"You've got yourselves into a precious mess here!" he said briefly.
"Can you help us to pull her off?" returned Piers anxiously.
"Pull her off! Couldn't do it with a team of horses! She'll have to stop where she is until the tide floats her. I'll take you off, and that's the best I can do for you. Hoist one of them young misses on my back; I'll carry them first."
He waded with Aldred to his own boat, returning to fetch Mabel, and the boys scrambled after him as best they could.
"It's Pritchard's boat, isn't it?" he said. "I'm passing the ferry, so if you like I'll tell him what's happened. If you cross through the wood there, and turn to the right of the iron gate, you'll find your way straight to the village."
The boys went home in rather subdued spirits.
"We shall have to go down to the ferry this evening and explain things to Pritchard," said Piers. "I hope he won't cut up rough about the boat."
"I'm afraid he'll want compensation," said Francis, "I split that spliced oar with trying to shove her off."
"What an abominable swindle! It'll take half our next term's cash. I don't believe the pater will stand it for us."
"I'm sure he won't, after that little affair of the rifle and old Carter's dog!" put in Godfrey.