"I reached the creek, and cast off the canoe. I crossed over to the other side, and pulled down stream; for I knew that the two with the box could not be near the shore. I kept on towards home, but I was careful not to make any noise with my oars. Just below I saw a big flatboat, like the gundalow they used to have on the river to carry hay from the meadows. I drove the canoe into some bushes, and waited. The two men brought that long box to the shore, and loaded it into the flatboat, which was big enough to carry six cords of wood. "The next load was brought by four men; and I could see by the way they handled it that it was very heavy. I stopped till they had brought down two more boxes, and then I thought it was time for me to be going. When the party had all left the shore I rowed along by the bushes that overhang the creek till I got round the bend. I didn't wait to see any more, but rowed as fast as I could; and when I got to the pier I was so tired I could hardly stand up. That is the end of the story, Deck, and you know as much about the affair as I do; and I will answer all of your questions as well as I can." "You did not find out anything for certain?" added the listener, disappointed because his cousin had not ascertained what was in the boxes. "I did not; but I have been able to guess at some things; and that is the privilege of a New England Yankee." "Well, what do you guess was in those boxes?" "I didn't guess on that question at the time of it; but I was satisfied that they concealed some sort of iniquity." "What do you suppose they were putting them in the boat for?" "Not to take them down the river, for they would have carried them to some place on its banks if they had wanted to do that. They wanted to take them up the creek, and this was the nearest point to it." "What did they want to do with the boxes? Oh, I know! They were going to sink the bodies in the creek!" exclaimed Deck. "That would have been a good enough guess a fortnight ago; but it isn't worth shucks now. I told you before that I could explain things better this afternoon than I could when I saw what the men were doing." "How is that?" asked Deck with his mouth half open. "The moment mother told that story from Aunt Amelia, I knew what was in the boxes; and they did not contain bodies, either." "Oh, I see! They contained the arms and ammunition." "A blind man could see that." "Well, that was an adventure. You mean that they were going to put them in the cavern by the sink?" "Precisely that, and nothing less; and now we are going up to the sink to see for ourselves what is in the boxes," replied Artie.