"I don't keer," answered Dan, doggedly. "I wouldn't go into that
tater-patch alone, arter dark; if I knowed it was chuck full of
yaller gold an' silver pieces."

The savage scowl that settled on Godfrey's face, as he listened to
these words, brought Dan to his feet again in great haste. The man
was fully as angry as he looked, and it is possible he might have
said or done something not altogether to Dan's liking, had it not
been for an unlooked-for interruption that occurred just then.
Godfrey had raised his hand in the air to give emphasis to some
remark he was about to make, when he was checked by a slight
splashing in the water, accompanied by the measured clatter of oars,
as they were moved back and forth in the row-locks. This was followed
by a clear, ringing laugh, which Godfrey and his son could have
recognized anywhere, and a cheery voice said:--

"I'm getting tired. It is time for me to stop and rest when I begin
to catch crabs."

There was a boat in the bayou, and Don and Bert Gordon were in it.
They were so close at hand, too, that flight was impossible.

"I don't think there's much difference between riding on horseback
and rowing in a boat, as far as the work is concerned," said the same
voice. "I've done about all I can do to-day. There don't seem to be
any ducks in the bayou; so we'll stop here and take a breathing spell
before we go back."

"Is thar any place in the wide world a feller could crawl into