"I'll stay--hic."

"Let me feel for you. O, here you are."

Will now felt of some one crouching against the stone-wall of the dock,
"How did you come here?"

"Dunno--hic--but I spect I did."

"You must have walked off the wall, and the great question now is how to
get back again."

"Yes--hic--that--is the question--hic--afore the house."

"Afore the dock, I should say. Whew, I believe I'm up to my thighs in mud,
and if that isn't water I'm splashing in! The tide is coming in, certain.
Come, friend, we must get out of this!"

"Yes, we must all--hic."

"Must all hic? We must all get out, you mean."

"Yes, all get-hic."

"Let me think. There are stairs out of this old bog somewhere, and where
are they? I declare! down at the other end, and the water is three or four
feet deep there when it is dry up here. Then put on top of it or under it
two or three feet of mud and you have five to six feet in all, and that is
an interesting state of things to wade through. We must stay at this end
of the dock; and back of Aunt Stanshy's barn, I believe, are steps. I must
work him up there, and do it myself somehow, for my shouting don't bring
any one."

Will had called several times for help, but there was no response. He now
addressed his boozy companion:

"I must get you up out of this somehow, and work you along where the steps
are. The wall is too high to boost you up here. If this isn't interesting,
nigh eleven o'clock, pitch dark, down in this old dock blundering with
you, drank as a fool! I feel like laughing."

"Yes--hic--you're drunk--as a--fool--and I
want--to--hic--laugh--he--he--he!"

Will did really laugh now. It seemed so funny there at that hour in that
place.

"But it's no laughing matter, friend, I'll tell you. O whew! Here's the
water half a foot deep all around us! Come now, lift up your feet and come
with me. Make an effort now."

The man rallied his strength so effectively to make this effort that he
lost his balance, and stumbling against Will, pitched him over.

"Look--look out--friend!" roared Will, as he floundered in mud and water.
"Can't you do better than that?"

"Besht--hic--I can do for you. Might try it again--hic."

"O, thanks--thanks. Be contented with that trial. There is my boot, stuck
fast in the mud, and let her go. Come, friend, make an effort to get
along. Stick close to the wall and work your way on, and lean on me.
There, you did splendidly then. Try again! There, there!