"That ain't nuthin' new," Abner explained. "We're more'n used to sich capers. That boat never knows her own mind. She comes an' goes any old time, an' doesn't mind one dang bit how people are put out. I'm mighty glad yez have got a good dose to-day."
"You are!" Dillman indignantly retorted. "You're a nice one. But this is not getting us over the river. How in blazes are we to get there? That's the important thing just now. Isn't there a boat we can hire?"
"S'pose you run 'em over, Abner," Zeb suggested.
"Have you a boat?" Dillman eagerly asked.
"Sure, three of 'em. Now, there's the canoe, the flat-bottomed boat, an'——"
"Oh, never mind telling us about them," Dillman impatiently interrupted. "Get us there; that's all we want. We'll make it worth your while."
Abner knocked the ashes from his pipe, and rose slowly to his feet.
"Jist wait a minute till I git me oars," he told them. "I guess I kin take yez."
There was a peculiar light shining in his eyes as he hurried into the house and returned a few minutes later. No one noticed that he had donned his coat, and that it was buttoned about him in a strange manner. Room was made for him in the car, and, telling the chauffeur where to go, in a few minutes they were at the shore on the upper side of the point. A short distance away the Scud was tugging at her anchor, for a stiff breeze was blowing in from the west. The tender was pulled up on the shore.
"Hop in," Abner ordered, "an' set still, all of yez."