"Over to Piney Cove."
"Mr. Mellen's place! Why it's good three miles, and he ain't to hum, nor hasn't been, nigh on to two years."
"Don't you know me, old friend?" exclaimed Mellen throwing back his cloak.
The old fisherman rose in astonishment, while his married daughter, who kept his house and owned the flock of children, called out:
"Why, pa, if it ain't Mr. Mellen!"
"I thought I knowed your voice, but couldn't make out who it belonged to; but Californy ain't so nigh as some other places," said the fisherman. "So you've got back! Wal, wal! You've been gone a good while."
"So you can't wonder at my impatience when I find myself so near home," said Mellen.
"In course, in course," replied the old man. "But, dear me, you'll have to wait till Jake comes in, and I expect he'll grumble awful at having to start out agin."
"I will pay him his own price——"
"Oh, you allays was freehanded enough, I'll say that, Mr. Mellen. But sit down by the stove; Jake'll come in a few minutes. Mebby you'd try a cup of tea?"