see you."

"Thank you, kindly, Sir Walter," said the boatman. "I'm glad to hear
those words, your honor, for I've been feeling very bad since I had the
misfortune to drop your Excellency and her Majesty overboard. I never
knew how it happened, sir, but happen it did, and but for her Majesty's
kind assistance it might have been the worse for us. Eh, Sir Walter?"

The knight shook his head menacingly at Charon. Hitherto he had managed
to keep it a secret that the Queen had rescued him from drowning upon
that occasion by swimming ashore herself first and throwing Sir Walter
her ruff as soon as she landed, which he had used as a life-preserver.

"'Sh!" he said, _sotto voce_. "Don't say anything about that, my man."

"Very well, Sir Walter, I won't," said the boatman; but he made a mental
note of the knight's agitation, and perceived a means by which that
illustrious courtier could be made useful to him in his scheming for
social advancement.

"I understood you had something to say to me," said Charon, after he had
greeted the others.

"We have," said Sir Walter. "We want you to assume command of this
boat."

The old fellow's eyes lighted up with pleasure.

"You want a captain, eh?" he said.