t, thoughtfully.
"So those rascals first stole it, and then threw it away, and now there
is a thousand dollars reward offered for information that will lead to
their capture. I declare, Winn, circumstances do sometimes alter
cases."

"Indeed they do, and I think we ought to accept that reward, for
father's sake. I know I feel as if I owed him at least a thousand
dollars."

"Did you ever cook a rabbit before you caught it, Winn?"

"Of course not. How absurd! Oh, I see what you mean, but I don't
think it's the same thing at all. We can't help finding the raft, now
that we know where it is, and just what it looks like."

Billy Brackett only laughed at this, and then, in obedience to
Sabella's call, they went down to supper. The engine was stopped that
it also might be fed, and for an hour the _Whatnot_ was allowed to
drift with only Solon on deck. Then Reward was again set to work, and
until ten o'clock the unique craft spun merrily down-stream. From that
hour the engine was allowed to rest until morning; and while they
drifted, the crew divided the watches of the night between them, Cap'n
Cod and Winn taking one, and Billy Brackett with Solon for company the
other.

At midnight Sabella had a lunch ready for the watch just coming below,
as well as for the one about to turn out; and then, wrapped warmly in a
blanket, she sat for an hour on the upper deck with Cap'n Cod and Winn,
fascinated by the novelty of drifting down the great river at night.
The lights that twinkled here and there along the shores earlier in the
evening had disappeared, and the whole world seemed asleep. The
brooding stillness was only broken by the distant hooting of owls, or
the musical complainings of the swift waters as they chafed impatiently
against some snag, reef, or bar.

They talked in hushed voices, and Sabella related how the man from whom
her uncle purchased Winn's canoe had told her that she reminded him of
his own little daughter, who lived so far away that she didn't even
know where her father was. "He loves her dearly, though," added
Sabella. "I know from the way he talked about her; but I can't think
what he meant when he said I ought to be very grateful because I didn't
have any father, and that it would be much better for his little girl
if she hadn't one either."

"I suppose he meant because he is such a bad man," suggested Winn.

"I don't believe he is a bad man," protested Sabella. "If he was, he
just could