"

"That's putting it purty tame. I cal'late--Say, has she been speaking to you about him?" asked the seaman eagerly.

The minister nodded. "I'm breaking a promise to her by talking with you about it, but----"

"Breaking a promise you made to Clemmie? How's that?"

"She made me promise to say nothing to you. But I must. This thing is getting too interesting for me to keep my hands off any longer."

"You mean she made you say that you'd not tell me that she was in love with Adoniah? That's funny, ain't it? Why, I knew----" He broke off abruptly, a new light coming into his tired eyes. He leaned forward and whispered hoa.r.s.ely: "Mack, it ain't likely she's in love with--well,--with any other feller, is it?"

"She didn't----"

"With me, for example," broke in the seaman. "You don't think maybe that was the reason she made you give that promise, do you?" The Captain made no effort to hide his eagerness. "I don't mind telling you that I love Clemmie. I loved her long afore Adoniah come along and sp'iled it. He was smarter than me, and went to school. He was real bright and handsome. It wa'n't that Clemmie loved him, but she didn't know the difference. And I know right well he didn't love her. He had took a spite against me because I was left the home place, and he took it out on me by stealing my girl. You don't s'pose she sees now that he didn't really care----" He slowly settled back into his chair, and shook his head. "I cal'late that ain't possible. You heerd what she said about his sacred memory this morning. Good Lord! Why won't she ever forget!"

"She may some day, Cap'n. No man can predict to-day what a woman may do to-morrow."

"The most of 'em are that way, but Clemmie's different from the common run. I know I'm an old fool for wishing it, but it ain't easy to give up the woman you love, even after long years of her saying no to you."

"You're right, Cap'n. It isn't easy to give up the woman you love."

The minister gave the fire a vigorous poke, sending a thick shower of sparks up the chimney. The seaman glanced at him.

"Have you the slightest idea where your brother is?"

"No. I ain't heerd from him for more than twenty years, and then it wa'n't direct. He left because he was 'feared Clemmie was going to make him marry her, and he knew if he took to sailing the seas she'd never foller him. d.a.m.n him! He didn't treat her square. That's why I don't have much use for him. If he'd told her out and out that he wa'n't going to marry her, I'd forgive him. But----"

"Did Mr. Fox know this half-brother?"

"About as well as he knew the rest of us about town. He always was sort of h'ity-t'ity, Jim was."

"Did he know him better after they left Little River?"

"Mack, I ain't got your tack, yet. Mind telling me where you're heading?"

"You asked me once if anything out of the ordinary took place that night I dined at the Fox home. Do you remember?"

"Yes, I rec'lect I did ask you something like that. But----"

"You may also recall that you suggested that what happened to Mr. Fox took place in his head instead of in his heart."

"Yes, I said that, too. But, Mack----"

"Just wait, and I'll tell you what this is all about. I had mentioned to Harold that I was born in Australia----"

"Mack!" The Captain was out of his chair in one bound. "You born in Australia? Why in tarnation didn't you ever tell me that afore?"

The minister looked puzzled. "My announcement had a similar effect on the Elder."

"Go on, Mack. Don't mind me. I'm a mite narvous. All unstrung, I cal'late."

"As I said I had just mentioned that fact to Harold, and the conversation naturally turned back to the days of the early traders who went to that country. Harold then told his father that the law firm, of which he has recently been made a junior member, had put him on a case which necessitated his going over to Australia. It seems that they had been trying to clear it up for a long time. The case came from Sydney, and had been referred to him because he had once spent some time over there.

It was when he mentioned the name of the client that Mr. Fox nearly fainted."