from Barchester, when, from behind
the pile of miscellaneous stuff collected on the wharf waiting transit
by the _Smiling Jane_, three small figures appeared suddenly, as if they
had sprung from the water beneath the planks. It was Bambo with his
little charges.

"Well, well!" exclaimed bargee, staring at the trio in open-mouthed
astonishment.

"Did ee ever!" cried a woman who was mounting guard over some hampers of
quacking ducks and cackling hens.

"The pretty dears!" ejaculated another; "eh, the sweet crayters! But
just look at _him_! See his big, ugly head, an' the arms o' him like the
flappers o' a win'mill! Save us all!" she piously added, gazing her fill
at the dwarf and the children, whose winsome faces and uncommon
appearance could not be concealed under a few days' smudges, nor
disguised beneath a cotton frock or faded velveteen suit.

Darby, who was to be spokesman for the party, here approached the
bargeman with frank, courteous manner; while the dwarf hung timidly in
the rear, still keeping Joan well within the shelter of his arm.

"Please, Mr. Bargee, will you take us in your boat as far as Firdale?"
begged the boy, in gentle, winning tones. "We've come a long way, and
Mr. Bambo here," pointing to the dwarf, "has such a bad cold that he's
not able to walk any further. Do say 'yes;' won't you, Mr. Bargee?"

For an instant the young fellow hesitated, looking from the boy to the
dwarf and the golden-haired girl. Then he shook his head decisively.

"Can't do it, little un," he said kindly. "It's agin the rules, an' I
durstn't break them. I was near gettin' the sack not long ago because a
couple o' tramps or play-actor folks over-persuaded me to give them a
lift. The perlice was on their track. Reg'lar sharpers they was. That
was only two or three days back, when them kids belongin' to Dene o'
Firgrove disappeared," explained bargee to the gaping loungers hanging
about the wharf.

"But we're Dene's kids! we come from Firgrove! Father--Captain Dene, you
know--left us there with Aunt Catharine and Auntie Alice when he went to
Africa," cried Darby, in eager, rapid snatches of speech.

"Likely!" laughed bargee good-humouredly. "Tell that to the marines,
chappie. Maybe _they'll_ b'lieve you, for Will Spiers don't. He's not
sich a green un as to be took in by a tale like that. Dene's kids was
drownded in the canal. Their clo'es or boots or somethin' was found the
other evenin'. Leastways, so I heerd," he ad