As the Captain stood with the child in his arms,
and the child's own little arms now clinging round his neck, now round
her father's, now round her mother's, now round some one who pressed up
to kiss her, the boat's crew shook hands with one another, waved their
hats over their heads, laughed, sang, cried, danced--and all among
themselves, without wanting to interfere with anybody--in a manner never
to be represented. At last, I saw the coxswain and another, two very
hard-faced men, with grizzled heads, who had been the heartiest of the
hearty all along, close with one another, get each of them the other's
head under his arm, and pommel away at it with his fist as hard as he
could, in his excess of joy.
When we had well rested and refreshed ourselves--and very glad we were to
have some of the heartening things to eat and drink that had come up in
the boats--we recommenced our voyage down the river: rafts, and boats,
and all. I said to myself, it was a _very_ different kind of voyage now,
from what it had been; and I fell into my proper place and station among
my fellow-soldiers.
But, when we halted for the night, I found that Miss Maryon had spoken to
Captain Carton concerning me.
Pages:
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84