"No rowing for me," put in Carrie Baker. "You might get a fright and tumble overboard, and leave us to our fate," she added, mischievously. Her friend had told her all the particulars of the incident on the road.
Percy could not help but feel the cut, thick-headed as he was. He tried to frame some fitting reply, but could not, and so rowed away, feeling in a worse humor than ever.
"It's all the fault of that Ralph Nelson," he said to himself. "He has set Julia against me. I'll fix him, see if I don't!"
In the meantime Ralph had resumed his search for employment throughout Eastport. He could not help thinking of the ludicrous picture Percy had presented while floundering in the water, and he laughed several times over the recollection.
Ralph visited three stores and two factories without the first signs of a situation. Then he came to a place where all sorts of novelties relating to the stationery trade were turned out.
"I can't give you a job in the factory," said the superintendent, "but I might start you on the road."
"On the road?"
"Yes, to sell to small dealers. You could take several satchels and a trunk, and go from village to village. There is a good bit of money to be made in that way. But you would have to leave a deposit on the goods you took out."
"And supposing I did not sell them?"
"You can return what remains unsold at the end of each trip."