was about to move to his island, a mile or so off shore. He was going
to take Marie with him for an indefinite period. No boat would be
permitted to land there except his own and the Reverend Robert's.
Marie would be a sort of prisoner. That day she had told him of the
plan of her grandfather. In Harry's opinion Knowles had suggested
it.
"'Where is the girl's mother?' I asked.
"'On some Cook's tour in Europe, and the old man is crazy as a March
hare,' said my young friend. 'He's got a lot of bulldogs over there,
and his hired men have been instructed to shoot a hole in any boat
that comes near.'
"I went over to the Benson homestead that afternoon, and found Deacon
Joe sitting on the piazza.'
"'How are you?' I asked.
"'Not very stout,' said he; 'heart flutters like a ketched bird.'
"'What are you doing for it?'
"'Doctor give me some medicine; I fergit the name of it, but it is the
stuff they use to blow up safes with.'
"'Nitroglycerin! The very thing! I hope they will succeed in blowing
up your safe.'
"I was pretty close to the old man, and was always very frank with
him. He liked opposition, and was as fond of warfare as an Old
Testament hero.
"'What, sir?' he asked.
"'There are some folks that have got to be blowed up before you can
get an old idea out of their heads,' I went on. 'They are locked up
with rust. That's what's the matter with you, Deacon. Your brain needs
to be blowed open an' aired. You stored it full of ideas sixty years
ago and locked the door for fear they'd get away. They should have
been taken out and sorted over at least once a year, and some thrown
into the fire to make room for better ones. If life does you any good,
if it really teaches you anything, your brain must keep changing its
contents.'
"The Deacon hammered the table with his cane, as he shouted:
"'You cussed fool of a lawyer! Don't you know that truth never
changes? Truth, sir, is eternal.'
"Then I took the bat. 'Truth often changes, but error is eternal,' I
said. 'You know when you want to prove anything, these days, you
quote from the memoirs of a great man. Well, I was reading the memoirs
of the late Doctor Godfrey Vogeldam Guph not long ago. He told of a
man who was very singular, but not so singular as the doctor seemed to
think. This man knew more than any human being has a right to know. He
knew the plans of God, and had formed an unalterable opinion about all
his neighbors. Then he locked up his mind and guarded it night and
day, for fear that somebody would break in and carry off its contents.
And it did seem as if people wanted to get hold of his treasure, for
they often came and asked about it, and some even questioned its
value. He said, "Away with you--truth is eternal, and my soul is full
and I will part with none of it."
"'Meanwhile the truth about things around him began to change. Neighbor
Smith became a good man. Neighbor Brown became a bad man. Priscilla
Jones, who had been a vain and foolish woman, was one of the saints of
God. The foundations of the world had changed. In a generation it
had grown millions of years older and different--wonderfully
different! Even God himself had changed, it would seem. His methods were
not as people had thought them. His character was milder. Everything
had changed but this one man. Now when he died and came to St. Peter,
the latter said to him:
"'"Who were your friends?"
"'The new-comer thought a minute, and mentioned the names of some
people who had been long dead. "They know the truth about me," he
said.
"'"Ah, but the truth changes, and they haven't seen you in many
years," said St. Peter.
"'"But I have not changed," said the man. "I am just as when they saw
me."
"'"Then you are a fool or the chief of sinners," said St. Peter.
"Behold a man as changeless as the flint-stone, who has made no
friends in over forty years! That is all I need to know about you.
Take either gate you please."
"'"One leads to Heaven--doesn't it?" said the new-comer, in great
alarm.
"'"Yes, but you wouldn't recognize the place. There isn't a soul in
paradise that cares which way you go--not a soul in all its multitude
that will be glad to see you. They have better company. Stranger! go
which way you please, Heaven will be as uncomfortable as hell."
"Deacon Joe gave me close attention, and I saw that my sword had
nicked him a little. Anything that affected his hope of Paradise was
sure to engage his thought. He shook his head, and said that he didn't
believe it. But he couldn't fool me. I knew that the seed of change
had struck into him.
"I gave him another thrust. 'Deacon, you knew Harry Delance when he
was a fool. But the truth about _him_ has changed. He is now a
hard-working, level-headed young fellow, and you ought to be his
friend.'
"'Wal, I like the way he cuffed them fellers over at Trent,' said the
Deacon. 'He pounded 'em noble--that's sartin. Mebbe if he licks a few
more men I'll begin to like him.'
"'Give him a chance,' was my answer. 'I hear that you are going to
move for the summer.'
"'Goin' to my island to-morrow,' said Deacon Joe. 'I'm sick of the
autymobiles an' the young spendthrifts hangin' around Marie, an' her
extravagance, an' the new church nonsense, an' the other goin's-on.
I've got a good house there, an' Marie an' I are goin' to rest an'
stroll around without bein' run over until her mother comes back. The
only trouble I have there is the hired men. They rob me right an'
left. I wish somebody would lick them.'
"'You really need a young man like Harry,' I urged. 'And Marie needs
him. She'll be lonely over there.'
"'Not a bit,' said the Deacon. 'She'll have a saddle-horse, and young
Knowles can come over once a week, if he wants to. I hear he's done
splendid lately.'
"'He's doing well, but I am inclined to think that Harry is the better
man,' I said, taking sides for the first time.
"'I don't believe it,' was the answer of Deacon Joe. 'Knowles is
getting pretty sensible, and his voice is stronger.'
