Page:Raymond Spears--Diamond Tolls.djvu/187

 fustest dangdest man as I eveh seed could keep up with 'er. Get to it, now—whoe-e-e!"

Urleigh, who had no desire to risk trouble, was glad the husband felt that way about it. Other husbands that night were not so complaisant. Already there was a subdued and ominous anxiety, bad tempers having been stirred by the generosity of the whisky boater and the recklessness of lone men. Trouble was not far away, and Mrs. Mahna, peacemaker at large, was going about, shaking her fists in the faces of some men, and pleading with others, and shaking her fingers in the countenances of rash young women.

Having obtained what experience he desired in that way, Urleigh returned to the bank and started up to his own boat, where Gost was lying, dead tired and weak, unable to stand much roistering around. As he went along, he was surprised to see the dark shape of a boat out in the eddy. As he looked, the boat gathered headway and pushed across the eddy toward the current of midstream and the black gloom of the far shore.

He did not know the boat, not recognizing the shape. He decided that it was one of the gasolenes that had dropped in for the play, and was now taking its departure. As there were eight or ten motorboats in, he did not give the subject thought.

On board his boat he found Gost dreaming and