As Aunt Kate heard her, she smiled gently; but her face grew suddenly stern as she muttered, “Until I settle brother Obadiah’s hash, I’d better keep an umbrella and a mackintosh handy if I don’t want to get wet”; after which she dusted the flour from her hands with great vigor.
The two girls gave little time to their lunch that noon, and soon afterwards started up the pond in a canoe. Helen was filled with energy. She dug her paddle into the water and pulled mightily.
“Stop, Helen, we are turning around,” protested Virginia.
“Paddle your share, ‘V.’,” retorted Helen with an air of injury. “Remember, you are not a passenger.”
By vigorously wielding her paddle, Virginia managed to hold the canoe on its course. “Please don’t make me work so hard, Helen,” she objected. “We want to hurry and get there.”
“We are doing that splendidly, ‘V.’ We can’t go very fast if you want to sit and dream. Paddle, dear heart–work your way.”
“‘You are my sweetheart,’ the brazen Helen told him”
So it came to pass that Virginia paddled to keep up with Helen and that young woman paddled to make her cousin work, and thus the light canoe was driven over the water with speed and they soon reached the end of their voyage.