Walkirk and I slept on
board the floating grocery, as also did Abner; that is to say, if he
slept at all, for he and the captain were busy at the house when we
retired. The quilting party, we were informed, was expected to be a
grand affair, provided, of course, there were no signs of rain; for
country people are not expected to venture out for pleasure in rainy
weather.
Captain Jabe's house, as we saw it the next morning, was a good-sized
waterside farmhouse, wide-spreading and low-roofed. The place had a sort
of amphibious appearance, as if depending for its maintenance equally
upon the land and the water. The house stood a little distance back from
the narrow beach, and in its front yard a net was hung to dry and to be
mended; a small boat, in course of repair, lay upon some rude stocks,
while bits of chain, an old anchor, several broken oars, and other
nautical accessories were scattered here and there.
At the back of the house, however, there was nothing about the barn, the
cow-yard, the chicken-yard, and the haystacks to indicate that Captain
Jabe was anything more than a thrifty small-farmer. But, farmer and
sailor as he was, Captain Jabe was none the less a grocer, and I think
to this avocation he gave his chief attention.
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