ne o' them. We might want the other ourselves."

"What for?" asked Bolderwood, with the usual freedom of the community,
and likewise proving himself a true Yankee by responding to one question
with another.

"Might wanter go acrosst," said the farmer. "They say there's goin' ter
be a lot o' reinforcements come up to Old Ti an' my nevvy and I want to
see 'em when they come."

"That's what we're wantin' the boats for--to go acrosst to the fort,"
said 'Siah, with apparent frankness. "We've got some things to take over
an' it's too fur to swim."

"I sh'd say it was!" exclaimed the Tory. "Then I take it the report that
reinforcements air comin' is true? Captain De la Place is buyin' cattle
to feed the garrison?"

"I reckon he'll need a good many to feed all that's comin'," returned
Bolderwood, non-committingly.

"Wall, I can't lend ye both, sir," declared the old man. "The canoe
wouldn't do ye much good, though 'tis a master big one. Seems ter me
there's a good deal o' boatin' on the lake to-day. I seen two barges go
along north a'ready. Folks goin' fishin' I s'pose."

"Like enough--like enough," declared 'Siah hastily. "I'll git right down
and take the bateau."

"Ain't ye got no one ter help ye?"

"I'll find my partner somewhere up the lake. He was lookin' for boats,
too," returned the ranger.

He started to descend the bank and the old farmer arose and hobbled
after him. The instant he reached the brink where he could again see his
little dock, he gave voice to an exclamation of disgust and anger.
"There it be! That Pomp is the most no 'count critter that ever eat
smoked hog. He was a usin' that canoe this mornin', an' now look at it!"

Seemingly the big canoe had slipped her moorings and was floating
rapidly around the wooded point near the dock. 'Siah might have been
astonished a little himself had he not had sharper eyes than the Tory.
He saw that several articles of apparel lay in the canoe and he
recognized Enoch Harding's old otter-skin cap. "Hold on, sir!" he cried.
"No matter about calling your hands from the field to git it. I'll have
that canoe in a jiffy."

He ran down the steep bank, unfastened the bateau, and with a powerful
shove sent it out into the lake. There were two long sweeps aboard and
with one of these 'Siah quickly propelled the heavy craft in the same
direction as the canoe--down the lake. The latter craft was scarcely out
of sight of the old man when the bateau came along side. Ther