her nose in the mud, and with older people than
you at the tiller, too! We'll soon have her off again and no harm done."

The boat gave a little lurch toward the middle of the stream.

"Look alive there, Mate!" sang out Father De Smet. "Hard aport with the
tiller! Head her out into the stream!"

Joseph flung his pole to his father and rushed back to Netteke, pulled
her patient nose out of a delicious bunch of thistles and started her
up the tow-path. Jan sprang to the tiller, and soon the "Old Woman" was
once more gliding smoothly over the quiet water toward Antwerp.

When Father De Smet came back to the stern of the boat, Jan expected a
scolding, but perhaps it seemed to the good-natured skipper that Jan
had troubles enough already, for he only said mildly, "Stick to your
job, son, whatever it is," and went on covering his potatoes with empty
boxes and pieces of sailcloth. Jan paid such strict attention to the
tiller after that that he did not even forget when Father De Smet
pointed out a burning farmhouse a mile or so from the river and said
grimly, "The Germans are amusing themselves again."

For the most part, however, the countryside seemed so quiet and
peaceful that it was hard to believe that such dreadful things were
going on all about them. While Father De Smet's eyes, under their bushy
brows, kept close watch in every direction, he said little about his
fears and went on his way exactly as he had done before the invasion.

It was quite early in the morning when they left Boom, and by ten
o'clock Joseph was tired of trudging along beside Netteke. He hailed
his father.

"May I come aboard now?" he shouted.

Father De Smet looked at Jan.

"Would you like to drive the mule awhile?" he asked.

"Oh, wouldn't I!" cried Jan.

"Have you ever driven a mule before?" Father De Smet asked again.

"Not a mule, exactly," Jail replied, "but I drove old Pier up from the
field with a load of wheat all by myself. Mother sat on the load."

"Come along!" shouted Father De Smet to Joseph, and in a moment the
gangplank was out and Jan and Joseph had changed places.

"May I go, too?" asked Marie timidly of Father De Smet as he was about
to draw in the plank. "The babies are both asleep and I have nothing to
do."

Father De Smet took a careful look in every direction. It was level,
open country all about them, dotted here and there with farmhouses, and
in the distance the spire of a village church rose above the clus