“Did you, Frank; and how could you see to do it, with the night so dark outside?” Jerry demanded. “Will heard the sound,” Frank explained, “but it was no animal at all, only some person trying to get in.” “Tell me that; will you!” burst out Bluff. “Trying to rob us the very first night out! Lucky there’s a bolt on the door, as well as a padlock outside; and that we thought to shoot it home. But, Frank, did you hit him; and do you think the poor critter is lying out there now, badly hurt?” “Don’t be foolish, Bluff!” exclaimed Frank, indignantly. “You know me better than to think I’d aim at a human being, when there was no need of it. I just banged away up in the air to give him a scare. And I rather think it filled the bill all right.” “Let’s go out and see,” suggested the impetuous Bluff, starting for the door. “Hold on a minute, till everybody is ready,” cautioned Frank; “better get your shoes on, too, boys; because it’s cold on deck at this time of night.” Presently all pronounced themselves as ready to stroll outside, and see what was awaiting them. From the varied assortment of dangerous weapons which the chums brandished, one might think they anticipated finding the deck fairly swarming with river pirates; and that a serious mix-up was in store. Will carried the hatchet; Bluff his pump-gun, about which the others were always railing; Jerry had a rifle; while, as we know, Frank still kept his reliable double-barreled present handy. “Shall I open the door now?” demanded the impatient and daring Bluff. “Yes, and be careful how you use that gun of yours,” warned Frank, who knew the hasty ways of the other of old. So Bluff flung the door wide open, and they poured forth. He carried a lighted lantern in addition to his gun; and Frank still had that useful little electric hand-torch in commission, so that there promised to be plenty of light provided, by means of which the whole deck, from stem to stern, could be illuminated. Bluff experienced a sense of bitter disappointment, for nothing jumped at him as he had really hoped might be the case. Instead, all seemed peaceful and quiet out there under the summer stars. The river whined and gurgled as it continued to run against an obstruction in the way of the broad houseboat; little wavelets lapped the shore close by; but there was no other sound save the far-away wheeze of a towboat’s exhaust, as it bucked the current of the swift-flowing river, with possibly a raft of loaded barges in charge. “Why, there’s not a thing here, Frank,” exclaimed Bluff, looking around him, and blinking like an owl at the light of his own lantern. Frank had not expected to discover anybody still crouching there on the deck. He believed that sudden roar of his gun would be enough to send the trespasser flying, whoever he might be. “I was pretty sure we wouldn’t find him here,” he remarked, casting his eyes around at the same time.