trailing under water. The boys, therefore, as they were rowing against
stream, steered their boat to pass inside of her. Just as they came
abreast of the horse a man on the barge suddenly shouted to the rider
of the horse to go on. He did so, the rope tightened, rose from the
water just under the bow of the boat, and in another minute the boys
were struggling in the water. All were good swimmers, and would
have cared little for the ducking had it occurred accidentally, but
the roars of laughter of the bargeman, and the chaff with which he
assailed them as they scrambled up the bank, showed clearly enough
that they had been upset maliciously. The boys were furious, and one
or two proposed that they should report the case, but Tom Scudamore
pointed out that the bargeman would of course declare that it was
a pure accident, and that the boys were themselves in fault in not
looking out whether the barge was being towed, before going inside
her, and so nothing would come of reporting.

The boat was dragged ashore and emptied, and in a few minutes they
were rowing back towards the town. The distance was but short, and
they did not repass the barge before they reached their boat-house.
The brothers had exchanged a few words in a low voice on the way, and
instead of following the example of the others, and starting at a run
for the house where they boarded to change their clothes, they walked
down by the river and saw that the barge had moored up against the
bank, at a short distance below the bridge. They watched for a time,
and saw the bargeman fasten up the hatch of the little cabin and go
ashore.

That night two boys lowered themselves with a rope from the window
of one of the dames-houses, and walked rapidly down to the river.
There were a few flickering oil lamps burning, and the one or two