scouts; but all the same Bumpus, "though good and scared," as he
afterwards candidly confessed, did not attempt to lie down, and shield
his round body behind any of his comrades; if they could take the
consequences surely he ought to be ready to face the music; and so be
only knelt there and quivered and looked, momentarily to see a flash,
and hear a deafening report that would stagger them all.

"Well are you going to do what I told you?" the heavy bass voice
demanded, more or less, impatiently.

"Don't be so foolish as to think, you can slip away," a second unseen
man told them, "because we've got you covered, and if you start up that
engine we'll give you a volley that'll make you wish you hadn't. Come
ashore with that boat, you hear? We know you, Cranston! The game is
up!"

Thad breathed easier, somehow. What had been said seemed to tell him it
might after all only be a case of mistaken identity; and that if they
obeyed the rough summons they would in all probability not be apt to
suffer on account of yielding.

"Get a push pole, somebody, and help me shove ashore!" Thad remarked;
and then raising his voice so that the unseen enemies might hear, he
continued: "you needn't bother wasting any of your ammunition on us,
mister, because, we're willing to do what you, ask, and come to land.
So hold up, and give us a chance, for we've got to raise our anchor
first; and the water's some deep here to use the poles in."

He heard a low laugh near by, but there was no further comment from
those who had the situation well in hand. Every scout understood,