at each other.

They pulled on in more leisurely fashion 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 completed their scanty supper.

"Better get home pretty soon now," said Moise. "No sugar no more. No
baking-powder no more. Pretty soon no pork, and flour, she's 'most
gone, too."

XXVIII

IN SIGHT OF SAFETY

Once more, as had now been their custom for several days, in their
anxiety to get as far forward as possible each day, our party arose
before dawn. If truth were told, perhaps few of them had slept soundly
the night through, and as they went about their morning duties they
spoke but little. They realized that, though many of their dangers now
might 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-mark, reported that the river
during the night 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 remembered how the rising 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 canyon.

"How far now, Leo?" asked John once more of the Indian guide, on whom
they placed their main reliance.

"Maybe-so forty mile, maybe fifty," said Leo. "Maybe not run far now.
Down there ten mile, come Tom Boyd farm. Steamboat come there maybe.
Then can go home on steamboat, suppose our boat is bust."

"Well, the _Bronco_ isn't quite busted," said Uncle Dick, "but she has
sprung something of a leak, and we'll have to do a little calking
before we can start out with her this morning. Come on, Moise, let's
see what we can do."

So saying, they two went down to repair an injury which one of the
boats had sustained on a rock. Of course, in this lining down, with
the boats close inshore in the shallower water, they often came in
contact with the rocks, so that, although both the boats were
practically new, the bottom boards were now ragged and furry. A long
crack in the side of the _Bronco_ showed the force with which a boat
sometimes