“I hate to go back and leave you here, Auntie; indeed I do.  I shall be so interested and excited I shall scarcely be able to wait for your letters.  You will write just as soon as you have seen this Mr. Cobb, won’t you?”

“Yes, sartin sure I will.  I know it’s goin’ to be hard for you to go and leave me, Emily, but I shan’t be havin’ a Sunday-school picnic, exactly, myself.  From what I used to hear about Cousin Solomon, unless he’s changed a whole lot since, gettin’ a dollar from him won’t be as easy as pullin’ a spoon out of a kittle of soft-soap.  I’ll have to do some persuadin’, I guess.  Wish my tongue was as soothin’-syrupy as that Mr. Badger’s is.  But I’m goin’ to do my best.  And if talkin’ won’t do it I’ll—­I swear I don’t know as I shan’t give him ether.  Maybe he’d take that if he could get it for nothin’.  Good night.”

CHAPTER V

“Well,” said Thankful, with a sigh, “she’s gone, anyhow.  I feel almost as if I’d cut my anchor rope and was driftin’ out of sight of land.  It’s queer, ain’t it, how you can make up your mind to do a thing, and then, when you’ve really started to do it, almost wish you hadn’t.  Last night—­yes, and this mornin’—­I was as set on carryin’ through this plan of mine as a body could be, but just now, when I saw Emily get aboard those cars, it was all I could do to keep from goin’ along with her.”

Captain Obed nodded.  “Sartin,” he agreed.  “That’s natural enough.  When I was a youngster I was forever teasin’ to go to sea.  I thought my dad was meaner than a spiled herrin’ to keep on sayin’ no when I said yes.  But when he did say yes and I climbed aboard the stagecoach to start for Boston, where my ship was, I never was more homesick in my life.  I was later on, though—­homesick and other kinds.”

They were standing on the station platform at Wellmouth Centre, and the train which was taking Emily back to South Middleboro was a rapidly moving, smoking blur in the distance.  The captain, who seemed to have taken a decided fancy to his prospective neighbor and her young relative, had come with them to the station.  Thankful had hired a horse and “open wagon” at the livery stable in East Wellmouth and had intended engaging a driver as well, but Captain Bangs had volunteered to act in that capacity.

“I haven’t got much to do this mornin’,” he said.  “Fact is, I generally do have more time on my hands than anything else this season of the year.  Later on, when I put out my fish weirs, I’m pretty busy, but now I’m a sort of ‘longshore loafer.  You’re figurin’ to go to Trumet after you’ve seen Miss Emily leave the dock, you said, didn’t you?  Well, I’ve got an errand of my own in Trumet that might as well be done now as any time.  I’ll drive you over and back if you’re willin’ to trust the vessel in my hands.  I don’t set up to be head of the Pilots’ Association when it comes to steerin’ a horse, but I cal’late I can handle any four-legged craft you’re liable to charter in East Wellmouth.”