Bub nudged her with his elbow. "He spoke to _me_, Mandy!" "Want to take a little row up to the hotel? Let's see--your folks live by the old fishin' dock, don't they? Wal, I can leave ye there comin' back. You can tell your Pa that Cap'n Kent took ye out rowin'." "I'd like to go, if you please," said Bub, who was ready with an answer this time; "but Mandy, she's got to tend to the baby." "The baby! What baby?" said the "Cap'n," while Mandy whispered, crossly, "Bub, I think you're real mean!" "Oh, sir, baby's fast asleep up on the dryin'-ground, where the nets are! I could go as far as that, if you'd let me get out there,--if it wouldn't be too much trouble, sir." "Course it would!" said Bub, emphatically. But the "Cap'n," who was not so good-natured that he liked to have small boys answer for him, gravely considered the matter while he settled his oars in the rowlocks. "Wal, it's some trouble, perhaps; but I don't mind puttin' myself out once in a while for a nice little gal. Step lively now, young man! Come along, sissy!" Mandy sat radiant in the little bow-seat, as the boat pushed off. A great Albany "tow" was passing,--a whole fleet of barges and canal-boats lashed together,--with calves and sheep bellowing and bleating, cables creaking, clothes flapping on the lines; a big steamboat, with a freight-barge under each wing, plowing the water on ahead, and sending the waves chasing each other in shore. The little boat danced gayly on the "rollers." A fresh wind blew toward them, and brought with it a shout of "Boat ahoy! Hello, Cap'n! Got any good stuff aboard?" "Got some good _cider_," the "Cap'n" called in reply, with strong emphasis on the last word. "Come alongside, then!" The "Cap'n" condescended to lean a little on his oars in pursuit of a bargain, and sent the little boat spinning over the water toward one of the barges in the rear part of the "tow." Some men in a row were lounging over the rail; one of them threw a rope, which hissed and splashed close to the boat. Perry caught it, and they were soon under the lee of the floating village. While the store was unlocked, and its wares handed out, Mandy noticed, on the deck above, a woman washing a little boy three or four years old. He stood in an old wooden pail, with a rope tied to the handle,--his little white body, all naked and slippery, shining in the sun. One could hardly help noticing him, he screamed so lustily as the water was dashed over his head and shoulders. Mandy saw how his face showed red and flushed with crying, under the dripping yellow locks. She thought uneasily of the baby, lying all alone on the old dock; wondered if the sun had got round so as to shine in his face, and how long the "Cap'n" would stand there, talking with those men. She was happy again when the boat dropped behind and the "Cap'n" turned toward the shore. "Perry," he said, "just look at my watch--there in my weskit-pocket on the starn-seat. What time's it got to be?"