“Say, Eben,” he began.  Then he paused, and looked helplessly around.

“What is it, dad?”

“D’ye think it’s goin’ to blow hard to-day?”

“Mebbe it will, an’ mebbe it won’t.”

The captain gave the wheel a slight turn, and ran a little closer to the island.

“Eben.”

The boy looked curiously at his father.

“D’ye s’pose yer mother’ll be waitin’ fer us?”

“Most likely.”

The captain shifted uneasily, and clutched the wheel with a firmer grip.

“Say, Eben, it was too bad that gal got hurt last night, wasn’t it?”

The boy started, and gave his father a quick look.  Then his eyes dropped.

“What girl, dad?  Ye never told me about it.”

“But don’t ye know, Eben?”

“Know what?”

“Quit yer nonsense.  Didn’t ye hear about that gal who came up river with us gittin’ hurt?”

“Naw, never heard a word.”

“Ye didn’t!” The captain stared at his son.  Surely, he thought, the boy is not adding a lie to his misdeed.

“I ain’t seen anybody this mornin’ but you, dad,” Eben explained.  “How could I hear anything?”

“Sure, sure, I guess yer right.  But I did think mebbe ye’d thrown that stone.  I’m mighty glad to learn that ye know nuthin’ about it.”

“I didn’t say I know nuthin’.  Ye didn’t ask me that.”

“Didn’t I?  Why, I thought I spoke plain enough.”

“Oh, shucks!  Ye jist asked me if I had heard about it, which I didn’t.  Nobody told me, but I know jist the same.  I threw that stone.”

There was an expression of defiance upon the boy’s face, and his eyes were blazing.  He partly expected his father to swing upon him with strong words of reproof.  In this, however, he was mistaken.  The captain remained very quiet for a few minutes, which seemed, to Eben much longer.  At last he turned and looked at his son.  His rough, knotted hands trembled on the wheel, and his eyes were misty.  Eben never saw him look at him in such a way before.  Had he stormed and raged it would have but increased his defiance.  But that look of silent reproach smote his very soul, causing him to cower conscience stricken.  Without a word, he left his father’s side and went forward.  And there he stood with his hands behind his back, staring straight before him.  The captain watched him anxiously.  His mind was greatly confused over the confession he had just heard.  What would Martha and Flo say when they heard of it?  The family would be disgraced, for the neighbours up and down the river would learn the truth sooner or later.  What should he do?  Would it be right to shield his son?  The perspiration stood out in beads upon his forehead, and a groan escaped his lips.  Then almost unconsciously he began to sing his old favourite verse: 

  “Here I’ll raise my Ebenezer,
  Hither by Thy grace I’ll come,
  And I trust in Thy good pleasure,
  Safely to arrive at home.”