Part 26 (2/2)
”Now,” resu-place, Leo? We'll want to rest a while to-night”
”Good cah bank”
”And how far have we come to-day, or e have come by that time?”
”Not far,” said Leo; ”'bout ten hed ”Well, we're all tired, so let's go into caht, and hold ourselves lucky that we can caether, too Maybe we'd better bail out first--it's lucky, for we only took in three or four pails of water apiece”
”No h water like this,” said Leo ”That's good fun” And he and George grinned happily at each other
They pulled on in more leisurely fashi+on now, and soon reached the foot of a high grassy bluff on the left-hand side of the river They climbed the steep slope here, and so weary were they that that night they did not put up the tents at all, but lay down, each wrapped in his blanket, as soon as they had coet ho-powder no one, too”
XXVIII
IN SIGHT OF SAFETY
Once more, as had now been their custoet as far forward as possible each day, our party arose before dawn If truth were told, perhaps few of theh, and as they went about theirduties they spoke but little They realized that, though ht be called past, perhaps the worst of them, indeed, they still were not quite out of the woods
Moise, who had each night left a water-ht had risen nearly a foot Even feeling as they did that the worst of the rapids were passed, the leaders of the party were a trifle anxious over this report, Leo not less than the others, for he well re waters had wiped out such places as the Death Eddy, which once he had known familiarly They all knew that the rise of a foot here in the broader parts of the river would mean serious trouble in any canon
”How far now, Leo?” asked John once uide, on whom they placed their main reliance
”Maybe-so forty mile, maybe fifty,” said Leo ”Maybe not run far now
Down there ten mile, coo home on steamboat, suppose our boat is bust”
”Well, the _Bronco_ isn't quite busted,” said Uncle dick, ”but she has sprung so before we can start out with her thisCo, they tent down to repair an injury which one of the boats had sustained on a rock Of course, in this lining doith the boats close inshore in the shalloater, they often cah both the boats were practically new, the botto crack in the side of the _Bronco_ showed the force hich a boat sometimes could be driven by the swift current, even when thethe best of care to keep it off the rocks
”Leo doesn't tellall the time we'd have to run the whole fifty hed ”Leo believes in saving labor even in talking,”
said he, ”but I aht us this far in safety I'ood a boatman as I ever saw, and more careful than I feared he would be Most of these Indians are too lazy to line down, and will take all sorts of chances to save a little work But I must say Leo has been careful It has been very rarely we've even shi+pped a little bit of water”
”One thing,” said John, ”we haven't got rub's concerned I'ophers, for flour and tea and a little bacon rind leave a fellow rather hungry But I'h that rapid all right with the boats and found us all right afterward Suppose we had got separated up there in so that ere lower doould you have done in that case--suppose we had all the grub?”
”Oh, I don't know,” replied his uncle, ”but I fancy we'd have got through somehow Men have done that in harder circumstances Think of those chaps Milton and Cheadle ere talking of the other night; they were in worse shape than ere, for they had no idea where they were or how far it was to safety, or how they were to get there, and they had no guide who had ever been across the country Now, although we have been in a dangerous country for some days, we know perfectly where we are and how far it is to a settlement The trail out is plain, or at least the direction is plain”
”Well, I'et out alone, just the same”