such
circumstances? Sometime I may wish to abduct a young woman and it is
well to be prepared."

"I told her the young man she had expected was on Island Eleven and had
sent me to get her. She was awfully excited. She said they'd seen his
signal, but nothing of him. And when they'd found a number of feminine
things round they all felt a little--well, you can understand. She went
back to get a coat, and while she was gone I untied the canoes and
pushed them out into the river. I'm thorough, and I wasn't going to have
a lot of people interfering before we got things fixed."

It was here, I think, that Charlie Sands gave a low moan and collapsed
on the sofa. "Certainly!" he said in a stifled voice. "I believe in
being thorough. And, of course, a few canoes more or less do not
matter."

"Later," Tish said, "I knew I'd been thoughtless about the canoes; but,
of course, it was too late then."

"And when was it that you assaulted the detective?"

"He fired first," said Tish. "I never felt more peaceable in my life.
It's absurd for him to say that he was watching our camp, as he had
every night we'd been there. Who asked him to guard us? And the idea of
his saying he thought we were Indians stealing things, and that he fired
into the air! The bullets sang past me. I had hardly time to get my
revolver out of my stocking."

"And then?" asked Charlie Sands.

"And then," said Tish, "we went calmly down the river to Island Eleven.
We went rapidly, for at first the detective did not know I had shot a
hole in his canoe, and he followed us. It stands to reason that if I'd
shot his heel off he'd have known there was a hole in the boat. Luckily
the girl was in the bottom of the canoe when she fainted or we might
have been upset."

It was at this point, I believe, that Charlie Sands got his hat and
opened the door.

"I find," he said, "that I cannot stand any more at present, Aunt Tish.
I shall return when I am stronger."

* * * * *

So I shall go back to my own narrative. Really my justification is
almost complete. Any one reading to this point will realize the
injustice of the things that have been said about us.

We were despairing of Tish, as I have said, when we heard the shots and
then the approach of a canoe. Then Tish hailed us.

"Quick, somebody!" she said. "I have a cramp in my right leg."

[The canoeing position, kneeling as one must, had been always very
trying for her. She fre