Ah'd certenly feel a heap easier if Ah did." He bent suddenly forward, his glance at the edge of the log.

"Dey ain't took but just de one boat, sah, fer de odder am shoved under dar out'r sight." As I stooped further over I saw that this was true, the small rowboat, with the oars undisturbed in its bottom, had been pressed in beneath the concealment of the log wharf, almost completely hidden from above, yet to all appearances uninjured.

The very fact that it should have been thus left only added to the mystery of the affair.

If it had been Kirby's deliberate purpose to leave us there stranded ashore, why had he failed to crush in the boat's planking with a rock?
Could the leaving of the craft in fit condition for our use be part of some carefully conceived plan; a bait to draw us into some set trap?
Or did it occur merely as an incident of their hurried night?
These were unanswerable questions, yet the mere knowledge that the boat was actually there and in navigable condition, promised us an opportunity to escape.

While hope remained, however vague, it was not my nature to despair.