"The man," he agreed.
It came about thus that I sought out Moses Shoos, wishing for him upon
this high adventure because of his chivalry. Nay, but in Twist Tickle,
whatever the strength and courage and kindliness of our folk, there
was no man so to be desired in a crucial emergency. The fool of the
place was beyond purchase, beyond beseeching: kept apart by his folly
from every unworthy motive to action. He was a man of pure leading,
following a voice, a vision: I would have him upon this sacred
adventure in search of the maid I loved. 'Twas no mean errand, no
service to be paid for; 'twas a high calling--a ringing summons, it
seemed to me, to perilous undertakings, rewarded by opportunity for
peril in service of a fond, righteous cause. Nay, but I would have
this unspoiled fool: I would have for companion the man who put his
faith in visions, could I but win him. I believed in visions--in the
deep, limpid, mysterious springs of conduct. I believed in visions--in
the unreasoning progress, an advance in the way of life not
calculated, but made in unselfish faith, with eyes lifted up from the
vulgar, swarming, assailing advantages of existence. My uncle and the
fool and I! there was no peril upon the sea to daunt us: we would find
and fetch, to her own place, in perfect honor, the maid I loved. And
of all this I thought, whatever the worth of it, as I ran upon the
Whisper Cove road, in the evening of that gray, blustering day.
Moses was within.
"Here you is," he drawled. "I 'lowed you'd come. How's the weather?"
"'Twill blow big guns, Moses," I answered; "and I'll not deceive
you."
"Well, well!" he sighed.
And would he go with us?
"I been waitin' for you, Dannie," says he. "I been sittin' here in the
kitchen--waitin'."
'Twas a hopeful word.
"If mother was here," he continued, "she'd have 'lowed I'd better
wait. 'You wait for Dannie,' mother would have 'lowed, 'until he
comes.' An' so I _been_ waitin'."
Well, there I was.
"That was on'y mother," he added; "an', o' course, I'm married now."
Walrus Liz of the Labrador came in. I rose--and was pleasantly
greeted. She sat, then, and effaced herself.
"Mrs. Moses Shoos," says Moses, with a fond look upon that woman
of ill-favor and infinite tenderness, "haves jus' _got_ t' be
consulted."