know a 'Guide to Courtship and Matrimony' from a last year's pill
almanac, if somebody showed him."

Once around the corner of the beach from Pegleg's shanty, Abner
danced a hornpipe, shocking a flock of gulls.

"Thirty-five cents from twenty-five dollars leaves twenty-four
dollars and sixty-five cents," he calculated swiftly. "And I'll get
a mess of clams beside. The papers will be mentionin' me as a
financier pretty soon."

"Did Pegleg suspect anything?" was Captain Enoch's first question
when Abner returned in triumph.

"Oh, he suspected," replied Abner jubilantly. "He wouldn't be Pegleg
if he didn't. But I didn't help him any, and he looked dreadful
disappointed. You can eat your chowder in peace, if you ain't so
love sick you've lost your appetite."

"It ain't hurt my appetite a mite," retorted the Captain. "And I
ain't goin' to let it. Let's see that book. I want to find out how
much I've be'n cheated."

With trembling fingers Captain Enoch turned to the chapter of
proposals. "'How to Propose to a Fat Lady,'" he read. "Humph!
M'lissy ain't fat. 'How to Propose to a Lady of Dignity and
Refinement. 'That sounds more like it. But the big words are thicker
than a school of mummychogs."

"Read it out loud," urged Abner.