"'WA'AL, I DECLARE!'"
"Oh, I don't want nothin'—nothin' at all," he said. "You're what they might call mariners in distress, and I just helped you as well as I could. I ain't done nothin', an' I don't want no money."
"Oh, but we have eaten so much, and made you so much trouble. I shall not feel right unless you let us pay you."
"Wall, if you're so earnest about it, I 'low a dollar would be about right. I reckon ye didn't hurt me mor'n about that's worth."
Surely this was small enough, but the farmer was entirely satisfied, and said he was sorry to say good-bye.
They had swung along over the ice in good style after leaving the farmer's cottage, and the buildings and ice-bound shipping of the village, which in summer was a busy port, but in winter was sleepy enough, were now in plain view.
There was to be the end of their troubles so far as the present scrape was concerned, but they were not a great deal nearer Cleveland than when they started; and their minds, relieved of present anxieties, began to be crowded with thoughts of the future, and how they were going to accomplish their purpose any better now than before they had started.
They were to be aided, in this respect, in a way they had not suspected, however, and the help was now approaching in the shape of a skater who came on towards them with swift, strong strides.