stop. The crew, which had kept to shelter, sprang forward without a word
and as the captain crossed the bow deck the great spars were being
hauled forward. After the reversed paddles had shown the _Belle_ to be
aground beyond their help, the spars were put to work and it was not
long before they pushed her off again, and a few minutes later she nosed
against the bank.

The pilot sighed and packed his pipe. "Thar!" he said, explosively.
"Hyar we air, an' we ain't a-goin' on ag'in till we kin see th' channel.
No, sir, not if we has ter stay hyar a week!"

Tom led the way below and paused at the foot of the companionway as he
caught sight of Patience. He glowed slightly as he thought that she had
been waiting for him; and when he found that she had not yet entered the
cabin for breakfast, the glow became quite pronounced. He had seen many
pretty girls and had grown up with them, but the fact that she was
pretty was not the thing which made her so attractive to him. There was
a softness in her speaking voice, a quiet dignity and a certain reserve,
so honest that it needed no affectations to make it sensed; and under it
all he felt that there was a latent power of will that would make
panicky fears and actions impossible in her. And he never had perceived
such superb defenses against undue familiarity, superb in their
unobtrusiveness, which to him was proof of their sincerity and that they
were innate characteristics. He felt that she could repel much more
effectively without showing any tangible signs of it than could any
woman he ever had met. He promised himself that the study of her nature
would not be neglected, and he looked forward to it with eagerness.
There was, to him, a charm about her so complex, so subtle that it
almost completed the circle and became simple and apparent.

She smiled slightly and acknowledged his bow as he approached her.

"Good morning, Miss Cooper. Have you and your uncle breakfasted?"

"Not yet," she answered, turning toward the cabin. "I think he is
waiting for us. Shall we go in?"

The plural form of the personal pronoun sent a slight thrill through him
as he opened the door for her, showed her to the table, and seated her
so that she faced the wide expanse of the river.

"I imagined that I felt bumps against the boat sometime during the
night," she remarked. She looked inquiringly at Tom and her uncle. "Did
we strike anything?"

"Why," Tom answered in simulated surprise, "no one