almost wish she were going with him, although seaweed and mollusk
gathering was a messy business, and the vessel he sailed in was an
ancient converted coaster with few comforts for womenkind. Louise
Grayling had been hobbled by city life for nearly a year now and she
began to crave new scenes.

There were some last things to do at the furnished apartment they were
giving up. Some trunks were to go to the storehouse. Her own baggage
was to be tagged and sent to the Fall River boat.

For, spurred by curiosity as well as urged by a desire to escape Aunt
Euphemia for a season, Louise was bent upon a visit to Cape Cod. At
least, she would learn what manner of person her only other living
relative was--her mother's half-brother, Captain Abram Silt.

In the train the next day, which wandered like an erratic caterpillar
along the backbone of the Cape, she began to wonder if, after all, she
was displaying that judgment which daddy-professor praised so highly. It
was too early in the season for the "millionaire's special" to be
scheduled, in which those wealthy summer folk who have "discovered" the
Cape travel to and from Boston. Lou was on a local from Fall River that
stopped at every pair of bars and even hesitated at the pigpens along the
right of way.

Getting aboard and getting off again at the innumerable little stations,
were people whose like she had never before seen. And their speech,
plentifully sprinkled with colloquialisms of a salt flavor, amused her,
and sometimes puzzled her. Some of the men who rode short distances in
the car wore fishermen's boots and jerseys. They called the conductor
"skipper," and hailed each other in familiar idioms.