“I didn’t actually catch him, or I would have,” said Reube. “And I didn’t want to have him taken up, for, bad lot as he is, he does look after his mother and sisters in a kind of a way, and he is all they have to depend on; for his drunken old father has become a regular idiot, doing nothing but sit in the sun, pick at his beard, and whimper for a drink.”
By this time they had reached the top of a knoll, whence the whole shore line was visible.
“There’s the Dido!” exclaimed Reube, proudly, turning with a sweep of the hand toward the mouth of Wood Creek. But the words ended in a cry of anger and anxiety. “She’s adrift!” he shouted. “Come on! Come on! We must catch her before she gets out of the creek. The wind’s right down the bay!”
As he spoke he vaulted over the fence and started on a run across the fields. Will was at his side in an instant.
“How can it have happened?” he asked.
“Gandy’s work, I’ll be bound!” muttered Reube, between his teeth; and his eyes grew pale and bright like steel.
| [A] | Professor Roberts has already told the spirited story of “How the Carter Boys Lifted the Mortgage,” in a volume, The Raid from Beauséjour, which is published by Hunt & Eaton, New York. |
