About midday
The boys kept in mid-channel so as to reap the fullest advantage from the current . They looked back from time to time , but neither saw nor heard anything alarming . The smooth yellow flood glided between the wooded banks with scarcely a murmur . About midday the creek turned a sharp angle , and headed due north in a straight course of fully half a mile . Beyond the steep hills that terminated this stretch the boys could see the distant blue line of the mountains . The fears of the morning had vanished , and all were in buoyant spirits . The home-coming loomed brightly before them now , for with such a current the Susquehanna would soon be reached .