Page:Ruth Fielding at Lighthouse Point.djvu/203

Rh lady, who was sitting knitting in her tiny sitting-room. "What's the meaning of this?"

"It's Crab! It's Jack Crab!" cried Helen, almost in hysterics. "He's after us!"

Tom had bolted the door. Now Crab thundered upon it, with both feet and fists.

"Let me in!" he roared from outside. "Mother Purling! you let me git that gal!"

"What does this mean?' repeated the lighthouse keeper, sternly. "Ain't this the gal that big man was after this morning?" she demanded, pointing at Jane Ann.

"Yes, Mrs. Purling—it is Jane Hicks. And this dreadful Crab man has kept her out on the Thimble all this time—alone!" cried Ruth. "Think of it! Now he has chased us in here"

"I'll fix that Jack Crab," declared the plucky old woman, advancing toward the door. "Hi, you, Jack! go away from there."

"You open this door, Mother Purling, if you knows what's best for you," commanded the sailor.

"You better git away from that door, if you knows what's best for you, Jack Crab!" retorted the old woman. "I don't fear ye."

"I see that man here this morning. Did he leave aught for me?" cried Crab, after a moment. "If he left the five hundred dollars he