THE ARGONAUTS
sun giving any one a headache! But Medea was a real brick. Couldn't we carry her off?'
'We could if Edward was here,' said Harold confidently.
The question was, What had become of that defaulting hero? We were not left long in doubt. First, there came down the lane the shrill and wrathful clamour of a female tongue; then Edward, running his best; and then an excited woman hard on his heel. Edward tumbled into the bottom of the boat, gasping 'Shove her off!' And shove her off we did, mightily, while the dame abused us from the bank in the self-same accents in which Alfred hurled defiance at the marauding Dane.
'That was just like a bit out of Westward Ho!' I remarked approvingly, as we sculled down the stream. 'But what had you been doing to her?'
'Hadn't been doing anything,' panted Edward, still breathless. 'I went up into the village and explored, and it was a very nice one, and the people were very polite. And there was a blacksmith's forge there, and they were shoeing
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