Boys got to foolin' and--Ah! hum! Wasn't
none of 'em your sons, were they, Ma'am?"

From the moment of their first meeting there had been a silent
battle between the capable housekeeper and the incapable "southern
gentleman." She had had several talks with Dorothy and Jim over the
finances of this trip and she knew that it would have to be a short
one if "ends were to meet." She felt that this man, aristocrat though
he might be, had no right to impose himself and his prodigious
appetite upon them just because the lads had tried to buy his old mule
and he had, instead, so generously presented it.

"I don't see what good that yapping Billy does, anyway! He doesn't
work at all and he's living on somebody else's grass. There'll be a
bill coming in for his fodder, next we know;" she had grumbled. It may
be said, to her credit, that she was infinitely more careful of
Dorothy's interests than she would have been of her own. But all her
grumbling and hints failed to effect what she had hoped they
would--the Colonel's permanent departure for home along with the
useless Billy.

Now all that was to be changed. Almost before he had gone, it seemed,
Farmer Stillwell came steaming down stream on a small tugboat, which
puffed and fussed as if it were some mighty steamship, and passing the
Water Lily manoeuvred to turn around and face upstream again.
Presently, a rope was made fast to the prow of the house-boat and
securely tied, and Mr. Stillwell stepped aboard to announce:

"All ready to move, Ma'am. Your company all back?"

"Not all. The girls have just come but the Captain and the boys are
still away. We'll have to wait for them."

Mrs. Calvert's answer fell on unheeding ears.

"Guess not, Ma'am. This here tug's got another job right soon and if
we lose this chance may not be another in a dog's age. I knowed she
was around and could help us out, was the reason I spoke to you about
her. I guess it's now or never with the 'Nancy Jane.' Once she goes up
to Baltimo' she'll have more jobs an' she can tackle. Wouldn't be here
now, only she had one down, fetching some truck-scows back. Well, what
you say?"

A brief consultation was held in the cabin of the Water Lily in which
the voices of four eager girls prevailed:

"Why, let's take the chance, of course, Auntie dear. We can leave a
note pinned to the wharf telling the boys and Cap'n Jack that we've
gone on to the Ottawotta. They can follow in their row-boat. And,
Colonel D