tramp from here to Montreal, and over
tough country at that, with rivers to cross, and bogs miles around to
avoid."

"Excuse me, if you please," muttered Jimmy, whose desire for a chance to
stretch his legs did not contemplate such an extended trip as walking
all the way to the metropolis on the St. Lawrence.

They were soon speeding down-stream again. Other small rapids they came
upon, but none of the same dimensions as the cataract lately passed.

Jimmy was presently observed making gestures, and having drawn the
attention of those in the nearby canoes to himself, he called out:

"Sure it's a connecting link with home!"

"What is?" demanded Jack.

"Be after dipping your hand over the side, and tastin' the water!"
replied the scout who was in the boat with Tamasjo and Frank.

Upon doing so, Ned, who had quickly guessed what Jimmy meant, found that
there was indeed a brackish taste to the water, as though the influence
of the great tides of Hudson Bay might be felt this far up the stream;
it would have gone much further only for the numerous rifts that told of
a descent of several feet in the drop of the river.

Ned concluded that they had gone quite far enough for the present. Upon
asking the voyageur, he learned that they could reach the mouth of the
river inside of a couple of hours, if they chose to use their paddles in
addition to the set of the now sluggish current of the widening stream.

"Keep on the watch for a suitable hiding place for the boats," he told
the others, "and remember, it must be on the larboard side, because
that's the way we expect to tramp in search of the wonderful copper
mine."

Every one after that kept on the alert for such a place as would be
suitable for the purpose to which they intended to put it. Of all the
five scouts, it seemed the irony of fate that Jimmy should actually be
the one to first make a discovery.

"I'm only a dub at this business, I know," he said after a while, with a
grin on his freckled face, that was almost as red as his hair, thanks to
the action of the summer sun and the winds they had encountered; "yes,
only a tyro, so to speak; but d'ye know it strikes me that over yonder
amongst the canes the canoes would lie so snug and unbeknown that
nothin'd bring harm to the same, while we chanct to be awanderin'
around."

Ned being close by gave one look and then laughed.

"Jimmy, I want to tell you right now," he remarked, "that if you'd only
devote more o