"'Bout half a mile from the front porch, ma'am"
--he preferred calling her so--" from what I hear.
'Tain't located exactly yet, but some'er's along there.
I was down with the Gov'ment agent yesterday."
"Who will take charge of it, captain?" inquired
Jane, reaching over her basket in search of her
scissors.
"Well, that's what I come up for. They're talkin'
about me," and the captain put his hands behind
Ellen's head and cracked his big knuckles close to
her ear, the child laughing with delight as she
listened.
The announcement was received with some surprise.
Jane, seeing Martha's inquiring face, as if
she wanted to hear, repeated the captain's words to
her in a loud voice. Martha laid down her knitting
and looked at the captain over her spectacles.
"Why, would you take it, captain?" Jane asked
in some astonishment, turning to him again.
"Don't know but I would. Ain't no better job
for a man than savin' lives. I've helped kill a good
many; 'bout time now I come 'bout on another tack.
I'm doin' nothin'--haven't been for years. If I
could get the right kind of a crew 'round me--men
I could depend on--I think I could make it go."
"If you couldn't nobody could, captain," said
Jane in a positive way.
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