lat space where
they had come ashore was evidently made by the caving of the earth
along the bluff, when the river had been even higher than at present.
It was a hill which had possibly turned the river aside from its
westerly course to the south at some remote period in the past. There
was just such a bluff on the other side of the tongue of land, and
possibly a hill there had again changed the river's course to the
westward. But Deck's theory explained the presence of the fortunate
flat where they had landed.

"Now we must find a way to get up on the hill above the high bluff,"
said he, as he led the way up the river.

Beyond the bluff the bank of the river was the same as it had been all
the way from the fort, and the flat came to a sudden ending.

"Here is a flatboat," said Ben, who was the first to discover it.
"Somebody must live near here."

"This looks like a path up the bank," added Deck, who had been studying
the river above. "I think this must be a ferry, Ben; though I should
suppose the ferryman would find it hard work to get through the current
that brought us down."

It was plain that some work had been done on the path leading up the
bank, which was diagonal with the steep slope. It had been dug out, and
in the steepest parts there was something built for a fence or a
hand-rail. On the opposite side of the river from Robertsport there was
a road to the one extending from Harrison to Somerset. Doubtless the
ferry, if there was one, was for the use of travellers into Wayne
County, all of which lay on the south side of the river.

The fugitives were ready to mount the bluff by the path; but first they
went back to the boat, which might be of use to them later if they had
occasion to renew the voyage down the stream. They drew it back, and
concealed it behind a huge rock which the current had laid bare. Then
they mounted the path to the top of the bluff. Not ten rods from the
shore they found a cabin, around which were some fruit-trees and the
dried stalks of corn, showing that the land had been cultivated.

"This is some negro's house," said Ben, as they halted under a tree not
two rods from the cabin, which was nothing more than a shanty.

"It looks like one. Very likely the ferryman lives here," replied Deck.
"But there is some kind of a row going on in that cabin."

"It seems to be lighted up as though something was happening there at
this time of night. We will go up nearer and look into the ma