“Well, rather; but your father’s mad and so is your uncle Joe. They’ve offered a thousand dollars apiece for Matt Coyle’s apprehension, and that’s what brought us out here in the rain.”
“What brought the sheriff up here, any way?” said the other officer. “Where is he now?”
Roy Sheldon, who generally acted as spokesman, replied by relating a long and interesting story, saying in conclusion that he didn’t know where the sheriff was, but he and a posse had come to Sherwin’s Pond because Matt had come there, believing it to be the safest place for him. His wife said so.
“Mebbe she did, but that was a blind,” replied the officer. “Three boat-loads of us have been out in all the rain, scouring the country high and low, and not the first sign of any body did we see. Swan and his crowd must have gone way up some of the creeks, or else we should have met them.”
“Didn’t the papers say that my friends rescued me from the squatter’s clutches?” inquired Joe.
“Of course they did, but that didn’t make your folks feel any easier about you. They’ll worry till they see you among them safe and sound.”
“Boys,” said Joe, decidedly, “I’m going home; but you needn’t go. You want to see Matt caught, and I’d like to; but I must go to mother as soon as I can. If you will set me on the other side of the creek I will start without a moment’s delay.”
“Not much we won’t put you on the other side of the creek and leave you to walk twenty-five miles through the wet woods alone,” answered Arthur. “You ought to go; I can see that plain enough; so we’ll all go.”
“I think you ought,” said the constable. “Your folks will all be uneasy till they see you. They think you and Matt are still in the Indian Lake country, and are afraid he will do some harm to you.”
That settled the matter. After a little more conversation the officers went back into the pond to see if they could find any signs of the sheriff and his posse, while the boys cast off the lines that held the skiff to the bank and headed her down the creek. They must make a journey of seventy-five miles in order to get above the rapids that lay between Mirror Lake and Sherwin’s Pond. The narrow streams they followed were so difficult of navigation, and the various currents they encountered were so strong, that it took them four days to accomplish it; but the sight of Mirror Lake, with all its familiar surroundings, amply repaid them for their toil.