Chapter XXXII.
AN ASTONISHED FARMER.
"Wall, I swanny!" was the farmer's exclamation, as he stared at thestrange-looking outfit invading his shores. "Who be ye? and where didye come from?"
They began to tell him, and at every sentence his "Wall, I swanny!"was thrown in, to show the astonishment with which he listened. Atlast he seemed to recollect himself.
"Ye mus' be drea'ful tired--nigh about beat out--and cold, too. Comeinto the haouse and git suthin' to eat. There ain't nobody to hum, butI guess I can find ye suthin'."
_Something!_ Why, my dear reader, they found, in the buttery andmilk-room and cellar of that little house on the shore, a dinner thelike of which, for goodness, they believed never was equalled. Theyate and ate, laughing and almost crying by turns over their goodfortune, the happiness of feeling safe and warm again taking off theirhearts a load, whose weight they had not appreciated until it wasremoved. Meanwhile the old gentleman gossiped on in a pleasantstrain.
"My wife," he told them, "has gone down to the Port to see da'ter an'her husband, for a day or two. My son, he runs on the Lake ShoreRailroad in the winter, and so I'm alone. They wanted me to go down tothe Port, too, but I don't think any great things of the fellerSamanthy married, and I told mother I 'lowed I'd be more comf'ablestayin' home 'long with the cow and the chickens."
"What is this Port you speak of, sir?" Aleck asked him.
"What? Why, Port Linton, to be sure--don't ye know where that is? Oh,I forgot, ye're lost, ain't ye. He! he! Wall, Port Linton is a town onthe railroad, and also on the shore, to the west'ard o' here, or,leastways, to the suthard, 'cause we're out on a pint here, and thePort is up at the head of the bay, behind the big ma'sh. Ye could seeit if 'twan't for them big sycamores. 'S about five mile 'cross thewater."
"Can you let us stay with you to-night, and to-morrow we'll go on tothe Port?"
"Oh, yes, ye can stay, an' welcome. If mother was home I'd hitch upand take ye in, but I ain't got no horse to-day, so I s'pose that'sthe best thing ye can do. But you'll have to double up some, 'cause Iain't got four beds."
Their rich supper and deep sleep and full breakfast made a new crewof them, and next morning they were eager to get on. It seemed asthough ages had passed since they had been in civilization, and Tugbegan to wonder whether he would recognize a railway car when he sawit. When they were ready to go, Aleck heartily thanked the kind oldfarmer for his hospitality, and asked how much he should pay him fortheir entertainment.
"'WA'AL, I DECLARE!'"]
"Oh, I don't want nothin'--nothin' at all," he said. "You're what theymight call mariners in distress, and I just helped you as well as Icould. I ain't done nothin', an' I don't want no money."
"Oh, but we have eaten so much, and made you so much trouble. I shallnot feel right unless you let us pay you."
"Wall, if you're so earnest about it, I 'low a dollar would be aboutright. I reckon ye didn't hurt me mor'n about that's worth."
Surely this was small enough, but the farmer was entirely satisfied,and said he was sorry to say good-bye.
They had swung along over the ice in good style after leaving thefarmer's cottage, and the buildings and ice-bound shipping of thevillage, which in summer was a busy port, but in winter was sleepyenough, were now in plain view.
There was to be the end of their troubles so far as the presentscrape was concerned, but they were not a great deal nearer Clevelandthan when they started; and their minds, relieved of presentanxieties, began to be crowded with thoughts of the future, and howthey were going to accomplish their purpose any better now than beforethey had started.
They were to be aided, in this respect, in a way they had notsuspected, however, and the help was now approaching in the shape of askater who came on towards them with swift, strong strides.