Pagina 52 van 416

He found the captain that night smoking a pipe on the low front

porch of the Widow Sprague's cottage, evidently very much at

home. Bijonah motioned him to a chair and proffered a cigar with

a slightly self-conscious air. Inside the house, Code could hear

the sound of people moving about and the voice of a woman singing

low, as though to a child. He told himself without question that

this was Nellie getting the kiddies to sleep.

"A feller hears queer things over in St. John's sometimes,"

announced Bijonah suddenly, sucking at his pipe.

"Yes."

"An' this time I heard somethin' about you."

"Me? I don't know three people in St. John's."

"Guess I met one of the three, then."

"Where? How? Who was it?"

Bijonah Tanner coughed and shifted uneasily in his chair.

"Wal," he said, "I was takin' a little turn along the

water-front, just a leetle turn, as the wife will tell you, when

I dropped into a--er--that is--a rum-shop and heard three men at

the table next to mine talking about you."