A Great Emergency and Other Tales

-that we were always close to land, and this on both sides. We could touch either coast without difficulty, and as t

ventures were not true stories, and as I have read and learned more about the world than I knew at that time, I know now that there are only certain things which one can meet with by land or by sea. But when

. And when Fred spoke of his "pulling himself" I was yet more bewildered by the unavoidable conclusion that they had no horse on board, and that the gallant and ever-ready captain went himself between the shafts. The wonder of his getting to Musk Island in that fashion was, however, eclipsed by the wonders he found when he did get there. Musk-hedges and bowers ten feet high, with flowers as large as bindweed blossoms, and ladies with pale go

et Lake, for we were so deeply charmed by it that we very near

rrow and like a river, the barge-master called these lakes "flashes" of the canal. There is no other fl

lpitate in the heat as they went giddily by, and Mr. Rowe, who stood quite steady, conversing coolly with the driver. The driver had been on board for the last hour, the way being clear, and the old horse quite able to take care of itself and us, and he and the barge-master had pocket-handkerchiefs under their hats like the sou'-wester flaps of the

p here!" we

mopping himself with his very useful pocket-handkerchief. "

ontinued; "there ain't a prettier

ipen in this blazing sun! Birds sang in the trees above; fish leaping after flies broke the still surface of the water with a musical splash below; and beyond a doubt there must be the largest and the sweetest of earth-nuts on the island, easy to get out of the deep beds of untouched leaf-mould. And wh

island without help, we should not have confided our plans to so doubtful a friend. As it was, we were obliged t

rony, and made his sayings so oracular)-"There's very different places in the world to Linnet Flash"-that we began t

looked our last upon the island, and had crept with lowered mast under an old brick bridge where young ferns hung down from the archway, and when w

emphasis upon teen, as if he feared we might do him the injusti

the sunshine and the shore, in rapt attention to Mr. Rowe'

d years the battl

which sea-breezes are the only cure. I think Mr. Rowe got excited himself as he recalled old times.

life is the

became alarmed for the consequences of his indiscretion, and thenceforward told us sea-stories with t

s convinced me more and more that we could no

I who literally made the tea, whilst Mr. Rowe's steadier hand cut thick slices of bread-and-butter from a large loaf. There was only

eturned to the deck and could

ing events of the first day of our voyage were our p

ibe deserving to be represented in so choice a company, were wafted up the stream, and met our ears before our eyes beheld the landing-st

l-dog, trying politely but vainly to hide his teeth and tongue, wagged what the fancier had left him of a tail, and dribbled with the pleasure of making our acquaintance, after the wont of his benevolent and much-maligned family. I have since felt pretty certain that Mr. Rowe gave his friend a sketch of our prospects and intentions in the same spirit in which he had written to Mr. Johnson, and I distinctly overheard the dog-fan

not to hear anything, the words "Linnet Flash" became audible, I blushed to hear the fancier ch

ur cap nodded to the forehatch, where Fred and I were sitting on coiled ropes, a

he said it, and the bull

s parting words, as he went aft, a

e bull-dog, but I had some