`` Well , the shore ai n't far away , and it 's pretty -- though maybe us folks here do n't appreciate it rightly , being as we 're so used to it . Strangers are always going crazy over its ` picturesqueness , ' as they call it . As for ` character , ' I reckon you 'll find all you want of that among the Pointers ; anyway , I never seed such critters as they be . When you get tired of painting , maybe you can amuse yourself trying to get to the bottom of our mystery . '' `` Oh , have you a mystery ? How interesting ! '' `` Yes , a mystery -- a mystery , '' repeated Mr. Bentley solemnly , `` that nobody hai n't been able to solve so far . I 've give it up -- so has everyone else . Maybe you 'll have better luck . '' `` But what is it ? '' `` The mystery , '' said Mr. Bentley dramatically , `` is -- Young Si . He 's the mystery . Last spring , just when the herring struck in , a young chap suddenly appeared at the Point . He appeared -- from what corner of the globe nobody hai n't ever been able to make out . He bought a boat and a shanty down at my shore and went into a sort of mackerel partnership with Snuffy Curtis -- Snuffy supplying the experience and this young fellow the cash , I reckon . Snuffy 's as poor as Job 's turkey ; it was a windfall for him . And there he 's fished all summer . '' `` But his name -- Young Si ? '' `` Well , of course , that is n't it . He did give himself out as Brown , but nobody believes that 's his handle -- sounds unnatteral here .
He bought his establishment XXXXX ` old Si , ' who used to fish down there and was a mysterious old critter in a way too .
as at but from in into of that though to