Part 8 (1/2)
”Perhaps I a in my bones that Miss Selincourt and I shall not fall in love with each other”
”I expect that what you have really got in your bones is a touch of rheuh wet snow,” Mrs Burton said anxiously ”Dear, you must take care of yourself, for ould becohed, only there was notthe h as shoe leather; only soets knobby, because all the children I can find to teach are grown-up babies of thirty and forty, who prefer flirting to arithmetic, and have to be continually snubbed in order to keep thery!”
”Poor Katherine! It is hard on you, for you are certainly ht school; but, on the other hand, what a good thing it has been for the s,” said Mrs Burton ”Mrs Jenkin was saying only yesterday that there has not been half soat Seal Cove this winter as there was last year, because the men would rather coraphy”
”They are willing enough to listen, and will sit looking as stupid as a school of white whales, caught in a stake trap,” replied Katherine ”But see what dunces some of them are when I try to knock a little arithmetic into their thick heads”
”Yes, I will admit they are rather dense; and you are very much more patient with theh The night school had privately been a very great trial to her, for since 'Duke Radford's indifferent health had caused him to lie in bed so much, it had been impossible to use the room off the store as schoolroo-room had been invaded by a swarm of more or less unwashed men, whose habits were not always of the most refined description
”The need for patience will soon be over now,” Katherine said, understanding the cause of the sigh, although Mrs Burton had uttered no spoken co to break the boats out yesterday, and it is raining nohich will help , and then we may have floods”
”Oh dear, I hope not!” replied Mrs Burton with a shi+ver, for spring floods were no joke in that part of the world ”By the way, has Miles told you that he saw the Englishlishman?” dehts immediately flew to Mr Selincourt; only, of course, it was not possible that he could arrive before June
”Didn't you hear that an Englishht up the mail?” said Mrs Burton in surprise
”Not a word But certainly he must be a plucky sort of person to have ventured a journey of four hundred miles on snowshoes Do you knoho he is?” Katherine asked with quickened interest
”So, I think; a sort of master of the fleet very likely,” replied Mrs Burton, who had dropped her knitting and gathered both the little girls on to her lap, as the surestthem quiet while she talked to her sister
”Hoill Oily Dave like that, I wonder?” Katherine said in aoff to the pails of stolen lard She had kept up an unre watchfulness ever since the ti reat as ever
”I don't suppose he will like it at all,” Mrs Burton answered ”But it is quite tie”
CHAPTER IX
The Flood
Twenty-four hours of a hard, continuous downpour, accohty difference in the aspect of things at Roaring Water Portage By night on the day following the arrival of thedown the rapids with a roar, bringing great luments on the rocks, or ashed doith the current to be aanchored in the river below All day long, heedless of the pouring rain, thethe boats free froht caht school, which gave Katherine a welco, and inthat even her father was hter He was better andti of the future, and the hich would have to be done directly the fast-et about onceboat out, and carefully inspected the sea was required They used birchbark canoes a great deal at Roaring Water Portage in the summer-time, but there was too much ice about for birchbarks to be safe yet
”We will knock up a little shed for the boat above the portage this summer, then when next winter co her down here,” he said to Miles, as the two discussed the probability of being able to get the boat up the portage within a week
”Oh, don't talk of next winter, Father; we have not got rid of this one yet!” exclaiht, because of the o very fast anyhow, and I guess we shall see bare ground in places to- in a sleepy tone; for he too had been breaking out ice that day, and was desperately tired
”Yes, it is going, and I'lad of it, for it has been the hardest winter to live through that I can remember, and I'm thankful to see the last of it,” 'Duke Radford answered; and so in his look and tone ht, Father?”
”Yes, I feel better than I have done for , in a tone too low for any but her to hear, ”and happier too”
”I believe you will feel better now, and get strong quickly,” said Mrs Burton hopefully ”The winter had thoroughly gripped your systeet better before”
All night long the roar of the water seerow louder and louder, while the ice crashed, and the ind howled through the leafless trees But thebroke fine, and the sun came out to warm up a orld Such a very orld it ith the river swollen to twice its ordinary width! But as Miles had predicted, there was bare ground visible, and to eyes which had looked on snow-covered earth for six long ht elcome indeed
When breakfast was over, Katherine and Miles ran the boat down to the water's edge, and floated it, getting in and paddling up and down to see that there was no leakage, and to enjoy the novel sensation after the long abstention fro But there ork to be done, and they could not afford to spend even a part of the day in rowing for their own amusement Stores had to be taken down to Seal Cove, and there was so to be done for some tusks of narwhal ivory which 'Duke Radford had been co scarcer every year, and the storekeeper at Roaring Water Portage was prepared to pay a very good price indeed for all that he could obtain