Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
No; the cause of her restlessness was yet to seek. She went out and sat upon the cabin step for awhile, deep in thought, her eyes fixed on Sam Bossom, who, just beyond the cabin roof, was stooping over the well and untying its tarpaulins. By and by she sprang to her feet and walked forward to him. "Mr. Bossom," she said with decision, "I know what's the matter with me."
"The Lays of Ancient Rome? My dear Bossom my dear Smiles you'll allow me to dub you Smiles? On Self Help, you know. I like to call my friends by these playful sobriquets, and friends we are going to be, you and I. My dear fellow, I used to know 'em by heart " 'Lars Porsena of Clusium By the nine gods he swore " Is that the ticket, hey?" Mr. Mortimer clapped him on the shoulder.
"Which two?" asked the boy, not quite ingenuously. "As if I didn' know yer was comparin' 'im with Sam Bossom all day! W'y, I seen it in yer face!" Getting no answer, she went on after a pause, "Sam 'd never a' thought o' this, not if 'e'd lived to be a 'undred." "All the same, I like Sam better," said the boy sleepily. They slept soundly after their wanderings.
Mortimer's appearance and genteel address, at once invited him to set up his tent and save the situation so desperately compromised. Sam Bossom, perceiving that the wagon stood on ground well adapted for pitching a tent, cheerfully proceeded to unload. Mr. Gavel watched in speechless rage. Old Holly, the carrier, suggested that there was no need to give up hope of the horses.
They heard the thud of his feet as he alit on her short fore-deck, and an instant later, as he leaned over the stem and gripped Dr. Glasson's coat-collar, the light of the bobbing lantern showed them his face. It was Sam Bossom. He had lifted the Doctor waist-high from the water before the other helpers sprang on board and completed the rescue.
"O' course you did," Tilda soothed him. "But what's 'appened to the boat, ma'am?" "We are at anchor. If you want to know why, you had best crawl out and ask Mr. Bossom. He gave the order, and Stanislas has gone ashore to buy provisions. Marketing," said Mrs. Mortimer, "is not my husband's strong point, but we'll hope for the best." The cabin doorway was low as well as narrow.
There in the morning light they saw the broken lock with a weir beside it, and over the weir a tumble of flashing water; an islet or two, red with stalks of loosestrife; a swan bathing in the channel between. And there, early as they came, Sam Bossom stood already on the lock-bank; but not awaiting them, and not alone.
"I got to tell you what's true, an' chance the rest. Mr. Sam Bossom, 'e gave us a 'and at the coal-'ole, an' Mr. Mortimer got mixed up in it later on; an' that's all they know about it. There's nobody elst, unless you count the pore woman at the orspital, an' she's dead." "That aunt of yours is she dead too?" Tilda grinned. "You've been talkin' to Glasson." "P'r'aps," suggested Mr.
But of a sudden her words seemed to strike him, and he looked up round-eyed. "You ain't tellin' me you put this in 'Ucks's mind?" "'Course I did," owned Tilda proudly. "An' got me sent to Stratford-on-Avon!" Mr. Bossom added. "Me that stood your friend when you was in a tight place!"
Almost he vaulted the stile between the field and the canal bank. Alighting, he hailed the boat in nautical language "Ahoy, Smiles! What cheer, my hearty?" "Gettin' along nicely, sir," reported Mr. Bossom. "Nicely, but peckish. The same to you, I 'ope." "Good," was the answer. "Speak to the mariners: fall to't yarely, or we run ourselves aground. Bestir, bestir!"
Word Of The Day