When I say this, I must make an exception. There were some spots which yet baffled them. These were two islands which lay in the channel of the river, and, when the flood poured down, received its shock upon their rocky borders. These islands lay out of the reach of the boys, and for that reason became particularly attractive to them. An island is always an object of unutterable fascination to a boy; but these became still more fascinating, for the reason that they seemed to be more inaccessible than was generally the case. At the same time they were very provokingly near. From one shore the distance was so slight that it seemed almost possible to jump across. But the possibility was only apparent; the island was in reality inaccessible, except by boat, at certain times of tide, and so Phil and Pat only found themselves tantalized by the sight of an object apparently so near, yet in reality so remote. Each of the boys began at length to be filled with a consuming desire to reach the islands, and each soon began to think over some plan by which their purpose might be effected. Of the two, Pat was the more eager; in fact, if it had not been for him, it is not at all likely that Phil would ever have felt the desire so strongly; but Pat seemed to be completely carried away by this one feeling; and his excitement was gradually communicated to Phil, till at last one was as eager as the other to reach those inviting shores. As for Bart, he was in a different position altogether. He had been taken there once, and consequently knew all about them; and thus there was no mystery to attract him. In the second place, his father had forbidden him, most positively and most solemnly, from ever having anything whatever to do with any boat above the Falls. The prohibition was one which was so final, that the idea of disobeying it never for one moment entered into his head; and when Pat had mentioned his wish to visit the islands, he had refused so positively, and had warned him against it so earnestly, that Pat from that moment never alluded to it again in his presence. In this matter Phil was influenced by Pat, rather than by Bart; that is to say, he listened rather to Pat’s enthusiastic descriptions of those mysterious islands than to the somewhat unsatisfactory warning which Bart had given; and the only result of that warning was, that he and Pat began to devise in secret some plan by which they might achieve their desire.