nd Don in replacing
cargo on the empty boat while the other was towed up stream and unloaded.
The first trip had been so easy and successful that Swiftwater told Gerald
to allow a load sufficient to give thirteen inches draught. The second
boat returning was loaded to the same capacity, leaving still a small
amount of cargo, requiring a third trip for one of the boats. On this last
trip the boat also took in the boys, and as the Indians had by this time
learned the channel the trip was made by poling without mishap.

By the middle of the afternoon the cargo had all been replaced on the two
boats, and the miner announced that as they could not reach their
destination before dark they would make camp and take the rest of the day
to themselves. At this point the forest came down close to the water's
edge, and the ground was high and dry, and Swiftwater told the boys to
"camp out" if they so desired, and had double tarpaulins placed on the
ground for them and "dog tents" erected for them near the Indians.

A roaring big fire was built, and one of the Indians told off to keep it
up. The Scouts thought it was very soldierlike. They talked excitedly for
a while, and being weary fell into an early deep sleep. Later there was a
good deal of restlessness and turning and twisting. Then through the
starlight, occasionally a mysterious figure could be dimly discerned
stealing silently toward the boats. There was a quiet grin on the face of
Swiftwater, who had bunked on one of the boats, when he arose at an early
hour and found three recumbent figures sleeping peacefully on the
comfortable mattresses in his own boats, and on going ashore saw that the
"dog tents" were empty.

"Not quite seasoned yet," he said to himself, as he quietly awakened the
Indians.

CHAPTER VIII.

COLONEL SNOW'S RANCH.

At an early hour that morning the journey was resumed and their progress
up stream continued uninterruptedly until about the middle of the
forenoon, when Swiftwater stepped ashore and began to search along the
right bank for landmarks. Suddenly, he stepped out of the woods, and held
up his hand and the Indians in the first boat began to turn the craft's
head in toward the shore.

"Here we are," cried the miner, pointing to a large board nailed across
two small trees, under which a "cairn" or pile of boulders had been
erected. "This is one of the corners of the Colonel's property."

The boats were quickly fastened and the boys t