he would do that much to oblige
me, and a hundred times more than that; but some little thought and care
were needful. With the river so low as it was now, he could easily stop
the back-water, and receive the whole of the current in his dam, and
keep it from flowing down his wheel trough, and thus dry the lower
channel for perhaps half an hour, which would be ample for my purpose.
Engineering difficulties there were none; but two or three other things
must be heeded. Miller Sims, a mile or so down river, must be settled
with, to fill his dam well, and begin to discharge, when the upper water
failed, so as not to dry the Moon all down the valley, which would
have caused a commotion. Miller Sims being own brother-in-law to Master
Withypool, that could be arranged easily enough, after one day's notice.
But a harder thing to manage would be to do the business without rousing
curiosity, and setting abroad a rumor which would be sure to reach my
enemy. And the hardest thing of all, said Master Withypool, smiling as
he thought of what himself had once been, would be to keep those blessed
boys away, who find out every thing, and go every where. Not a boy
of Shoxford but would be in the river, or dancing upon its empty bed,
screeching and scolloping up into his cap any poor bewildered trout
chased into the puddles, if it were allowed to leak out, however feebly,
that the Moon water was to stop running. And then how was I to seek for
any thing?

This was a puzzle. But, with counsel, we did solve it. And we quietly
stopped the Moon, without man or boy being much the wiser.

CHAPTER XLIII

GOING TO THE BOTTOM

It is not needful to explain every thing, any more than it was for me to
tell the miller about my golden eagle, and how I had managed to lose it
in the Moon--a trick of which now I was heartily ashamed, in the face
of honest kindness. So I need not tell how Master Withypool managed to
settle with his men, and to keep the boys unwitting of what was about
to come to pass. Enough that I got a note from him to tell me that the
little river would be run out, just when all Shoxford was intent upon
its dinner, on the second day after I had seen him. And he could not say
for certain, but thought it pretty safe, that nobody would come near me,
if I managed to be there at a quarter before one, when the stream would
begin to run dry, and I could watch it. I sent back a line by the pretty
little girl, a sister of poor Polly, to