Nearly every head was turned toward the rear corner of the room, there was a buzz of whispering and, in front, many men and women were standing up to look.
Captain Eben was scandalized.
"Well!" he exclaimed.

"Is this a prayer meetin' or--or--what?
Brethren and sisters, I must say--" Ezekiel Bassett stepped forward and whispered in his ear.

The captain's expression of righteous indignation changed to one of blank astonishment.

He, too, gazed at the dark corner.

Then his lips tightened and he rapped smartly on the table.
"Brethren and sisters," he thundered, in the voice which, of old, had enforced obedience aboard his coasting schooner, "remember this is the house of the Lord.