"Stop that parrotin'," he
commanded. "If you dare to grin, I'll larnbast you good an' plenty."
As Abner appeared properly subdued, he went on explanatorily.
"I've be'n callin' on M'lissy Macy reg'lar whenever I've be'n ashore
for the last ten years. M'lissy makes the best doughnuts I ever e't,
an' I calculated we'd be married sometime, though I ain't never
mentioned it special. But when I went to call on M'lissy this
afternoon, there set Tom Peters in the big rockin' chair holdin'
M'lissy's yeller cat an' lookin' as cheerful as a rat in a shipload
of cheese. It come over me all at once what a marryin' critter he is.
The old punkin'-head's had two wives already, ain't he?"
"Three," corrected Abner. "He's be'n a widower once an' a grass
widower twice. Mebbe he's gittin' lonesome again. You'll have to git
up your spunk and do some courtin'. Why don't you pop the question?
It hadn't orter be so awful hard after you be'n goin' to see M'lissy
ten years."
"You talk like a nincompoop," snapped Captain Enoch. "I never asked
a woman to marry me in my life. How be I goin' to know what to say?
S'pose you tell me how you asked Mis' Crowell.
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