Each boat had a steersman, and the steersman called to Sam and asked for news of his young woman; whereupon Sam called back, offering to punch their heads for twopence.

But it was all very good-natured.

They passed on laughing, and the children re-emerged.

The sun shone; the smoke of the embers floated against it, across the boat, on the gentlest of breezes; the food was coarse, but they were hungry; the water motionless, but Mr.
Mortimer's talk seemed to put a current into it, calling them southward and to high adventures--southward where no smoke was, and the swallows skimmed over the scented water-meads.

Even the gaudily-painted cups and saucers, which Mr.Mortimer produced from a gaudily-painted cupboard, made part of the romance.