It was quite ten o'clock, and the lights in the Bassett house on the bluff above had been extinguished.

It was at once clear to Dan that he must act promptly.
Allen, dismayed by the complications that beset his love-affair, had proposed an elopement, and Marian had lent a willing ear.
"They're running away, Sylvia; we've got to head them off." He bent to his paddle vigorously.

"They can't possibly get away." But it was not in Marian's blood to be thwarted in her pursuit of adventure.

She was past-mistress of the canoeist's difficult art, and her canoe flew on as though drawn away into the dark on unseen cords.
"You'd better lend a hand," said Dan, and Sylvia turned round and knelt, paddling Indian fashion.

The canoe skimmed the water swiftly.