r you might
even have tried eating a little pine bark, the way the porcupines do.
Again, in almost any clearing this far down to the south you might
have run across some of these gophers which you have seen on the
grassy banks lately. Not that I would care to eat gopher myself, for
they look like prairie-dog, and I never did like prairie-dog to eat.
Besides, they tell bad stories about these mountain gophers; I've
heard that the spotted fever of the mountains, a very deadly disease,
is only found in a gopher country; so I'm very glad you did not have
to resort to that sort of diet."

"We might get some goats back there in the mountains if we had to,"
said Rob, "but goat hunting is hard work, and I don't suppose a fellow
would last long at it on light diet."

"Well, I wish we had one or two of those kids that we left up on the
mountain at Yellowhead Lake," said John. "Moise says a goat kid is
just as good to eat as any kind of meat. And any kind of meat would
be better than bacon rind to chew on."

"Never mind, John," said Rob; "we could go two days without anything
to eat if we had to, and in two days, at least, we'll be where you can
get as square a meal as you like. Maybe even to-day we'll land where
we can get supplies, although Leo doesn't seem to tell us very much
about things on ahead."

Leo and his silent but hard-working cousin George now came down to the
waterside and signified that it was time to start off, as by this time
the sun had cleared the mists from the river. As the light
strengthened, they could see that the river had lost something of its
deep blue or green color and taken on a tawny hue, which spoke all too
plainly of the flood-waters coming down from the snow-fields through
the many creeks they had passed on both sides of the river.

[Illustration: ON THE COLUMBIA RIVER]

It took but a few moments now for them to embark, and soon they were
plying their paddles once more and passing swiftly down the great
river. Although they knew Leo was not very loquacious, and so not apt
to say much of dangers on ahead, the general feeling of all the
others was that the worst of their route had been traversed and that
now they were in close touch with civilization.

They were moving along steadily in the bright, warm sunlight, and John
and Rob were assisting with paddles on each side of the boat, when all
at once they saw the lead-boat leave the center of the channel and
shoot to the left toward a high