"I said a good many things maybe; but that's nothin'. You knew what I
meant as well as I did."

"Why, Shadrach! You--you don't mean you ARE willin' to keep her--here,
with us, for good? You don't mean THAT?"

The Captain snorted impatiently. "Don't be so foolish, Zoeth," he
protested. "You knew plaguey well I never meant anything else."




CHAPTER VII


The next day Captain Shadrach drove to Ostable and spent several hours
in consultation with Judge Baxter. Adjusting matters by correspondence
is a slow process at best, and the Captain, having surrendered
unconditionally, was not the man to delay.

"I can settle more in ten minutes' talk," he told his partner, "than the
three of us could in a month's letter-writin', especially if I had to
write any of the letters. I never was any hand to write letters; you
know that, Zoeth. And when I do write one the feller I send it to is
liable to come around and ask me to read it 'cause he can't. Like as not
I can't either, if it's had time to get cold, and there we are, right
where we started. No, I'll go and see the Judge and when I fetch port
tonight there'll have been somethin' done."