"We pushed off from the pan. 'Twas failin' dusk by this time. The wind blowed black. The frost begun t' bite. Snow come thick—just as if, ecod, somebody up aloft was shakin' the clouds, like bags, in the gale! An' the rodney was deep an' ticklish.
"Had the ice not kep' the water flat in the lanes an' pools, either Eleazer would have had to get out, as he promised, or she would have swamped like a cup. As it was, handled like dynamite, she done well enough; an' she might have made harbour within the hour had she not been hailed by Skinflint Sam from a small pan o' ice midway between."
Doctor Luke and Billy Topsail were intent on the tale.
"Go on," said Doctor Luke.
"A queer finish, sir."
"What happened?"
[CHAPTER XXI]
In Which a Crœsus of Ragged Run Drives a Hard Bargain in a Gale of Wind