Eli | Page 8

the foreman,
and waited a moment.
"When my wife took sick, and I stopped goin' to sea, two year ago, and
took up boat-fishin', I did n't know half as much about the coast as the
young boys do, and one afternoon it was blowin' a gale, and we was all
hands comin' in, and passin' along the Bar to go sheer 'round it to the
west'ard, and Captain Fred Cook--he's short-sighted--got on to the Bar
before he knew it, and then he hed to go ahead, whether or no; and I
was right after him, and I s'posed he knew, and I followed him. Well,
he was floated over, as luck was, all right; but when I 'd just got on the
Bar, a roller dropped back and let my bowsprit down into the sand, and
then come up quicker'n lightnin' and shouldered the boat over, t' other

end first, and slung me into the water; and when I come up, I see
somethin' black, and there was John Wood's boat runnin' by me before
the wind with a rush--and 'fore I knew an'thing, he had me by the hair
by one hand, and in his boat, and we was over the Bar. Now, I tell you,
a man that looks the way I saw him look when I come over the gunwale,
face up, don't go 'round breakin' in and hookin' things. He hed n't one
chance in five, and he was a married man, too, with small children. And
what's more," he added incautiously, "he did n't stop there. When he
found out, this last spring, that I was goin' to lose my place, he lent me
money enough to pay the interest that was overdue on the mortgage, of
his own accord."
And he stopped suddenly.
"You have certainly explained yourself," said the foreman. "I think we
understand you distinctly."
"There is n't one word of truth in that idea," said Eli, flushing up, "and
you know it. I 've paid him back every cent. I know him better 'n any of
you, that's all, and when I know he ain't guilty, I won't say he is; and I
can set here as long as any other man."
"Lively times some folks 'll hev, when they go home," said a spare
tin-pedler, stroking his long yellow goatee. "Go into the store: nobody
speak to you; go to cattle-show: everybody follow you 'round; go to the
wharf: nobody weigh your fish; go to buy seed-cakes to the cart: baker
won't give no tick."
"How much does it cost, Mr. Foreman," said the butcher, "for a man 't
's obliged to leave town, to move a family out West? I only ask for
information. I have known a case where a man had to leave--could n't
live there no longer--wa' n't wanted."
There was a knock. An officer, sent by the judge, inquired whether the
jury were likely soon to agree.
"It rests with you, sir," said the foreman, looking at Eli.

But Eli sat doggedly with his hands in his pockets, and did not look up
or speak.
"Say to the judge that I cannot tell," said the foreman.
It was eight o'clock when the officer returned, with orders to take the
jury across the street to the hotel, to supper. They went out in pairs,
except that the juryman who was left to fall in with Eli made three with
the file ahead, and left Eli to walk alone. This was noticed by the
bystanders. At the hotel, Eli could not eat a mouthful. He was seated at
one end of the table, and was left entirely out of the conversation.
When the jury were escorted back to the courthouse, rumors had
evidently begun to arise from his having walked alone, for there was
quite a little crowd at the hotel door, to see them. They went as before:
four pairs, a file of three, and Eli alone. Then the spectators understood
it.
When the jury were locked into their room again for the night, Mr.
Eldridge sat down by Eli and lit his pipe.
"I understand," he said, "just how you feel. Now, between you and me,
there was a good-hearted fellow that kept me out of a bad mess once. I
've never told anybody just what it was, and I don't mean to tell you
now, but it brought my blood up standing, to find how near I 'd come to
putting a fine steamer and two hundred and forty passengers under
water. Well, one day, a year or so after that, this man had a chance to
get a good ship, only there was some talk against him, that he drank a
little. Well, the owners told him they wanted to see me, and