The decisive speech of the master mariner closed the lips of even Cap'n
Joab. The latter did not repeat his query about Cap'n Abe but, with a
baffled expression on his weather-beaten countenance, departed with
Perry Baker.
That a trap had been for Cap'n Amazon, that it had been sprung and failed to catch the master mariner, seemed quite plain to Louise. Betty Gallup's oft-expressed suspicions and Washy Gallup's gossip suddenly impressed the girl. With these vague thoughts was connected in her mind the discovery she had made that one of Cap'n Amazon's thrilling stories was pasted into the old scrapbook. Why she should think of that discovery just now mystified her; but it seemed somehow to dovetail into the enigma.
Cap'n Amazon lifted the flap in the counter for Louise and in his usual kindly tone said:
"Good fishin', Niece Louise? Bring home a mess?"
"Yes, indeed," she told him. "The baskets are outside. Let Amiel bring them around to the back."
"Aye, aye!" returned the captain briskly. "Tautog? We'll have 'em for supper," and let her pass as though nothing extraordinary had occurred.
But to Louise's troubled mind the bursting of the old chest was like the explosion of a bomb in Cap'n Abe's store.
What was the meaning of it all? Why had the chest been filled with bricks and useless garments? And by whom?
If by Cap'n Abe, what was his object in doing such a perfectly incomprehensible thing? He had deliberately, it seemed, shipped a quite useless chest to Boston with no expectation of calling for it at the express office. Then, where had he gone?
Cap'n Joab's query was the one uppermost in Louise Grayling's thought. All these incomprehensible things seemed to lead to that most important question. Had Cap'n Abe gone to sea, or had he not? If not, what had become of him?