X
ON THE TOW-PATH
When they could no longer see Granny, nor hear Fidel, the children satdown on a coil of rope behind the cabin and felt very miserable indeed.Marie was just turning up the corner of her apron to wipe her eyes, andJan was looking at nothing at all and winking very hard, when goodMother De Smet, came by with a baby waddling along on each side of her.She gave the two dismal little faces a quick glance and then saidkindly:
"Jan, you run and see if you can't help Father with the tiller, and,Marie, would you mind playing with the babies while I put on thesoup-kettle and fix the greens for dinner? They are beginning to climbeverywhere now, and I am afraid they will fall overboard if somebodydoesn't watch them every minute!"
Jan clattered at once across the deck to Father De Smet, and Mariegladly followed his wife to the open space in front of the cabin wherethe babies had room to roll about. Half an hour later, when Mother DeSmet went back to get some potatoes for the soup, she found Jan proudlysteering the boat by himself.
"Oh, my soul!" she cried in astonishment. "What a clever boy you mustbe to learn so quickly to handle the tiller. Where is Father De Smet?"
"Here!" boomed a loud voice behind her, and Father De Smet's headappeared above a barrel on the other side of the deck. "I'm trying tomake the 'Old Woman' look as if she had no cargo aboard. If the Germanssee these potatoes, they'll never let us get them to Antwerp," heshouted.
"Sh-h-h! You mustn't talk so loud," whispered Mother De Smet. "You roarlike a foghorn on a dark night. The Germans won't have any trouble infinding out about the potatoes if you shout the news all over thelandscape."
Father De Smet looked out over the quiet Belgian fields.
"There's nobody about that I can see," he said, "but I'll roar moregently next time."
There was a bend in the river just at this point, and Jan, lookingfearfully about to see if he could see any Germans, for an instantforgot all about the tiller. There was a jerk on the tow-rope and abump as the nose of the "Old Woman" ran into the river-bank. Netteke,the mule, came to a sudden stop, and Mother De Smet sat down equallysuddenly on a coil of rope. Her potatoes spilled over the deck, while awail from the front of the boat announced that one of the babies hadbumped, too. Mother De Smet picked herself up and ran to see what wasthe matter with the baby, while Father De Smet seized a long pole andhurried forward. Joseph left the mule to browse upon the grass besidethe tow-path and ran back to the boat. His father threw him a polewhich was kept for such emergencies, and they both pushed. Josephpushed on the boat and his father pushed against the river-bank.Meanwhile poor Jan stood wretchedly by the tiller knowing that hiscarelessness had caused the trouble, yet not knowing what to do to help.
"Never mind, son," said Mother De Smet kindly, when she came back forher potatoes and saw his downcast face. "It isn't the first time the'Old Woman' has stuck her nose in the mud, and with older people thanyou 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 thetiller! Head her out into the stream!"
Joseph flung his pole to his father and rushed back to Netteke, pulledher patient nose out of a delicious bunch of thistles and started herup the tow-path. Jan sprang to the tiller, and soon the "Old Woman" wasonce more gliding smoothly over the quiet water toward Antwerp.
When Father De Smet came back to the stern of the boat, Jan expected ascolding, but perhaps it seemed to the good-natured skipper that Janhad troubles enough already, for he only said mildly, "Stick to yourjob, son, whatever it is," and went on covering his potatoes with emptyboxes and pieces of sailcloth. Jan paid such strict attention to thetiller after that that he did not even forget when Father De Smetpointed out a burning farmhouse a mile or so from the river and saidgrimly, "The Germans are amusing themselves again."
For the most part, however, the countryside seemed so quiet andpeaceful that it was hard to believe that such dreadful things weregoing on all about them. While Father De Smet's eyes, under their bushybrows, kept close watch in every direction, he said little about hisfears 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 teno'clock Joseph was tired of trudging along beside Netteke. He hailedhis 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 thefield 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 thegangplank was out and Jan and Joseph had changed places.
"May I go, too?" asked Marie timidly of Father De Smet as he was aboutto draw in the plank. "The babies are both asleep and I have nothing todo."
