Part 11 (1/2)

CHAPTER VII.

FOUND!

FAST as Mr. Webster rowed, it was not fast enough for Philip's anxiety. They both knew that if the _Fairy_ had drifted down to Banksome Weir they would probably be too late to save Juliet from a terrible death. On a single minute might depend the fate of the girl.

Mr. Webster set his teeth and pulled with all his strength; Mrs.

Webster was steering, and she kept the boat in mid-stream that it might get the full force of the current. Phil knelt in the bows, keeping the sharpest look-out for any sign of his missing cousin. The damp wind blew down the river and drove them on.

They pa.s.sed many other boats and two or three barges, but not a sign of the _Fairy_. They flew along between green banks, between hedges, trees, houses. Sometimes they could see nothing more distant than a hedge, at other times the flat fields stretched back and back, and were lost at the feet of misty gray hills. But not on the river, nor on the banks, nor in the fields, could Philip see Juliet's figure.

”How little even some grown men know about rowing!” was Mr. Webster's remark when he saw a heavy-looking boat with a smaller one tied to its stern coming up the middle of the stream. ”It is that old gentleman who, they say, is staying at the hotel with his son, and their man-servant is sculling them up the very stiffest bit of the current.”

”Hoorah!” shouted Philip. ”All right, Juliet!”

For on the seat beside Mr. Burnet, sheltered by his umbrella, sat the truant girl, while young Leonard was giving Roberts instructions in the art of rowing.

The two boats met and came alongside. Philip was so greatly relieved in mind that he almost felt inclined to cry, while Juliet was silent and ashamed if not sulky.

”This child has given her friends at Littlebourne Lock a terrible fright,” said Mr. Webster to Mr. Burnet. ”When they discovered that the boat was missing as well as the girl, they quite thought that both must have gone over the weir together.”

The vicar had brought his boat close beside Mr. Burnet's, and held the rowlocks of the latter while he asked questions.

”Is she hurt in any way?”

”No, not at all. I think we came upon her just in time.”

”Had she got down as far as the weir?”

”Just to the first pier which is marked with the word DANGER.”

”Oh, Juliet!” cried Philip with a gasp. ”If the _Fairy_ had been drawn to the wrong side of that post--”

Mr. Webster looked so grave, and they were all so impressed with a sense of the great peril she had incurred, that Juliet's pride and coldness were broken down for once, and she sat beside Mr. Burnet weeping silently.

”Well, well,” said Mrs. Webster, ”she is tired, and I daresay hungry, and you had better get her home as quickly as you can. There is heavy rain coming up, and we must be down at Egham by four o'clock if possible. I am afraid we shall be caught by the storm. Philip Rowles, get into this gentleman's boat, and help to take your cousin home.”

”And I will look in one day, little girl, and have a talk with you,”

said the vicar of Littlebourne as he bent to his work and flew down the river, distancing the storm.

Leonard Burnet now took an oar and Roberts took the other, and they rowed hard against wind and current. Mr. Burnet sheltered Juliet and himself as best he could against the rain, which came in heavy, uncertain dashes. Philip had to sit on the planks at their feet, for the stern seat only held two.

”Do tell me, Juliet, all that has happened to you. Did the _Fairy_ go adrift by accident?”

”No,” replied Juliet through her m.u.f.fled sobs.

”Then how did she get unmoored? I do believe she has lost a scull!”

Philip added, trying to examine the poor old boat which was being towed behind them. ”I can't make out very well, but I think she has lost a scull and her rudder.”