ix the greens for dinner? They are beginning to climb
everywhere now, and I am afraid they will fall overboard if somebody
doesn't watch them every minute!"

Jan clattered at once across the deck to Father De Smet, and Marie
gladly followed his wife to the open space in front of the cabin where
the babies had room to roll about. Half an hour later, when Mother De
Smet went back to get some potatoes for the soup, she found Jan proudly
steering the boat by himself.

"Oh, my soul!" she cried in astonishment. "What a clever boy you must
be to learn so quickly to handle the tiller. Where is Father De Smet?"

"Here!" boomed a loud voice behind her, and Father De Smet's head
appeared above a barrel on the other side of the deck. "I'm trying to
make the 'Old Woman' look as if she had no cargo aboard. If the Germans
see these potatoes, they'll never let us get them to Antwerp," he
shouted.

"Sh-h-h! You mustn't talk so loud," whispered Mother De Smet. "You roar
like a foghorn on a dark night. The Germans won't have any trouble in
finding out about the potatoes if you shout the news all over the
landscape."

Father De Smet looked out over the quiet Belgian fields.

"There's nobody about that I can see," he said, "but I'll roar more
gently next time."

There was a bend in the river just at this point, and Jan, looking
fearfully about to see if he could see any Germans, for an instant
forgot all about the tiller. There was a jerk on the tow-rope and a
bump as the nose of the "Old Woman" ran into the river-bank. Netteke,
the mule, came to a sudden stop, and Mother De Smet sat down equally
suddenly on a coil of rope. Her potatoes spilled over the deck, while a
wail from the front of the boat announced that one of the babies had
bumped, too. Mother De Smet picked herself up and ran to see what was
the matter with the baby, while Father De Smet seized a long pole and
hurried forward. Joseph left the mule to browse upon the grass beside
the tow-path and ran back to the boat. His father threw him a pole
which was kept for such emergencies, and they both pushed. Joseph
pushed on the boat and his father pushed against the river-bank.
Meanwhile poor Jan stood wretchedly by the tiller knowing that his
carelessness had caused the trouble, yet not knowing what to do to help.

"Never mind, son," said Mother De Smet kindly, when she came back for
her potatoes and saw his downcast face. "It isn't the first time the
'Old Woman' has stuck