"The Deacon moved next day, and when Sunday came I went over in a boat
with the Reverend Robert at eight o'clock in the morning. I was taking
a stroll on the beach when I met him, and he asked me to go along. It
was just a social call, he explained. Incidentally, he was going to
pray and read a Scripture lesson at the Deacon's request. As we left
the dock, Harry came riding by on one of his thoroughbreds and I
waved my hand to him. When we got to the Deacon's landing, I said to
Robert:
"'As I am not invited, perhaps you had better announce me to Deacon
Joe, while I stay here in the boat.'
"'All right,' he said, as he gaily jumped ashore and tied the painter
rope.
"Robert hurried in the direction of the little house, and had covered
half the distance, when a bulldog came sneaking toward him. Robert saw
the dog, and ran for a tree. He was making handsome progress up the
trunk of the tree when the dog reached him, and, seizing a leg of his
trousers, began to surge backward. The cloth parted at the knee, and
between the pulling of man and dog, Robert lost about all the lower
end of one trousers-leg. The hired man came running out with some more
dogs, and said:
"'It's all right, Mr. Knowles, you can come down. I hope he didn't
hurt you.'
"'Excuse me,' said the young man, 'but I think I'll stay here a
while.'
"Three dogs stood at the foot of the tree looking anxiously upward.
"'They won't hurt you while I'm here,' said the hired man.
"'I won't take any chances,' said Robert. 'Go shut up your lions, and
I'll come down.'
"'Who's that in the boat?' the hired man asked.
"'Mr. Potter,' said Robert.
"'Well, he mustn't land 'less the old man says so--I don't care who he
is.'
"Just then the hired man changed his position suddenly, and stood
looking into the sky. I turned and saw an aeroplane coming down like
some great bird from the hills, behind the village. It sailed high
above the spires, and coasted down to a level some fifty feet above
the water-plane between shore and island. In a minute or so it roared
over me, circled the point, and came down in the open field that
faced the Deacon's cottage. Dogs and chickens flew and ran in great
confusion as it swooped to earth. I knew that Harry and his new flier
had reached the island of Deacon Joe, and I hurried ashore to
see--well, 'to see what I could see,' as the old song has it. Harry
jumped from his seat. The hired man ran toward him. Deacon Joe and
Marie and a woman-servant hurried out-of-doors.
"In less time than it takes to tell it, Harry had licked the hired
man, and kicked two dogs in the belly till they ran for life, and shot
another one, and was chasing a second hired man around the wood-shed.
Not being able to run fast enough to do further damage, Harry came to
the astonished group in front of the house and caught Marie in his
arms and kissed her.
"Then he turned to the Deacon, and said: 'Sir, I will keep off your
island if you wish, but I do not propose to be bluffed when I come to
pay my compliments to you and Marie.'
[Illustration: "HE LOOKED LIKE A MAN WITH A WOODEN LEG"]
"Deacon Joe was dumb with astonishment. The young minister came down
out of his tree and walked slowly toward the group, with rags flapping
over one extremity of his union-suit. He looked like a man with a
wooden leg.
"'How did ye get here?' Deacon Joe demanded of Harry.
"'Jumped from the top of Delance's Hill and landed right here,' said
the latter.
"'In that awful-lookin' thing?' the Deacon asked, pointing with his
cane and squinting at the big biplane.
"'In that thing,' Harry answered.
"'How long did it take ye?'
"'About five minutes.'
"'It's impossible,' said the Deacon, as he approached the biplane and
began to look at it.
"'But you'll see me jump back again in a little while,' Harry assured
him.
"'Geehanniker!' the Deacon exclaimed. 'Jumped from the top of
Delance's Hill an' licked my caretaker an' chased a hired man an'
sp'ilt two dogs an' treed the minister and kissed the lady o' the
house--all in about ten minutes. I guess you're a good deal of a
feller.'
"It was the kind of thing that warmed the warrior soul of the Deacon.
"'Hello--here's a dead dog,' said Harry. 'If you'll have one of the
men bring me a shovel I'll bury him there in the garden. Meanwhile you
may tell me how much I owe you for the two dogs.'
"'I guess about twenty-five dollars,' said the Deacon.
"'How much off for cash?' Harry asked.
"'Wal, sir, if you ain't goin' to ask me to charge it, ten dollars
would do,' the Deacon allowed.
"'There's a wonderful power in cash,' said Harry, as he produced the
money.
"'You're gettin' some sense in your head,' said the Deacon.
"The shovel was brought; and Harry, who had expected to shoot a dog
or two and had been practising for this very act, put his victim under
three feet of soil in as many minutes. That also pleased the Deacon.
"'Purty cordy, too,' the latter said, as he turned to Marie. 'Now,
girl, take your choice. I want to know which is which, an' stop bein'
bothered about it.'
"She made her choice then and there, and as to which of the two it may
have been you will have no doubt when I tell you that Marie had
planned every detail in this bit of strategy and Harry had been man
enough to put it through.
"'You know Zeb's commandment has been a help to me,' he said, when I
offered congratulations. '"Be brave with your life, for it is very
long."'
"The Deacon has changed. His heart and mind are open. Every Sunday you
may see him in a front seat, drinking at the new fount of inspiration;
and it is a rule of his life to make a new friend every day. I'm
inclined to think that the old man has been saved at last.
"Yes, we try to reach everybody in one way or another."
THE END