"'It flies!' screamed Professor Ansel Hobart Whiskers Dixland, from his bedroom window. 'At last! At last! It FLIES!'
"It took Nate some few minutes to paw his way back through the shed loft and the ell over the things him and Gus knocked down on the fust lap, until he got to his room where the trouble had started.
Then he went down to the kitchen and outdoor.
"Olivia, a heavenly sort of look on her face, was standin' in the moonlight, with her hands clasped, lookin' up at the sky.
"'It flies!' says she, in a kind of whisper over and over again.
'Oh! it FLIES!'
"Alongside of her was old Dixland, wrapped in a bedquilt, forgettin' all about sprains and lameness; and he likewise was staring at the sky and sayin' over and over:
"'It flies! It really FLIES!'
"And Nate looked up, and there, scootin' around in circles, now up high and now down low, tippin' this way and tippin' that, was that aeroplane. And in the stillness you could hear the buzz of the motor and the yells of Augustus.
"Down flopped Scudder in the sand. 'Great land of love,' he says, 'it FLIES!'
"Well, for five minutes or so they watched that thing swoop and duck and sail up there overhead. And then, slow and easy as a feather in a May breeze, down she flutters and lands soft on a hummock a little ways off. And that Augustus--a fool for luck--staggers out of it safe and sound, and sets down and begins to cry.
"The fust thing to reach him was Olivia. She grabbed him around the neck, and you never heard such goin's on as them two had. Nate come hurryin' up.
"'Here you!' he says, pullin' 'em apart. 'That's enough of this.
And you,' he adds to Gus, 'clear right out off this island. I won't make shark bait of you this time, but--'
"And then comes Dixland, hippity-hop over the hummocks. 'My noble boy!' he sings out, fallin' all of a heap onto Augustus's round shoulders. 'My noble boy! My hero!'
"Nate looked on for a full minute with his mouth open. Olivia went away toward the house. The professor and Gus was sheddin' tears like a couple of waterin' pots.
"'Come! come!' says Scudder finally; 'get up, Mr. Dixland; you'll catch cold. Now then, you Tolliver, toddle right along to your boat. Don't you worry, professor, I'll fix him so's he won't come here no more.'
"But the professor turned on him like a flash.
"'How dare you interfere?' says he. 'I forgive him everything. He is a hero. Why, man, he FLEW!'
"Olivia came up behind and touched Nate on the shoulders. 'Don't you think you'd better go, Mr. Scudder?' she purred. 'I've unchained Phillips Brooks.'
"Nate swears he never made better time than he done gettin' to the shore and the boat Augustus had come over in. But that philanthropist dog only missed the supper he'd been waitin' for by about a foot and a half, even as 'twas.
"And that was the end of it, fur's Nate was concerned. Olivia was boss from then on, and Scudder wa'n't allowed to land on his own island. And pretty soon they all went away, flyin' machine and all, and now Gus and Olivia are married."
"Well, by gum!" cried Wingate. "Say, that must have broke Nate's heart completely. All that good money goin' to the poor. Ha! ha!"
"Yes," said Captain Sol, with a broad grin. "Nate told me that every time he realized that Gus's flyin' at all was due to his scarin' him into it, it fairly made him sick of life."
"What did Huldy Ann say? I'll bet the fur flew when SHE heard of it!"
"I guess likely it did. Scudder says her jawin's was the worst of all. Her principal complaint was that he didn't take up with the professor's five-thousand offer and try to fly. 'What if 'twas risky?' she says. 'If anything happened to you the five thousand would have come to your heirs, wouldn't it? But no! you never think of no one but yourself.'"
Mr. Wingate glanced at his watch. "Good land!" he cried, "I didn't realize 'twas so late. I must trot along down and meet Stitt. He and I are goin' to corner the clam market."
"I must be goin', too," said the depot master, rising and moving toward the door, picking up his cap on the way. He threw open the door and exclaimed, "Hello! here's Sim. What you got on your mind, Sim?"
Mr. Phinney looked rather solemn. "I wanted to speak with you a minute, Sol," he began. "Hello! Barzilla, I didn't know you was here."
"I shan't be here but one second longer," replied Mr. Wingate, as he and Phinney shook hands. "I'm late already. Bailey'll think I ain't comin'. Good-by, boys. See you this afternoon, maybe."
"Yes, do," cried Berry, as his guest hurried down to the gate. "I want to hear about those automobiles over your way. You ain't bought one, have you, Barzilla?"
Wingate grinned over his shoulder. "No," he called, "I ain't. But other folks you know have. It's the biggest joke on earth. You and Sim'll want to hear it."
He waved a big hand and walked briskly up the Shore Road. The depot master turned to his friend.
"Well, Sim?" he asked.
"Well, Sol," answered the building mover gravely, "I've just met Mr. Hilton, the minister, and he told me somethin' about Olive Edwards, somethin' I thought you'd want to know. You said for me to find out what she was cal'latin' to do when she had to give up her home and--"
"I know what I said," interrupted the depot master rather sharply.
"What did Hilton say?"
"Mr. Hilton told me not to tell," continued Phinney, "and I shan't tell nobody but you, Sol. I know you wont t mention it. The minister says that Olive's hard up as she can be. All she's got in the world is the little furniture and store stuff in her house.
