That was why she, of all the
people in the little village, did not realize that her boys often drank
more than was good for them--always managed, by clever devices, to escape
her eye.
"A glass of harmless stuff now and again," she would say with a toss of
her head; "what's that but a proof of the lads' self-control? That's what
I'm a-telling you: make your lads strong and self-respecting."
Tom did not take the sail from the boat that day, neither did he expect
to use it. He furled it close and shipped it carefully, but it was late,
and, in the last hurry, he kept his mother's caution in mind, but did not
carry out her command. Then Sandy, when they were about to start, did a
bold thing. Stealing into the bar, he took a bottle of whisky and a
bottle of brandy; these he hid under his reefer, and, with a laugh at his
own cunning, put into the empty places on the shelves two partly filled
bottles, and ran to the wharf.
Mary McAdam waved them a farewell from the steps. She had packed the
hamper and stowed it under the very sail she had ordered off. In the
excitement of preparation she overlooked it entirely.
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