"Tho' on dark depths of waters
I fear not and am strong,
For I know who will guard me
And guide me all life long."
"Are you tipsy, there, or tired of life? What do you put yourself across the channel for—and without a light?" rang out over the water from one of the vessels.
"Help! Throw a line!" cried Marjon.
"Help! help!" cried Johannes, after her.
Then a rope came wabbling across their oarless craft. By good luck Johannes caught it, and pulled himself, hand over hand, up to the vessel. The helmsman, standing beside the great, high-arched rudder, looked overboard, with a lantern in his hand.
"What wedding do you hail from?"
Johannes and Marjon climbed into the boat and Marjon pushed off their own little shallop.
"Two boys!" exclaimed the helmsman.
"And a monkey!" subjoined Marjon.
Johannes looked round at her. By the light of the lantern he saw a little figure that he hardly recognized—a slip of a boy wearing a cap on his closely cropped head. She had sacrificed for the flight her silky blonde hair. Keesje's head was sticking up out of her jacket, and he was blinking briskly in the glare of the lantern.