120 BRAGGADOCIO.

“Mr. Cramer was more kind then you
thought, Bessie.” |

“So he was. I thought, at one time, he
was a hard customer. He must have been
fooling me. Let them laugh that win, say I.”

Tom went to work in the field after telling
Bessie to be ready to start for the island at
four o’clock.

Bessie had stockings to darn, and other
mending to do; but it was all finished by four
o'clock. Tom then came in, and soon after
they were on their way to the river.

The Ousa was unusually high ; but the dams
at the mills were all closed, and the water was
so smooth that the green banks were perfectly
mirrored in it; and every tree by the edge of
the river seemed looking at its twin tree be-
low.

There lay the little red boat, reflected in the
water so perfectly, that Bessie said it looked
like a wide-open book, covered with red
morocco, and a white stripe at the edges.

“We will carry over our anchor to-day,”
said Tom, selecting a suitable stone.

Bessve.—But won't it sink the boat 2