months before, quite the best boat on the river. It was to be at his
free disposal, and this was nearly the same thing as owning it. He might
find it very useful, for it occurred to him that, if he could find
nothing better to do, he could catch fish every day, and sell at the
village store such as his mother could not use. In this way he would be
earning something, and it would be better than being idle.

He knew where the boat was usually kept, just at the foot of a large
tree, whose branches drooped over the river. He made his way thither,
and, fitting the key in the padlock which confined the boat, soon set it
free. The oars he had brought with him from his friend's house.

Throwing in the oars, he jumped in, and began to push off, when he heard
himself called, and, looking up, saw Halbert Davis standing on the bank.

"Get out of that boat!" said Halbert.

"What do you mean?" demanded Robert.

"You have no business in that boat! It doesn't belong to you!"

"You'd better mind your own business, Halbert Davis. You have nothing to
do with the boat."

"It's William Paine's boat."

"Thank you for the information. I supposed it was yours, from the
interest you seem to take in it."

"It will be. He's going to let me have it while he's away at school."