t rushing
down toward where the new shell had been laid, along the shore of the
river, at a point where a little beach offered an ideal spot for
launching.

"Where is he?" shouted several, as they drew near the spot, and failed
to discover the skulking figure of any enemy, trying to get away.

"I see him, fellow's; right there in that shadow!" cried Corney,
pointing.

"Surround the spot, boys; and if he makes a dash for it, Colon, we look
to you, with your sprinter legs, to overhaul the coward!" declared
Brad.

The lines were immediately extended so as to take in the dark spot
indicated; and every fellow gritted his teeth, indignant at the mean
trick being played by some unknown enemy, whereby perhaps harm was
intended their boat.

"Make him out yet, Corney?" asked one who was further removed.

"Sure I do," came the exultant answer. "We closed in around so fast he
didn't have sense enough to light out. Oh! we've got him cornered, all
right, boys. And won't we make him sick of his bargain though!"

"We ought to tie him up to a stake, and make him tell who sent him here
to stick a knife through our shell, ripping her wide open!" declared
Dick Hendricks, warmly.

"Is there more'n one feller in all Riverport that would get down low
enough to be back of a job like that?" asked Colon.

"Mebbe we don't know who you mean, but we think we do," sang out Sid
Wells; who had always been at loggersheads with Buck Lemington, from
the time they were, as Sid used to say, "knee high to grasshoppers."

"How about it now, Corney; is he there yet? Perhaps it was only a stump
you set eyes on," called another from the opposite side of the circle.

"Do stumps move, and duck their heads up and down?" asked Corney,
indignantly; "well, that's what this one is doing right now. Don't you
see him too, Brad?"

"I sure see something in that shadow, and it keeps right on moving,"
the one addressed replied, positively. "Hey Colon, suppose, now, you
run back to the fire and fetch us one of the blazing sticks you'll find
handy? We'll give this thief in the night a little illumination. He
thinks he can hide, does he; well, it's up to us to show him. Close up,
boys, and don't you let him have a chance to sneak it."

"He's our prisoner, all right, Brad; just you count on that," remarked
Corney, jubilantly. "Say, what we'll do to him will be aplenty. There,
didn't you see the way he yanked his head up that time? Reckon he's
beginning to get s