“I am very much obliged to you, my fine fellow, for driving off the swan, or I suppose the savage creature would have mauled me terribly, had she got up to me.”
“Very happy to have done you a service, master; but it didn’t give me much trouble to do it. However, I would advise you not to stop here in your wet clothes, for the mornings are pretty fresh, and you’ll be catching a bad cold.”
“Thank you,” I said, “but I do not feel very well able to walk far just yet.”
“Have you got far to go home?” he asked.
I told him.
“Well, then, you had better come home with me to my father’s cottage. It is away down near the sea, and he’ll give you some hot spirits, and you can turn into my bed while your clothes are drying.”
I was very glad to accept his proposal, for I did not at all fancy having to go home all dripping, to be laughed at by my brothers, and to get a scolding from Aunt Deb into the bargain, for I knew she would say it was all my own fault, and that if I had not been prying into the swan’s nest, the bird would not have attacked me. I did not, however, wish to lose my rod and basket of fish, and I thought it very probable that if I left them, somebody else would carry them off. I asked my new friend his name.
“Mark Riddle,” he answered.
“Before I go I must get back my rod and basket of fish; it won’t take us long. Would you mind coming with me?”
“No, master, I don’t mind; but I would advise you to be quick about it.”