my small-sword alone could win me through. "All I ask is that,
whatever I do or say, you'll stand by me," I finished.

"Have you a plan?" he asked.

"Part of a plan. I----"

Before I had a chance to finish either plan or sentence the enemy was
upon us. I heard him coming, and turned round just in time to meet my
aunt's husband face to face as, climbing across from the nearest barge,
he leaped over the rail on to our little deck.

XXXVI

I smiled brilliantly at the dear fellow. I sprang to him, holding out a
welcoming hand.

"Why, Sir Alec, this _is_ a delightful surprise!" I exclaimed. "Where
_did_ you come from? I thought I had lost you, at Leeuwarden."

So utterly was he dumfounded, not to say flabbergasted, by the manner of
his reception, that I had time to spring these three quickly following
remarks upon him before he was able to answer.

When he did, it was with a sledge-hammer. "Well, I'm d--d!" said he.

I stared in gentle amazement; then, glancing quickly at Alb, appeared
suddenly to apprehend his meaning.

"Why, of course, you must be surprised to find me on a boat with
Jonkheer Brederode."

"You lied to me at Leeuwarden," went on Sir Alec. He was never a man to
mince words, as I noticed when visiting my aunt. Poor, pretty,
flirtatious Aunt Fay!

I now gathered dignity. My simple delight at an unexpected meeting with
a relative (in law) in a foreign waterway, froze into virtuous
indignation.

"Really, Sir Alec, I am at a loss to understand you," I said. "I greet
you in the most friendly----"

"Because you're a scoundrel and a hypocrite," said he.

This interruption I scorned to notice, save by proceeding as I had
intended to proceed.

"And you insult me. What do you mean, Sir Alec MacNairne?"

"I mean"--he caught me up without hesitation--"that you, though you
pretended to sympathize when I confided in you, were in league with
Rudolph Brederode to outwit and deceive me in the most shameless way."

"You forget yourself," said Brederode, turning red, and contriving to
keep his dignity in spite of Hendrik's sopping overalls. "I have never
deceived or injured you. If this were my boat, I should have to ask----"

"Don't try that on," said Sir Alec, scornfully. "It _is_ your boat."

"It happens to be the property of Miss Van Buren, a young American lady,
for whom I'm acting as skipper," returned Alb.

"Rot," was the terse comment of my uncle-in-law.

Alb bit his lip, and his eyes