“It’s my belief, governor,” returned Riderhood, with a wink and shake of his head, “that you’ve dropped one in your counting. It ain’t locks as you’ve been giving your mind to. No, no!”

As he expressively jerked his pointing finger in the direction the boat had taken, a flush of impatience mounted into Bradley’s face, and he looked anxiously up the river.

“It ain’t locks as you’ve been a reckoning up,” said Riderhood, when the schoolmaster’s eyes came back again. “No, no!”

“What other calculations do you suppose I have been occupied with? Mathematics?”

“I never heerd it called that. It’s a long word for it. Hows’ever, p’raps you call it so,” said Riderhood, stubbornly chewing his grass.

“It. What?”