The girl entered the store ahead of the staggering expressman, but
stepped aside for him to precede her, for she wished to beckon to Amiel
to come out for the baskets of fish.
"Watch out where you're putting your foot, Perry!" Cap'n Joab suddenly
exclaimed.
His warning was too late. Some youngster, eager to peel his banana,
had flung its treacherous skin upon the floor. The expressman set his
clumsy boot upon it.
"Whee! 'Ware below!" yelled Amiel Perdue.
To recover his footing Perry let go of the chest. It fell to the floor
with a mighty crash, landing upon one corner and bursting open. During
the long years it had stood in Cap'n Abe's storeroom the wood had
suffered dry rot.
"Land o' Liberty an' all han's around!" bawled the irrepressible Milt
Baker. "There ain't ho corpse in that dust, for a fac'!"
"What kind of a mess d'ye make that out to be, I want to know?" cackled
Washy Gallup.
The hinges had torn away from the rotting wood so that the lid lay wide
open. Tumbled out upon the floor were several ancient garments,
including a suit of quite unwearable oilskins, and with them at least a
wheelbarrow load of bricks!
"Well, I vum!" drawled the expressman, at length recovering speech.
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