"Ping! And did the yaller mug come with her?"
"Why," went on Lorry, "the boat came through nearly as quick as we did!"
"How did Ping know where to send her?" asked McGlory.
"He could have found that out easy enough. They knew at police headquarters that we were coming to Madison."
"Yes, with charges of over two hundred and fifty dollars for transportation."
"Tell me about that!" McGlory nearly fell off his seat. "But that's just like a heathen Chinee. Probably he thought the charges wouldn't be more'n a dollar and a half. And they were over two-fifty! Sufferin' millionaires!"
"It's all well enough to talk," put in Lorry, "but there are lots more comfortable places than a motor boat, with a dead engine, in the middle of the lake."
"That's right, too," agreed McGlory. "Every once in a while little George, the child wonder, gets a bean on the right number. It will be blowing great guns on this stretch of water before morning. I move we hike."
"Did you fix things up in Madison?" George inquired.
"Not the way I wanted to, George," said Matt. "We'll have to talk about that."
"Then we won't go to Madison," declared George, "and that's settled. We might as well haul off into the Catfish and spend the night in the boat."
"There used to be a 'tarp' for coverin' her in rough weather," put in McGlory. "Was Ping thoughtful enough to send all the stuff that belonged to her?"
"He was," said Matt, "at thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents a hundred pounds--three times the merchandise rate."
"Oh, glory! What did you take the boat off the express company's hands for, pard?"
"For the reason, Joe, that I had use for her."
"And this is the kind of use you've been putting her to!" muttered the cowboy. "It wasn't worth the price, not by a whole row of 'dobies."
The waves were rolling higher and higher, and the _Sprite_ was pitching like an unruly broncho.
"We'll have to get out of this," said Lorry, as the skiff alongside smashed against the _Sprite's_ bulwarks and gave them all a rough shaking. "The wind's carrying us toward Maple Bluff, and I don't want any experience with the bluff on a night like this. Where's a lantern? Is there one aboard?"
"There was," answered Matt, "but Ross threw it into the lake."