After that, the course of the vessel was a source of
continual self-commendatory remark by the voyageurs.
After a while, they came to a wooden bridge, built upon piles resting in
the stream. "This," said the schoolmaster, "is the _Pons sublicius_,
like that which Ancus Martius built over the Tiber. Shall we shoot it,
Corry, or shall we call a halt and proceed to fish?"
The dug-out bumped on the piles, and the navigators trembled, but
Wilkinson, bravely gathering his legs under him and rising to his knees
on the board, threw his arms round a pile, when, in spite of Coristine's
efforts, the craft slewed round and the stern got under the bridge ahead
of the bow.
"Hold on, Wilks," the lawyer cried; "another bump like that and the old
thing'll split in two. Now, then, we'll drop the paddles and slip her
along the bridge to the bank. There's a hole under that birch tree
there, and some fine young birches that will do for rods back of it.
Doesn't the birch make you feel like England, home and duty, Wilks?"
"The quotation, sir, is incorrect, as usual; it is England, home and
beauty.
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