t forward. Chad gulped once and his heart leaped with joy, for he
had agreed to leave Jack with old Joel, and old Joel had tied the dog
in the barn.

"Hi!" shouted the old hunter. "Throw that dawg off, Chad--throw him
off."

But Chad shook his head and smiled.

"He won't go back," he shouted, and, indeed, there was Jack squatted on
his haunches close by his little master and looking gravely back as
though he were looking a last good-by.

"Hi there!" shouted old Joel again. "How am I goin to git along without
that dawg? Throw him off, Boy--throw him off, I tell ye!" Chad seized
the dog by the shoulders, but Jack braced himself and, like a child,
looked up in his master's face. Chad let go and shook his head.

A frantic yell from Tall Tom at the bow oar drew every eye to him. The
current was stronger than anyone guessed and the raft was being swept
by an eddy straight for the point of the opposite shore where there was
a sharp turn in the river.

"Watch out thar," shouted old Joel, "you're goin to 'bow'!" Dolph and
Rube were slashing the stern oar forward and back through the swift
water, but straight the huge craft made for that deadly point. Every
man had hold of an oar and was tussling in silence for life. Every man
on shore was yelling directions and warning, while the women shrank
back with frightened faces. Chad scarcely knew what the matter was, but
he gripped his rifle and squeezed Jack closer to him. He heard Tom roar
a last warning as the craft struck, quivered a moment, and the stern
swept around. The craft had "bowed."

"Watch out--jump, boys, jump! Watch when she humps! Watch yo' legs!"
These were the cries from the shore, and still Chad did not understand.
He saw Tom leap from the bow, and, as the stern swung to the other
shore, Dolph, too, leaped. Then the stern struck. The raft humped in
the middle like a bucking horse--the logs ground savagely together.
Chad heard a cry of pain from Jack and saw the dog fly up in the air
and drop in the water. He and his gun had gone up, too, but he came
back on the raft with one leg in between two logs and he drew it up in
time to keep the limb from being smashed to a pulp as the logs crashed
together again, but not quickly enough to save the foot from a painful
squeeze. Then he saw Tom and Dolph leap back again, the raft whirled on
and steadied in its course, and behind him he saw Jack swimming feebly
for the shore--fighting the waves for his life, for the dog