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,