"The tide's risin', but I guess I've got a few minutes to spare."

Pegleg disappeared into the shanty and returned after some time with
a dog-eared volume, minus a portion of its pages, and with the edges
of the remainder strangely scalloped.

"Th' pesky rats has be'n chewin' it," he complained loudly.
"They've clean e't up the first chapter."

Abner drew a secret breath of relief. The "How to Propose" chapter
was not the first one. Eagerly he turned the battered volume over.

"If you 'll sell it, I'd like to have it," he remarked carelessly.
"Half of the pages is e't up, so I s'pose you'll sell it for half
price."

"Make it thirty-five cents an' you can have it," bargained Pegleg.
"The rats ain't gnawed into the readin' so awful bad, only in the
first chapter."

"Wall, thirty-five then, as you're an old shipmate," conceded Abner.

Pegleg looked at him shrewdly, as he laid down three dimes and a
nickel.

"I didn't know but mebbe you was buyin' it for Captain Burgess," he
hazarded. "He's boardin' to your house, an' folks say he's courtin'
M'lissy Macy."

"Folks is always sayin' things," responded Abner. "Mebbe Enoch might