"Whatcher doin' here, anyway?" "We're waiting for the storm to hold up," said Roy; "we beat it from that road when----" "We sought refuge," Pee-wee prompted him. "Any port in a storm, you know," Roy smiled. "Are we pinched?" The man did not vouchsafe an immediate answer to this vital query. Instead he poked his head in, peered about and then said, "Don' know's ye are, not fur's I'm concerned. I'd like to hev ye answer me one question honest, though." "You'll have to answer one for us first," called Roy, who had disappeared within the little cabin. "Do you take two lumps of sugar in your coffee?" The man now condescended to smile, as Roy brought out a steaming cup and handed it to him. "Wall, ye've got all the comforts uv home, ain't ye?" "Give him a rice cake," whispered Pee-wee in Roy's ear. "He's all right." "Won't you come in?" said Roy. "I don't know whose boat this is, but you're welcome. I guess we didn't do any damage. We chopped up a couple of broken stanchions, that's all." "I guess we'll let ye off without more'n ten year uv hard labor," said the man, sipping his coffee. "But I'll give ye a tip. Get away from here as soon's ye can,--hear? Old man Stanton owns this boat an' he's a bear. He'd run ye in fer trespass and choppin' up them stanchions quick as a gun. Ye come oft'n that outer road, ye say? Strangers here?" "I can see now that road is flooded," said Tom. "Guess it isn't used, is it?" "This is all river land," said the man. "In extra high tides this here land is flooded an' the only ones usin' that thar road is the fishes. This rain keeps up another couple of days an' we get a full moon on top o' that the old hulk'll float, by gol! Ye didn't see no men around here last night now, did ye?" "Not a soul," said Roy. "'Cause there was a prisoner escaped up yonder last night an' when I see the smoke comin' out o' yer flue contraption here I thought like enough he hit this shelter." "Up yonder?" Tom queried. "You're strangers, hey?" the man repeated. "We're on a hike," said Tom. "We're on our way to Haverstraw and----" "Thence," prompted Pee-wee. "_Thence_ to Catskill Landing, and _thence_ to Leeds and _thence_ to Black Lake," mocked Roy. "Well, thar's a big prison up yonder," said the man. "Oh, Sing Sing?" Roy asked. "I never thought of that." "Feller scaled the wall last night an' made off in a boat." The boys were silent. They had not realized how close they were to Ossining, and the thought of the great prison whose name they had often heard mentioned sobered them a little; the mere suggestion of one of its inmates scaling its frowning wall on such a night and setting forth in an open boat, perhaps lurking near their very shelter, cast a shadow over them. "Are you--are you _sure_ you didn't see a--a crouching shadow when you went out and got that gasoline can last night?" Pee-wee stammered. "I'm sorry," said Roy, "but I didn't see one crouching shadow."