They were now going downhill toward the river, and presently struck a patch of wet meadow.

“We must be careful here,” observed Tom, and just then sank up to his ankles in water and mud.  But the tramp could now be seen heading directly for the river, and they continued to follow him.

They were still fifty yards from the shore when Sam uttered a cry of dismay.  “He’s got a boat!”

“So he has.  Stop there, you thief!”

“Stop yourself, or I’ll shoot one of you!” growled the tramp, as he leaped into a flat bottom craft moored beside a fallen tree.  He had no pistol, but thought he might scare the boys.

They came to a halt, and an instant later the flat-bottom craft shot away from the river bank.  By this time Dick came up, all out of breath.

“So he has gotten away!” he cried in dismay.

“Yes,” answered Sam, “but here is your pocketbook.”

“And what of my watch —­ the one father gave to me before he left for Africa?”

“He’s got that yet, I suppose,” said Tom.

At this Dick gave a groan, for the watch was a fine gold one which Mr. Rover had worn for years.  Dick had begged for the timepiece, and it had been entrusted to him at the last moment

“We must get that watch back somehow!” he said.  “Isn’t there another boat around here?”

“There is one up to Harrison’s farm.”

“That is quarter of a mile away.”

“I don’t think there is any nearer.”

“And the river is all of two hundred feet wide here!  What shall we do?”

It was a puzzling question, and all three Of the boys stared blankly at each other.  In the meantime, the thief had picked up a pair of oars and was using them in a clumsy fashion which showed plainly that he was not used to handling them.

“If we had a boat we could catch him easily,” observed Tom.  Then his eyes fell upon the fallen tree.  “I have an idea!  Let us try to get across on that!  I won’t mind a wetting if only we can get Dick’s watch back.”

“Yes, yes; just the thing!” put in his elder brother quickly.

All hands ran down to the fallen tree, which was about a foot in diameter and not over twenty-five or thirty feet in length.  It lay half in the water already, and it was an easy matter to shove it off.

“We can’t do much without oars or a pole,” said Tom.  “Wait a moment,” and he ran back to where he had seen another fallen tree, a tall, slender maple sapling.  He soon had this in hand; and, cleared of its branches, it made a capital pole.  Dick and Sam sat astride of the tree in the water, and Tom stood against an upright branch and shoved off.  The river was not deep, and he kept on reaching bottom without difficulty.

By this time the tramp was halfway across the stream, which was flowing, rapidly and carrying both boat and tree down toward a bend quarter of a mile below.