t afooling us," complained Step Hen, after they had stared as hard as anything

cate the object the scout in question claimed to have seen,

rom his excited condition, that the

im to repeat his assertion, he not only did so,

y that's right smart in evidence, I know you will, Giraffe. Looky up yonder-see the little peak that seems to stick up above all the rest of the old rock pile? Well, it was alongside that it showed up; an

saw that he was in deadly earnest; and the possibility of a strang

ir eyes to the utmost without any result whatever, "seems li

the alarm; and when he was feeling himself the tall sc

's been a long time since I repeated it, but I think it runs about like this: 'I Saw Esau kissing K

a dazzling ray of white light suddenly fell upon the group of scouts crouching there on the after-deck of the little hunting cab

uished on account of the vibration caused by the speaker's alarm, no one had t

low was caused by one of those handy little electric torches, for they happened to have j

truly when he declared so vehemently that he

ing at that dazzling light, and mentall

inds, for after their recent talk about smugglers and those sort

a gruff voice (strange how voices are always gruff under similar con

e, aboard

ave been a long time coming, for they hardly dared trust their voices;

rself; what

and somehow poor Bumpus was forcibly reminded of the growl of a lion he had once heard in

is chums, in somewhat of a low tone; as though he meant to be i

s wanted to know. "We're full twenty feet and more away from the shore

m again, eh, Bumpus? Feel like going through a

lls us. He can't eat us, I reckon; and we ain't got an

uest, but what Giraffe said caused him to "take water" instantly, and Davy was as quick to make a revoluti

ad, feeling that much depended o

because, like as not they've got us covered right now with their guns, an

me of the scouts; but all the same Bumpus, "though good and scared," as he afterwards candidly confessed, did not attempt to lie down, and shield his round body behind any of his comrades; if they could t

told you?" the heavy bass voice d

we've got you covered, and if you start up that engine we'll give you a volley that'll make yo

ter all only be a case of mistaken identity; and that if they obeyed the rough s

he continued: "you needn't bother wasting any of your ammunition on us, mister, because, we're willing to do what you, ask, and come t

t a number of heavily armed men must be scrutinizing their actions from the roll; for that strong white glow was kept closely focused on the boat

ely the poles were long as well as stout, and presently the boat began to move

n enemy chose to actually open fire upon the boat, he would likely be the first to suffer; but in spite of this Bumpus refused to budge. He had gotten over his first qualms of fea

ight, when they were passing. He had felt his teeth rattle together, just as they had been doing now; but summoning all his courage to the fore he had grimly said: "who's af

roached the

e focus of light changed from spot to spot he concluded that they were also drawing closer to th

ies realized their mistake. In fact, he was so sure of this that he would not make the slig

o fend off in time, was almost toppled over, but he managed to clutch hold of Bumpus to steady himself, and that was l

time the boat came in

a little leap, painter

again; and this time, as Thad had expected, it

r all, instead of Cranston and his gang of smu