It was rowed by a single boy. When he came near Robert recognized him as George Randolph—the cousin of his friend Herbert.
It happened that George was very fond of rowing and had a boat of his own, which he rowed a good deal in Boston Harbor.
He had long had an ambition to row to Egg Island and had selected this day for the trip. He had not asked Herbert to accompany him, being desirous of saying that he had accomplished the entire trip alone.
Though George had not seemed very friendly, Robert did not for a moment doubt that he would be willing to help him in his strait, and he was almost as delighted to see him as he would have been to see Herbert himself. There would be no need now of the raft, and he gladly suspended work upon it.
Rising to his feet, he called out:
“Hello, there!”
George paused in his rowing and asked—for he had not yet caught sight of Robert:
“Who calls?”
“I—Robert Coverdale!”
Then George, turning his glance in the right direction, caught sight of the boy he had tried to snub in the morning.