"I don't want you in this vessel; you are too smart for me," continued Captain John. "I'll leave her just as soon as we get to Port Rock," said Lawry, sitting down on the rail. The rain ceased in a few moments, and the skipper ordered the jib, which had before been useless, to be set. At the invitation of Mrs. Captain John, Lawry went below and ate his dinner, to which he felt himself entitled, for he was working his passage up from Plattsburg. By the time he had disposed of the last piece of green-apple pie on board, the _Missisque_ was before Port Rock, which was the home of the young pilot, and he saw his father's ferry-boat at the shore as he came on deck. "Will you put me ashore here, Captain John?" asked Lawry. "Yes, I will; and I'm glad to get rid of you," replied the captain testily. "I think I will land here, also," added the bank director. "Now you have lost your sail, I'm afraid you won't get along very fast." "I don't expect I shall. I sha'n't get to Shoreham till to-morrow morning with this wind. I'm sorry it happened so; but that boy didn't mind what he was about." "The captain didn't mind what he was about," added Lawry. "He needn't lay it to me, when it was all his own fault." "I will cross the lake, and get a horse at Pointville, so that I shall be in Shoreham by five o'clock," continued the bank director. Captain John ordered one of the men to pull Mr. Randall and Lawry ashore in the boat, and in a few minutes they were landed at Port Rock. CHAPTER II THE PORT ROCK FERRY Lawrence Wilford was a full-fledged water-fowl. From his earliest childhood he had paddled in Lake Champlain. His father had a small place, consisting of ten acres of land with a small cottage; but it was still encumbered with a mortgage, as it had been for twenty years, though the note had passed through several hands, and had been three times renewed. John Wilford was not a very sagacious nor a very energetic man, and had not distinguished himself in the race for wealth or for fame. He wanted to be rich, but he was not willing to pay the price of riches. His place was a short distance from the village of Port Rock, and John Wilford, at the time he had purchased the land and built his house, had established a ferry, which had been, and was still, his principal means of support; for there was considerable travel between Port Rock and Pointville, on the Vermont side of the lake.