In the morning, soon after daybreak, a teamster loaded his wagon behind the Inglis grocery. Inglis himself wheeled boxes and bags of flour from a log storehouse. He was short, rather fat, and wore thick spectacles. As a rule, his movements were methodically slow, and when he talked his voice was thoughtful. Some people thought him dull, but his store was the best at Helensville and he had recently been appointed magistrate. Grant, an old sealing captain, was constable, and for the most part his duty was to drive the settlers’ hogs from the garden lots.
At the small settlements the officers of the law are to some extent chosen by popular suffrage, and the Helensville citizens liked Inglis because he did not make trouble. They liked Captain Jake because he was urbane and, when the hogs did
