the shadows.

"Say, Tip, when you go down there will you take me with you?"

"Maybe."

"Suppose one of us beats you down there, Tip?"

"Whoever gets to the Bluff first has got to promise to tell
the rest of us exactly what he finds," remarked one of the Hassler
boys, and to this we all readily assented.

Somewhat reassured, I dropped off to sleep. I must have
dreamed about a race for the Bluff, for I awoke in a kind of fear
that other people were getting ahead of me and that I was losing my
chance. I sat up in my damp clothes and looked at the other boys,
who lay tumbled in uneasy attitudes about the dead fire. It was
still dark, but the sky was blue with the last wonderful azure of
night. The stars glistened like crystal globes, and trembled as if
they shone through a depth of clear water. Even as I watched, they
began to pale and the sky brightened. Day came suddenly, almost
instantaneously. I turned for another look at the blue
night, and it was gone. Everywhere the birds began to call, and
all manner of little insects began to chirp and hop about in the
willows. A breeze sprang up from the west and brought the heavy
smell of ripened corn. The boys rolled over and shook themselves.
We stripped and plunged into the river just as the sun came up over
the windy bluffs.

When I came home to Sandtown at Christmas time, we skated out