“‘Here you!’ he says, pullin’ ’em apart.  ’That’s enough of this.  And you,’ he adds to Gus, ’clear right out off this island.  I won’t make shark bait of you this time, but—­’

“And then comes Dixland, hippity-hop over the hummocks.  ‘My noble boy!’ he sings out, fallin’ all of a heap onto Augustus’s round shoulders.  ’My noble boy!  My hero!’

“Nate looked on for a full minute with his mouth open.  Olivia went away toward the house.  The professor and Gus was sheddin’ tears like a couple of waterin’ pots.

“‘Come! come!’ says Scudder finally; ’get up, Mr. Dixland; you’ll catch cold.  Now then, you Tolliver, toddle right along to your boat.  Don’t you worry, professor, I’ll fix him so’s he won’t come here no more.’

“But the professor turned on him like a flash.

“‘How dare you interfere?’ says he.  ’I forgive him everything.  He is a hero.  Why, man, he flew!’

“Olivia came up behind and touched Nate on the shoulders.  ’Don’t you think you’d better go, Mr. Scudder?’ she purred.  ’I’ve unchained Phillips Brooks.’

“Nate swears he never made better time than he done gettin’ to the shore and the boat Augustus had come over in.  But that philanthropist dog only missed the supper he’d been waitin’ for by about a foot and a half, even as ’twas.

“And that was the end of it, fur’s Nate was concerned.  Olivia was boss from then on, and Scudder wa’n’t allowed to land on his own island.  And pretty soon they all went away, flyin’ machine and all, and now Gus and Olivia are married.”

“Well, by gum!” cried Wingate.  “Say, that must have broke Nate’s heart completely.  All that good money goin’ to the poor.  Ha! ha!”

“Yes,” said Captain Sol, with a broad grin.  “Nate told me that every time he realized that Gus’s flyin’ at all was due to his scarin’ him into it, it fairly made him sick of life.”

“What did Huldy Ann say?  I’ll bet the fur flew when she heard of it!”

“I guess likely it did.  Scudder says her jawin’s was the worst of all.  Her principal complaint was that he didn’t take up with the professor’s five-thousand offer and try to fly.  ’What if ‘twas risky?’ she says.  ’If anything happened to you the five thousand would have come to your heirs, wouldn’t it?  But no! you never think of no one but yourself.’”

Mr. Wingate glanced at his watch.  “Good land!” he cried, “I didn’t realize ’twas so late.  I must trot along down and meet Stitt.  He and I are goin’ to corner the clam market.”

“I must be goin’, too,” said the depot master, rising and moving toward the door, picking up his cap on the way.  He threw open the door and exclaimed, “Hello! here’s Sim.  What you got on your mind, Sim?”

Mr. Phinney looked rather solemn.  “I wanted to speak with you a minute, Sol,” he began.  “Hello!  Barzilla, I didn’t know you was here.”

“I shan’t be here but one second longer,” replied Mr. Wingate, as he and Phinney shook hands.  “I’m late already.  Bailey’ll think I ain’t comin’.  Good-by, boys.  See you this afternoon, maybe.”