“So am I,” said Charles and Stephen.
“George, I couldn’t possibly have swum out and saved that boy,” Charles admitted, frankly. “My heart was beating like a——”
“Yes you could,” George interrupted, not wishing to receive more praise than he deserved.
“How is it that it turned out so badly?” Steve asked. “Bob used us very badly; and we got the worst of it when we punished him!”
“We ought to have been merciful, and let him go as soon as Will gave him up to us,” George commented. “That’s a good way to cure some people of meanness,” he added, in a “moralizing” mood.
“Well, now!” Steve ejaculated. “Jim has made off too! I guess he skedaddled while Mr. Reiter was around.”
“Yes; and Bob has left the spoils in our hands!” Will observed. “What shall we do with them?”
“They are not ours, but Bob won’t hanker for them,” Charley replied, jocosely. “Suppose we let the prison float over the falls, with the long rope dragging behind. Perhaps we should not be so melancholy doing that as we were when we made a floating battery of Bob.”
“Hurrah! Hurrah! Bravo! Well done! That’s just what we want! Now, we can sail up to our harbor on our raft, and tow this oriental bird-cage behind, and let it drift away whenever we choose.”
This felicitous expression was made by Stephen, of course.