THE AWAKENING OF ICHABOD
The door to the fisherman's shack stood ajar, and in the opening showed
the form of a man. As the light from the newly risen moon fell full upon
the wrinkled features of the face, a pleased, contented smile was to be
seen as he placidly puffed his corncob pipe and blew rings before him in
the quiet, heavy, midnight air. It was Captain Ichabod, home again after
the momentous happenings of the day when the dead body was found in the
wreck of _The Isabel_.
The Captain had been more or less methodical in his ways all his life,
but he had never carried routine so far as to keep a diary. Probably
during the past twenty years, living the life he had upon his lonely
island, there had not been enough of incident to have suggested even the
idea of such a record. But on this particular night, the fisherman,
closeted within his shack, had been toiling through three long hours in
order to set down a detailed narrative of the strange happenings in
which he had been concerned since the coming of the great storm. He had
ransacked his belongings until he found pencil and paper. Then, with his
characteristically painstaking and deliberate manner, he had indited an
itemized account of the various events. Now he had completed his work,
and rested well content with his accomplishment. As he lounged in the
doorway, he was taking a glimpse over the beautiful expanse of water,
the while he smoked a final pipe before turning in. He felt that after
the arduous endeavors of the day he was entitled to a sound and
refreshing sleep. His usual calm had returned to him.
At daylight that very morning when he awakened in the life-saving
station at old Fort Macon, he had felt that he could never again occupy
his old cabin home. Yet, here he was at night, resting well satisfied,
without any qualm whatsoever. The exciting happening of the day--perhaps
especially the opportunity to tell his old rival just what he thought of
the fellow--had proved a balm to his over-strained nerves. He had come
back home with a firm resolve to continue on there in tranquillity, and
to enjoy to the full the days that were before him. It is true that he
missed Shrimp. But, after mature meditation on the matter of the fowl's
going away, the fisherman had about come to the conclusion that in all
probability he had gone of his own free will and accord. It occurred to
the Captain as possible that the bird might have been peeved by his
master's sailing away without him as he hurried to Beaufort Town in
quest of Doctor Hudson. Ichabod believed that Shrimp had seen his
opportunity to cross to the mainland with the strangers and had seized
on it in the hope of being able at last to fight it out with his rooster
rival, whose challenging salute had been tantalizing him for many a day.
Ichabod chuckled as he expressed the wish that Shrimp's encounter with
this rival might give him as much satisfaction as had his own with the
beach-comber.
Now, under the flow of his meditations, the old man grew loquacious. He
went into the shack, shut the door and lighted the lamp. Then he
sprawled at ease in his favorite chair, and since there was no other
auditor at hand, talked to himself.
"Wall! I reckon I have larned a heap this day. The most important fact
is that Icky Jones has been a fool for over twenty year. Jest because a
no-'count woman took a notion in her haid that she had rather marry a
beach-combin' thief than an honest fisherman I have made myself hate all
o' the rest o' the gender, or least-wise to keep away fr'm 'em, an' lead
a miserable lonely life. Why! do ye know, I believe that when I spunked
up an' told old Sandy Mason what I thought o' him an' his callin', an'
rubbed it in some on the poor kid, that it did me more good than a dost
o' medicine. It sure put sand in my craw an' made me feel like fightin'
every mean thing livin'. If I hadn't been a narrow-fool, an' awful sot
in my way, instead o' takin' the loss of Roxana Lee to heart, I'd 'a'
braced up an' gone right ahead an' looked fer one o' the right sort.
I've learned jest a short time back that I'd gone off on the wrong
track. When I revived that fine-lookin' foreign woman an' she opened
those eyes--such beautiful brown eyes!--an' looked at me so
appealin'-like an' called me Doctor, I jest couldn't he'p but wish that
she'd talk to me a leetle more, but fate was agin me, an' she was mum as
an adder."
Captain Ichabod fell silent as he undressed for the night, extinguished
the light and stretched himself luxuriously on his bed. As he snuggled
down into the blankets with a capacious yawn, he drowsily spoke aloud
yet once again.
"Wall, hanged if I 'lowed this mornin' when I woke up at the station,
that to-night I'd be a-layin' here so peaceable-like an' jest a-pinin'
fer sleep. This shack an' this bunk has had a woman in 'em, but I don't
reckin it has hurt 'em none after all. I can sleep, you bet. Uncle Icky
may dream a leetle might, but it won't be about Roxana Lee."
It was not until the sun was more than an hour high that the old
fisherman opened his eyes again to the realization that another day had
come. When he felt the warm rays of the summer sun upon his cheek he
knew that he had slept beyond his usual time of waking, which stirred
him to a fleeting anger against himself. He got up quickly, and while he
dressed, admonished himself harshly.
"Betwixt the rust o' time an' a thievin' yachtsman, ye're plumb out o'
time, Ichabod. If ye aim to be a successful fisherman in the future as
in the past, you must either find ye another rooster, or buy a clock,
an' I reckin that a clock, what will run, but can't run away, is the
thing fer you."
Breakfast over, Ichabod busied himself in getting his nets and other
fishing paraphernalia straightened out, for in his hurry to put them out
of harm's way as the big blow came on, he had got them pretty badly
tangled. It was mid-forenoon before he considered that things about the
shack and door yard were about as they should be at the place of a
first-class fisherman. Occasionally as he worked, he would glance toward
the oyster rocks, where lay the remains of _The Isabel_, and he would
wonder once again what could have been the occasion of the curious crime
that had resulted in the death of the man chained to the engine. But all
his musings brought only increased perplexity, until his wits were
totally befuddled. He dare be sure only that the yachtsman he had
rescued was either a villain or a maniac.
