Three Boys Part 43

"And she sailed pack all py herself?" said Long Shon.

"Yes. But do make haste. They will think me so long."

"Let's ket the watter oot," said Tavish. "You, Shon, ket the rope oot o' the poat-hoose; or shall she leave ta poys till to-morrow?"

"What! leave them all night?" cried Max in horror.

The great forester chuckled as he looked up at Max, and kept on baling away, while Long Shon rowed ash.o.r.e.

"Na; she'll go ant fetch 'em. So ta c.r.a.pnel line proke?"

"Yes."

"She must ha' peen ferry pad."

"Yes, of course," said Max, who sat there contentedly enough, but vexed as he found how his ignorance of a boat had caused him a couple of hours' terror.

Tavish toiled away with the baler till it would scoop up no more, and then, taking a great sponge from the locker, he sopped up and squeezed till the bottom of the boat was quite clear of water, and by this time, close down by the keel, Max had seen an ordinary wine-cork, with a piece of whipcord attached to it, stuck upright in the hole used for draining the boat when she was ash.o.r.e.

Then the bottom boards were replaced, and the forester pa.s.sed an oar over the side, so as to paddle the boat up to the rock where Long Shon was waiting, with a ring of new-looking rope over his arm.

"Wha's ta Chief?" said Long Shon, as they came alongside.

"Gane over ta hill."

"With his gun?"

"Na; reading a pit latter."

"Ta Mackhai gane walking with a pit latter!" said Long Shon. "What's coming to ta man?"

Tavish shook his head, and looked serious. Then Long Shon stepped in, and the boat was thrust off.

"She'll pe ferry ancry when she finds we're gane," said the forester slowly. "Put we must go and fetch ta young Chief."

"Ant t.i.t she ever sail a poat in the lochs in Lonton?" asked Long Shon, as the boat sped away rapidly, with the wind nearly dead astern.

"There are no lochs in London," replied Max, smiling.

"Nae lochs!" exclaimed the two Highlanders in a breath.

"No."

"Why, she thought Lonton wa.s.s a ferry fine place."

"So it is; full of great streets and shops."

"There's ferry coot shops i' Stirling," said Long Shon proudly, "and so there is in Oban. She'll pe pound there's no petter shops in Lonton than there is in Oban. Put no lochs?"

"No."

"I ton't think she shall think much coot o' Lonton, Tavish," said Long Shon rather scornfully.

"Put she shall have sailed a poat pefore?" said Tavish, staring hard at Max.

"No, never. I was never in a boat alone before."

"She will never pe in a poat alone pefore!" said the forester.

"Wonterful!"

Long Shon looked as if he did not believe it.

"Wonterful! It was wonterful!" said Tavish again. "She will come town here, and kill ta biggest fush; and she sails ta poat alone, and she shall kill a stag soon, and all ta hares and grouse."

"Why wa.s.s she not town py ta blue hawk's nest wi' ta poys?" said Long Shon suddenly and fiercely.

"I was holding the anchor," replied Max.

"She wa.s.s holting ta anchor, Shon. She tolt her pefore."

"Put she ought to have peen wi' ta poys!" cried Long Shon, giving the side of the boat a slap with his great hand. "She wa.s.s afraid."

"Yes," said Max, flushing slightly, "I was afraid to go down. They did want me to go."

"Put ta poy Scoodrach wa.s.s never afraid," cried Long Shon, looking hard at Max as if he had ill-used him.

"Waugh!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Tavish slowly, his voice sounding like the low, deep growl of some wild beast.

"Ta Scoodrach wa.s.s never pe afraid," cried Long Shon defiantly.

"Waugh!" growled Tavish more loudly and deeply than before.

"Ta Scoodrach wa.s.s never pe afraid," cried Long Shon, striking the gunwale of the boat again, and his face flushed with anger.

"Waugh!" roared Tavish; and the great forester's beard seemed to bristle as he burst out into an angry speech in Gaelic, to which Long Shon kept on edging in a word or two in the same tongue, but only with the effect of making Tavish roar more loudly, till Long Shon seemed to give in, completely mastered by his big companion.

What was said was a mystery to Max, but it sounded to him as if the big forester was taking his part, and crushing down Long Shon till the latter gave in, when Tavish's face cleared, and his eyes smiled at Max, as he said,--

"She shall not do like Maister Ken and Scoodrach, or ta poat could not come and say they are on the crag."

"No, of course not," said Max confusedly, for he could hardly follow the great fellow's meaning.

Then, in comparative peace, the boat skimming rapidly over the smooth sea, they sped on, with Max wondering that the ride could be so different now that there was no danger, and he had the companionship of two strong men. But all the same he could not help feeling something like regret that he was no longer the crew and in full charge. He felt something like pride, too, in his exploit, and the day's adventure had done more than he knew towards planting him in the high road to manhood.

The castles were pa.s.sed in what seemed a wonderfully short time, and the great wall of cliff loomed up on their left, but they had a long way to sail before Max suddenly exclaimed,--

"I see them! Look! Kenneth is waving his cap."