“Oh no; you are mistaken. I am not frightened at all. For Biddon’s sake, but more especially for yours, I am anxious. If you are desirous of remaining hereabouts, and will take all the consequences, I will make no objections.”
“Of course, if I run into danger of my own accord, I expect that I alone will suffer the penalty.”
“Then we needn’t say anything more about it; you know we pledged ourselves to remain true to each other, and I won’t desert you.”
“That’s well spoken, Nat. The minute I am satisfied that our lives are imperiled, I shall not be the means of prolonging that peril a moment. It is only this great desire to solve and understand the singular occurrences that are transpiring around us, that leads me to still remain. I have determined that to-day we shall all be satisfied.”
“My curiosity is extraordinarily high; but I guess that gal has as much to do with it as anything else. I’m determined to get a glimpse of her face, and, if possible, whisper in her ear that Nat Todd, from Maine, is about. I flatter myself that the minute she knows that, she will jump overboard and make for shore without saying a word to the chaps with her.”
“The greatest difficulty, I fear, will be to convey your words to the captive, without conveying it also to her captors.”
“I swow, it would be harder than I thought at first.”
During this conversation, which was carried on in a half-whisper, Nat was constantly parting the bushes and peering through them, while now and then I glanced expectantly up the stream; but nothing as yet had rewarded our watchfulness. Suddenly I reflected that as I had been twice defeated in observing the disappearance of the canoe, from the exact spot upon which we were now seated, that we might make a better arrangement of ourselves, so as to insure this coveted knowledge to one of us at least.
I mentioned this to Nat.
“If one of us was on t’other side, the thing would be certain, but that can’t be done very conveniently, and we shall have to try something else.”