mself
amidships with his two prisoners, and the four posse-men taking the
paddles as if they had been bred to it.

After an hour or more of swift downstream gliding the current quickened
and a sound like the wind sweeping through the tree-tops warned the
voyagers that they were approaching a rapid. At this the canoe was sent
ashore and the Scotchman changed places with his bow-man, letting the
change stand even after the slight hazard of quick water was passed.
Prime soon saw that his new guard was nodding, and bent to whisper to
his fellow captive:

"This is mighty hard for you--after yesterday and last night," he
protested. "Can't you shift a little and lean against me?"

"I am doing quite well," was the low-toned answer. And then: "What is
going to come of all this, Donald?"

"We shall get out of the woods for one thing. And for another we are
going to hope that a real court will not be so obstinately suspicious as
this Scotchman. But, whatever lies ahead, we must just stand by and face
it out--together. They can't punish us for a crime that we didn't
commit."

There was silence for another half-hour, and then Lucetta whispered
again.

"Which pocket is your penknife in?" she asked.

"The right-hand pocket of my waistcoat. What are you going to do?"

"I am going to cut the thongs. It is barbarously cruel for them to leave
you tied this way!"

"No," he forbade. "That would only make matters worse. The buckskin is
not hurting me much. Lean your head against my shoulder and see if you
can't get a little sleep."

At the morning breakfast halt Prime tried to extract a bit of
geographical information from the Scotchman. It was given grudgingly.
During the night they had passed from their own river to the larger
Riviere du Lievres and they were still twenty-four hours or more from
their destination--a place with a long French name that Prime did not
catch and which the Scotchman would not repeat. For the first time in
their wanderings the two castaways ate a meal that they had not prepared
for themselves; and Prime, observing anxiously, was glad to note that
Lucetta's wilderness appetite seemed to be returning.

Throughout the day, during which the crew took turns paddling and
sleeping, the big birch-bark held to its down-stream course. But now the
scenery was changing with each fresh looping of the crooked river, the
River of the Hares. Recent timber-cuttings appeared; the river
broadened into lake-like reach