ON THE TOW-PATH
When they could no longer see Granny, nor hear Fidel, the children sat down on a coil of rope behind the cabin and felt very miserable indeed.Marie was just turning up the corner of her apron to wipe her eyes, and Jan was looking at nothing at all and winking very hard, when good Mother De Smet, came by with a baby waddling along on each side of her.She gave the two dismal little faces a quick glance and then said kindly:
"Jan, you run and see if you can't help Father with the tiller, and, Marie, would you mind playing with the babies while I put on the soup-kettle and fix the greens for dinner? They are beginning to climb everywhere now, and I am afraid they will fall overboard if somebody doesn't watch them every minute!"Jan clattered at once across the deck to Father De Smet, and Marie gladly followed his wife to the open space in front of the cabin where the babies had room to roll about.Half an hour later, when Mother De Smet went back to get some potatoes for the soup, she found Jan proudly steering the boat by himself.
"Oh, my soul!" she cried in astonishment."What a clever boy you must be to learn so quickly to handle the tiller.Where is Father De Smet?""Here!" boomed a loud voice behind her, and Father De Smet's head appeared above a barrel on the other side of the deck."I'm trying to make the 'Old Woman' look as if she had no cargo aboard.If the Germans see these potatoes, they'll never let us get them to Antwerp," he shouted.
"Sh-h-h! You mustn't talk so loud," whispered Mother De Smet.
"You roar like a foghorn on a dark night.The Germans won't have any trouble in finding out about the potatoes if you shout the news all over the landscape."Father De Smet looked out over the quiet Belgian fields.
"There's nobody about that I can see," he said, "but I'll roar more gently next time."There was a bend in the river just at this point, and Jan, looking fearfully about to see if he could see any Germans, for an instant forgot all about the tiller.There was a jerk on the tow-rope and a bump as the nose of the "Old Woman " ran into the river-bank.Netteke, the mule, came to a sudden stop, and Mother De Smet sat down equally suddenly on a coil of rope.Her potatoes spilled over the deck, while a wail from the front of the boat announced that one of the babies had bumped, too.Mother De Smet picked herself up and ran to see what was the matter with the baby, while Father De Smet seized a long pole and hurried forward.Joseph left the mule to browse upon the grass beside the tow-path and ran back to the boat.His father threw him a pole which was kept for such emergencies, and they both pushed.Joseph pushed on the boat and his father pushed against the river-bank.
Meanwhile poor Jan stood wretchedly by the tiller knowing that his carelessness had caused the trouble, yet not knowing what to do to help.
"Never mind, son," said Mother De Smet kindly, when she came back for her potatoes and saw his downcast face."It isn't the first time the 'Old Woman' has stuck her nose in the mud, and with older people than you at the tiller, too! We'll soon have her off again and no harm done."The boat gave a little lurch toward the middle of the stream.
"Look alive there, Mate!" sang out Father De Smet."Hard aport with the tiller! Head her out into the stream!"Joseph flung his pole to his father and rushed back to Netteke, pulled her patient nose out of a delicious bunch of thistles and started her up the tow-path.Jan sprang to the tiller, and soon the "Old Woman" was once more gliding smoothly over the quiet water toward Antwerp.
When Father De Smet came back to the stern of the boat, Jan expected a scolding, but perhaps it seemed to the good-natured skipper that Jan had troubles enough already, for he only said mildly, "Stick to your job, son, whatever it is," and went on covering his potatoes with empty boxes and pieces of sailcloth.
Jan paid such strict attention to the tiller after that that he did not even forget when Father De Smet pointed out a burning farmhouse a mile or so from the river and said grimly, "The Germans are amusing themselves again."For the most part, however, the countryside seemed so quiet and peaceful that it was hard to believe that such dreadful things were going on all about them.While Father De Smet's eyes, under their bushy brows, kept close watch in every direction, he said little about his fears and went on his way exactly as he had done before the invasion.
It was quite early in the morning when they left Boom, and by ten o'clock Joseph was tired of trudging along beside Netteke.He hailed his father.
"May I come aboard now?" he shouted.
Father De Smet looked at Jan.
"Would you like to drive the mule awhile?" he asked.
"Oh, wouldn't I!" cried Jan.
"Have you ever driven a mule before?" Father De Smet asked again.