Page:Raymond Spears--Diamond Tolls.djvu/66

 Mahna, the son, was pulling the starboard sweep of the girl's cabin-boat and Mahna, the father, was pulling the port sweep of the Mahna boat. Thus they navigated the boats out into the river, and as dusk fell, they were in mid-channel, floating down at the rate of nearly six miles an hour.

"That motor run all right?" Mahna called across.

"All right," Delia answered, "I'll start it any time you want the power. If I'd thought, I would have towed us out instead of using the sweeps."

"There wa'n't much pulling," Mahna answered. "The current handled us, and all we needed was to keep them going across the sucks."

"We're all going to eat on our boat to-night," Mrs. Mahna declared. "Come on over, and I'll set up a snack."

Delia crossed the cruiser's cabin and entered the Mahna boat, which was larger and as clean as her own. Except for the lack of desk and books there was little difference in their furnishings. In the large, sweet kitchen, Mrs. Mahna proceeded to set out hot bread, cans of fruit, beefsteak, and other river foodstuffs.

"We'll trip down aways to-night, and run into Don't-Know-Where, and then after a day or two tripping down, they'd never find you in God's world!" Mrs. Mahna whispered. "I didn't want to tell you, but that man you plugged run up the sandbar and