DOING HIS BIT
Ichabod saw Ethel come out on the porch and take a seat at the far end.
He somewhat hastily released Sarah from his arms, with the explanation
that he ought to leave her free to make her preparations for the
wedding. The spinster, blushing with happiness and excitement, hurried
to busy herself with making ready for her new state of full womanhood.
Just as Roy reached Ethel's side, Ichabod joined the two with the glad
tidings of his sweetheart's acceptance of the "pre-nuptals." The
fisherman's apprehensions concerning too much publicity for the wedding
ceremony led him rather shyly to suggest that it should take place on
board _The Hialdo_, away from the prying eyes of the townsfolk. He
explained that he didn't know which would be worse--the small boys, or
the older devils, or the cacklin' hens.
Immediately after the bank opened next morning, the cashier readjusted
his enormous bone-rimmed spectacles in order to study a check presented
for deposit by Miss Sarah Porter. Then he espied the phrase concerning
"pre-nuptals" in the upper left-hand corner, and that was sufficient,
for he was a man of shrewdness. He passed the news along to every person
that appeared before his wicket. In less than half an hour, the whole
town was agog over the astounding intelligence that the old maid, Sarah
Porter, was engaged to be married. There remained the mystery as to the
identity of the bridegroom. But this was speedily cleared up by the
genial Doctor Hudson, who made no scruples of advertising his old
friend's happiness. The result was that by the time set for the
ceremony, the whole town was out, waiting in eager anticipation. It was
indeed a season of great excitement. Here was an opportunity to
celebrate an event that was at once amazing, romantic and historic.
Captain Ichabod had been known by them for twenty years as an inveterate
woman-hater. During that same score of years, as her friends could
testify, Sarah Porter had refused no less than seven excellent offers of
marriage. Now, these two were to marry. The citizens, with one accord,
marveled and rejoiced.
Yet, no one criticized the match. The two were universally liked and
respected. While the townsfolk wondered and smiled they did not jeer.
But they were resolved to make a demonstration of their appreciation.
They meant to give the wedded pair a "send off" to be remembered.
Sarah, assisted by three of her closest friends, passed the whole night
in making ready for the momentous occasion. By nine o'clock in the
morning, her trunk was safely aboard the yacht. Immediately after her
return from the bank, Captain Jones escorted her aboard _The
Hialdo_--before the townspeople had any suspicion of what was going on.
They were quickly followed by Doctor Hudson and the clergyman. Van Dusen
bustled in after them, having finished the paying off of the chartered
boats.
The ceremony was duly performed. A woman's dream of years at last became
reality.
Van Dusen suggested that the newly wedded pair should go ashore to
receive the congratulations of the crowd that now thronged the water
front. But Ichabod, having in mind pestiferous small boys, steadfastly
refused any such exhibition of himself and his bride. His opinion of
them would have been confirmed could he have overheard their questioning
of Doctor Hudson, which was: Had he examined their teeth to see how old
they were?
Nevertheless, the townsfolk, though they got no sight of the principals
in the affair, cheered with a lusty good-will. And, too, they dragged a
cannon down to the shore, where the gunner fired a salute of twenty-one
thunderous explosions. The Collector of the Port, who alone knew that
this was an honor reserved for the President of the United States,
inquired curiously why this exact number was chosen. The gunner replied
seriously that it represented the bride's age.
At Uncle Icky's request, the yacht sailed first for the coast-guard
station. Here, he had no hesitation in proclaiming his new state and in
receiving the congratulations of his friends--for there were no small
boys to trouble. He explained the whereabouts of Shrimp and the hens,
with a request that they should be rescued from the barren stretch of
sand. The coast-guard men promised that the little flock should receive
a home at the station itself. Thus, the old fisherman's last concern
with the old life was happily ended. In a moment apart, he made a final
entry in the diary.
"Through with Shrimp and the shack, by heck! My weddin'-day! Hooray!"
It was owing to a request by Ethel to Van Dusen that the yacht's course
was to Portsmouth that night. Early next morning, before the others were
stirring, Captain Ichabod rowed Ethel in a small boat from _The
Hialdo's_ anchorage to the town. They were absent for a full three
hours. On her return, Ethel spoke with enthusiasm of the town's quaint
charm, but she gave no details of her visit there, not even to Roy. The
old fisherman said nothing at all of the trip, not even to Sarah Jones.
The wedded pair, though urged to prolong their stay on the yacht,
insisted on leaving when _The Hialdo_ reached Norfolk. They took with
them a promise from their new friends to come south again in order to
attend the opening of the new Inlet Hotel.
* * * * *
Colonel Marion was appointed to head a mission to France for study on
the war-methods there. On his return to New York from Texas, he urged
Ethel's immediate marriage, before his sailing. Naturally, there was no
objection on the part of the lovers, and the father was able to depart
tranquil in the assurance that his daughter would be safe in her
husband's care.
One morning a few months later, as Roy and Ethel sat at breakfast, the
servant brought him a letter with a Paris postmark, which was addressed
in the familiar hand of Colonel Marion. Somewhat surprised that the
letter should be to him rather than to Ethel, Roy opened it and read:
"DEAR ROY:
"Just a few lines to give you the surprise of your life. I have
found that our old friend, Doctor Garnet, was not lost in the
quicksands, as you supposed. On the contrary, he is here in France,
doing noble, wonderful work in the branch of his profession that he
always loved--surgery. I understand that he has been decorated
several times. And also, strange to say, he is going under his own
name. I am sending this news to you instead of to Ethel direct,
because I feared the effect of a sudden shock on her. You can break
the information to her gently.
"With love to the dear girl,
"Your father,
"STEPHEN MARION."
