"I should remember it if I thought it necessary. You won't handle this job with your legs. It is your head I want. Cap'n Kendrick, I want you to take charge--take command, if you had rather we used seafaring lingo, of that establishment next door to where you are living now. I want you to act as--well, we'll call it captain of the Fair Harbor." Captain Sears's eyes and mouth opened. His chair creaked as he leaned forward and then slowly leaned back again. "You--you--" he gasped, "you want me to--to manage that--that _old women's home_?" "Yes." "_Me?_" "Yes.... Here! where are you going?" The visitor had risen. "Stop!" shouted Judge Knowles. "Where are you going?" The captain breathed heavily. "I'm goin' to send for the doctor," he declared. "One of us two needs him." CHAPTER V Judge Knowles's answer to his caller's assertion concerning the need of a physician's services was another chuckle. "Sit down, Cap'n," he ordered. Kendrick shook his head. "No," he began, "I'm----" "Sit down." "Judge, look here: I don't suppose you're serious, but if you are, I tell you----" "No, I'm going to tell _you_. SIT DOWN." This time the invalid's voice was raised to such a pitch that Mrs. Tidditt came hurrying from the kitchen. "My soul and body, Judge!" she exclaimed. "What is it? What _is_ the matter?" Her employer turned upon her. "The matter is that that confounded door is open again," he snapped. "Why--why, of course 'tis. I just opened it when I came in." "Umph! Yes. Well then, hurry up and shut it when you go out. _Shut_ it!" Emmeline, going, not only shut but slammed the door. The judge smiled grimly. "Sit down, Kendrick," he commanded once more, panting. "Sit down, I--I'm out of breath. Confound that woman! She seems to think I'm four years old. Ah--ah--whew!" His exhaustion was so apparent that Sears was alarmed. "Don't you think, Judge----" he began, but was interrupted. "Sshh!" ordered Knowles. "Wait.... Wait.... I'll be all right in a minute!" The captain waited. It took more than a minute, and even then the judge's voice was husky and his sentences broken, but his determination was unshaken. "I want you to listen to me, Cap'n Kendrick," he said. "I know it sounds crazy, this proposal of mine, but it isn't. How much do you know about this Fair Harbor place; its history and so on?" Captain Sears explained that his sister had written him some facts concerning it and that recently Judah Cahoon had told him more details. The judge wished to know what Judah had told. When informed he nodded. "That's about right, so far as it goes," he admitted. "Fairly straight, for a Bayport yarn. It doesn't go far enough, though. Here is the situation: