evidently either gone to bed or he isn't here. Whichever the case,
he can do us no harm and I'm not for risking the river any farther.
It's black as midnight. We might get into the current and have
trouble."

"What's the sense of running our heads into a noose by landing?"
objected a second speaker. "We can't talk here--that's nonsense."

"I tell you the boy isn't in the hut," retorted his comrade. "I
remember now that I heard he was going back to the Falls to school.
Likely he has gone already. In any case we can try the door and examine
the windows; if the place is locked, we shall be sure he is not here.
And should it prove to be inhabited, we can easy hatch up some excuse
for coming. He'll be none the wiser. Even if he should be here," added
the man after a pause, "he is probably asleep. After a hard day's work
a boy his age sleeps like a log. There'll be no waking him, so don't
fret. Come! Let's steer for the float."

"But I----"

"Great Heavens, Cronin! We've got to take some chances. You're not
getting cold feet so soon, are you?" burst out the other scornfully.

"N--o! Of course not," his companion declared with forced bravado. "But
I don't like taking needless risks. The boy might be awake and hear
us."

"What if he does? Haven't I told you I will invent some yarn to put him
off the scent? He wouldn't be suspecting mischief, anyhow. I tell you
I'm not going drifting round this river in the dark any longer. Next
thing we know we may hit a snag and upset."

"But you insisted on coming."

"I know I did," snapped the sharp voice. "What chance had we to talk in
a crowded boarding-house whose very walls had ears? Or on the village
streets? I knew the river would have no listeners and you see I was
right; it hasn't. But I did expect there would be a trifle more light.
It is like ink, isn't it? You can't see your hand before your face."

"I don't believe we could find the float even if we tried for it,"
piped his friend with malicious satisfaction.

"Find it? Of course we can. I've traveled this river too many times to
get lost on it. I know every inch of the stream."

"But aren't there boats at the landing?"

"Oh, they've been hauled in for the season long ago. I know that to be
a fact."

"Then I guess young Turner must have gone."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you for the last half-hour,"
asserted the other voice with high-pitched irritation. "Why waste all
this time? Let's land, talk thing