"I don't care, we're saved," he said; "what if I am seasick?"

The next day I passed my time between the cabin and deck. Mattia wanted
to be left alone. When at last the skipper pointed out Harfleur I
hurried down to the cabin to tell him the good news. As it was late in
the afternoon when we arrived at Harfleur, Bob's brother told us that we
could sleep on the boat that night if we wished.

"When you want to go back to England," he said the next morning, as we
wished him good-by, and thanked him for what he had done for us, "just
remember that the _Eclipse_ sails from here every Tuesday."

It was a kind invitation, but Mattia and I each of us had our reason for
not wishing to cross the sea again ... yet awhile.

Fortunately we had our profits from Bob's performance. In all we had
twenty-seven francs and fifty centimes. Mattia wanted to give Bob the
twenty-seven francs in payment for the expenses he had been put to for
my flight, but he would not accept a penny.

"Well, which way shall we go?" I asked when we landed in France.

"By the canal," replied Mattia promptly, "because I have an idea. I
believe the _Swan_ is on the canal this summer, now that Arthur's been
so ill, and I think we ought to find it," he added.

"But what about Lise and the others?" I asked.

"We'll see them while we're looking for Mrs. Milligan. As we go up the
canal, we can stop and see Lise."

With a map that we bought, we searched for the nearest river: it was the
Seine.

"We'll go up the Seine and ask all the fishermen along the banks if
they've seen the _Swan_. It isn't like any other boat from what you say,
and if they've seen it they'll remember."

Before beginning the long journey that was probably ahead of us I bought
some soft soap to clean Capi. To me, Capi yellow--was not Capi. We
washed him thoroughly, each one taking it in turns until he was tired
out. But Bob's dye was an excellent quality and when we had finished he
was still yellow, but a shade paler. It would require many shampoos
before we could get him back to his original color. Fortunately Normandy
is a country of brooks and each day we gave him a bath.

We reached the top of a hill one morning and Mattia spied the Seine away
ahead of us, winding in a large curve. From then on, we began to
question the people. Had they seen the _Swan_, a beautiful barge with a
veranda? No one had seen it. It must have passed in the night. We went
on to Rouen, where again we com