to float on some quiet
pond or down a gentle river.

There were some tough questions which came up and it took all of Jim's
craft and strength to settle them, and Tom's ingenuity backed Jim up.
The very weight of our boat was a problem, but three strong boys
buckling into a job of that kind can make pretty good progress.

You can imagine how anxious we were to start on our dangerous and
memorable journey. The call of the river was continually in our ears,
and we would look way down the stretch of water and wonder what lay
ahead of us in that far and mysterious land surrounded with weird
plateaus and strange ranges.

"I'm going to put a keel on our craft," said Jim. "That will be the only
way to keep her to the current."

"I'd like to know where you will find it?" I asked.

"Don't you worry about that," replied Jim. "I'll locate it all right.
You fellows rest while I look around."

"I don't need a rest," I answered. "You lay out some work for us while
you are scouting around."

Jim stood with his boot upon one log and his hand on his knee,
supporting his chin. His eyes had a dull glaze and from this symptom and
his attitude, I want you to know that Jim was cogitating, and it was a
subject worth thinking about, too, for it was of great importance that
we should have a raft that would meet the requirements of the river.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE BUILDING OF THE BOAT

"All right, Jo," said Jim, "I'll give you a contract that you can work
on until sunset."

He looked over our bunch of logs carefully and picked out the three
largest and finest.

"You can begin on these," he said. "Take the adzes and the axes and go
to work and hollow them out."

"What for?" I asked.

"You will see later," he replied. "Try to think it out for yourselves."

Then he took himself off and we went busily to work. We certainly had
our task cut out for us.

"What do you suppose Jim is after?" I asked. "Perhaps he is going to
have us hollow out a canoe apiece and go sailing down the Colorado to
see who will reach the end or get drowned first."

"Maybe he thinks that it will make the logs more buoyant and they will
float higher if they are hollow," suggested Tom.

"It will take us a month or more to finish all these logs," I grumbled.

"What shape do you suppose the raft will be?" Tom inquired.

"Something like this," I said, taking my index finger and drawing a
square in the sand. Tom shook his head.

"That would be too