Thad had discovered, under all that gentle exterior there beat a
heart within Smithy that yearned to have its fair share of excitement.
Reading Robinson Crusoe and Treasure Island might be all very well; but
acting a part in a little bit of daring seemed much better.

Thad bent down to assist Davy secure his clothes to the log. The Jones
boy had waded in, and upon examining one side of the old tree trunk as
it floated buoyantly on the water, he found that there was just the
nicest hiding-place one could wish for in the shape of a cavity well
above the reach of the water.

"You see, Thad," he explained, "it ain't goin' to be on the side that
the waves beat against, and so my duds won't be apt to get _very_ wet.
The cutest pocket you ever saw; and looks like it might just have been
made specially for a feller that wanted to take a tour of the lake with
his private yacht Now, do I go, Thad? I'm ready, and only waitin' for
orders."

"Then you might as well start, Davy; and if I was you I'd keep out of
sight all I could. If they happened to spy you, and believed you were
going for help, so that they might be captured before night came, it
would go hard with you perhaps."

"I got your meaning, Thad," Davy replied, without showing the least
concern, for he was a fearless chap; "which is, that they've got the
boat, and could chase after me if they thought I was going to get 'em in
a peck of trouble by flitting. Never you fear, I'll keep low down, and
out of sight."

He thereupon proved how easy it would be to lie in a position where he
could guide the floating log, and yet be out of sight from the side that
was toward the island.

"Oh! this is the greatest thing that's come my way for a long time," he
said, as he walked further away from the shore, the water getting deeper
all the time until his body was very nearly all submerged; "and I'm ever
so much obliged to you for giving me the chance, Thad. Don't bother a
thing about me. If some big mud-turtle don't grab me by the toe, and
pull me down, I'll come out swimmingly, see?"

Thad knew that he could depend on the Jones boy. When a fellow can even
think to joke like that when facing danger of any sort, he certainly
could not be feeling in a state of panic.

"Now the breeze strikes me, fellows, and I'm off. I'd like to give a
whoop, I feel so great; but something tells me that would be wrong. So
just consider that's what I'm doing inside, anyhow. Good-bye, boys, and
I