out while you fellers was busy with the Doctor, found her at the hotel,
explained things to her, and got her to come down. That's all there is
to that. I ain't made no arrangement with her, and somethin's got to be
done. What do you think of her, jedgin' by what you've seen?"

Captain Perez gave it as his opinion that she was "all right," and
added, "If Jerry here wa'n't so pigheaded all at once, he'd marry her
without waitin' another minute."

Eri nodded. "That's my idee," he said emphatically.

But Captain Jerry was as obstinate as ever. He simply would not consider
immediate marriage. In vain his comrades reminded him of the original
compact, and the fact that the vote was two to one against him; he
announced that he had changed his mind, and that that was all there was
about it.

At length Captain Eri lost patience.

"Jerry," he exclaimed, "you remind me of that old white hen we used
to have. When we didn't want her to set she'd set on anything from a
doorknob to a rock, couldn't keep her off; but when we give in finally
and got a settin' of eggs for her, she wouldn't come nigher to 'em than
the other end of the hen-yard. Now you might as well make up your mind
that somethin's got to be done. This Mrs. Snow ain't nobody's fool. We
put out a bait that anybody with sense would say couldn't catch nothin'
but sculpin, and, by mighty, we hooked a halibut! If the woman was
anything like what you'd think she'd be, answerin' an advertisement like
that, I'd be the fust to say let her go, but she ain't; she's all right,
and we need her to nuss John besides."