"Um-hm. That's it, Semurny. I was there aboard the _William Holcomb_, out of Philadelphy. We was loadin' with figs and truck like that. You remember the old _Holcomb_, don't you, Cap'n Sears? Sartin sure you do. Horncastle and Grant of Philadelphy they owned her. Old Horncastle was a queer man as ever I see. Had a cork leg. Got the real one shot off in the Mexican war or run over by a horse car, some said one and some said t'other. Anyhow he had a cork one spliced on in place of it, and--ho, ho! 'twas as funny a sight as ever I see--one time he fell off the wharf there in Philadelphy. Yes, sir, fell right into the dock, he did. And when they scrabbled down the ladder to haul him in there wasn't nothin' in sight but that cork leg, stickin' up out of water. The rest of him had gone under, but that cork leg hadn't--no, sire-ee! Haw, haw! Well ... er ... er.... What did I start to talk about, Cap'n Sears?" "I don't know, Judah. It was a good while ago. You began by sayin' that you met Judge Knowles's housekeeper." "Hey? Why, sure and sartin!" Mr. Cahoon slapped his leg. "Sartin sure, Cap'n Sears, that was it. And I said she and me got to talkin' about you. Well, well, well! I started right there and I fetched up way over in Semurny, along of George Dingo. Well, by Henry! Ain't that queer, now?" He rubbed his legs and shook his head, apparently overcome by the queerness of it. Kendrick, judging that another Mediterranean cruise was imminent, made a remark calculated to keep him at home. "What did this--what's-her-name--this Tidditt woman say about me?" he asked. "Hey? Oh, she said that Judge Knowles wanted to see you. Said that he asked about you 'most every day, wanted to know how you was gittin' along, because just as soon as you was well enough to cruise on your own hook he wanted you to come in and see him." "Judge Knowles wanted me to come in and see him? Why, that's funny! I don't know the judge well. Haven't seen him for years, and then only two or three times. What on earth can Judge Knowles have to say to me?.... Humph! I can't think." He tried to think, nevertheless. Judah busied himself with the sloppy process of clam opening. A little later he observed: "So you wan't lonesome all alone here by yourself while I was gone, Cap'n? That's good. Glad to hear it." "Thanks, Judah. I wasn't alone, though." "You wan't? Sho! Do tell! Have company, did ye? Somebody run in?" "Yes. And they wouldn't run out again, not for a good while. They came on business." "Business? What kind of business?" "Well, I suppose you might call it gardening. They were interested in raisin' vegetables, I know that." Judah laid down the clam knife and regarded his former skipper. "Raisin' vegetables?" he repeated slowly. "What--? Look here Cap'n Sears, who was they? Where'd they come from?" "I believe they came from next door?" "Next door? From the Harbor?" He rose to his feet, suspicion dawning upon his face above the whiskers. "Yes, Judah."