10 PEPACTON 



"There is the man we saw go by when we were 

 building our floats. If we had known he was com- 

 ing so far, maybe we could have got him to give 

 us a ride." 



They drew near, guided their crafts to shore 

 beside me, and tied up, their poles answering for 

 hawsers. They proved to be Johnny and Denny 

 Dwire, aged ten and twelve. They were friendly 

 boys, and though not a bit bashful were not a bit 

 impertinent. And Johnny, who did the most of 

 the talking, had such a sweet, musical voice; it was 

 like a bird's. It seems Denny had run away, a day 

 or two before, to his uncle's, five miles above, and 

 Johnny had been after him, and was bringing his 

 prisoner home on a float; and it was hard to tell 

 which was enjoying the fun most, the captor or the 

 captured. 



"Why did you run away 1 " said I to Denny. 



"Oh, 'cause," replied he, with an air which said 

 plainly, "The reasons are too numerous to mention." 



"Boys, you know, will do so, sometimes," said 

 Johnny, and he smiled upon his brother in a way 

 that made me think they had a very good under- 

 standing upon the subject. 



They could both swim, yet their floats looked 

 very perilous, — three pieces of old plank or slabs, 

 with two cross-pieces and a fragment of a board for 

 a rider, and made without nails or withes. 



"In some places, " said Johnny, "one plank was 

 here and another off there, but we managed, some- 

 how, to keep atop of them." 



