I'm bound to have that raft, though.

It is simply a case of necessity, and necessity is in the same fix we are, so far as law is concerned." While thus thinking, Mr.Gilder had stepped into a light skiff that was moored near the boom, and was pulling towards the stranded raft.

He first examined its position, and assured himself that very little labor would be necessary to float it; then he stepped aboard, and very nearly lost his customary self-possession upon the receipt of Winn's warm greeting.

He was on the point of returning it in a manner that would have proved most unpleasant for poor Winn, when he discovered that his supposed assailant was only a boy, and that the act was unintentional.
It took the shrewd man but a few minutes to discover the exact state of affairs aboard the raft, and to form a plan for gaining peaceful, if not altogether lawful, possession of it.

This plan he began to carry out by the false statement of the situation made to Winn at the conclusion of the last chapter.