"It is all the same to me which oar I take," replied Deck, as he changed his place. "I want to talk with you, and I can do it better when you are in front of me," added Artie, as he shoved the boat out into the stream. "Where are you going? You seem to have something in your head besides bones," said Deck curiously. "Besides the bones I've got a big notion in my head." "Is it a Yankee or a Kentucky notion, Artie?" "I picked it up here, and it is Kentuckish. But I don't want to say anything now; for I'm afraid some one might hear me, more particularly Uncle Titus," replied the bow oarsman as he took the stroke from his cousin. "I wonder what brought him over here, for he don't come to Riverlawn much oftener than he goes to church." "He acts like a regular Hottentot just out of the woods; and if there are any bears in Kentucky they would behave like gentlemen compared with Uncle Titus," added Deck, who proceeded to describe the manner of the visitor on the bridge when the two brothers met. "Uncle Titus has got something besides bones in his head this afternoon, and when he started to come over here he meant business," suggested Artie. "Something is in the wind." "I wanted to stay and hear what was said, but Uncle Titus drove me off as he would have kicked a snake into the creek. He was as grouty and as savage as a she-lion that had lost all her cubs." "Did he say anything about that story your mother told at dinner?" asked Arty. "Not a word; he drove me off as though I had been a cur dog before he said a word about anything else," replied Deck, who could not easily forget the brutal manner of his uncle. "But you have not told me yet where you are going, Artie. You haven't any fishlines or bait, and I suppose you are not going a-fishing." "Not up the creek, for the river suits me better for that business; but I'm going a-fishing for something that won't swim in the water," replied the undemonstrative boy. "What do you mean by that?" demanded Deck; and his interest in the subject caused him to cease rowing, and Artie pulled the boat round so that it was headed to the shore. "Pull away, Deck! What are you about? We don't want to stop here," said Artie with more than his usual vigor. "I am about nothing; but when I talk with you I like to look you in the face, for that sometimes tells the story better than your words," replied Deck, as he gave way again with his oar. "As I said before, you have got something besides bones in your head, and I am in a hurry to know what it is all about. You can't talk it into me through the back of my head." "But we don't want to stop here, Richard Coeur de Lyon!" protested Artie, rather vehemently for him. "Don't you see that we are still in sight of the bridge, and I would not have Uncle Titus see what we are about for all the world, with Venus and Mars thrown in. Besides, we have a long pull before us, and we have no time to spare."