"I dreamed of voyagin' into unknown
seas--of seein' the islands of the West and of the East--of visitin'
all the wonderful corners of the world--of facin' all the perils and
experiencin' all the adventures of a free rover. And what was my fate?
"The tamest sort of a life," he said, answering his own question. "The
flattest existence ever man could imagine. Hi-mighty! Instead of a
sea rover--a storekeeper! Instead of romance--Sargasso!" and he
gestured with his pipe in his hand. "You understand, Louise? That's
what I meant when I spoke of the Sargasso Sea t'other day. It was my
doom to live in the tideless and almost motionless Sea of Sargasso.
"But my mind didn't stay tame ashore," pursued Cap'n Abe. "As a boy I
fed it upon all the romances of the sea I could gather. Ye-as. I
suppose I am greatly to be blamed. I have been a hi-mighty liar,
Louise!
"It began because I heard so many other men tellin' of their
adventoors, an' I couldn't tell of none. My store at Rocky Head where
I lived all my life till I come here (mother came over to Cardhaven
with her second husband; but I stayed on there till twenty-odd year
ago)--my store there was like this one.
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