It was a custom in the Sound Country for the natives at frequent
intervals to favor their preacher, their doctor and the editor of the
gossipy local newspaper with a gift of something attractive, either
grown in their vegetable gardens, or taken from the waters round about.
In this respect, Ichabod was not different from his neighbors of the
other islands and the mainland. Many a time and oft, after he had made a
particularly good catch of the delicious stone crabs or scallops, he had
set sail to carry an offering of the delicacies to friends in the town.
To-day, after he had finally established order in his house and among
his accoutrements, he shouldered his clam fork, and, carrying a large
bucket to hold the catch, strode out on the point. The tide was
extremely low, and Ichabod was aware that now was the time to reach the
place where round clams grew in great abundance. The old man was an
expert at locating these shell-fish. The keyhole sign made by them in
the sand was so familiar to him that he could walk along at a smart
pace, while peering alertly here and there in search of it. When his
eyes caught the mark, he would strike quickly with his fork into the
yielding sand, and so bring to the surface one of the luscious bivalves.
On this occasion, Ichabod filled his bucket well within the hour, and
then, content, returned to the shack for a midday meal.
When he was done eating, the fisherman washed the clams carefully and
wrapped them in a neat bundle. He then took them on board the skiff, and
made sail for Beaufort Town, to pay his promised visit to Doctor Hudson,
and to present him with the morning's catch, which was of particularly
good quality. In addition, he was prompted to the trip by anxiety to
learn if anything had been heard in the town as to the identity of the
yacht _Isabel_, or of those who voyaged in her.
On this occasion, the customary group of loungers was not present on the
shore to welcome the little red skiff and her skipper. The quay was
practically deserted. The fishing fleet had put to sea again in order to
take advantage of as many days as possible with favorable weather for
their labor. Ichabod made his boat fast, and then with his bundle of
clams took his way at once to the physician's house. Doctor Hudson
himself met the fisherman at the threshold with a warm handshake.
"Why, Ichabod!" he exclaimed, with a cheery smile. "Now, what in the
world has come over you? In all my life I don't think I ever saw such a
change for the better in a man's appearance within the few hours since I
saw you last. I guess that wrecks and strange women and the finding of
dead men in the sea agree with you."
Ichabod grinned assent.
"Yes, Doctor, I 'low that I'm improved a sight," he replied
enthusiastically. "I come down to bring ye a few clams, an' to tell ye
that since I saw ye I found a housekeepin' job fer life. An' so, while
I'm obleeged to ye fer a-keepin' your weather eye open fer me, why, ye
needn't no more, fer I've beat ye to it."
Doctor Hudson looked a little disconcerted.
"Why, Ichabod, are you really goin' to leave the Island?"
The fisherman shook his head solemnly.
"No, sir, I ain't a-goin' to leave the Island except on business, an' to
call on my friends. I've took the job right thar. I've done hired out to
the new Ichabod Jones, an' I cal'late I'll be the most satisfactory help
ole Icky ever had."
"What in the world do you mean?" the Doctor questioned, with much
perplexity. "I'd suppose you were clean crazy, if it weren't for a
mischievous twinkle in your eye. Come on now, and tell me what really
has happened. I am interested all right, for it must have been something
important to make this remarkable change in you, which I can't
understand."
Ichabod nodded sagely before he replied.
"Right you are, Doctor. But it took a heap more than a sudden scare like
what cured the feller with the hiccoughs. Yes, it took more'n that to
cure me. You know, Doc, I think now, as how I was diseased."
The physician perceived that nothing was to be gained by any attempt at
hurrying the old man.
"Come on into the house," he urged, "and make yourself comfortable while
you tell me the whole story."
As the two came into the reception-room, the Captain fumbled in his
inside coat pocket for a moment, and then carefully drew forth his
narrative of the events in which he had been concerned during the last
few days. He handed this to the physician as the two seated themselves
by the open window.
"Doctor," Ichabod declared with gravity, "I never did think as how I was
a partic'lar good story-teller, an' knowin' as how you an' one or two
other friends o' mine would have to know the story, I made up my mind
last night that I'd put it into writ fer you-all, so then thar couldn't
be no dispute as to the exact words of Ichabod. The story starts right
from the beginning o' the blow. A part of it, the first part, you
already know, so jest skip along until ye come to whar Sandy Mason shows
up."
Doctor Hudson perused the document with great interest. The unconscious
drollery of the old man's literary style gave piquancy to the account.
At times, the fisherman's bits of humor were amusing enough; again,
there was often pathos of a very genuine sort, in the paragraphs. But as
the physician neared the end of the roughly written record, the Captain
interrupted him.
"Say, Doc," he asked, "would ye mind a-readin' o' that last stanzy right
out loud? I think it has got stuff in it that'll make my blood warm up a
heap to hear it read."
The doctor nodded assent, for he at this moment reached the paragraph by
which the old man set such store.
"I, Ichabod Jones," the words ran, "age unknown, bein' as how the family
Bible was burnt up, announces to my friends, all an' sundry, that fer
the past twenty year I've been a coward an' a fool, but was not
a-knowin' of the same until to-day. I ain't been called to preach nor
nothin' like that. I has jest _woke up_! From this day on to the end o'
me in this world, I aim to git all o' the honest enjoyment I kin out o'
this life. An' I want my friends to know that the rule for twenty year
as made and provided has been busted. From this day forward women, ole
and young, will find a welcome on the shore an' in the shack at
Ichabod's Island."