“Do you mean that those windows were ground that way by the beach sand blowing against them?” asked Ralph, astonished.
“Sartin. Git a good no'therly wind comin' up the beach and it fetches the sand with it. Mighty mean stuff to face, sand blowin' like that is; makes you think you're fightin' a nest of yaller-jackets.”
With the telescope in the cupola they could see for miles up and down the beach and out to sea. An ocean tug bound toward Boston was passing, and Elsie, looking through the glass, saw the cook come out of the galley, empty a pan over the side, and go back again.
“Let me look through that a minute,” said Captain Eri, when the rest had had their turn. He swung the glass around until it pointed toward their home away up the shore.
“Perez,” he called anxiously, “look here quick!”
Captain Perez hastily put his eye to the glass, and his friend went on:
“You see our house?” he said. “Yes; well, you see the dinin'-room door. Notice that chair by the side of it?”
“Yes, what of it?”
“Well, that's the rocker that Elsie made the velvet cushion for. I want you to look at the upper southeast corner of that cushion, and see if there ain't a cat's hair there. Lorenzo's possessed to sleep in that chair, and—”
“Oh, you git out!” indignantly exclaimed Captain Perez, straightening up.