y. Judging by his face, you would have said he was subsiding
into a slumber under the infliction of a sermon, instead of listening
to a lawyer proposing a stratagem. When I had done, the man showed the
metal he was made of. In plain English, he put three questions which
gave me the highest opinion of his intelligence. 'How much luggage,
sir?' 'As little as they can conveniently take with them,' I said. 'How
many persons?' 'The two ladies, the child, and myself.' 'Can you row,
sir?' 'In any water you like, Mr. Gardener, fresh or salt'. Think of
asking Me, an athletic Englishman, if I could row! In an hour more we
were ready to embark, and the blessed fog was thicker than ever. Mrs.
Presty yielded under protest; Kitty was wild with delight; her mother
was quiet and resigned. But one circumstance occurred that I didn't
quite understand--the presence of a stranger on the pier with a gun in
his hand."

"You don't mean one of the spies?"

"Nothing of the sort; I mean an idea of the gardener's. He had been a
sailor in his time--and that's a trade which teaches a man (if he's
good for anything) to think, and act on his thought, at one and the same
moment. He had taken a peep at the blackguards in front of the house,
and had recognized the shortest of the two as a native of the place,
perfectly well aware that one of the features attached to the cottage
was a boathouse. 'That chap is not such a fool as he looks,' says the
gardener. 'If he mentions the boat-house, the other fellow from London
may have his suspicions. I thought I would post my son on the pier--that
quiet young man there with the gun--to keep a lookout. If he sees
another boat (there are half a dozen on this side of the lake) putting
off after us, he has orders to fire, on the chance of our hearing him.
A little notion of mine, sir, to prevent our being surprised in the fog.
Do you see any objection to it?' Objection! In the days when diplomacy
was something more than a solemn pretense, what a member of Congress
that gardener would have made! Well, we shipped our oars, and away we
went. Not quite haphazard--for we had a compass with us. Our course was
as straight as we could go, to a village on the opposite side of the
lake, called Brightfold. Nothing happened for the first quarter of an
hour--and then, by the living Jingo (excuse my vulgarity), we heard the
gun!"

"What did you do?"

"Went on rowing, and held a council. This time I came out as the clever
one