"What? to have words with your husband? Lucky for him he is so far away," returned the Captain with a laugh.
"Oh, they will keep till he comes to dinner!" said Helen, declining to see his meaning.
"Madame!" exclaimed Bateese at her elbow, "I tak' you ovare in mine leetle canoe. See!" and he pointed to a birch-bark that he had bartered with an Indian for a few days before.
"Won't that be fine?" she returned, as she hastened to its side. "Are you sure you won't upset me?"
"Bateese nevare upset canoe, no nevare."
"Oh, I remember, you are the man that never upsets anything!"
Bateese's eyes twinkled. He remembered too.
In another minute they glided over the water to the spot where the men were working.
"'And Helen—alluring comes across the briny deep!'" exclaimed her husband.
"Quite a mistake, Harold! I tasted the water and there isn't a bit of brine in it."