remarked Whopper. "And
so did Wags."

"The shock to the boat did it. It made me lose my balance before
I was aware."

"Let us be thankful Giant is safe, and Wags," said the doctor's son.
"And thankful, too, that the boat didn't go over. If it had our
outing would have been spoiled."

"We've got to be mighty careful how we travel through the rest of
this river," remarked Snap. "The heavy rains have made a fierce
torrent of it."

It must be confessed that the boys did not know exactly what to do.
Should they venture on the river again, or carry the outfit to the
beginning of Firefly Lake?

"I've got an idea," said Shep at last. "You can follow it or
not, as you think best. My idea is to have two of the crowd take
the boat down and the two others walk to Firefly Lake, carrying
the most precious of the outfit."

"That suits me," said Snap.

"Who will walk and who take the boat?" questioned Whopper.

"I might as well go in the boat---I'm wet already," said Giant,
smiling grimly.

"The three of us can draw lots as to who shall go with Giant," said
the doctor's son.

The drawing was at once made, and it fell to Snap to go with the
small youth. The cameras and guns were taken from the rowboat and
also a few other things. Then the doctor's son and Whopper aided
the others in getting the boat into the rushing river once more.

"Take care of yourselves!" cried Shep. "If all goes right you'll
get to the lake long before we do."

In a moment the boat was caught by the current and whirled onward.
Giant and Snap had all they could do to steer it. But, fortunately,
they found no more such bad places as those already encountered,
and in less than an hour found themselves floating on Firefly Lake,
safe and sound.

"The others might have come with us after all," declared Giant.
"Wonder how long it will take them to reach here?"

"I don't know; it depends on how rough they find the way. Maybe a
couple of hours," answered Snap. "We may as well go ashore, start
up a camp and wait for them."

CHAPTER X

THE CABIN IN THE WOODS

The doctor's son and Whopper had no easy time of it making their way
through the bushes and around the rocks which lined the watercourse
between the two lakes. There was no trail on that side of the stream,
and they had to "go it blind," to use Shep's words.

"Say, this is worse than climbing a mountain!" gasped Whopper, after
slipping and sliding over a number of rocks an