l face of the boy, that deeds more
serious were afoot, and when he said, "Somebody'll pick me up, sure,
Marg'ret, and help me come back and get you," she broke out crying
afresh and said, "Don't, 'Laddin! Doo-on't, 'Laddin!"

"Don't cry, Marg'ret," said Aladdin, with a gulp. "I'd do more'n that
for you, and I can swim a little, too--b-better'n I can row."

"Oh, 'Laddin," said Margaret, "it's so cold in the water."

"Shucks!" said Aladdin, whose teeth had been knocking all night. "She's
the stanch little craft" (he had the phrase of a book) "Good Luck.
I'm the captain and you're the builder's daughter"--and so she was.
"Chrissen 'er, Marg'et. Kiss her on the bow an' say she's the Good
Luck."

Then Margaret, her hat over one ear, and the draggled ostrich feather
greatly in the way, knelt, and putting her arms about the shoreward end
of the log, kissed it, and said in a drawn little voice

"The Good Luck."

"And now, Margaret," said Aladdin, "you must stay right here' n' not
go 'way from the shore, so's I can find you when I come back. But
don't just sit still all the time,--keep moving, so's not to get any
colder,--'n I'll come back for you sure."

Then, because he felt his courage failing, he said, "Good-by, Marg'ret,"
and turning abruptly, waded in to his ankles and bent over the log to
give it that final impetus which was to set it adrift. In his heart
were several things: the desire to make good, fear of the river, and,
poignant and bitter, the feeling that Margaret did not understand. He
was too young to believe that death might really be near him (almost
reckless enough not to care if he had), but keenly aware that his
undertaking was perilous enough to warrant a more adequate farewell. So
he bent bitterly over the log and stiffened his back for the heave. It
must be owned that Aladdin wanted more of a scene.

"'Laddin, I forgot something. Come back."

He came, his white lips drawn into a sort of smile. Then they kissed
each other on the mouth with the loud, innocent kiss of little children,
and after that Aladdin felt that the river was only a river, the cold
only cold, the danger only danger and flowers--more than flowers.

He moved the log easily and waded with it into the icy waters, until his
feet were dragged from the bottom, and after one awful instant of
total submersion the stanch little ship Good Luck and valiant Captain
Kissed-by-Margaret were embarked on the voyage perilous. His left arm
over