told me they would have taken the house the very next summer but
you wouldn't rent it to 'em. And you mean to say that yarn you've
just spun was the reason?"

"Why--yes."

"Rubbish! You've told me a dozen reasons afore, but I'm bound to
say this is the most foolish yet. All right, keep the real reason
to yourself, then. But I tell you what I'm goin' to do to get even
with you: I'm goin' to send these folks down to look at your house
and I shan't tell you who they are or when they're comin'."

The knee slipped down from Mr. Winslow's grasp and his foot struck
the floor with a crash. He made a frantic clutch at his friend's
arm.

"Oh, now, Sam," he cried, in horror, "don't do that! Don't talk
so! You don't mean it! Come here! . . . Sam!"

But the captain was at the door. "You bet I mean it!" he declared.
"Keep your weather eye peeled, Jed. They'll be comin' 'most any
time now. And if you have ANY sense you'll let 'em the house. So
long!"

He drove away in his little car. Jed Winslow, left standing in the
shop doorway, staring after him, groaned in anxious foreboding.

He groaned a good many times during the next few hours. Each time
the bell rang announcing the arrival of a visitor he rose to answer
it perfectly sure that here were the would-be tenants whom his