"I can tell you that the whole crowd acted in a most outrageous manner," he declared; "I have witnesses to prove it. Really, it was frightfully mortifying."
"Boys will be boys," observed Mr. Wingate, pleasantly. "Ah, here they come now."
The Nimrods, looking none the worse for their experience, trooped into the room. Backed by Mr. Wingate, they seemed to feel entirely easy in mind.
"Hello, Somers, hello!" said Nat, with a grin.
"My nephew," began Mr. Wingate, pompously; "this gentleman whom you unintentionally upset is Mr. Douglass Brown."
"How are you, Douglass?" said Nat, with his usual familiarity. "You made a big mistake in having us all run in. That little affair was all an accident."
"Of course it was," put in John Hackett; "if Nat's foot hadn't slipped, Mr. Brown, you wouldn't have hit the river with such a splash. Hope you didn't swallow much of it."
"We didn't do it on purpose, that's sure," chimed in Kirk Talbot.
"Of course not," laughed the gentleman from Kingswood. "You can see yourself, Mr. Brown, that the whole affair was brought about by a too sudden starting of the boat. My nephew explained to me this morning how it happened."
"Was the boat pointed toward you when we started?" interrupted Nat.