“We got a little place among them roots,” said the old man, “that jest fits the spotter w’en it’s trained on Elvirey’s place, an’ all ye have to do is jest set down an’ look. Bill takes the fust watch w’en we can’t see nothin’ ’round Cal’s shanty, an’ I go aloft in the afternoon. We seen ’im twice yisterd’y. Him an’ Elvirey was out in the yard waterin’ the flowers. I s’pose she wants to keep ’em growin’ nice so’s she c’n lay ’em over Cal like she does the others.
“If there’s sump’n doin’ at Elvirey’s, Bill’ll hang a rag on that big dead limb ye see stickin’ out, an’ it’s there now!” The fluttering signal of “sump’n doin’” was faintly visible.
“That rag’s jest to show he’s seen Cal over there, an’ if ’e thinks I oughta come up, ’e’ll put out another in a minute. That ’ud mean that they was set’n out in the yard, er goin’ off som’er’s together, mebbe to the village.” We kept our eyes on the summit for some time, but the second signal did not appear.
A week later I found Cal at the home of the old shipmates. He looked rather crestfallen. An air of embarrassment and restraint seemed to pervade the place. I feared that I had intruded, and was going away, when Sipes insisted that I remain and go out on the lake with him. He thought that a recent storm might have damaged his gill-nets and wanted to look them over. After Cal’s departure we shoved the row-boat into the water. On the way out to the nets the old man told me the thrilling tale of the love of Happy Cal and Elvirey Smetters.
“This Elvirey’s a queer ol’ girl,” he began. “Them husbands she’s been git’n a c’lection of over in the cemetery was a bum lot. Before she begun git’n married ’er name was Prokop. Fust she married a feller named Swisher, an’ she was livin’ with ’im w’en I fust come in the hills. He was no good, an’ I never liked ’is name. It sounded kind o’ fishy an’ whistley to me. After a while Swisher commenced git’n thin an’ all yellow, an’ one day ’e skipped. She lit out after ’im an’ brought ’im back from over to the county seat. He died about a month later of sump’n the doctor said ’ad busted up ’is liver. He left ’er that little place, where she lives.
“The next feller’s name was Smythe, an’ ’e was a funny lookin’ gink. He was runnin’ a little circus wot went ’round the country in the summer. He used to wear high brown boots with ’is trowsies stuck in ’em, an’ a velvet vest, with a watch chain that weighed about a pound. He had a wide gray hat, an’ a red neck-tie with a hunk o’ glass on it, an’ a long moustache that looked like a feather duster. He looked fierce, but Elvirey fell fer ’im w’en she seen ’im out in front of ’is tent on a box doin’ a lot o’ funny tricks with cards fer the crowd. The circus busted up an’ ’e moved over to Elvirey’s place. The circus posters said ’is name was Blondini, but ’is real name was Smith. He wrote it Smythe, so’s to make folks think ’e had money an’ was a society bug. He died o’ sump’n, I don’t know wot it was, an’ then poor ol’ Smetters come along. He was a fat feller. He painted the house, an’ fussed ’round on the place fer a year, an’ then ’ad fits. His conniptions would come on most any time, an’ Elvirey let ol’ Doc Looney in on to ’im one night, an’ the next mornin’ ’e was dead. The Doc ’ad given ’im some horse medicine, an’ it finished ’im.
“Them three are all layin’ side by side, wait’n fer Cal, fer ’e told us this mornin’ that ’im an’ Elvirey’s goin’ to git married.
“Bill an’ me seen ’em from the masthead yisterd’y, walkin’ down the road. They set down on the grass, an’ we sneaked over an’ got behind some bushes, an’ we heard ’im callin’ ’er ‘kitten’ an’ she was callin’ ’im a duck. Bill says, ‘Look at them columbines!’ an’ we busted out laughin’. Then they both roasted us fer listenin’. Cal was dead sore, but ’e didn’t say very much. Elvirey pretty near killed Bill with a big stick, an’ knocked ’im into the bushes. He got up an’ lit out, an’ so did I, fer after Bill was down she started fer me. I didn’t need no clubbin’ an’ scooted. She chased me a ways, but I got home all right. I wonder w’y them that gits love-sick always calls each other animals an’ birds?”
During Sipes’s narrative I felt a pang of regret that I had not spent the day at “the masthead,” for evidently it would have been worth while.
“Cal come over today an’ we had a long talk,” continued the old man. “He said ’e hoped they wasn’t no hard feelin’s, ’cause ’e hadn’t started nothin’ an’ it was us fellers’ fault that Elvirey got to goin’. Bill ’ad a bump on ’is head as big as an aig, but we all shook hands an’ agreed to call it off. An’ now comes this damn wedd’n they’re goin’ to have. Cal says they’re goin’ to be married by Holy Zeke, an’ wot d’ye think? they want to have the wedd’n in our shanty, ’cause Elvirey says she won’t let Bill an’ me come to her house, an’ Cal won’t be married ’less ’e c’n ’ave ’is friends with ’im. His shanty ain’t big enough fer the bunch, an’ ours is halfway between, so they’ve fixed on that, an’ we’re in fer it.