CHAPTER X
A NEW ACQUAINTANCE
IT was a beautiful evening. In the west the sunset glow still hung above the hills. Eastward the full moon’s great, golden disk was poised against the darkening blue of the summer sky. It was very still and quiet, and the only sounds that came to them were the soft pat-pat of their shoes on the dusty road. When half the distance to the house-boat had been covered they slowed down to a walk, panting and puffing.
“What—are we going—to do—when we get—there?” asked Dick.
“Have some supper,” said Chub, decisively.
“But we can’t stay where we are. When he finds that we’ve skipped out, he will be as mad as a hornet and will come down here looking for us.”
“Pshaw, I don’t think he believed a word we said about being in a boat,” said Chub. “Be-
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