to steal the boat, of course, but it now
seemed that he was regarded as having done so, and was being hotly
pursued by some one interested in its recovery. It was not the Sheriff
himself, for the voice was a strange one; so it was probably one of his
men, who undoubtedly had one or more companions. Winn was too ignorant
of the world to know whether escaping from a sheriff who had unjustly
arrested him, and running off with his boat, would be considered a
serious offence or not. He only knew that while perfectly conscious of
his own innocence, he yet felt very much as though he were fleeing from
justice. He had not even known until that minute that his late captor
was a sheriff, nor could he imagine why he had been arrested. What he
did know was that some one well acquainted with the fact that he had
taken a skiff not his own was now searching for it and for him. This
was sufficient to alarm him and fill his mind with visions of arrest,
imprisonment, and fines which his father would be compelled to pay.

Then, too, the Captain of this strange craft on which he had just found
an asylum, but from which he would already be glad to escape, had
declared himself to be a friend of Sheriff Riley, and well acquainted
with his boat. Of course, then, he would gladly aid his friend in
recovering his property, and would not hesitate to make a prisoner of
the person who had run off with it. In that case he would be taken
back to Dubuque in disgrace, his father would have to be sent for--and
who knew where he might be by this time?--and there would be a long
delay that he would probably have to endure in prison. In the mean
time what would become of the raft lost through his carelessness and
self-conceit?

Decidedly all this must be prevented if possible; and though the boy
would have scorned to tell a lie even to save his life, he determined
to tell as little of the truth as would be necessary to answer the
questions that he knew would shortly be put to him.

While Winn was puzzling over this situation, and trying to frame a
plausible story that would account for his presence on the tow-head
without overstepping the bounds of truth, the door of the engine-room
opened, and Cap'n Cod stumped in. He brought an armful of dry
clothing, and was beaming with the satisfaction that he always felt
when engaged in helping any one out of trouble.

"Well, my muddy young friend," he exclaimed, good-naturedly, "how are
you getting on?