Finishing his errands in town Jack was proceeding down the river when, with a sudden impulse, which he could not explain, he said to Dick:
"Suppose we go up the creek a bit. The tide is that way now, and we shall have water enough, and it will not be against us."
"You don't want to go to the Academy, do you, Jack?" asked Percival.
"You can run in as far as the ravine. You came down that way once."
There was quite a deep ravine on the bill where the Academy was located, from which a turbulent creek or kill ran to the river, and Jack had once had a tumble into this, and had made his way to the little station at the foot of the hill along its banks, and, incidentally, had discovered a considerable sum of money stolen from a bank in Riverton and hidden there.
"No, I don't want to go all the way, Dick," answered Jack with a smile, "but we might go a short way up."
They put into the little kill, and went beyond the business part of the town, finally getting into the woods and finding banks of some height on either side.
The kill was full, and the current set their way, so that they had no trouble and kept on for a mile beyond the town, finding themselves in a most wild and picturesque spot, most of the time in deep shadow, and hearing no sounds except those of the woods, now and then seeing a drowsy bird on a bough or hearing the low hum of insects as they flew past.
"You'll get to the station before long, Jack," said Percival at length. "I think the tide is beginning to turn. We get considerable of it even here. Do you think——-"
Jack raised his hand as a sign for his friend to be quiet, and at that moment somewhere on the bank above them they heard a querulous voice:
"Why do you give me it if it is worth so moche, and there is alarm about it?" they heard in a high-keyed, querulous voice, evidently that of a woman, and Jack started involuntarily.