She was pretty pale, but she managed to smile back. I got up off the floor and slumped on the cushions. As for Cap'n Jonadab Wixon, he'd stopped yellin', but his face was one broad, serene grin. His mouth, through the dust and the dirt caked around it, looked like a rain gully in a sand-bank. And, occasional, he crowed, hoarse but vainglorious.
"'Did you see me?' he barked. 'Did you notice me lick him? He'll laugh at me, will he?--him and his one-horse tin cart! Ho! HO!
Why, you'd think he was settin' down to rest! I've got him where I want him now! Ho, ho! Say, Henrietta, did you go swift as you--?
Land sakes! Mr. Bradbury, I forgot all about you. And I--I guess we must have got a good ways past the doctor's place.'
"Bradbury said never mind. He felt much better, and he cal'lated he'd do till we fetched the Old Home dock. He'd take the wheel, now, he guessed.
"But, would you b'lieve it, that fool Jonadab wouldn't let him! He was used to the ship now, he said, and, if 'twas all the same to Henry G. and Hettie, he'd kind of like to run her into port.
"'She answers her hellum fine,' he says. 'After a little practice I cal'late I could steer--'
"'Steer!' sings out Bradbury. 'STEER! Great Caesar's ghost! I give you my word, Cap'n Wixon, I never saw such handlin' of a machine as you did goin' through Bayport, in my life. You're a wonder!'
"'Um-hm,' says Jonadab contented. 'I've steered a good many vessels in my time, through traffic and amongst the shoals, and never run afoul of nothin' yet. I don't see much diff'rence on shore--'cept that it's a little easier.'
"EASIER! Wouldn't that-- Well, what's the use of talkin'?
"We got to the Old Home House safe and sound; Jonadab, actin' under Bradbury's orders, run her into the yard, slowin' up and stoppin' at the front steps slick as grease. He got out, his chest swelled up like a puffin' pig, and went struttin' in to tell everybody what he'd done to Loveland. I don't know where Bradbury and the widow went. As for me, I went aloft and turned in. And 'twas two days and nights afore I got up again. I had a cold, anyway, and what I'd been through didn't help it none.
"The afternoon of the second day, Bradbury come up to see me. He was dressed in his city clothes and looked as if he was goin' away.
Sure enough, he was; goin' on the next train.
"'Where's Jonadab?' says I.
"'Oh, he's out in his car,' he says. 'Huntin' for Loveland again, maybe.'
"'HIS car? You mean yours.'
"'No, I mean his. I sold my car to him yesterday mornin' for twenty-five hundred dollars cash.'
"I set up in bed. 'Go 'long!' I sings out. 'You didn't nuther!'
"'Yes, I did. Sure thing. After that ride, you couldn't have separated him from that machine with blastin' powder. He paid over the money like a little man.'
"I laid down again. Jonadab Wixon payin' twenty-five hundred dollars for a plaything! Not promisin', but actually PAYIN' it!
"'Has--has the widow gone with him?' I asked, soon's I could get my breath.
"He laughed sort of queer. 'No,' he says, 'she's gone out of town for a few days. Ha, ha! Well, between you and me, Wingate, I doubt if she comes back again. She and I have made all we're likely to in this neighborhood, and she's too good a business woman to waste her time. Good-by; glad to have met you.'
"But I smelt rat strong and wouldn't let him go without seein' the critter.
"'Hold on!' I says. 'There's somethin' underneath all this. Out with it. I won't let on to the Cap'n if you don't want me to.'
"'Well,' says he, laughin' again, 'Mrs. Bassett WON'T come back and I know it. She and I have sold four cars on the Cape in the last five weeks, and the profits'll more'n pay vacation expenses. Two up in Wareham, one over in Orham, to Loveland--'
"'Did YOU sell Tobias his?' I asks, settin' up again.
"'Hettie and I did--yes. Soon's we landed him, we come over to bag old Wixon. I thought one time he'd kill us before we got him, but he didn't. How he did run that thing! He's a game sport.'
"'See here!' says I. 'YOU and Hettie sold-- What do you mean by that?'
"'Mrs. Bassett is my backer in the auto business,' says he. 'She put in her money and I furnished the experience. We've got a big plant up in--' namin' a city in Connecticut.
"I fetched a long breath. 'WELL!' says I. 'And all this makin' eyes at Tobe and Jonadab was just--just--'
"'Just bait, that's all,' says he. 'I told you she was a good business woman.'
"I let this sink in good. Then says I, 'Humph! I swan to man! And how's your heart actin' now?'
"'Fine!' he says, winkin'. 'I had that attack so's the Cap'n would learn to run on his own hook. I didn't expect quite so much of a run, but I'm satisfied. Don't you worry about my heart disease.
That twenty-five hundred cured it. 'Twas all in the way of business,' says Henry G. Bradbury."
"Whew!" whistled Captain Hiram as Barzilla reached into his pocket for pipe and tobacco. "Whew! I should say your partner had a narrer escape. Want to look out sharp for widders. They're dangerous, hey, Sol?"
The depot master did not answer. Captain Hiram asked another question. "How'd Jonadab take Hettie's leavin'?" he inquired.
"Oh," said Barzilla, "I don't think he minded so much. He was too crazy about his new auto to care for anything else. Then, too, he was b'ilin' mad 'cause Loveland swore out a warrant against him for speedin'.
"'Nice trick, ain't it?' he says. 'I knew Tobe was a poor loser, but I didn't think he'd be so low down as all that. Says I was goin' fifty mile an hour. He! he! Well, I WAS movin', that's a fact. I don't care. 'Twas wuth the twenty-dollar fine.'
"'Maybe so,' I says, 'but 'twon't look very pretty to have a special auto constable hauled up and fined for breakin' the law he's s'posed to protect.'
"He hadn't thought of that. His face clouded over.
"'No use, Barzilla,' says he; 'I'll have to give it up.'
"'Guess you will,' says I. 'Automobilin' is--'
"'I don't mean automobilin',' he snorts disgusted. 'Course not! I mean bein' constable.'
