e bank as they could go to avoid the current.
Godfrey tasted the water from time to time, and after paddling for two
hours pronounced it perfectly sweet.

"We will land here, Luka. I am sure we both want to stretch our limbs a
bit and have a rest. Look about for a good place to land; the banks are
too steep to be able to get the big canoe up, but we can carry the
other--it is light enough now."

They presently found a place where a portion of the bank had fallen in
and left a gap. Here they landed, moored the large canoe to the shore
and carried the other up the bank. An exclamation of pleasure broke from
Godfrey at the wide expanse of bright green dotted with flowers. Jack
was exuberant in his delight, circling round and round like a wild
thing, barking loudly and occasionally throwing himself down to roll.
The two paddles were driven firmly into the ground, the sail unlaced
from the yard, which was lashed to the paddles as a ridge-pole, over
which the sail was thrown. The furs were taken out of the boat and
spread in the tent.

"We will have a cup of tea, Luka, and then turn in for twelve hours'
sleep. I am sure we deserve it."

After a long rest they woke thoroughly refreshed; then, while Luka was
lighting a fire, Godfrey went down to the river, stripped, and had a
short swim, the water being too cold to permit his stopping more than
two or three minutes in it. When they had had breakfast he said:

"Now, Luka, do you go down to the boat, take the firewood out, and then
sluice the boat thoroughly with water and get it perfectly clean. By the
time you have done that I shall be back, and we will then lift her out
of the water and turn her bottom upwards to dry thoroughly. Then we will
melt down some of that bear fat we saved and give her a thorough rubbing
with it. But we will leave that job until to-morrow; it will take
four-and-twenty hours for her to dry. I am going out with my gun to see
what I can shoot. The whole place seems full of birds, though they are
mostly small ones; still I might come across something better. You had
better keep Jack with you."

Godfrey's expedition was not a very successful one. He brought back four
grouse and a dozen small birds, which he had killed with a single shot,
firing into the thick of a flock that flew by overhead. The grouse were
roasted for dinner, and Godfrey found to his satisfaction that Luka had
baked a pile of cakes, this being the first time they had tasted bread