out him for a moment. Perhaps Post had talked in his sleep;
he often did. Roy turned over again and closed his eyes. Then he opened
them quickly. From somewhere came a sound as though a boat was being
drawn across the pebbles of a beach. He listened intently, but heard
nothing more. He had imagined it, he told himself sleepily. But he
wasn't satisfied. After a moment he heard it again, that grating noise.
He reached toward Post about to awaken him, thought better of it and
scrambled noiselessly out of bed. After all it was hardly probable that
Hammond had visited them without giving the usual notice; it wouldn't be
playing fair and Chub would be frightfully pained and grieved! Roy
smiled to himself as he tried to find the cords which lashed the tent
flap close. There was no use in waking the whole crowd up unless there
was some reason for it. He would just look around a bit first--if he
could ever get out of the fool tent! Then the last cord gave way and he
slipped out into the darkness.

The camp-fire was long since out and the shower had drowned even the
embers. It was no longer raining, but the ground was wet underfoot and
the grass and low growth threw drops against his bare ankles. It was not
quite so black outside here as it had been in the tent, and in the east
a rift in the clouds hinted of the moon, but it was too dark to see much
of anything. Roy felt his way across the clearing, stumbled over a peg
as he crept past the Ute quarters and shook a shower of raindrops from a
young pine as he went sprawling into the underbrush. It was very damp
there on the ground and pine needles and grass and twigs were plastered
to his body, but he lay still a moment and listened. Surely, if there
was anyone round they couldn't have failed to hear him crash into the
bushes! All was still for an instant; then there was a subdued splash as
though someone had unintentionally plunged his foot into water. Roy
cautiously lifted his head. Now came a whisper; another answered from a
distance; an oar creaked in its lock.

Only a fringe of pines and underbrush divided Roy from the Inner Beach
which was here some thirty feet wide. As noiselessly as possible he
stood up and stared into the darkness ahead. It seemed that he could
distinguish forms moving about, but he decided that an excited
imagination was to blame. Cautiously he pressed through the bushes,
which being wet gave little sound as their branches whipped back. Then
he was on th