The three men began to splash towards the land. Two more buggies had arrived on the bank. Scandalous Jack was getting down from one, and the other was drawn by the white buggy horses of Surprise. The old man sat in the driver's seat and beside him was Maud Neville. Power met her glance across the distance. The three men reached the bank.
CHAPTER XXII The Meeting by the River
Power dismounted. He was full of tiny pains and the cold was beginning to eat into his bones. Neville had pulled up the buggy near at hand. The old man was plastered with mud to his shaggy eyebrows.
"Hey, Power!" he shouted out. "What's become of the gel?"
"We were too late."
"Goodness, that's a nuisance! Get out, Maud, gel. I want to get down." The two people got down from the buggy. "Now that's annoyin'," went on the old man, feeling under the seat for his stick. "Nearly killed ourselves getting here, too. I may be wrong, but I reckon the horses won't be much good for a day or two, huh, huh! Here's what I was after. It's looking a bit more settled over there now. The rain may be gone for a while."
Scandalous arrived across the mud.
"Hold this horse," Power said. He delivered it and walked forward to meet Neville. They had not met for many days and saluted each other abruptly.