Miss Oliver laughed softly. "Enterprise is a good thing, and so is self-confidence," she broke in. "On the other hand, I fancy that one can have too much of them, and a headstrong impatience is one of the faults of the young West." Mr. Oliver looked at Harry, who grew a trifle red. "There's truth in that," he remarked. "On the whole it might be better to leave all arrangements to the man in charge and just do what he suggests." "Sure," assented Harry, and as he offered no more suggestions the matter was decided with a few more words. Late in the next afternoon the boys set out with Mr. Barclay in the sloop, and as what wind there was blew off the land they crept along close in with the beach, which was high and rocky and shrouded with thick timber. When they drew abreast of the island the tide was higher than it had been on the last occasion, but Mr. Barclay said that they had better leave the sloop in the little bay in front of them and cross the channel in the canoe. He was a heavy man, and when he cautiously dropped into the craft her stern sank ominously near the water. "You'll have to get farther forward and sit quite still," said Harry in a tone of authority, but with an amused look. He took his place astern with Frank, who picked up the other paddle, in the bow, and a stroke or two drove them out into the rippling tide. It was growing dark, though the sky overhead was softly blue and there was a glimmer of pale saffron around part of the horizon. To the eastward the moon was just appearing above a bank of cloud. The wind, which had freshened, blew very cold, and Frank shivered until the paddling warmed him and he found that he could spare no thought for anything else. The tide was running over the shallows with a ripple that splashed perilously high about the side of the deeply loaded canoe, and now and then whirling eddies drove them off their course. Once, too, they ran aground, and Harry had to get in knee-deep to shove the craft off, while when they approached the end of the island they had to struggle hard for several minutes against the stream which broke into little frothing waves, during which the canoe got very wet. They came through, however, and reaching smoother water ran the canoe in and pulled her out, after which Frank was about to walk off up the beach when Harry stopped him. "One learns by experience, and I don't feel like swimming," he observed. "We'll carry her right up and hide her in the bushes." They did so with some difficulty and Harry afterward waited until Mr. Barclay spoke. "We came out shooting," said the latter. "I don't see any reason why we shouldn't get a duck." He turned to Harry, as if to ascertain whether he objected to this, but the boy laughed. "If you don't know of any, I needn't bother about the thing," he answered. "There's a moderate breeze right off the beach and the guns couldn't be heard far to windward."