light, and so Forester and Marco went down.
Marco wanted to ride up on the next log, but Forester thought that that
would be a very dangerous experiment. There was, however, a boat lying
there, which, Forester said, perhaps they might get into, and take a
little excursion upon the water, by moonlight. Marco thought that he
should like that very well, and so he went up into the mill again, to
ask permission to take the boat. The millman said that they might have
the boat all night, if they wanted it.

Marco accordingly returned down the inclined plane, telling Forester
that they could have the boat. But Forester, who began to find the
evening air too cold and chilly, said that he did not think it was worth
while for them to set out on a voyage at so late an hour. But Marco's
imagination was so much taken with the idea of a voyage in a boat by
moonlight, that he was very urgent to have Forester go. So Forester
consented, and they both got into the boat.

"Which way shall we steer?" asked Marco.

"We must go up the stream," said Forester.

"Why must we?" asked Marco.

"Because there is a dam and a waterfall below us," replied Forester.

There was a dam across the river, at the mill, and the inclined plane,
which led from the floor of the mill down to the shore of the river,
terminated at the edge of the water just above the dam. The water was so
low that it did not fall over the dam near the shore, though Forester
and Marco could hear the roaring of the water, which fell over the dam
nearer the middle of the river.

"We must take care," said Marco, "or we shall get carried over the dam.
I read of an Indian once, who was carried over the falls of Niagara."

"Yes," said Forester; "we must be careful."

Forester turned the head of the boat up the river, keeping near the
shore, so as to avoid all possibility of being carried over the dam. The
boat shot along swiftly through the water.

"The boat goes very well," said Marco.

"Yes," replied Forester; "and yet it is only a log canoe."

"A log canoe," said Marco. "Is this only a log canoe?"

"That is all," replied Forester. "It is made of a log, hollowed out.
They use a great many such boats on this river. They go very easily
with paddles."

Forester and Marco both had paddles. Marco sat about in the middle of
the boat, but Forester sat in the stern, propelling the boat and
steering it at the same time. When they got up a little way above the
dam, they went out f