im to his senses, and in a moment we were dodging more stones,
sent with such good aim that we had to lie flat in the bottoms of the
boats until the current carried us out of reach.

A DOUBLE SURPRISE.

It was now quite dark, and we had some difficulty in groping our way
back to camp. There was no moon and the stars were obscured by clouds.
Our only course was to follow the shore line until we got around the
bend, and then we steered for the beacon fire, which, by prearrangement,
had been kindled on Point Lookout. But the spirit of mischief was in us.
We thought we would have some fun with Dutchy. We could see him
silhouetted against the blaze. Jim and I hung back in the canoes, while
Reddy and Bill went on with the scow, splashing their oars and shouting
and singing in disguised voices, like drunken men. Dutchy was evidently
very much agitated. His "Hello, there! Boat ahoy!" was greeted with
derisive yells.

[Illustration: Fig. 145. A Joke on Dutchy.]

"Say, we'll lick the life out of you, the same as we did them other
kids," shouted Reddy.

This was too much for Dutchy. He ran for all he was worth, yelling for
Jack to come quick.

We had a merry laugh over the situation when suddenly the tables were
turned. Something whizzed past Bill's ear; I was stung on the arm with a
heavy nail; a large stone hit the scow; Reddy had his hat knocked off,
and Fred upset his canoe trying to duck out of reach of the invisible
missiles before we could make our assailants understand that we were
friends and not the tramps. The joke was on us after all. We hadn't
counted on Dutchy's accurate aim or Jack's skill with the crossbow.

TRAMP-PROOF BOAT MOORING.

[Illustration: Fig. 146. A Tramp-proof Mooring.]

Around the camp fire that night we discussed our adventures and made
plans to prevent their recurrence. It was evident, for one thing, that
we would have to moor our boats off shore in such a way that they would
be out of reach of meddlesome persons, and yet could be drawn in toward
shore by any one who knew how. This was the way we did it. A pair of
galvanized iron ring bolts were procured on Jack's next trip to
Lamington for provisions, also a light rope about forty feet long. The
ring bolts were screwed into a pair of stout anchor stakes about two
feet from their lower ends. The rope was passed through the rings and
the ends were joined by tying them to a galvanized iron link. Then it
was soaked for a while to shrink