I am a very good hand at it. So please
take your seat with Chloe in the stern."
"Dan can take one oar, anyhow," Vincent replied; "but I will let
you row instead of me. I am afraid I should make a poor hand of it
with only one arm."
The boat pushed quietly out. The river was about a hundred yards
wide at this point. They had taken but a few strokes when Vincent
said:
"You must row hard, Miss Kingston, or we shall have to swim for
it. The water is coming through the seams fast."
The girl and Dan exerted themselves to the utmost; but, short as
was the passage, the boat was full almost to the gunwale before
they reached the opposite bank, the heat of the sun having caused
the planks to open during the months it had been lying ashore.
"This is a wet beginning," Lucy Kingston said laugh as she tried to
wring the water out of the lower part of her dress. "Here, Chloe;
you wring me and I will wring you."
"Now, Dan, get hold of that head-rope," Vincent said; "haul her up
little by little as the water runs out over the stern."
"I should not trouble about the boat, Mr. Wingfield; it is not likely
we shall ever want it again.
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