men which seemingly had come from the direction of the
water mill.

It is needless to say that I put every ounce of strength on the oars;
but in the other craft there were no less than four men pulling
vigorously, and our chances of escaping unobserved would have been
slight indeed had not Hiram lent his aid.

Seizing the second pair of oars he swung himself around on the after
thwart, and although he made no claim to being a sailor, I never saw
one who worked to better advantage. It seemed as if he had the strength
of a dozen men in his arms, and the skiff shot forward into the gloom as
if hardly touching the water, until we were come so near the shore of
Noddle island as to be in the denser shadows, where we could afford to
wait until learning what course our pursuers might be taking.

I was not able to distinguish objects clearly because of the gloom, yet
I fancied it was possible to make out that a certain number of the eight
or ten men occupying the oncoming boat were armed--they surely had the
bearing of soldiers, and I said to myself, that suspecting Hiram and I
might take to the water, they were come in search of us.

The same thought was evidently in my companion's mind, for he turned his
head to whisper ever so softly:

"I'm thinking we had best make a landing near here, where we can haul
the skiff out of the water, for yonder crew will make a close search if
I am not mistaken."

There was a chance that by circling the shore of Noddle island until we
were come off Morton's point, it might be possible to give these fellows
the slip; but then we would be a long distance from our destination, in
addition to running the risk of being captured, and it seemed to me I
was warranted in acting upon Hiram's suggestion.

We worked the oars softly, as can well be imagined, and having come to
the land went waist-deep into the water lest the grounding of the
skiff's bow upon the sand might be heard.

It was no great task to lift the small craft so that she could be
carried without scraping against the rocks, and we lugged her into a
clump of bushes which grew near the water's edge, where so well was she
hidden that she could not have been seen even in the daylight, after
which we set ourselves to listen in order to gain some idea of what
those in the other boat might be doing.

Before half an hour had passed there was no longer any doubt in my mind
but that they were in search of us, having a pretty good idea, fro