Neither Anne nor Leslie ever forgot Captain Jim's face
when they gave him the book--HIS book, transfigured and
glorified. The cheeks that had been blanched of late
suddenly flamed with the color of boyhood; his eyes
glowed with all the fire of youth; but his hands
trembled as he opened it.
It was called simply The Life-Book of Captain Jim, and
on the title page the names of Owen Ford and James Boyd
were printed as collaborators. The frontispiece was a
photograph of Captain Jim himself, standing at the door
of the lighthouse, looking across the gulf. Owen Ford
had "snapped" him one day while the book was being
written. Captain Jim had known this, but he had not
known that the picture was to be in the book.
"Just think of it," he said, "the old sailor right
there in a real printed book. This is the proudest day
of my life. I'm like to bust, girls. There'll be no
sleep for me tonight. I'll read my book clean through
before sun-up."
"We'll go right away and leave you free to begin it,"
said Anne.
Captain Jim had been handling the book in a kind of
reverent rapture.
Pages:
370
371
372
373
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375
376
377
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379
380
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384
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