r his
hat, and his golden beard shining in the morning sun; but the only
satisfaction for his eyes was the back of his son growing smaller and
smaller.

"Chip of the old block!" "Sarve 'ee right, Cap'en!" "Starve 'un back
to his manners again!" the inferior chieftains of the expedition cried,
according to their several views of life. But Zebedee Tugwell paid no
heed to thoughts outside of his own hat and coat. "Spake when I ax you,"
he said, urbanely, but with a glance which conveyed to any too urgent
sympathizer that he would be knocked down, when accessible.

But, alas! the less-disciplined women rejoiced, with a wink at their
departing lords, as Mrs. Zebedee set off in chase of her long-striding
Daniel. The mother, enriched by home affections and course of duties
well performed, was of a rounded and ample figure, while the son was
tall, and thin as might be one of strong and well-knit frame. And the
sense of wrong would not permit him to turn his neck, or take a glance
at the enterprise which had rejected him.

"How grand he does look! what a noble profile!" thought Dolly, who had
seen everything without the glass, but now brought it to bear upon his
countenance. "He is like the centurion in the painted window, or a Roman
medallion with a hat on. But that old woman will never catch him. She
might just as well go home again. He is walking about ten miles an hour,
and how beautifully straight his legs are! What a shame that he should
not be a gentleman! He is ten times more like one than most of the
officers that used to come bothering me so. I wonder how far he means
to go? I do hope he won't make away with himself. It is almost enough
to make him do it, to be so insulted by his own father, and disgraced
before all the village, simply because he can't help having his poor
head so full of me! Nobody shall ever say that I did anything to give
him the faintest encouragement, because it would be so very wicked and
so cruel, considering all he has done for me. But if he comes back,
when his father is out of sight, and he has walked off his righteous
indignation, and all these people are gone to dinner, it might give a
turn to his thoughts if I were to put on my shell-colored frock and
the pale blue sash, and just go and see, on the other side of the
stepping-stones, how much longer they mean to be with that boat they
began so long ago."

CHAPTER X

ACROSS THE STEPPING-STONES

Very good boats were built at thi