Page:Boys of Columbia High on the River.djvu/156

144 people go to England from the Continent it is usually to get a steamer across. Perhaps you may see the lady you are longing to meet before many suns rise and set," suggested Frank.

His companion sighed heavily; but at the same time an eager light shone in his eyes as he winked rapidly to keep the tears away.

"Oh! I hope so," he said, softly, "I hope so, Frank. Then perhaps some of my dreams may come true. To find a mother would be next door to Heaven to me!"

Frank had to go over the whole story of the race at the dinner table. True, his mother and father as well as Helen had been eye witnesses of the start and conclusion, but that was not everything. He told just how he had managed things to hold out against the coming tragic conclusion which he had foreseen long before it happened.

After dinner Helen went off, saying that she and Minnie had agreed to take the other boat belonging to Frank and row down the river; for all Columbia was "water mad," as Frank said, on this day of the regatta.

It was about two o'clock when Frank's father requested him to mount his wheel and carry a letter to Squire Prentice, who lived a couple of miles out on the road leading over to Chester, away from the river.