“How much do you think we will get for the boat?”
“I don know per zackly, Honey. It’ll be cordin ter de deman fer boats. Maybe five dollar, maybe ten. Depens on what dey is er fetchin,” replied Uncle Phin, whose ideas as to the value of this sort of property were of the vaguest description.
As their backs were turned to the cabin window that was nearest the shore, neither Arthur nor Uncle Phin knew that, during this conversation, an evil-looking face was peering in at them, and that its owner was an attentive listener to all that they said.
Now, as they looked up, startled by an uneasy growl from Rusty, who had just detected the stranger’s presence, and sprang barking toward the window, the face was hastily withdrawn, and appeared no more.
The next morning, after eating the very last of their provisions, which they shared impartially with Rusty, they cast the Ark loose from its moorings, and allowed it to drift a mile or two down past the city water front. At length they reached a place of comparative quiet, amid the bewildering number of steamboats, tugs, and barges, by which they were now surrounded. It was just below a great bridge that spanned the river at this point, and here, after half an hour of anxiety and hard work, they finally succeeded in making their boat fast to the levee.
Then, not knowing what else to do, they waited patiently for some hours, in the hope that a customer would appear, and make them an offer for the Ark. But of all the hurrying throngs who passed the place, no one paid the slightest attention to them. Uncle Phin had just decided that it would be necessary for him to go ashore, and in some way make it known that he had a boat for sale, when a stranger came walking briskly toward them, and sprang aboard.
Growling savagely, Rusty would have flown at the man, whom he recognized as the one who had looked into the cabin window the evening before, had not Arthur seized and held him.
“Good-morning,” said the stranger, politely. “Fine watch dog you’ve got there.”
“Yes,” replied Arthur, “he is; but I never knew him to want to bite anybody before.”
“Oh, well,” said the man, “he probably isn’t used to city folks; but he will get over that. I came to ask if this boat is for sale.”