rom the many minutes of inactivity, not one of them moved. For
fully an hour they had remained motionless, when faintly over the water
was heard the splash, splash, splash, of paddles, far away.

The searching party were all alert in an instant, and with raised
heads, peered cautiously over the top of the marsh line in the
direction of the sounds. Hardly a minute had passed, when out of the
shadows that hid the entrance to Beaver Dam, there came slowly a skiff
into the clear water. It approached to within fifteen feet of the
hidden boys, when they recognized a voice, distinctly saying:

"I hope that guy Franklin's ben up to the landin' an' left the note
where I tol' him to, an' don't try no shenanigan."

"He ain't goin' to try no flapdoodles with us," was the quick answer.

"Well, if he knows when he's well off," the first voice resumed, "he'll
come round with the rhino mighty quick, an' give us no more trouble."

"I kin see us livin' like gent'men, a'ready."

"Gent'men born an'--" the other began, but the last of his sentence was
lost as the boat turned up the river, and the cadence of the paddles
died in the distance.

Sandy waited until the rascals had disappeared around the bend, then
shoving his skiff quickly alongside Leander's, he whispered into the
latter's ear:

"Me an' Gil is goin' in to Beaver Dam. Yer knows them two fellers, an'
so do I. One of 'em is the feller what whacked me, an' the t'other is
that bum Hildey. If they gits here afore I come back, you an' Dink'll
have to do somethin' desp'ret."

"All right," said Leander, clutching his pistol, "you can trust me."

Sandy rounded the point that divided the two creeks, and in a short
time had paddled past the trees and vines that hung over and partly
covered the entrance to Beaver Dam. The boat was managed with
consummate skill, now left, now right, through the sinuous waterway,
and the two boys had gone fully half a mile, when, without warning,
they were rudely jolted as the skiff grated harshly on a bar.
Ordinarily, such an incident would have been without effect upon them,
but now their nerves were so highly strung, that the noise of the boat
rubbing against the gravel seemed as loud as the report of a cannon.

Using all possible force, Sandy and Gilbert succeeded in shoving their
craft back into the water. Then they pressed forward into the shadow of
an embankment on the left, and not a moment too soon did they reach
Gover, for the door of