While preparations were being made, Adolay and Nootka went to the bay
where the canoe was lying--a short distance from the village, on the
other side of a high cliff that sheltered the bay from any breeze that
might blow in from the sea. The light craft was turned bottom up on the
beach, and the two girls carried it down to the water's edge. Launching
it, Nootka got in first, and Adolay was preparing to follow when a
boyish shout arrested her, and she saw Anteek come skimming round the
point in his kayak, wielding his double-bladed paddle with great
dexterity and power. In a few seconds the kayak was alongside the canoe
and the boy stepped out upon the shore.

"Let me try to steer your canoe," he said, pointing eagerly to the place
where the Indian girl was about to seat herself.

Although Adolay did not understand the words, she had no difficulty with
the boy's expressive pantomime. She nodded assent cheerfully. Anteek
took the paddle, stepped into her place, and the girl pushed them off
into deep water.

Delighted with the novelty of their position the two paddled away with
great vigour, and were soon a considerable distance from the shore.
Then it occurred to Adolay that she would have some fun on her own
account, and perhaps give her new friends a surprise. With this intent
she floated the kayak and pushed it alongside of a flat stone in the
water from which she could step into it. But she found that stepping
into a small round hole in the centre of a covered craft was not the
same as stepping into her own canoe, and even when, with great care, she
succeeded, she found that her garments rendered the process of sitting
down rather difficult--not a matter of wonder when we consider that the
kayak is meant only for men.

However, she succeeded at last, and grasping the paddle pushed off to
sea. But the long paddle with its blade at each end perplexed her
greatly, and she had not quite overcome the awkwardness and begun to
feel somewhat at ease when she chanced to touch on a ledge of rock that
cropped up at that place near to the surface. Fortunately the rock was
quite smooth, else it would have ripped up the skin with which the
vessel was covered, but the shock and the paddle together were too much
for the inexperienced girl. She lost her balance, and next moment was
in the water with the kayak bottom up, and she incapable of extricating
herself from the hole into which she had squeezed.

It happened th