ly, and placed his hands
on the combing.

"Anybody here 'sides you youngsters?" he demanded, at the same time
peering inside the cabin.

"A few spiders," said Tom.

"Whatcher doin' here, anyway?"

"We're waiting for the storm to hold up," said Roy; "we beat it from
that road when----"

"We sought refuge," Pee-wee prompted him.

"Any port in a storm, you know," Roy smiled. "Are we pinched?"

The man did not vouchsafe an immediate answer to this vital query.
Instead he poked his head in, peered about and then said, "Don' know's
ye are, not fur's I'm concerned. I'd like to hev ye answer me one
question honest, though."

"You'll have to answer one for us first," called Roy, who had
disappeared within the little cabin. "Do you take two lumps of sugar in
your coffee?"

The man now condescended to smile, as Roy brought out a steaming cup and
handed it to him.

"Wall, ye've got all the comforts uv home, ain't ye?"

"Give him a rice cake," whispered Pee-wee in Roy's ear. "He's all
right."

"Won't you come in?" said Roy. "I don't know whose boat this is, but
you're welcome. I guess we didn't do any damage. We chopped up a couple
of broken stanchions, that's all."

"I guess we'll let ye off without more'n ten year uv hard labor," said
the man, sipping his coffee. "But I'll give ye a tip. Get away from here
as soon's ye can,--hear? Old man Stanton owns this boat an' he's a bear.
He'd run ye in fer trespass and choppin' up them stanchions quick as a
gun. Ye come oft'n that outer road, ye say? Strangers here?"

"I can see now that road is flooded," said Tom. "Guess it isn't used, is
it?"

"This is all river land," said the man. "In extra high tides this here
land is flooded an' the only ones usin' that thar road is the fishes.
This rain keeps up another couple of days an' we get a full moon on top
o' that the old hulk'll float, by gol! Ye didn't see no men around here
last night now, did ye?"

"Not a soul," said Roy.

"'Cause there was a prisoner escaped up yonder last night an' when I see
the smoke comin' out o' yer flue contraption here I thought like enough
he hit this shelter."

"Up yonder?" Tom queried.

"You're strangers, hey?" the man repeated.

"We're on a hike," said Tom. "We're on our way to Haverstraw and----"

"Thence," prompted Pee-wee.

"_Thence_ to Catskill Landing, and _thence_ to Leeds and _thence_ to
Black Lake," mocked Roy.

"Well, thar's a big prison up yonder," said the man.

"O