"Perhaps they went ashore—just to fool us."
"They couldn't get ashore here very well—it is too rocky, you know that as well as I do. Listen!"
They listened, but the only sound that broke the stillness was the distant roar of Humpback Falls, where Sam had once had such a thrilling adventure, as related in "The Rover Boys at School." Even now, so long afterward, it made the youngest Rover shiver to think of that happening.
A minute later the boat came clear of the tree shadows and the boys saw a long stretch ahead of them, shimmering like silver in the moonbeams. Sam, looking in the direction of the opposite shore, made out a rowboat moving thither.
"There they are!" he cried.
At once Dick essayed to turn their own craft in that direction. But with only a bit of a board for a paddle, and with the current tearing along wildly, this was not easy. The rowboat was turned partly, but then scraped some rocks, and they were in dire peril of upsetting.
"I see where they are going!" cried Tom. "To the old Henderson mill."
"We'll have to land below that point," said his oldest brother. "If I try to get in there with only this board I'll hit the rocks sure."
"They are taking chances, even with oars," was Sam's comment. "See, they have struck some rocks!"
He was right, and the Rovers saw the boat ahead spin around and the two men leap to their feet in alarm. But then the craft steadied itself, and a moment later shot into the shadows of the trees beside the old flour mill.