Roy had little alarm lest his wife should suffer any ill effect from
what she would regard as the best of news.
"My dear," he asked at once, "would you be greatly surprised to get
authentic information that Gifford Garnet is alive and doing wonders in
his profession of surgery? Would you believe it, if I should tell you
that he has been several times decorated for his services on the battle
front in France?"
To his astonishment, Ethel showed no extraordinary excitement, though
her face grew radiant.
"No, Roy," she replied, "I should not be surprised, but I should be very
glad!"
"Your answer sounds strange to me," Roy declared, with a puzzled glance
across the table. "Anyhow, you are calm enough so that I don't need to
hesitate in telling you that your father's letter to me actually
contains this astonishing news."
"Thank God, Roy!" Ethel said reverently. "The madman has become sane
again. Thank God, he did obey my sealed orders."
Roy stared at his wife in open bewilderment.
"What on earth do you mean, Ethel?" he demanded. "Have you been keeping
something from me?"
"Yes, my dear husband, I've been guilty of just that thing. I've just
been waiting and praying for the hour when I could come to you and give
you the very information that father has been able to send you. I'll
tell you the whole story. But, first, I must exact a promise. For
Ichabod's sake, as well as my own, you must not breathe a word of the
truth to Arthur Van Dusen."
Still mightily wondering as to the meaning of all this mystery and eager
for its solution, Roy readily gave the required promise that he would
keep Ethel's secret. Thereupon she told him the story.
"The night Arthur and poor old Ichabod returned to us aboard _The
Hialdo_ with the Doctor's cap and note, I believed as firmly as you did
that the unfortunate man had been swallowed up in the quicksands, or
swept away to death by the tide. At the time when he left me alone in
the shack in order to go for help, I would not let him go until he had
agreed to carry with him sealed orders under which he should act. I
wrote these and gave them to him, and he promised to follow my
instructions. They were for his future guidance. I believed that, if he
followed them, he would not only escape punishment, but reform so as to
be of service once more to the world. Naturally, when help did not
arrive from Portsmouth, I concluded that his strength had not been
sufficient for the task, that he had perished. So, I was not surprised
by the news brought to the yacht by the men who had been searching for
him.
"That morning when I visited Portsmouth, Roy dear, I had two objects in
view. One was to verify the fact that Doctor Garnet had not reached the
town. The other was to visit the young physician whom I knew to be
located there, in order to arrange with him to care for the afflicted
man in case he should arrive later on. As I was about to leave the
yacht, early in the morning, Captain Ichabod appeared."
Ethel's gravity vanished for a moment. Her lustrous eyes narrowed and
twinkled. She smiled until the dimples in her cheeks were shadows
against the rose.
"I suppose he stole away from the fond Sarah while she was asleep. He
never could have managed it had she been awake." She became serious
again, and Roy, whose mouth had widened in an appreciative grin, again
listened with sober attention.
"Captain Ichabod had a confession to make to me. That confession was
vastly more of a surprise to me, as you will soon understand, than this
news in father's letter. The old fellow first swore me to secrecy. Then
he out and told me, not without a certain exultation at his shrewdness,
that he had put one over on the greatest detective in America, Arthur
Van Dusen. He explained that when he and Arthur reached the false inlet
where they found the cap and note, he believed that Doctor Garnet had
crossed in safety, for the channel was by no means so dangerous as he
represented to the detective. As a matter of fact, he hoped and expected
to find the Doctor's tracks on the other side, and he did so although he
concealed the knowledge of their existence from Van Dusen. Ichabod went
on to tell me that he was moved to sympathy in Doctor Garnet's behalf,
that he believed the man would reform, would be of use to the world,
that he was worth saving from the law's punishment for offenses inspired
by a drug-maddened brain. He insisted that he told no lie to
Arthur--only allowed the world's greatest detective to draw a few wrong
conclusions from his vague remarks and the melancholy expression on his
face when he returned after crossing the inlet to look for tracks.
"Right then and there, that old fisherman and I formed a partnership. We
decided that we would locate our man, save him from capture, and have
him restored to the normal. This would be comparatively easy since the
authorities believed him to be dead. We would demand in return that he
should go to France, there to serve those sufferers on the battlefield
who might have need of him.
"Ichabod preferred to remain behind, when I went to the physician's
house. There I found that Doctor Garnet had in fact been received by the
young doctor, who had taken him in and cared for him--proud indeed to do
so, since he knew his patient's reputation and held him in veneration
for his skill. The younger doctor readily entered into a conspiracy with
me when he had heard my story. I had an interview with Doctor Garnet. He
accepted my proposition fully. He was glad of a chance to expiate his
follies. He swore to me that never again would he take a grain of the
drug. At his request, I brought Ichabod to his bedside, and he thanked
the old man warmly for all that he had done both for himself and for me,
his victim. I offered him funds for the trip abroad, but he told me that
he was well supplied with money. He told me also that he had come in a
small sailboat to carry me away from the shack, but had seen on
approaching that his services were no longer needed, so had returned
whence he came.... From that day until now, I have had no word of the
man. Yet, I felt that he had kept his promise."
"And he did--nobly!" Roy said. There was a new admiration in the glance
with which he regarded his wife, who had accomplished this miracle of
regeneration.
Ethel met that glance, and smiled responsively.
Once again she dimpled, as she spoke half-seriously, half-playfully.
"Roy, dear, aren't you just a bit proud of your wife and Uncle Ichabod?
Between us we so worked it out that my kidnapping was not in vain. It
has done three things: First and best, it hurried our marriage; second,
it made Captain Jones a bridegroom instead of a hermit; third, it
furnished a hero for the battlefields of France."
END