em of
the little tree, and he placed one of them under the bow as a roller.
The boys then took hold of the sides of the boat, three on each side,
each boy opposite to his own row-lock, while Marco stood ready to put
under another roller. The ascent was very gradual, so that the boat
moved up easily, and the boys were very much surprised and delighted
to see their boat thus running up upon the land.

It seemed to them an exercise of great power to be able to take so
large a boat so easily and rapidly up such an ascent upon the land.
They were aided to do it by two principles. One was the combination of
their strength in one united effort, and the other was the influence
of the rollers in preventing the friction of the bottom of the boat
upon the ground.

Presently the whole length of the boat was out of water and resting
on four rollers, which Marco had put under it, one by one, as it had
advanced. Forester would then call out, "_Ahead with her!_" when
the boys would move about two steps. Then Forester would give the
command, "_Hold on_," and they would stop. By this time one of
the rollers would come out behind, and Marco would take it up and
carry it round forward, and place it under the bow, and Forester
would then say, "_Ahead with her!_" again, and the boat would
immediately advance again up the acclivity.

[Illustration: THE PORTAGE.]

In a very few minutes the boat was thus rolled up into a sort of a
road, where the way was level. Here it went very easily. Presently it
began to descend, and soon the boys saw that Forester was taking a
sort of path which led by a gentle slope down to the water immediately
below the mill. They were very much pleased at this, for, as they had
had a great many excursions already on the mill-pond, they had become
familiar with it in all its parts, and they were much animated at the
idea of exploring new regions. In going down to the water on the lower
side of the mill, they had, of course, no exertion to make to draw the
boat, as its own weight was more than sufficient to carry it down upon
the rollers. They only had to hold it back to prevent its running down
too fast, and to keep it properly guided.

"It goes down pretty easy," said Marco; "but I don't see how you are
ever going to get it back again."

It was, in fact, a long and rather steep descent. The boys thought
that it would require far more strength than they could exercise, to
bring the boat _up_ such an inclination.