RALPH'S ROUGH EXPERIENCE.

"It's a fine day for sport," remarked Ralph to his two new passengers, as
the sloop skimmed along up Keniscot Lake.

"Yes," returned the elder of the two men, whose name was Martin. "It
couldn't be better."

"You don't want to try fishing?" suggested the boy, for he knew that a good
catch could be had with but little trouble.

"No," put in the younger man, called Toglet. "We want to get up among the
islands."

"Very well, sir, I'll have you up there just as fast as the breeze will
take us."

There was a slight pause after this, during which both of the men examined
their shotguns and other things which they carried.

"You live around here, I suppose?" remarked Martin, at length, looking at
Ralph sharply with his coal-black eyes.

"Yes, sir, I live at Westville."

"Lived there long?"

"All my life."

"Then you must know the folks there pretty well?"

"I know nearly everybody, sir."

"Any rich folks live in the town?"

"I don't know what you would call rich," laughed the young boatman. "There
are no millionaires, but there are several people quite well-to-do."

"Who are they?"

"There is Mr. Carrington, and the Widow Pennover for two, and then Squire
Paget is pretty well fixed, I imagine."

"Squire Paget, eh? Is he the squire of the place?"

"Yes, sir."

"Rules it pretty well, I suppose, if he's rich," and Martin laughed in a
style that had little of reality in it.

"I don't know what you mean by that," returned Ralph, in perplexity. "He is
squire, that is all. He owns quite a deal of property and he lives on the
rent money."

"Pretty nice town," put in Toglet. "I wouldn't mind owning a place there
myself. Do you own a place?" he went on, with assumed indifference, while
he listened eagerly for the reply.

"Yes, we own a small place close to the Eastport bridge."

"Oh, yes. That's a valuable spot."

"We own more of the land, from the bridge up, but we can't prove our right
to it," added Ralph.

"That's too bad." Toglet and Martin exchanged glances. "What seems to be
the trouble?" went on the former.

"The papers my father had are missing, and we can do nothing without them."

"You do not know what has become of the papers?"

"No, sir. We are advertising for them, but so far we have not received any
information concerning them."

"But can't you get duplicates from the former owners of the ground?"

"No, sir. The former owners are all dead, and the prope