ed the wet hair out of his eyes. He muttered a great deal, but said
nothing loud enough to be intelligible; his tone, however, was far from
reassuring to his companion. The lawyer unmoored the dug-out at both
ends, and set forth to recover the missing articles. He found the hat
and the two boards on the shore, a short way down the river, and, in the
middle of the stream, recaptured the fishing-rod. To his great delight,
the fish was still on the hook, and he imparted the joyful news to his
shivering friend, but got no single word in reply. It was another salmon
trout, or pickerel, or some such fish, and he deposited it gleefully in
the bottom of the canoe with the others, which had not escaped in the
tip-over. Returning, he handed Wilkinson his hat, and hoped he was none
the worse of his ducking. The schoolmaster took the wide-awake, but gave
no answer. Then the lawyer invited him to take his place in the boat,
when the storm burst.

"Am I a fool, Mr. Coristine, an abject, unthinking, infatuated fool, to
entrust my comfort, my safety, my life, to a man without the soul of a
man, to a childish, feeble-minded, giggling and guffawing player of
senseless, practical jokes, to a creature utterly wanting in heart,
selfish and brutal to a degree?"

"Oh, Wilks, my dear boy, this is too bad. I had nothing in the mortal
world to do with your tumbling out of the old dug-out, 'pon my honour I
hadn't."

"Kindly keep your silence, sir, and do not outrage my sufficiently
harrowed feelings by adding worse to bad. I shall go to the inn on
_terra firma_, and leave you in charge of what you seem so able to
manage in your own clownish, pantomimic way. Be good enough to bring my
fish, and do not distinguish yourself by upsetting them into their
native element." With these words, and in great apparent scorn, the
draggled dominie took his course along the bank and soon disappeared
from view. The lawyer followed in the canoe, but more slowly, as the
current was against him, and often turned the boat round. By dint of
strenuous efforts he gained the bridge, and found the supposed Ben
leaning over it.

"I see you've drownded your man," he remarked with a laugh.

"Yes," replied Coristine; "we had a spill."

"Had any luck?"

"Pretty fair," the lawyer answered, exhibiting his treasures.

"Perch, and chub, and shiners, and them good-for-nawthun tag ends of all
creation, suckers."

"Is that what they are?" asked the disappointed fisherman,