“You needn’t be afraid of that!” cried Chap, as his two companions walked away. “I expect the fish here are not at all like those we caught before,” he said to himself, as he cut up some pieces of bait. “They seem to be different at every place we stop.” Chap was a strange fellow. He liked his friends, and he was fond of company, but he was even more fond of entirely independent action. “Now, then,” he said to himself, “I can go ahead and fish just as I please. I’m not quite sure that I’m always captain of this party, but one thing is certain, I can be captain of myself.” [Illustration] CHAPTER IX. FRIENDS AND ENEMIES. Chap began his independent operations by poling The Rolling Stone to some distance from the shore. Then dropping the anchor and letting out the rope, he pushed his boat out as long as his pole would touch bottom. There was not much current, but the wind blew the boat inland, so that Chap found that he would have to be continually pushing her out if he wished to keep her in water deep enough for fishing. He was afraid to go out where he could not touch bottom with his pole, for the wind was strong, and he did not know what would happen if he tried to sail her. So, at last, he gave up fishing and poled back to shore. Putting away his fishing tackle, he began to try to comfort the little bears, who were whining and whimpering and tumbling over each other, showing the greatest distress at being obliged to wait for their breakfast. While thus engaged, there came down the river a dirty little boat, with a dirty little sail, in the stern of which sat two very untidy young men. When it was within a hundred yards of The Rolling Stone, this boat, the approach of which Chap had not noticed, was run ashore, and the two untidy young men, each carrying a gun, came walking down the narrow beach. When they were near the boat, Chap heard them, and looking up, was very much surprised to see these strangers. They saluted Chap in a friendly way, and as The Rolling Stone was near the shore, they stepped on board, and sitting down, began to talk to him. The untidy young men asked Chap a great many questions, all of which he answered freely. “So you’re in a great hurry to get North?” said one of them. “Oh, yes,” said Chap. “You see, our friends don’t know where we are, and we wouldn’t stop anywhere, if we didn’t have to.” “And the rest of the party has gone off and left you here by yourself,” said the other. “We was a-wonderin’ as we was comin’ down what you was doin’ here on the boat.” “I tried to fish,” said Chap, “but I couldn’t keep her out.” “If you fellers want to git up the river in a hurry, you ought to have a smaller boat that’ll sail ag’in the wind better’n this one. Now we’ve got a little boat up there that we want to send back to Titusville, and you’ve got one you want to send back to John Brewer. If you say so, we’ll trade, and that’ll suit all parties.”