“All went as it should until we reached the very middle of the river. Then a rowboat suddenly shot into view from the lee of a low, wooded island. Two men were in it—one at the oars and the other idly dangling a lantern from his place in the bow. It was headed straight for us. Even as I looked, the rays of the light fell full on my face. I quickly crouched down, but not before the man in the bow had caught sight of me.
“‘A clown! A clown! A sure-enough clown!’ cried he to the one at the oars. ‘Pull to just a bit. There! No, I have lost him.’ And he began to cast about with the lantern.
“Meanwhile I felt the tip of Gray Ears’ trunk pressed close to the side of my head. Grasping the end of it, I held it up to my ear while through it came a whisper in warning:
“‘Quick! Down on your knees—with one arm thrust in the air. We must escape them and their questions, for we cannot afford the delay!’
“Even as I obeyed I could feel the great trunk winding in and about me, and knew that Gray Ears was wrapping me round with the trailing ends of the vines!
“Meanwhile the man with the lantern was pointing it this way and that, while his companion kept insisting that he had seen nothing at all.
“‘But I did,’ he protested. ‘I saw the whole of his round, funny face and, believe it or not, he was sliding along on the top of the water.’
“At this reply the one who was rowing almost tumbled over with laughter. In doing so he loosed his hold on the oars so that the boat swung about and so almost bumped into Gray Ears and me.
“‘There goes an old log with a broken-off limb all covered with vines—how would it do for your clown who sits on the water?’ jeered the doubting one. And, he still poking fun and the other still looking, the two of them passed on, while we again took to our course, to finally land on the coveted shore.
“We found ourselves standing in what seemed to be a yard of considerable size and skirted on all but the river’s side by a very tall fence. To the right and the left were gigantic bunkers piled high with coal. Between these we advanced, but had gone scarcely three paces when we came face to face with a big, bearded watchman who carried a glaring white light in one of his hands and a knotted, black stick in the other.