Instead it
told them of safety and comfort and it was, at all times, full of a varied
and supreme interest.
As soon as the light was strong enough for them to find a suitable place
they pulled the boat among the trees on the western shore and tied it up
securely. Here they made a critical examination and found that none of
their precious goods had suffered a wetting. Powder, provisions, clothing,
all were dry and every one except the watch went to sleep with a sound
conscience.
CHAPTER VII
THE LONE VOYAGER
Henry Ware awoke, rubbed his eyes, and looked through the tree trunks at
the Mississippi, now wider than ever.
"What do you see, Tom?" he asked of Tom Ross, who had kept the watch.
"Nothin' but a black speck fur across thar. It come into sight only a
minute ago. Fust I thought it wuz a shadder, then I thought it wuz a
floatin' log, an' now I do believe it's a canoe. What do you make uv it,
Henry?"
Henry looked long.
"It is a canoe," said he at last, "and there's a man in it. They're
floating with the stream down our way."
"You're right," said Tom Ross, "an' ef I ain't mistook that man an' that
canoe are in trouble. Half the time he's paddlin', half the time he's
bailin' her out, an' all the time he's making a desperate effort to git to
land.
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