Fortunately we had our profits from Bob’s performance. In all we had twenty-seven francs and fifty centimes. Mattia wanted to give Bob the twenty-seven francs in payment for the expenses he had been put to for my flight, but he would not accept a penny.
“Well, which way shall we go?” I asked when we landed in France.
“By the canal,” replied Mattia promptly, “because I have an idea. I believe the Swan is on the canal this summer, now that Arthur’s been so ill, and I think we ought to find it,” he added.
“But what about Lise and the others?” I asked.
“We’ll see them while we’re looking for Mrs. Milligan. As we go up the canal, we can stop and see Lise.”
With a map that we bought, we searched for the nearest river: it was the Seine.
“We’ll go up the Seine and ask all the fishermen along the banks if they’ve seen the Swan. It isn’t like any other boat from what you say, and if they’ve seen it they’ll remember.”
Before beginning the long journey that was probably ahead of us I bought some soft soap to clean Capi. To me, Capi yellow—was not Capi. We washed him thoroughly, each one taking it in turns until he was tired out. But Bob’s dye was an excellent quality and when we had finished he was still yellow, but a shade paler. It would require many shampoos before we could get him back to his original color. Fortunately Normandy is a country of brooks and each day we gave him a bath.
We reached the top of a hill one morning and Mattia spied the Seine away ahead of us, winding in a large curve. From then on, we began to question the people. Had they seen the Swan, a beautiful barge with a veranda? No one had seen it. It must have passed in the night. We went on to Rouen, where again we commenced our questions, but with no better result. We would not be discouraged but went forward questioning every one. We had to stop to get money for our food as we went along, so it took us five weeks to reach the suburbs of Paris.
Fortunately, upon arriving at Charenton, we soon knew which direction we had to take. When we put the important question, we received for the first time the answer for which we had longed. A boat which resembled the Swan, a large pleasure boat, had passed that way; turning to the left, it had continued up the Seine.