brought to the 'phone and asked to join the rest for a serious
consultation, Max "shut up shop," as he called it.

"Let's get a move on ourselves now, Steve," he remarked, as they left
the booth, "and hustle around to the little boathouse my splendid dad
bought for us when we got the canoes. It isn't a beauty, but it answers
our purpose fine."

"Just what it does," replied Steve, as they walked out of the store. "I
reckon all the boys are on their way by now, eh, Max?"

"I'd like to see anything hold them back after the way I stirred things
up. Why, just as like as not even poor old Bandy-legs is tumbling all
over himself, sprinting down to the river through the dark."

"He does have the greatest time trying to keep his legs from tripping
him up," remarked Steve; "but all the same there never was a better chum
going than Bandy-legs Griffin. In a pinch he'd stand by you to the
limit, no matter what happened. But hurry, Max; as we did the calling,
it's up to us to get there ahead of the rest, and have the lamps lit.
Wow! I barked my shin then to beat the band. Hang the dark, say I!"

"A little slower, Steve," cautioned the other, catching hold of his
chum's coat sleeve. "Rome wasn't built in a day, you know. We'll get
there just as soon, and with our skin whole, if only you don't rush
things so hard."

"I can see the boathouse ahead there, I think," suggested Steve,
presently.