Part 99

Both men shook their heads, and grumbled, while from behind rose a Babel of cries and adjurations.

"They won't," said Alb. "They say that they will never give way to each other. They would smash their boats first. If anything happens to part them they won't mind, because it will be fate, and neither one will have given up for the other. Meanwhile, they say they're sorry, but they won't move, and the rest of us must fare the best we can."

"Can't the lock-keeper do anything?" I asked.

"He can swear." Alb smiled; and I believe there was something in him that sympathized with the two obstinate brutes.

"For goodness' sake tell them we'll give each one a hundred--no, a thousand--gulden, if necessary, if only they'll agree as to which is to yield, and move out of our road."

"I'll tell them," said Brederode, dubiously; and a few words passed between the three.

"I knew what they'd answer," he announced, in a moment. "They say they won't do it for a million. 'Every man has his price,' is a proverb that doesn't count with Dutchmen, where principles are concerned. Now, I'm going to try and force a way, but I'm afraid 'Mascotte' hasn't force enough, and if not, it's all up, for here comes MacNairne."

I looked back and saw my uncle-in-law picking his way toward us from boat to barge, from barge to lighter. He had lost his hat in that argument of which I had not seen the end, but he had not lost his determination, and at his present rate he would reach us in about two minutes.

Suddenly Alb put on full speed ahead, and gallantly little "Mascotte" rammed her dainty nose between the two black and bulky barges. But her strength did not match her courage. She got only a pinching for her pains, and, as Alb exclaimed, we were caught.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I've done all I could, and don't see what I can do more, short of knocking poor MacNairne on the head with a pole."

"You've been a brick, and I won't forget it," said I. A strange coolness had come upon me with the knowledge that the worst was inevitable. I felt that my small-sword alone could win me through. "All I ask is that, whatever I do or say, you'll stand by me," I finished.

"Have you a plan?" he asked.

"Part of a plan. I----"

Before I had a chance to finish either plan or sentence the enemy was upon us. I heard him coming, and turned round just in time to meet my aunt's husband face to face as, climbing across from the nearest barge, he leaped over the rail on to our little deck.

XXXVI

I smiled brilliantly at the dear fellow. I sprang to him, holding out a welcoming hand.

"Why, Sir Alec, this is a delightful surprise!" I exclaimed. "Where did you come from? I thought I had lost you, at Leeuwarden."

So utterly was he dumfounded, not to say flabbergasted, by the manner of his reception, that I had time to spring these three quickly following remarks upon him before he was able to answer.

When he did, it was with a sledge-hammer. "Well, I'm d--d!" said he.

I stared in gentle amazement; then, glancing quickly at Alb, appeared suddenly to apprehend his meaning.

"Why, of course, you must be surprised to find me on a boat with Jonkheer Brederode."

"You lied to me at Leeuwarden," went on Sir Alec. He was never a man to mince words, as I noticed when visiting my aunt. Poor, pretty, flirtatious Aunt Fay!

I now gathered dignity. My simple delight at an unexpected meeting with a relative (in law) in a foreign waterway, froze into virtuous indignation.

"Really, Sir Alec, I am at a loss to understand you," I said. "I greet you in the most friendly----"

"Because you're a scoundrel and a hypocrite," said he.

This interruption I scorned to notice, save by proceeding as I had intended to proceed.

"And you insult me. What do you mean, Sir Alec MacNairne?"

"I mean"--he caught me up without hesitation--"that you, though you pretended to sympathize when I confided in you, were in league with Rudolph Brederode to outwit and deceive me in the most shameless way."