“There was a camp o’ the jumpers on that island, and they had come to be as bold as ye please. There was so many on ’em that they felt pretty secure like, and besides, the wife o’ one o’ the men lived in a little house right on the shore. She used to go to school with me an’ your pa,” he added, turning to Jock as he spoke, “and he’d know her name in a minute if I should tell ye what it was. Well, she used to come out and wave a white cloth at the camp, and then her husband, or some other fellow, would come ashore an’ get what she cooked up for ’em.
“One of the marshals found out the trick an’ he made up his mind he’d get some o’ these fellows; so one day he came down to the house, and as he wasn’t dressed up like a soldier, jest wore ordinary clothes like yours or mine,” he explained as he glanced at the boys, not one of whom changed the expression upon his face as he was addressed, “and so, though the woman was pretty suspicious, she didn’t think he was on the lookout. Pretty quick she went out o’ the house and waved the cloth, for she probably thought the men were gettin’ hungry, and then a boat left the camp, and when it came pretty close to the shore the marshal, who was a-peekin’ out o’ the window, saw the very man he wanted most of all—this woman’s husband.
“He waited till the boat was close in, and then he rushed out and yelled to the man to give himself up, and to strengthen his argument pulled out a pistol. The man was scared like at first, but the woman wasn’t a mite, an’ she jest yelled out, ‘Don’t ye do it, Bill; don’t ye do it.’ At that the marshal began to make his pistol pop, an’ he fired all six o’ the cartridges, an’ never once touched the man or the boat, either.”
“Is every man hereabouts as good a shot as that?” drawled Bob.
“I’m thinkin’ they shoot as well as they do anywhere,” replied Ethan.
“Well, some o’ the marshal’s friends came up, an’ they went into the house to make themselves to home. They waited all night, an’ a neighbor came in an’ told them the jumpers was fixin’ to come ashore and shoot every one of ’em. Jest then they heard a drum an’ fife over in the camp, and they fixed up the house to stand a siege. They barricaded the doors and windows, and waited for deserters, an’ likewise for the mornin’.
“The mornin’ came, but the jumpers didn’t; an’ as the camp was too strong to be attacked, the marshal an’ his friends cleared out afore noon and left the region. But that scrape happened right over there by that island. I could tell ye a whole lot more o’ stories o’ the jumpers, but I’ve got to look out for this boat now, or ye’ll all be goin’ down to the bottom instead of down the river.”
As Ethan spoke, he quickly rose and began to give some sharp directions to Tom. Apparently they were needed, for the boat was moving with wonderful speed now. As the boys looked over into the river they could see that the swiftness of the current had greatly increased. The waters ran like those in a mill-race, and it almost seemed as if the boat had been lifted by some unseen and mighty hand, and thrown forward with incredible swiftness. No one, save Ethan, spoke, and the white faces of the boys indicated that the alarm which they thought their boatman had displayed was shared by them all.