“Turn back at once, please.”
“We are almost there now,” he answered, amazed at the feminine inconsistency of the command.
“Turn back at once, I say. You are not too tired to paddle up the river again, are you?”
“No, madame,” he answered, “but it is so useless; we are almost there. We shall land you, and then the canoe will go up lighter.”
“I wish to go with you. Do what I tell you, and I will pay you.”
The stolid boatman gave the command; the man at the bow paddled one way, while the man at the stern paddled another, and the canoe swung round upstream again.