It Would Have Certainly
Insured His Detection, And, As He Supposed, A Double Punishment.
He
now was as eager to go down the rapids as he had before been to escape
them.
His only care was to keep his boat head down, so that if he
should encounter any snag or rock he might not be thrown broadside on.
He kept a good lookout too ahead. The boat shot through the water like
an arrow, and was soon clear of the rapids in the comparatively still
water below.
Marco contrived to paddle with his pole, so as to overtake the cap and
recover it. Then he went to the shore and landed. He drew up the
boat as high as he could, and went back to seek the other boys. He
concluded that it was time to go home. His conscience now began to
reproach him with the wrong which he had been doing. His promised
pleasure had failed. His clothes were wet and uncomfortable. His mind
was anxious and unhappy. With a heavy heart he began to retrace his
steps, sure of detection when he reached home, and of punishment. He
did not, however, dread the punishment so much as the just displeasure
which his cousin would manifest, and the evidence of the pain which he
knew his cousin would suffer, when he came to learn how his pupil had
betrayed the confidence which had been reposed in him. Before he set
out for home, however, he took off such of his clothes as were most
wet, and wrung out the water as well as he could, and then put them on
again.
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