away, fair Dolly put on a plain hat and scarf, quite good enough for
the fishermen, and set off in haste for the Round-house, to see the
expedition start. By the time she was there, and had lifted the sashes,
and got the spy-glass ready, the flow of the tide was almost spent, and
the brimming moment of the slack was nigh. For this all the folk of the
village waited, according to the tradition of the place; the manhood
and boyhood, to launch forth; old age, womanhood, and childhood, to
contribute the comfort of kind looks and good-by. The tides, though not
to be compared to the winds in fickleness, are capricious here, having
sallies of irregularity when there has been a long period of northeast
winds, bringing a counter-flow to the Atlantic influx. And a man must
be thoroughly acquainted with the coast, as well as the moon and the
weather, to foretell how the water will rise and fall there. For the
present, however, there was no such puzzle. The last lift of the quiet
tide shone along the beach in three straight waves, shallow steps that
arose inshore, and spent themselves without breaking.

"Toorn o' the tide!" the Captain shouted; "all aboord, aboord, my lads!
The more 'ee bide ashore, the wuss 'ee be. See to Master Cheeseman's
craft! Got a good hour afront of us. Dannel, what be mooning at? Fetch
'un a clout on his head, Harry Shanks; or Tim, you run up and do it.
Doubt the young hosebird were struck last moon, and his brains put to
salt in a herring-tub. Home with you, wife! And take Dan, if you will.
He'd do more good at the chipping job, with the full moon in his head
so."

"Then home I will take my son, Master Tugwell," his wife answered, with
much dignity, for all the good wives of Springhaven heard him, and what
would they think of her if she said nothing? "Home I will take my son
and yours, and the wisest place for him to abide in, with his father set