"Well I'll be doggoned!" cried the Captain, in great astonishment. "I knowed that feller was some kind o' a bad egg, but now I believe to goodness he was plumb sp'ilt. That poor little brown-eyed gal! What a pity! I wish I'd a held right smack onto her—that I do."
"I suppose," the operator rejoined, "that bulletin has been picked up by all of the stations, so that the boys are keepin' a sharp lookout to overhaul the yacht and pinch the bunch, an' especially to save the girl. I'll get this over to the Collector of Customs right away. He'll want to report the escape of the man and woman and to give the direction they went."
"Ye'd better tell him to mention the dead feller, an' that he was tied down."
"That's right, Uncle Ichabod. Say, but there's a lot of mystery about this affair. I'll bet my boots you haven't heard the last of it."
"Maybe not," the fisherman admitted. "But, by cracky, since what I've been through a'ready they can't skeer Ichabod. No, not by a damned sight!"
It was very seldom that Captain Jones used a profane expression. When he did, it was with deliberate intention.
Upon this island where the wireless outfit is stationed, the government has another institution—a laboratory where studies are made in sea life. It includes a remarkable museum, which is visited by students from far and near. There are power boats equipped for dredging at considerable depth in order to bring to light the secret things of the sea. Many of the curios are contributed by the fishermen, who are continually dragging forth in their nets objects strange to them. When a thing of real rarity is brought to the laboratory, a snug sum is paid to the finder. The Captain himself had always a ready eye for anything that might prove of value, and his finds from time to time netted him a tidy profit. To-day he had with him a variety of sea porcupine new to him, which he had found in his net a few days before. So now, on leaving the wireless station, Ichabod visited the laboratory, where the sea porcupine was duly delivered and brought in return a satisfactory sum of money. Here, too, he retold once again all his experiences in connection with the wreck of The Isabel. By the time this was done, the afternoon was well spent. The old man was rowed back to the mainland, where he entered the red skiff and set sail homeward.
As he passed up the bay, the tide was low, so that in many places the shoals and rocks were exposed. Captain Ichabod, reclining lazily in the stern sheets of the skiff, tiller in hand, listened to the noisy clatter of the gulls, which in vast swarms were feeding on their favorite scallops.
Ages ago, the gulls discovered that the fluted shell must be broken ere the luscious morsel within could be obtained. It was wholly impossible for them to crush the stonelike casing with their bills. So the birds devised another means. This was to carry the shell high aloft, then drop it on the shoals. If it fell on a hard surface, it would be broken open, and the scallop within would be promptly devoured by the gull following. When the shell fell in a soft place, and remained unbroken the bird would merely continue its efforts until finally crowned with success. Ichabod, idly watching such repeated trials, was induced to meditation on the lesson thus taught.
"It shore is a pity that arter Roxana Lee"—the name came easily now—"arter a-stabbin' o' me in the back—yes, it's a pity that I didn't do sort o' like that Scotch feller that watched the spider try an' try an' try ag'in till at last he spun his web whar he aimed to. Why, when he saw what that-thar crab-lookin' son-of-a-gun could do, he jumped right up, an', a-bucklin' himself around a leetle tighter, went out and cleaned up a whole mess that was arter him. By cracky! all I had to do was to come right out to these sand shoals an' oyster rocks an' watch them noisy gulls a-tryin' an' a-tryin', an' at last bustin' a scallop. I jest believe, if I'd done that, then I'd have got right square up an' licked Sandy Mason, an' told Roxana what I thought o' her no-'countness, an' then I might have married the best-lookin' woman in Cartaret County.