There's St. Nicholas ringing one!"
"I've only got fourteen and ninepence," cried she in despair, after
counting over her money; "but I'll give you my shawl, and you can
sell it for four or five shillings--oh! won't that much do?" asked
she, in such a tone of voice, that they must indeed have had hard
hearts who could refuse such agonised entreaty.
They took her on board.
And in less than five minutes she was rocking and tossing in a boat
for the first time in her life, alone with two rough, hard-looking
men.
XXVIII. "JOHN CROPPER," AHOY!
"A wet sheet and a flowing sea,
A wind that follows fast
And fills the white and rustling sail,
And bends the gallant mast!
And bends the gallant mast, my boys,
While, like the eagle free,
Away the good ship flies, and leaves
Old England on the lee."
--ALLAN CUNNINGHAM.
Mary had not understood that Charley was not coming with her. In
fact, she had not thought about it, till she perceived his absence,
as they pushed off from the landing-place, and remembered that she
had never thanked him for all his kind interest in her behalf; and
now his absence made her feel most lonely--even his, the little
mushroom friend of an hour's growth.
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