all have to do.
Let me show you where we are;" and with that Sam took out his map and
spread it on the ground before him, while the boys clustered around.

"Here we are," pointing to a spot on the map, "near the Nepalgah
river, at the upper end of the peninsula it makes with the Patsaliga
and the Connecuh rivers. You see the Patsaliga and the Nepalgah both
run into the Connecuh, their mouths being not many miles apart. This
peninsula that we're on is low, swampy, and full of creeks, a little
lower down. This heavy rain will raise all the rivers and all the
creeks, and make them spread out all over the low grounds on both
sides. The land is higher on the other side of the Nepalgah river, and
it was my plan to cross over to-day, but when this rain came on I
began to think it not at all likely that we could get to the river
before night, and then I began to lay plans for use in case of a
failure."

"That's what you've been puzzling over all the afternoon, then?" said
Bob Sharp.

"Yes. I've been wondering what we should do, and trying to hit upon
some plan. You see the matter stands thus: we can't go on on this
side, that is certain; the river will be out of its banks to-morrow
morning, and we can't easily get across it; and if we were across it
would still be difficult marching, as there are creeks and swamps
enough to bother us over there."

"What are we to do, then?" asked Tommy, uneasily. "We _mustn't_ go
back. That'll never do."

"Never you mind, Tom," said Sid Russell, whose faith in Sam's
fertility of resource was literally boundless, "never you mind. We
ain't a goin' back if the Captain knows it. He's got it all fixed
somehow in his head, you may bet your bottom dollar. Just wait till he
explains."

"That's so," said Billy Bowlegs, "only it seems to me he's got a
mighty hard sum this time, an' if he's got the right answer I'd like
to see just what it is."

"He's got it, ain't you, Sam?" asked Sid, confidently.

"I believe I have," said Sam.

"What is it?" asked all the boys in a breath.

"Canoe," answered Sam.

"To cross the river with? That's the trick," said Bob Sharp.

"No," replied Sam, "that was what I first thought of; or rather, I
first thought of building some sort of a raft to cross the river on,
and then it occurred to me that we could go on faster on high water in
a canoe than on foot; so my notion is to dig out a good big canoe and
ride all the way in it."

"Can we do that?"

"Yes, t