"Ship ahoy!" she cried gayly as the boat drew near.The boy who was driving the mule grinned shyly.The woman on deck lifted her eyes from her sewing, smiled, and waved her hand at Granny, while the two little children ran to the edge of the boat; and held out their arms to her.
"Here we are again, war or no war!" cried Mother De Smet, as the boat came alongside.Father De Smet left the tiller and threw a rope ashore."Whoa!" cried the boy driving the mule.The mule stopped with the greatest willingness, the boy caught the rope and lifted the great loop over a strong post on the river-bank, and the "Old Woman" for that was the name of the boat was in port.
Soon a gangplank was slipped from the boat to the little wooden steps on the bank, and Mother De Smet, with a squirming baby under each arm, came ashore."I do like to get out on dry land and shake my legs a bit now and then," she said cheerfully as she greeted Granny."On the boat I just sit still and grow fat!""I shake my legs for a matter of ten miles every day," laughed Granny."That's how I keep my figure!"Mother De Smet set the babies down on the grass, where they immediately began to tumble about like a pair of puppies, and she and Granny talked together, while the Twins went to watch the work of Father De Smet and the boy, whose name was Joseph.
"I don't know whatever the country is coming to," said Mother De Smet to Granny."The Germans are everywhere, and they are taking everything that they can lay their hands on.I doubt if we ever get our cargo safe to Antwerp this time.We've come for a load of potatoes, but I am very much afraid it is going to be our last trip for some time.The country looks quiet enough as you see it from the boat, but the things that are happening in it would chill your blood.""Yes," sighed Granny; "if I would let it, my old heart would break over the sights that I see every day on my way to Malines.
But a broken heart won't get you anywhere.Maybe a stout heart will.""Who are the children you have with you?" asked Mother De Smet.
Then Granny told her how she had found Jan and Marie, and all the rest of the sad story.Mother De Smet wiped her eyes and blew her nose very hard as she listened.
"I wouldn't let them wait any longer by the Antwerp road, anyway," she said when Granny had finished."There is no use in the world in looking for their mother to come that way.She was probably driven over the border long ago.You just leave them with me to-morrow while you go to town.'Twill cheer them up a bit to play with Joseph and the babies.""Well, now," said Granny, "if that isn't just like your good heart!"And that is how it happened that, when she trudged off with her barrow the next morning, the Twins ran down to the boat and spent the day rolling on the grass with the babies, and helping Father De Smet and Joseph to load the boat with bags of potatoes which had been brought to the dock in the night by neighboring farmers.
When Granny came trundling her barrow home in the late afternoon, she found the children and their new friends already on the best of terms; and that night, after the Twins were in bed, she went aboard the "Old Woman" and talked for a long time with Father and Mother De Smet.No one will ever know just what they said to each other, but it must be that they talked about the Twins, for when the children awoke the next morning, they found Granny standing beside their bed with their clothes all nicely washed and ironed in her hands.
"I'm not going to town this morning with my eels," she said as she popped them out of bed."I'm going to stay at home and see you off on your journey!" She did not tell them that things had grown so terrible in Malines that even she felt it wise to stay away.
"Our journey!" cried the Twins in astonishment."What journey?""To Antwerp," cried Granny."Now, you never thought a chance like that would come to you, I'm sure, but some people are born lucky!
You see the De Smets start back today, and they are willing to take you along with them!""But we don't want to leave you, dear, dear Granny!" cried the Twins, throwing their arms about her neck.
"And I don't want you to go, either, my lambs," said Granny;"but, you see, there are lots of things to think of.In the first place, of course you want to go on hunting for your mother.It may be she has gone over the border; for the Germans are already in trenches near Antwerp, and our army is nearer still to Antwerp and in trenches, too.There they stay, Father De Smet says, for all the world, like two tigers, lying ready to spring at each other's throats.He says Antwerp is so strongly fortified that the Germans can never take it, and so it is a better place to be in than here.The De Smets will see that you are left in safe hands, and I'm sure your mother would want you to go." The children considered this for a moment in silence.
At last Jan said, "Do you think Father De Smet would let me help drive the mule?""I haven't a doubt of it," said Granny.
"But what about Fidel, our dear Fidel?" cried Marie.
"I tell you what I'll do;" said Granny."I'll take care of Fidel for you! You shall leave him here with me until you come back again! You see, I really need good company, and since I can't have you, I know you would be glad to have Fidel stay here to protect me.Then you'll always know just where he is."She hurried the children into their clothes as she talked, gave them a good breakfast, and before they had time to think much about what was happening to them, they had said good-bye to Fidel, who had to be shut in the cottage to keep him from following the boat, and were safely aboard the "Old Woman" and slowly moving away down the river.They stood in the stern of the boat, listening to Fidel's wild barks, and waving their hands, until Granny's kind face was a mere round speck in the distance.