"Jes' like I told you," he said to Mr. Ben Truefelt. "Never see sech a gump in all my born days. He was all out o' merlasses an' couldn't find the stopper to the 'lasses jug. Went plumb crazy 'bout it, as usual. I found the 'lasses jug stopper stickin' in the vinegar jug, an' the vinegar jug plug on the dresser right in plain sight. It does git past me how the good Lord makes some folks so helpless. They might's well stay in swaddlin' clo'es all their lives an' be done with it." All this might be very interesting, thought Carolyn, but it did not explain the great mystery. And that mystery had doubled within the hour. If the little girl had desired to know how Captain Ozias Littlefield lost his leg, how much greater was her longing to know how both he and his cousin had lost their legs! Captain Littlefield wore a timber extension on the stump of his right leg, while Mr. Oliver Littlefield wore a similar extension on the stump of his left leg. How did they both come to lose their limbs? It was amazing! "Oh, Mr. Ben!" she finally called to Mr. Truefelt, addressing him as most of the hotel employ s did. "Oh, Mr. Ben," she went on, "how ever did Captain Littlefield and his cousin _both_ come to lose their legs?" "Mighty careless of 'em, wasn't it, Miss Carolyn?" returned the young man, chuckling. "So you are curious about the 'Double O's,' are you?" "The 'Double O's'?" repeated the little girl. "That is what we call them. Oliver and Ozias--Oly and Ozy. And they are both just as funny in their different ways as they can be. But how they happened to both have wooden legs--well, that I could not tell you, for I don't know. I'm not altogether sure that they were not born with them." "Born with wooden legs?" gasped Carolyn. "I--nev-er--did--_hear_ of such a thing! I don't believe that can be so, Mr. Ben." "Well, to tell the truth, my dear," said Mr. Ben Truefelt, "neither did I ever hear of folks being born that way. It would be curious, wouldn't it? But the first I can remember of either of the Double O's, they had those timber-toes strapped to 'em. And I never heard say how they got 'em. Why don't you ask them?" "Oh, I couldn't do that! Not on such short acquaintance!" murmured Carolyn. "No?" "_Could_ I?" "I don't know just how well you think you've got to know a person before you can ask him how he came to have an artificial limb," said Mr. Ben seriously. "Perhaps it would be best to refrain from any such inquisition of Mr. Oliver Littlefield. Mr. Oliver is noted for his short temper. But Cap'n Ozy is all right. You might ask him almost any time, I should say. He is quite domesticated," concluded Mr. Ben. But for the moment, and suddenly, Carolyn May's thought was switched to something entirely different. She sighed. "I felt real 'quainted with my pale lady almost at first," she said. "You don't know my pale lady, Mr. Ben, and her baby. Oh, dear! They can't come to Block Island."