Mrs. M'Crawney dropped into a rocking-chair and laughed in great amusement. "Sure, it is as good as going to a theaytre to see you a-carrying on and lecturing me with the stormlight in your eyes. You are a very pretty girl anyhow, but when you are angry it is downright lovely that you are. I'd forgive ye for a deal more than telling the truth, if you'd only come a bit oftener and row me."
"I say, Katherine, are you nearly ready to start?" asked Phil, putting his head in at the door. He had been with Simon to inspect some tame wolf cubs; but, seeing that the weather was growing more threatening, had decided that the sooner they got away from Fort Garry the better.
"Yes, I will be ready in two minutes," Katherine answered; and, receiving payment for the pelts in a written order upon the Company, which she tied in a bag round her neck for safety, she drew on her coat, tied her hat securely on her head, and declared herself ready to start.
A fine rain was beginning to blur the sea like a fog, and she realized that the journey before her might be a great deal worse than she had expected.
"Good-bye, my dear; a safe journey to you, and the best of luck always!" exclaimed Mrs. M'Crawney, following her to the door. Then, seizing her in a bearlike embrace, the Irishwoman whispered: "It is downright ashamed of myself you've made me; and if I don't do better in future, then my name is not Juliana Kathleen M'Crawney, and never has been!"
"Good-bye! We shall get home all right; don't worry about us,"
Katherine answered bravely.
"There is one comfort: we shan't need to wash our faces any more to-day, though we may need a little drying," remarked Phil, as they rounded an angle of the coast and caught the full force of the wind.
"It might be worse, for we are being blown along," Katherine replied, as she tugged at her oars and faced the driving rain.
For three hours they toiled on, working their way from point to point, skirting the swamps, and keeping in close under the alders.
There was never real actual danger close inshore for anyone who understood the management of a boat, but the work was fearful, and Katherine was so near to exhaustion when she at last pulled round past the shut-up house of Oily Dave, that she was thankful to let Phil take the oars and pull up the quieter waters of the river to Roaring Water Portage.