Wade had plenty of hay in the bow; and, by the time Matt was ready to take possession of the cuddy, he was comfortably settled in his new quarters. As soon as he heard the voices of the persons in the boat, he knew who they were; but he was not anxious to make himself known, for he was afraid Lon would take to pounding him. There was room enough in the cuddy for both of them, and without either knowing the other was there, unless an accident betrayed his presence. Wade Brooks could not help thinking what would happen in the morning when his fellow-voyagers found that he was in the boat. Lon was a bully: he was such at school and on the playground. He had treated Wade like a tyrant. Wade began to think whether he could not do as a plucky little fellow did at school the winter before,--stand his ground, and in the end whip the bully. He was in the boat with him, and there was no chance to escape. He would try it; and he went to sleep thinking how to do it. CHAPTER VII. A STRIKE FOR INDEPENDENCE. Lon heard no more of his companion in crime, and he concluded that he had gone to sleep; as, in fact, he had almost as soon as he lay down. When the boat had been moving about an hour, she came into a flatter country, and the sail had more wind. The “Mud-turtle,” as some of the boys who used the boat had christened her, was not a bad sailer, in spite of her name; and, with the freshening wind, she began to move at a very lively rate through the water. It was a little startling at first to the green skipper, who thought she must be making ten knots an hour, when she was doing only four. But he soon became accustomed to her heeling over, and to the flaws that sometimes struck her with considerable force. But Lon had been up all night; and, when the excitement of managing the boat had died out, he began to yawn, and to be so sleepy that he could hardly keep his eyes open; and in the end it became impossible for him to do so. He wondered that the boat did not come to the Sound; for he believed he had sailed more than twelve miles, which was said to be the distance. The time came, before any thing could be seen of the Sound, when he could stand it no longer. He dropped asleep at the helm; and more than once the boat broached to for the want of attention to the helm. The boat had an anchor and plenty of cable, though the wonder was that some one had not stolen it for a hay-rope.