Rudder Grange | Page 8

wade
through the mud and reeds to her bow, and then climb up as well as I
could.
This I did, but it was not easy to do. Twice I sank above my knees in
mud and water, and had it not been for reeds, masses of which I
frequently clutched when I thought I was going over, I believe I should
have fallen down and come to my death in that horrible marsh. When I
reached the boat, I stood up to my hips in water and saw no way of
climbing up. The gang-plank had undoubtedly floated away, and if it
had not, it would have been of no use to me in my position.

But I was desperate. I clasped the post that they put in the bow of
canal-boats; I stuck my toes and my finger-nails in the cracks between
the boards--how glad I was that the boat was an old one and had
cracks!--and so, painfully and slowly, slipping part way down once or
twice, and besliming myself from chin to foot, I climbed up that post
and scrambled upon deck. In an instant, I reached the top of the stairs,
and in another instant I rushed below.
There sat my wife and our boarder, one on each side of the dining-
room table, complacently playing checkers!
My sudden entrance startled them. My appearance startled them still
more.
Euphemia sprang to her feet and tottered toward me.
"Mercy!" she exclaimed; "has anything happened?"
"Happened!" I gasped.
"Look here," cried the boarder, clutching me by the arm, "what a
condition you're in. Did you fall in?"
"Fall in!" said I.
Euphemia and the boarder looked at each other. I looked at them. Then
I opened my mouth in earnest.
"I suppose you don't know," I yelled, "that you have drifted away!"
"By George!" cried the boarder, and in two bounds he was on deck.
Dirty as I was, Euphemia fell into my arms. I told her all. She hadn't
known a bit of it!
The boat had so gently drifted off, and had so gently grounded among
the reeds, that the voyage had never so much as disturbed their games
of checkers.

"He plays such a splendid game," Euphemia sobbed, "and just as you
came, I thought I was going to beat him. I had two kings and two
pieces on the next to last row, and you are nearly drowned. You'll get
your death of cold--and--and he had only one king."
She led me away and I undressed and washed myself and put on my
Sunday clothes.
When I reappeared I went out on deck with Euphemia. The boarder was
there, standing by the petunia bed. His arms were folded and he was
thinking profoundly. As we approached, he turned toward us.
"You were right about that anchor," he said, "I should not have hauled
it in; but it was such a little anchor that I thought it would be of more
use on board as a garden hoe."
"A very little anchor will sometimes do very well," said I, cuttingly,
"when it is hooked around a tree."
"Yes, there is something in that," said he.
It was now growing late, and as our agitation subsided we began to be
hungry. Fortunately, we had everything necessary on board, and, as it
really didn't make any difference in our household economy, where we
happened to be located, we had supper quite as usual. In fact, the kettle
had been put on to boil during the checker- playing.
After supper, we went on deck to smoke, as was our custom, but there
was a certain coolness between me and our boarder.
Early the next morning I arose and went upstairs to consider what had
better be done, when I saw the boarder standing on shore, near by.
"Hello!" he cried, "the tide's down and I got ashore without any trouble.
You stay where you are. I've hired a couple of mules to tow the boat
back. They'll be here when the tide rises. And, hello! I've found the
gang-plank. It floated ashore about a quarter of a mile below here."

In the course of the afternoon the mules and two men with a long rope
appeared, and we were then towed back to where we belonged.
And we are there yet. Our boarder remains with us, as the weather is
still fine, and the coolness between us is gradually diminishing. But the
boat is moored at both ends, and twice a day I look to see if the ropes
are all right.
The petunias are growing beautifully, but the geraniums do not seem to
flourish. Perhaps there is not a sufficient depth of earth for them.
Several times our boarder has appeared to be on the point of suggesting
something