could he tell boom from bowsprit? I didn’t believe it; he had the hang of
the up-river folks. But there stood Mr. Gabriel, so quiet and easy, his
eyelids down, and he humming an underbreath of song; and there sat Faith,
so pale and so pretty, a trifle sad, a trifle that her conscience would
brew for her, whether or no. Yet, after all, there was an odd expression
in Mr. Gabriel’s face, an eager, restless expectation; and if his lids
were lowered, it was only to hide the spark that flushed and quenched in
his eye like a beating pulse.

We had reached the draw, it was lifted for the Speed, she had passed, and
the wind was in her sail once more. Yet, somehow, she hung back. And then
I saw that the men in her were of those with whom Mr. Gabriel had spoken
at noon. Dan’s sail fell slack, and we drifted slowly through, while he
poled us along with an oar.

"Look out, Georgie!" said Dan, for he thought I was going to graze my
shoulder upon the side there. I looked; and when I turned again, Mr.
Gabriel was rising up from some earnest and hurried sentence to Faith.
And Faith, too, was standing, standing and swaying with indecision, and
gazing away out before her,——so flushed and so beautiful,——so loath and
so willing. Poor thing! poor thing! as if her rising in itself were not
the whole!

Mr. Gabriel stepped across the boat, stooped a minute, and then also took
an oar. How perfect he was, as he stood there that moment!——perfect like
a statue, I mean,——so slender, so clean-limbed, his dark face pale to
transparency in the green light that filtered through the draw! and then
a ray from the sunset came creeping over the edge of the high fields and
smote his eyes sidelong so that they glowed like jewels, and he with his
oar planted firmly hung there bending far back with it, completely full
of strength and grace.

"It is not the _bateaux_ in the rapids," said he.

"What are you about?" asked Dan, with sudden hoarseness. "You are pulling
the wrong way!"

Mr. Gabriel laughed, and threw down his oar, and stepped back again; gave
his hand to Faith, and half led, half lifted her, over the side, and into
the Speed, followed, and never looked behind him. They let go something

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