d logs, so that the boat could
approach the island without striking on the sharp rocks which surrounded
it. Then the stores were all to be taken out of the boat, and placed
where they would be dry and easy of access. The provisions had by this
time become nearly exhausted; but the boys had been told that they could
get milk, eggs, butter, bread, and vegetables at one of the houses,
which was not more than a mile from the camp, so they were not troubled
to find that of their canned provisions nothing was left except a can of
peaches.

Of course all this work was not done in one day. On the afternoon of
their arrival at the lake the boys merely pitched the tent, and then
went fishing, with a view to supper. Fishing with drop lines from a
large rock at one end of their little island, they caught perch as fast
as they could pull them in, good-sized pickerel, and two or three
cat-fish. That night they ate a supper that would have made a
boarding-house keeper weep tears of despair, and went to bed rather
happier than they had ever felt before.

Tom was to row over to the house for milk and other provisions in the
morning; but when morning came, the boat was gone. She had broken loose
during the night, not having been properly fastened, and had floated
quietly away. A faint speck was visible on the surface of the lake about
two miles away, which Harry, who had remarkably good eyes, said was the
_Whitewing_. Whether he was right or wrong, it was quite certain that
the boys were imprisoned on the island, with nothing to eat but a can of
peaches and some coffee and sugar.

The fish, however, were waiting to be caught, and before very long a
breakfast of fish and of coffee without milk was ready. The boys then
began to discuss the important question of how they were to get back
their boat, or to get away from the island.

It was a mile to the shore, and nobody felt able to swim that distance.
Joe proposed that they fasten one of their shirts to a tall tree, as a
signal of distress, and then fire the gun every minute. The objection to
this plan was that the nearest house was out of sight behind a little
point of land, and that no one would see the signal, or would understand
why the gun was fired. Then Tom proposed to build a raft, on which two
boys could paddle after the runaway boat. This was a practicable
suggestion, and it was at once put into execution.

It was hard work to cut down timber enough to build a raft, but by