Mary-'Gusta stared at the house. As she stared the back door was thrown open and a tall, thin man came out. He was in his shirtsleeves, his arms were bare to the elbow, and to Mary-'Gusta's astonishment he wore an apron, a gingham apron similar to those worn by Mrs. Hobbs when at work in the kitchen.
“Ahoy, there, Isaiah!” hailed the Captain. “Here we are.”
The man with the apron took a big nickel watch from the upper pocket of his vest, looked at it, and shook his head. Upon his face, which was long and thin like the rest of him, there was a grieved expression.
“A little mite late, ain't we, Isaiah?” said Zoeth, hastily. “Hope we ain't kept supper waitin' too long?”
The tall man returned the watch to the pocket.
“Only twenty-three minutes, that's all,” he drawled, with the resignation of a martyr. “Twenty-three minutes ain't much in a lifetime, maybe—but it don't help fried potatoes none. Them potatoes was ready at half-past five.”
“Well, 'tain't six yet,” protested Captain Shad.
“Maybe 'tain't, but it's twenty-three minutes later'n half-past five. Last thing you said to me was, 'Have supper ready at half-past five!' I had it ready. Them potatoes went on the fire at—”
“There! there!” interrupted the Captain. “Never mind the potatoes. We'll 'tend to them in a minute. Give us a hand with this dunnage. There's a satchel here and some more stuff. Sooner this craft's unloaded the sooner we can eat. All ashore that's goin' ashore.”
Zoeth climbed out of the buggy. He lifted their passenger to the ground.