n, and
espying who the occupants of the second canoe were, added her cries of
encouragement to those of Little Tim.

But the leaders came on steadily and surely, heading in slightly toward
the point on shore where they would disembark to make the carry about
the dam.

Away up the stream, two more canoes could be seen, about abreast, the
four boys plying their paddles with all the strength in them.

So the leading canoe passed the boy and girl, Little Tim yelling himself
hoarse, with encouragement to Harvey and Henry Burns to come on. Surely
if there had been any impelling power in noise, Tim's cries would have
turned the scale in favour of his friends.

The leading canoe touched shore, and Tom and Bob sprang lightly out;
snatched up their craft and were off up the bank, to make the carry.
Henry Burns and Harvey headed in to do likewise. But now Bess Thornton,
catching Tim suddenly by an arm, started back down the boom, saying to
him, "Come on quick." He, surprised, wondering what she meant, followed.

The girl ran swiftly along the line of logs to a point a little way
above the dam. There the line of the boom swung inshore in a sweep to
the left. To the right of them, as they stood, was the deep, black
water, flowing powerfully in the middle of the stream, and with a strong
current, toward an opening in the dam. This was the long flume, a steep,
long incline, down which the water of the stream raced with great
velocity. It was built to carry rafts of logs through from time to
time--a chute, planked in on either side, with the entrance formed by
the cutting down of the top of the dam there a few feet. There was no
great depth of water in the flume--no one seemed to know just how much.
It depended on the height of water in the stream.

Now the girl, waving to Harvey and Henry Burns, cried shrilly for them
to watch. Surprised, they ceased their paddling for a moment and looked
over to where she stood.

To their amazement and Little Tim's horror, the girl, barefoot and
bare-armed, and clad in a light calico frock, gave a laugh and dived
into the stream. A moment more, she reappeared a few feet from the boom,
and was unmistakably heading for the swift water beyond running down to
the flume.

"Come back!" cried Little Tim. "You'll get drowned there. You're going
into the flume."

The girl turned on her side as she swam, calling out:

"Tell 'em to come on. They'll beat the others. I've been through once
before."