“Nay, you’d go and drown yourself and Master Vane too.”
“Pooh! as if we couldn’t row. I say, Mr Rounds, do lend us the boat.”
“Oh, well, I don’t mind, my lads, if you’ll promise to be steady, and not get playing any games.”
“Oh, I’ll promise, and there’s no need to ask Lee. He’s as steady as you are.”
“All right, lads; you can have her. Oars is inside the mill. I’ll show you. Want to go up or down?”
“I don’t care,” said Macey.
“If you want to go down stream, I shall have to slide the boat down the overshoot. Better go up, and then you’ll have the stream with you coming back. Hello, here’s some more of you.”
This was on his seeing Distin and Gilmore coming in the other direction, and Macey shouted directly:
“Hi! We’ve got the boat. Come and have a row.”
Gilmore was willing at once, but Distin held off for a few moments, but the sight of the newly-painted boat, the clear water of the sunlit river, and the glowing tints of the trees up where the stream wound along near the edge of the wood, were too much for him, and he took the lead at once, and began to unfasten the chain.