le tremor. But now the reaction had come, and his imagination ran
riot with his reason.

"Why, Shad, what's th' matter now?" asked Bob solicitously. "Were th'
strain at th' paddle too much? You looks sick."

"No--I'm all right--just foolish. I'm afraid you'll think I'm not
game, Bob."

"Oh, but I knows you is, Shad. I seen you turned over in th' Bay,
Shad--an' I knows you'm wonderful brave."

"Thank you, Bob. I hope I deserve your opinion."

"I were terrible scairt first, when I finds th' canoe's slippin' back
toward th' rapid an' I'm seein' no way t' land," said Bob. "Then I
stops bein' scairt an' has a feelin' that I don't care--"

"Just as I felt," broke in Shad. "A sort of hopeless speculation on
what was going to happen, but not much caring."

"Aye," continued Bob. "Then I thinks 'twill be sore hard on Mother--my
never goin' home--an' I prays th' Lard t' help us, an' soon's I says
'Amen' I thinks o' this island. 'Twere th' Lard puts un in my head,
Shad."

"I think," said Shad, "it was your quick wit and resourcefulness,
Bob."

"No," Bob insisted positively, "'twere th' Lard. An', Shad, we must be
thankin' th' Lard now."

Then Ungava Bob and Shad Trowbridge knelt by the side of the boulder,
the former reverently, the latter courteously, while Bob prayed aloud:

"Dear Lard, Shad and me is wonderful thankful that you p'inted out t'
us th' landin' place on this island, an', Lard, we wants t' thank you.
We knows, Lard, if you hadn't been p'intin' she out t' us, we'd be
dead in th' rapids now, or handy t' un. We'll never be forgettin'.
An', Lard, keep clost t' Shad an' me always. Amen."

"That," said Shad, when they rose to their feet, "was the most honest,
simple, straightforward prayer I ever heard offered. Thank you, Bob,
for including me. If the Lord hears prayers, Bob, He heard yours, for
it was honest and from the heart and to the point."

"He hears un, Shad, an' He answers un." There was a note of conviction
in Bob's tone that left no room for doubt.

"We're here, because we're here, because we're here--" Shad began to
sing. "Bob, I'm feeling all right now, and I guess I've got my nerve
back again. Foolish, wasn't it, to get frightened after it was all
over? Let's see, now, what the prospects are of getting away."

From an eminence in the centre of the island they surveyed their
surroundings. The mainland lay not more than a short stone's
throwaway, but between it and the island the water ran as