to us,
gibberin' an' jabberin' an' screamin' an' laughin' all to wunst.

"Ut tuk eight av us to howld um whilst Burrage toied um hand an' fut,
an' phwin we'd dhrug um into th' shtore we seed 'twuz Creed hissilf.
Twuz two days befoor th' sheriff come fer um, an' in th' mane toime
he'd gabble an' yell about th' greener comin' afther um, an' how he
come out av th' wather, an' so on.

"Th' rist think ut's th' shtayin' alone made um loony, but Oi put two
an' two togither--here's Moncrossen losht his bur-rd's-eye an' Creed
scairt witless be th' soight av th' greener--phwat's th' answer?

"Phy, th' b'y ain't dead at all. Some ways he got out av th' river,
scairt th' dayloights out av Creed, an' made off wid th' bur-rd's-eye.
Am Oi roight?"

"Exactly!" exclaimed Bill.

"Oi know'd ut! Ye've th' luck av Captain Fronte's own silf! That come
out av ivery shcrape wid his loife, save th' lasht wan, an' he w'd thin
av a domned nayger shell hadn't bust ag'in' his ribs--but that's toimes
gone."

"I wonder where Moncrossen is now?"

"Right here in Hilarity; him an' his crew unloaded yisterday fer to
shtar-rt fer th' camp in th' marnin'."

"I think I'll just let the boss believe I'm still in the river until
after I have had a talk with Appleton. By the way, Daddy, how are you
fixed for money?"

"Sure, Oi got more money thin a man ought to have--money in th' bank
an' money in me pocket--take ut an' welcome"--he tossed a thick wallet
onto the table--"ondly ye won't have to go to Minneapolis.

"Owld man Appleton's over to Creighton, eighty moiles wesht av here,
sooperintindin' a new camp on Blood River, wan hundred an' tin moiles
above Moncrossen's. Fallon's wid um, an' Shtromberg, an' a lot more av
th' good min that's toired av worrkin' undher Moncrossen."

"He is not bossing the camp himself!" exclaimed Bill.

"No, but he's got to kape an eye on't. Fallon'll be a kind av shtraw
boss an' luk afther th' wor-rk, but th' owld man'll have to figger th'
toime an' th' scale--Fallon ain't got no aggicatin'.

"'Tis roight glad Oi'm thinkin' th' owld man'll be to lay eyes on ye.
They say he wuz all bruk up phwin he heerd ye wuz dhr-rounded."

Bill's visit to Hilarity was known to no one except Daddy Dunnigan, and
the following evening after Moncrossen's departure for the woods, the
two proceeded to the railway by a circuitous route.

Unobserved, he swung aboard the caboose of the local freight-train
which stood at the tiny platfor