Chapter 43

Dirck warned them to beware of swan-holes as they stepped into the shallow water and moved out, knee deep, toward the south-west. Lanier carried a pointed stake with a rag tied to it. As they waded on, side by side, the girl showed him where the ancient channel once wound between Red Moon and Star Shoal, and where once it flowed on either side of The Old Man’s. She had made a little map that morning and now she took it from her pocket and showed it to him. [Illustration] “You see,” she explained, “the dotted line i…