oats or vessels near us, and I was satisfied that Mr.
Waterford would be obliged to walk several miles to a station on the
railroad which passed through the swamp and over the lagoon.

I was so well satisfied with the good fortune that grew out of my
catastrophe, that I soon neglected to think of Mr. Ben Waterford. I
left him to enjoy his own reflections; and I hoped one of them would
be, that villany could not long prosper even in this world. I wished
that he might recall, if he had ever heard of it, the Scotch poet's
proverb, that

"The best laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft a-gley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief and pain
For promised joy."

This bit of romance was not likely to end in a marriage, thanks to the
returning or awaked sense of Miss Collingsby.

I ceased to think of my discomfited skipper, and turned my thoughts to
Mr. Charles Whippleton, to whom I devoted my whole attention. The
Florina had passed out of the creek in the midst of the encounter
between Waterford and myself; and the junior partner of our firm must
have seen me when I was pitched over the bow of the tender. Whether he
had been able to see the issue of the battle or not, I did not know,
for his yacht passed beyond the point before it was terminated. The
Florina was headed to the eastward, and I judged that she was about a
mile ahead of me when I tripped the anchor of the Marian. I intended to
chase him even into the adjoining lakes, if he led me so far. I meant
to recover Mrs. Whippleton's treasure, if it took me all summer, and
used up all the money I had in the world.

Marian Collingsby looked very sad and anxious. Her chest heaved with
emotion as she realized how serious was the movement upon which we had
entered. I was confident that, if she ever reached the shelter of her
father's roof, she would never be imprudent again; that she would have
more regard for her father's solid judgment than for her own fanciful
preferences.

"You don't know how frightened I was, Philip," said she, when I took my
place at the helm.

"I don't wonder. I was frightened myself; but it was more for you than
for me," I replied, as I let out the main sheet.

"But what a terrible fight you had with him!" exclaimed she, with
something like a shudder.

"O, that was nothing!" I replied, laughing, in order to encourage her.

"Nothing! Why, he struck at you with the oar!"

"And I struck at him with the b