Father De Smet took a careful look in every direction. It was level,open country all about them, dotted here and there with farmhouses, andin the distance the spire of a village church rose above the clusteringhouses and pointed to the sky.
"Yes, yes, child. Go ahead," said Father De Smet. "Only don't get toonear Netteke's hind legs. She doesn't know you very well and sometimesshe forgets her manners."
Marie skipped over the gangplank and ran along the tow-path to Jan, whoalready had taken up Netteke's reins and was waiting for the signal tostart. Joseph took his place at the tiller, and again the "Old Woman"moved slowly down the stream.
For some time Jan and Marie plodded along with Netteke. At first theythought it good fun, but by and by, as the sun grew hot, driving a muleon a tow-path did not seem quite so pleasant a task as they had thoughtit would be.
"I'm tired of this," said Jan at last to Marie. "That mule is so slowthat I have to sight her by something to be sure that she is moving atall! I've been measuring by that farmhouse across the river for a longtime, and she hasn't crawled up to it yet! I shouldn't wonder if she'dgo to sleep some day and fall into the river and never wake up! Why, Iam almost asleep myself."
"She'll wake up fast enough when it's time to eat, and so will you,"said Marie, with profound wisdom.
"Let 's see if we can't make her go a little faster, anyway," said Jan,ignoring Marie's remark. "I know what I'll do," he went on, chuckling;"I'll get some burrs and stick them in her tail, and then every timeshe slaps the flies off she'll make herself go faster."
Marie seized Jan's arm.
"You'll do nothing of the kind!" she cried. "Father De Smet told meespecially to keep away from Netteke's hind legs."
"Pooh!" said Jan; "he didn't tell me that. I'm not afraid of any mulealive. I guess if I can harness a horse and drive home a load of grainfrom the field, there isn't much I can't do with a mule!" To prove hiswords he shouted "U--U" at Netteke and slapped her flank with a longbranch of willow.
Now, Netteke was a proud mule and she wasn't used to being slapped.Father De Smet knew her ways, and knew also that her steady, even, slowpace was better in the long run than to attempt to force a liveliergait, and Netteke was well aware of what was expected of her. Sheresented being interfered with. Instead of going forward at greaterspeed, she put her four feet together, laid back her ears, gave a loud"hee-haw!" and stopped stock-still.
"U--U!" shouted Jan. In vain! Netteke would not move. Marie held ahandful of fresh grass just out of reach of her mouth. But Netteke wasreally offended. She made no effort to get it. She simply stayed whereshe was. Father De Smet stuck his head over the side of the boat.
"What is the matter?" he shouted.
"Oh, dear!" said Jan to Marie. "I hoped he wouldn't notice that theboat wasn't moving."
"Netteke has stopped. She won't go at all. I think she's run down!"Marie called back.
"Try coaxing her," crie
d the skipper. "Give her something to eat. Holdit in front of her nose."
"I have," answered Marie, "but she won't even look at it."
"Then it's no use," said Father De Smet mournfully. "She's balked andthat is all there is to it. We'll just have to wait until she is readyto go again. When she has made up her mind she is as difficult topersuade as a setting hen."
Mother De Smet's head appeared beside her husband's over the boat-rail.
"Oh, dear!" said she; "I hoped we should get to the other side of theline before dark, but if Netteke's set, she's set, and we must justmake the best of it. It's lucky it's dinner-time. We'll eat, and maybeby the time we are through she'll be willing to start." Father De Smettossed a bucket on to the grass.
"Give her a good drink," he said, "and come aboard yourselves."
Jan filled the bucket from the river and set it down before Netteke,but she was in no mood for blandishments. She kept her ears back andwould not touch the water.
"All right, then, Crosspatch," said Jan. Leaving the pail in front ofher, he went back to the boat. The gangplank was put out, and he andMarie went on board. They found dinner ready in the tiny cabin, andbecause it was so small and stuffy, and there were too many of them,anyway, to get into it comfortably, they each took a bowl of soup asMother De Smet handed it to them and sat down on the deck in front ofthe cabin to eat it. It was not until the middle of the afternoon thatNetteke forgot her injuries, consented to eat and drink, and indicatedher willingness to move on toward Antwerp.