bottom of the canoe, with his back against his
bed-roll. The blankets and tent will make the seats. Of course, Moise,
you're not to go too far ahead. It's always a good plan to keep in
sight of the wangan-box and the cook's chest, when you're in the
woods."

"All right," replied Moise, "I'll go slow with those boy all the time,
yes."

"Well, we're not any of us scared yet," said John, stoutly, "and we
won't be."

"I hope we'll get some white water to run," added Rob, his eyes
shining. Jesse was the only one who seemed to be not wholly happy. The
silence of the great hills about him, situated as they now were far
from all human habitation, made him feel rather lonesome. He kept up a
stout heart, however, and soon forgot his troubles when the actual
bustle of the departure was begun.

"You'd better take the axes, Mr. Rob, and go ahead and cut out the way
a little bit on this little creek," said Alex. "I'm afraid the boats
won't quite clear."

"Aye, aye, sir," said Rob, and soon he and the other boys were making
their way in among the tangled thicket, sometimes in and sometimes out
of the water, chopping away the branches so that the little boats
could get through.

"Will they float, do you think, Mr. Rob?" called Alex.

"Like a bird!" answered Rob, as the first canoe, which was named the
_Mary Ann_, soon took the water.

"Here comes the _Jaybird_!" cried Jesse, as they pushed the other
canoe over the last foot or so of grass which lay between it and the
water.

"Those boat she'll be all same like ducks," exclaimed Moise,
admiringly. "I'll bet not even my onkle Pete Fraser he'll have better
boat like those."

"Sir Alexander's boat was twenty-five or thirty feet long, all made
out of birch-bark," said Rob. "Ours aren't much over sixteen feet."

"They had eight or ten men in their boats," began John, "and the most
we'll have in either of ours will be three--that is, if you count Jess
as a full-sized man!"

"Yes," said Alex, "and they had a number of packs, each weighing
ninety pounds. Now, all our packs won't weigh a great deal more than
that for each boat, counting in what we're going to eat. We'll have to
get something in the way of meat as we go on through. Fine boats
these, and much better than birch-bark. Perhaps you may remember that
Sir Alexander was having trouble to find good bark to mend his boats
before he got in here. We'll not need to trouble about that."

"No," said Rob, "we've got plenty of