say, I call it grand!" cried one of the men. "We shall soon get
there if we keep on like this."

"Yes, but the sooner one of us takes a rope and jumps ashore, the
better. We must cut some fresh poles."

This was done at the first opportunity, Abel leaping on to the rocky
bank with a rope, as they glided by a spot where the forest of pines
came down close to them; and then, seizing his opportunity, he gave the
rope a turn round a small tree. There was a jerk, and the hemp
threatened to part; but it held, and the raft swung round and became
stationary as the rope was made fast.

The first proceeding was to wring out their garments, and the next to
examine the sledges, which had been so well made fast when loaded up
that they had not stirred; but some of the stores were damaged with
water.

"Can't help it," said Dallas cheerily. "Our lives are saved."

Something was done towards their drying by the warm sunshine, for this
came down brightly, though the aspect round was growing almost as wintry
as the country they had passed through higher up beyond the lake; and as
they gazed at the mountains, which they felt must lie somewhere near the
part for which they were aiming, it seemed as if they would, after all,
be arriving too soon for successful work.

The raft proved useful for some days on their way north by river and
lake, their journey being through a labyrinth of waterways, where again
and again they made halts in likely places to try for the object of
their search.

But the result was invariably the same; they found gold, but never in
sufficient quantity to warrant a stay.

"Wouldn't pay for bread and onions, my sons," said the Cornishman, and
they pushed on farther and farther into the northern solitudes, with
their loads growing lighter, and a feeling of longing to reach the
golden land where they knew something in the way of settlements and
stores existed, and where people could at once take up claims and begin
work. For a comparison of notes proved that they were all rapidly
coming to the end of their means.

The subject of the passage of the raft down the cataract had been
several times over discussed during their halts, and the possibility of
their enemies having escaped. The Cornishman and his companions,
including the man they had succoured, declared as one that the marauding
trio must have perished.

"And so should we, my sons," said the big fellow, "if we had gone down
that water-slide on th