been a sailor in his time--and that's a trade which teaches a man
(if he's good for anything) to think, and act on his thought, at
one and the same moment. He had taken a peep at the blackguards
in front of the house, and had recognized the shortest of the two
as a native of the place, perfectly well aware that one of the
features attached to the cottage was a boathouse. 'That chap is
not such a fool as he looks,' says the gardener. 'If he mentions
the boat-house, the other fellow from London may have his
suspicions. I thought I would post my son on the pier--that quiet
young man there with the gun--to keep a lookout. If he sees
another boat (there are half a dozen on this side of the lake)
putting off after us, he has orders to fire, on the chance of our
hearing him. A little notion of mine, sir, to prevent our being
surprised in the fog. Do you see any objection to it?' Objection!
In the days when diplomacy was something more than a solemn
pretense, what a member of Congress that gardener would have
made! Well, we shipped our oars, and away we went. Not quite
haphazard--for we had a compass with us. Our course was as
straight as we could go, to a village on the opposite side of the
lake, called Brightfold. Nothing happened for the first quarter
of an hour--and then, by the living Jingo (excuse my vulgarity),
we heard the gun!"

"What did you do?"

"Went on rowing, and held a council. This time I came out as the
clever one of the party. The men were following us in the dark;
they would have to guess at the direction we had taken, and they
would most likely assume (in such weather as we had) that we
should choose the shortest way across the lake. At my suggestion