"Push off!" said the officer.
"Here, stop! I want to go first," exclaimed Rollo.
"No more in this boat," said the officer. "Push off!"
"Never mind," said Rollo, calling out to Mr. George, "I'll come by and by."
"All right," said Mr. George.
By this time the boat had got clear of the steamer, and she now began to move slowly onward, rising and falling on the waves, and struggling violently to make her way.
"I am glad they did not let me go," said Rollo. "I would rather stay and see the rest go first."
Another boat was now seen approaching, and Rollo stepped back a little to make way for the people that were to go in it, when he heard Mrs. Parkman's voice, in tones of great anxiety and terror, saying to her husband,—
"I cannot go ashore in a boat in that way, William. I cannot possibly, and I will not!"
"Why, Louise," said her husband, "what else can we do?"