There was not much margin of time for Cap'n Abe to make his
preparations. Perry Baker was at hand with Louise's trunks, and the
storekeeper had sent off his chest, supposedly filled with an outfit
for use at sea. Just what he had intended to do with useless clothing
and a hod of bricks it was impossible to understand.
Cap'n Abe had come to her bedroom door to bid Louise good-bye, and she
had seen him depart in the fog just at dawn. Yet nobody had observed
him at the railroad station and he had not called for the chest at the
Boston express office.
The chest! That was the apex of the mystery. Never in this world had
Cap'n Abe intended to take the chest with him to sea--or wherever else
he had it in his mind to go.
Nor was the chest intended to be returned to the store until Cap'n Abe
himself came back from his mysterious journey. The fact that Perry
Baker had shipped it in his own name instead of that of the owner had
brought about this unexpected incident.
Washy Gallup's gossip--his doubt regarding Cap'n Abe's shipping on a
sea voyage--now came home to Louise with force.
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