Amador ledger., 1908-06-05

drawer and counted out ten dollars
in halves and quarters, and dropped
the money into the scoop Of the scales
which rested on the counter. "Weigh
these" he said, "and then multiply
it by ten"
John weighed the silver, and then
figured for minute on a piece of
wrapping paper on the counter.
There was a set of farmers scales i'm
the back kitchen of the fferryman's
house. After John reached home he
piled old bolts, nuts, anything, into
the SCOOP of these scales until he had
got mass that would weigh in
weight the hundred dollars in silver
This lot of old iron he slid into the
leather satchel which he had found,
and then put the sheep shears in on
top. AS the lock on the bag was
broken, he tied the mouth of the bag
together securely, so that it could
not by any chance come open. Then
he tied thirty or forty feet of stout
fish line to the handle of the bag,
and fastened clean new shingle to
the opposite end of the line.
1t was night by this time. but not
dark, for there was full moon, and
the long July twilight had faded i'm
perceptinly into moonlight, which
made the surface of the river and the
banks, except where the shadows of
the trees fell black upon them,
almost as plainly visible as in the
day time.
John slipped up to his room, a
little chamber under the caves of the
house. lie had hung the bathing
breaches out of the window to dry,
after he had taken them off earlier in
the day. They we're dry now, and he
put them on again. and put his
trousers and coat on over them,
buttoning his coat up to his throat.
The ferry was bringing team
across in the big boat. John could
hear the men talking, their voices
coming in distinctly over the water.
The man in the wagon was a neighbor,
and the ferryman was telling him
about the accident OH the river that
afternoon. The boy waited until the
boat had reached the bank and the
man had driven off up the road.
When the house was quiet he took
his bag OF iron, with the string and
single tied to it, and slipping out
the back door went down to the river.
Stepping into one of the wboats he
pushed off, and rowed out into the
stream.
Once in the middle of the river the
young man rowod back and fol til,
and up and down, for several minutes,
until he was satisfied that he was
very near the place where the large
boat had been when the horse had
backed the wagon overheard.
Then, taking the bag from the boat,
he dropped it into the river.
The bag sank out of sight instantly.
The shlngle swirled in the water tor
moment, and then slowly foated
down stream.
The boy let the boat drift, checking
it with the oars if it went too fast.
The shingle buoy toated down slow
ly, more slowly than the current,
held back as it was by the drag at the
bottom of the river.
In the bright moonlight tho shingle
showed distinctly on the water. 1t
did not go into the eddy at all. Just
before it was abreast of this place the
buoy swerved dagunally toward the
opposite side of the river, and then
was dragged down stream again.
Evidently the currents at the bottom
of the river flowed differently from
those at the surface.
John turned the boats head up
stream and rowed home. Before he
went to bed he looked into an
almanac and found that sunrise the
next morning would be at quarter
before O'Clock, and then placed an
alarm clock set to go off half an hour
before beside the bead of his bed.
When the clock woke him in the
morning, and he dressed and went
down to the boats, the whole Con-
necticut valley was mass of fog.
The water looked black, in contrast
with the white wreaths of mist rising
from it.
A few strokes of the oars sent the
boat out into the channel and down
past the eddy to the place where he
had seen the last of the shingle the
- LIZ hnE L, L. L..