creek, out of which they had come, was out of sight in a very few
minutes. Work with the paddles was suspended, Sam only dipping his
into the water occasionally for the purpose of keeping the boat
straight in mid-channel. The river was full of drift-wood, some of it
consisting of large logs and uprooted trees, and night was already
falling. Jake Elliott now spoke again.

"We ain't a goin' to try to run in the dark in all this 'ere drift,
are we?" he asked.

"I can't say that we are," replied Sam.

"Why, you're not going to stop for the night, are you, Sam?" asked
Billy Bowlegs, who was enjoying the boat ride greatly.

"Certainly not," replied Sam.

"Why, you said you was, jist a minute ago," muttered Jake Elliott.

"Oh, no! I didn't," said Sam, whose patience had been sorely taxed
already by Jake's persistent disposition to find fault.

"What did you say, then?" asked that worthy.

"Merely that we're not going to try to run in the dark to-night."

"Well, you're a goin' to stop then?"

"No, I am not."