hem both carefully away in his pocket, he went back to
the camp after his rifle, and then followed his father through the
cane toward the upper end of the island. They found an abundance of
drift wood there, and from it selected two small logs of nearly the
same size and length. By fastening these together with green withes,
a raft was made, which was sufficiently buoyant to carry Dan in
safety to the main land. When it was completed, the boy swung his
rifle over his shoulder by a piece of stout twine he happened to have
in his pocket, and taking the pole his father handed him, pushed off
into the stream.

Poling the raft was harder work than rowing the canoe, and Dan's
progress was necessarily slow; but he accomplished the journey at
last, and after waving his hand to his father, disappeared in the
bushes. He took a straight course for the landing and after a little
more than an hour's rapid walking, found himself in Silas Jones's
store. He was greatly surprised at something he saw when he got
there, and so bewildered by it that he forgot all about the money he
had in his pocket, and the stockings, shoes and tobacco of which his
father stood so much in need. There was David making the most
extravagant purchases, and there was Silas bowing and smiling and
acting as politely to him as he ever did to his richest customers. If
Dan was astonished at this, he was still more astonished, when David
threw down a ten-dollar bill and the grocer pushed it back to him
with the remark, that his credit was good for six months. Dan could
not imagine how David had managed to obtain possession of so much
money, and when he found out, as he did when he and his brother were
on their way home, he straightway went to work to think up some plan
by which he might get it into his own hands. This problem and a
bright idea, which suddenly suggested itself to him, occupied his
mind during the walk; and shortly after parting from his brother at
General Gordon's barn, Dan hit upon a second idea, which made his
usually gloomy face brighten wonderfully while he thought about it.

Dan's first duty was to rectify his mistake of the morning, and make
his brother understand that he had repented of the determination he
had made to work against him, and that he was going to do all he
could to assist him. He tried to do this, as we know, but did not
succeed, for to his great surprise and sorrow David announced that he
was not going to waste any more time