“Just see how the current runs,” said Joe, as he tugged at his oar. “Matt, strong as he is, never could have forced the canvas canoe against it. He’s camped somewhere, waiting for better weather, and we are getting ahead of him.”
The other boys thought so, too, but as they could not tell what else they ought to do they kept on; but they did not attempt to run out of the river into the pond. As Arthur said, “it looked too pokerish.” The rain had ceased, but the water was still high, the driftwood was coming down in great rafts, and the current was so strong that they could not stem it with their three oars. There was nothing for it but to tie up to the bank in some sheltered spot, set the tent, get their stove going to drive the dampness out of it, and make themselves miserable until the water fell. As for hunting up Mr. Swan and his party, that was out of the question. The boys knew by experience that there was no fun in traveling through a piece of thick woods when every thing was dripping wet. Their quarters, although a little cramped, were dry, warm, and comfortable; they had an abundance of provisions in the lockers, and if it had not been for their impatience to be doing something to aid in the search they might have enjoyed themselves. On the morning of the third day of their forced inactivity, they were surprised to hear a hail close at hand. They looked out and saw a boat with two Mount Airy constables just coming out of the pond into the river.
“Well, well,” said one of them, as they came alongside the skiff and laid hold of the gunwale to keep themselves stationary while they talked to the boys. “You have had a time of it, haven’t you?”
“Seen any thing of Mr. Swan and the sheriff and the rest of them?” asked Arthur, in reply.
“No. Are they in this part of the country?”
“Here’s where they started for. But if you haven’t seen them how do you know that we have had a time of it? You have not been to Indian Lake this summer, have you?”
“No; but we’ve read the papers.”
“The papers?” echoed Joe.
“Yes. The New London Times is full of it. It told how Matt Coyle tied Joe to a tree and threatened him if he—”
“I wouldn’t have had my mother hear of it for any thing,” interrupted Joe. “Of course it worried her.”