The Knights of the White Shield Part 18

"I wont," replied the apothecary, "if they'll get out of the way."

"s.h.i.+p ahoy!" he shouted.

"Aye, aye!" came from the vessel.

"What s.h.i.+p is that, and how many days out?"

"The Dolphin, and one day out from--"

The remaining words were lost.

"This is the 'Magnificent,' ten minutes out from t'other side of the river!" shouted Will.

The coaster disappeared as if smothered under the gray woolly blanket that had settled down on every thing.

"Why don't we come to the wharf?" inquired Pip.

"Because we haven't got there."

Will's reason was received with laughter, but Pip persisted in his questioning. "What if we thouldn't get there at all?"

"O we will."

Gov. Grimes and Wort had been very anxious to pull an oar, and Will gratified them. But the governor could not row. Will had urged him to stop. The governor's resoluteness sometimes ran into obstinacy, and it did now.

"Just see me row--away," cried the governor, refusing to stop, but as he was about to say "away," his oar slipped out of the rowlock, and he finished the sentence, his feet going up into the air and his head going down into the bottom of the boat!

"Caught a crab, governor?" shouted the president.

The boat stopped in the midst of the commotion that followed the governor's tumble, and when Will started his craft again, he did not appreciate the fact that its bow had s.h.i.+fted its aim.

"Where _are_ we goin'?" inquired Aunt Stanshy.

"Home," answered Will. "I'm all right. A few more strokes must fetch us all right to the wharf," and he pulled l.u.s.tily on his oars.

"It is my fear that we are all wrong," said Aunt Stanshy. "I know something about this river, and about fogs, and about people rowing round like fools and getting nowhere."

The members of the club now looked serious, and Will was provoked at Aunt Stanshy's remark.

"Halloo there!"

This was an unexpected shout from the heart of the fog, and after the shout came a black boat, and in it was a man dressed like a fisherman. He wore a "sou'wester" and a striped woolen s.h.i.+rt, also big cow-hide boots that came above the knees of his pants.

"Where are we?" asked Will. "Anywhere near Wherren's wharf?"

"Where are you? Wal, it is safe to say in a gin'ral way that you are in the river."

"I know that, friend," said Will, "but are we headed for the sh.o.r.e?"

"That depends on the sh.o.r.e you want to find. It's my opinion that if you young folks keep on just as your boat is headed, you'll strike Europe if you have good luck."

"Pshaw!" exclaimed the apothecary, "we can't be that much out of the way."

"Try it and see."

"Well, just where are we and which way ought we to go to reach Wherren's wharf?"

"We are now down near Forbes's Island, and--"

"Forbes's Island!" screamed Aunt Stanshy. "Did you ever!"

"And my compa.s.s says if one wants to get up river, he must go in a direction directly opposite to that which you are now taking!"

The apothecary's face fell several inches, Charlie thought.

"When you are out on the river, you are always safer to have a compa.s.s, for fogs may come up and you don't know where you are. I'm goin' up the river and I should be happy to show you where Wherren's wharf is, for you might as well hunt for a clam inside of an iceberg as to hunt for the wharf down here."

"Thank you," said Aunt Stanshy.

"Haven't I seen you before, marm?"

"I dare say."

"I was at your place and you gave me a job, sawing wood, this summer."

"O, is it you, mister? I see now."

"The same one. One good turn deserves another; so let's go along together."

All in the club were glad to see the man, excepting Wort.

Up the river they slowly but safely went, the fisherman guiding his party through the fog to the place of landing. A part of the way he had towed them along, throwing them the painter of his boat.

"Whenever John Fisher can do you a favor, marm, let me know it," said the man.

"Three cheers for John Fisher!" shouted the club. Wort joined in this, and he also said to himself, "I wish I had told him not to mind my seeding him. I will, the next time; see if I don't."

Peleg Wherren's fish-house was a neighbor of the lane, and from the boat the party pa.s.sed to Aunt Stanshy's. As Charlie went along, he noticed a woman in the lane.

She wore a rusty black hood, a faded red shawl, and an old calico dress.

Her general look was that of poverty. She turned as she heard the sound of steps, and, turning, chanced to face Aunt Stanshy. Thereupon the two women both swung round and looked away, like neighboring vanes struck by opposite currents of wind. Aunt Stanshy started and went ahead rapidly. In a moment Charlie heard some one crying. Looking back he saw it was Pip, who had fallen and hurt himself. The woman in faded clothes was quite nigh, and immediately running to Pip, helped him up, saying, in a pitying, motherly way, "You poor little fellow!"

"She has a pleasant face," thought Charlie. "Who is it?"

He asked Simes Badger, who came down the lane.

"That? that is Jane."