"Pull away, Deck! What are you about? We don't want to stop here," said Artie with more than his usual vigor.
"I am about nothing; but when I talk with you I like to look you in the face, for that sometimes tells the story better than your words," replied Deck, as he gave way again with his oar. "As I said before, you have got something besides bones in your head, and I am in a hurry to know what it is all about. You can't talk it into me through the back of my head."
"But we don't want to stop here, Richard Cœur de Lyon!" protested Artie, rather vehemently for him. "Don't you see that we are still in sight of the bridge, and I would not have Uncle Titus see what we are about for all the world, with Venus and Mars thrown in. Besides, we have a long pull before us, and we have no time to spare."
"But I want to know what it is all about," Deck objected. "I am not going into any conspiracy with my eyes blinded."
"Pull away, Deck! I don't want that Secesher to see us stopping here. We shall come to the bend in five minutes; and then if you want to stop and talk I will agree to it, though we haven't any time to waste," suggested Artie as a compromise.
"One would think you were going to set the river on fire by your talk," replied Deck, profoundly mystified by the words, and more by the manner of his companion.
"We may set the creek on fire before we get through with this job," continued Artie, deepening the mystery every minute. "There's Levi Bedford," he added, as the manager, riding on a rather wild colt, in the road leading to the fields, came abreast of the boat.
He was too far off to talk to the boys; but he waved his hat to them, and the boatmen returned the salute, as he continued on his way.
"I wonder where Levi stands in the row that is brewing all over the country," said Deck. "I don't hear him say anything of any consequence, though he may have talked to father. He did not come from New England, and I don't know whether he is a Secesher or not; and it looks as though he did not mean anybody should know."
"He don't belong to the Home Guards any way," added Artie. "He is a Tennesseean, and it would not be strange if he had some Secesh notions."