could be driven by the swift current, even when the men
were taking the best of care to keep it off the rocks.

"Leo doesn't tell much about his plans, does he?" remarked Rob. "I was
thinking all the time we'd have to run the whole fifty miles to
Revelstoke."

Uncle Dick laughed. "Leo believes in saving labor even in talking,"
said he, "but I am not complaining, for he has brought us this far in
safety. I'm willing to say he's as good a boatman as I ever saw, and
more careful than I feared he would be. Most of these Indians are too
lazy to line down, and will take all sorts of chances to save a little
work. But I must say Leo has been careful. It has been very rarely
we've even shipped a little bit of water."

"One thing," said John, "we haven't got much left to get wet, so far
as grub's concerned. I'm pretty near ready to go out hunting
porcupines or gophers, for flour and tea and a little bacon rind leave
a fellow rather hungry. But I'm mighty glad, Uncle Dick, that you came
through that rapid all right with the boats and found us all right
afterward. Suppose we had got separated up there in some way and you
had gone by us, thinking that we were lower down--what would you have
done in that case--suppose we had all the grub?"

"Oh, I don't know," replied his uncle, "but I fancy we'd have got
through somehow. Men have done that in harder circumstances. Think of
those chaps Milton and Cheadle we were talking of the other night;
they were in worse shape than we were, for they had no idea where they
were or how far it was to safety, or how they were to get there, and
they had no guide who had ever been across the country. Now, although
we have been in a dangerous country for some days, we know perfectly
where we are and how far it is to a settlement. The trail out is
plain, or at least the direction is plain."

"Well, I'm glad we didn't have to try to get out alone, just the
same."

"And so am I, but I believe that even if you had been left alone you'd
have made it out some way. You had a rifle, and, although game is not
plentiful in the heavy forest, you very likely would have found a
porcupine now and then--that is to say, a porcupine would very likely
have found you, for they are very apt to prowl about the camp almost
anywhere in this country. You wouldn't even have been obliged to make
a noise like a porcupine if you had used anything greasy around your
cooking or left any scraps where they could get at them. O