uld still be as
it were only at the beginning of the great journey on which they had set
out. Moreover, Norway House lay entirely out of their way. Cumberland
House--another trading-post upon the River Saskatchewan--was the next
point where they had intended to rest themselves, after leaving the Red
River settlements. To reach Cumberland House _afoot_ would be equally
difficult, as it, too, lay at the distance of hundreds of miles, with
lakes, and rivers, and marshes, intervening. What, then, could they do?

"Let us _not_ go back," cried Francois, ever ready with a bold advice:
"let us make a boat, and keep on, say I."

"Ha! Francois," rejoined Basil, "it's easy to say 'make a boat;' how is
that to be done, I pray?"

"Why, what's to hinder us to hew a log, and make a dug-out? We have
still got the axe, and two hatchets left."

Norman asked what Francois meant by a dug-out. The phrase was new to
him.

"A canoe," replied Francois, "hollowed out of a tree. They are sometimes
called 'dug-outs' on the Mississippi, especially when they are roughly
made. One of them, I think, would carry all four of us well enough.
Don't you think so, Luce?"

"Why, yes," answered the student; "a large one might: but I fear there
are no trees about here of sufficient size. We are not among the great
timber of the Mississippi bottom, you must remember."

"How large a tree would it require?" asked Norman, who knew but little
of this kind of craft.

"Three feet in diameter, at least," replied Lucien; "and it should be of
that thickness for a length of nearly twenty feet. A less one would not
carry four of us."

"Then I am sure enough," responded Norman, "that we won't find such
timber here. I have seen no tree of that size either yesterday, or while
we were out this morning."

"Nor I," added Basil.

"I don't believe there's one," said Lucien.

"If we were in Louisiana," rejoined Francois, "I could find fifty
canoe-trees by walking as many yards. Why I never saw such insignificant
timber as this here."

"You'll see smaller timber than this Cousin Frank, before we reach the
end of our voyage."

This remark was made by Norman, who knew that, as they proceeded
northward, the trees would be found decreasing in size until they would
appear like garden shrubbery.

"But come," continued he, "if we can't build a craft to carry us from
_one_ tree, perhaps we can do it out of _three_."

"With three!" echoed Francois. "I should like to s