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Page 41
"What is it?" cried Bell, faintly.
Now Hildegarde was in mortal terror of the storm, but she did not
fear anything that had human shape. "Who are you?" she asked,
sternly. "What are you doing on this wharf?"
"We are playing on the jewsharp!" replied a familiar voice. "What
are YOU doing, if it comes to that?"
"Oh, Jerry! oh, Phil! how could you frighten us so? We thought,--I
don't know what we didn't think. We came to see if the canoe was
safe. We forgot to see that you put her up after tea."
"Just what we came for," said Phil. "She isn't here; I'm afraid
she's gone."
The girls uttered a cry of dismay.
"Oh, it can't be! Look in the boathouse, boys; it is possible--"
"It is highly possible," said Jerry, "that she got up on end and
walked in, as soon as she saw that the weather looked squally.
She's a very sensible boat, but weak in the legs, if you follow
me. I think she's gone; and a very pretty kettle of fish she makes
to seethe two tender bodies in. I wouldn't be us, Fergs, my boy,
when the Cap'n finds it out to-morrow."
"Wait," said Hildegarde, "oh, wait! Don't let us give up hope. It
will do no harm to look, Jerry."
"No harm in life," said Jerry. "Just hold on to this wind, will
you, while I get in."
With some difficulty he opened the boat-house door; then,
sheltered behind it, he struck a match, while all pressed eagerly
forward. There in her place, high and dry, lay the birch canoe.
Nobody said anything for a moment; the relief was too great.
Hildegarde felt the tears come to her eyes, she could not tell
why; but she found herself saying under her breath, "We might have
known he would do it; he always takes care of everything."
"Roger is a tedious person," said Gerald, turning off his
satisfaction with a laugh. "The amount of virtue that he staggers
under is enough to swamp anybody. He will come to the gallows yet,
you'll see! Human nature must assert itself some time. Whew! there
goes my head! Catch it, Bell, will you?"
"I am very, VERY hungry!" Phil announced with mournful emphasis.
"It makes me starved to play this kind of game in the middle of
the night. Can't we have some food, to celebrate the safety of the
Cheemaun?"
"Me, too!" cried Gerald. "I am dying, Egypt, dying! a corpse among
the alders dank---"
"Oh, do stop, boys!" cried Bell. "I'll push you off the wharf if
you go on so."
"Oh, wouldn't us lorf, if she pushed us off the wharf!" cried
Gerald.
"I am cross!" said Bell. "My hair is wound all round my neck, and
I am half strangled. You boys think of nothing but eating from
morning till night. But I am hungry myself, so come along!"
The four buffeted their way back to the house, and Phil climbed in
at the pantry window and opened the kitchen door for the dripping
party. They lighted a lantern, and judicious rummaging produced
crackers and cheese, gingerbread, and some bottles of root beer.
Merrily the four adventurers gathered round the table, dripping,
rosy and breathless; the girls' long locks hung down over their
shoulders, the boys' short curls were plastered close to their
heads.
"We must be a lovely sight!" said Bell. "What a pity there is no
one to see us! What do you want, Jerry?"
"I want raspberry jam, chiefly," said Gerald, "but first I want to
make a speech. I propose a sentiment. Pledging the assembled
company in this beaker of rich wine--. Let go that bottle,
Ferguson, or I'll have your life! that's my beaker, I tell you!
There! now you've upset it. Attendez seulement bis ich dein tete
abhaue!"
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