Billy Brackett had experienced considerable difficulty in finding this raft, and was greatly disappointed that his search in this direction should prove fruitless.

The raftsmen had never heard of Major Caspar, nor of Winn Caspar, his son.

They were lumbermen from far up on the Wisconsin River, and were taking this raft to New Orleans as a speculation.

They knew nothing of Sheriff Riley or his skiff.

Yes, they had picked up an empty skiff two days before, but it had been taken away and another left in its place by a young fellow with a dog, who had boarded their raft without invitation, set his dog on one of them, and then skipped.
They would like to meet that party again--yes, they would--and they'd make things pretty lively for him.
Then they began asking questions in turn, and assuming such a hostile tone that Billy Brackett concluded he might as well leave then as later.