ays; and
he studied the advancing freighter with some curiosity. Somas was big
and powerful and walked with the pack-horse driver's loose stride. He
had a dark face, cunning black eyes, and very black hair. It looked as
if Indian blood ran in his veins. He came up the veranda steps and
gave Jim an ironical glance.

"Got your canoes loaded up?" he asked.

"Not yet; the truck is ready," said Jim, who had thought it prudent to
put his goods in a store.

"It's a sure thing you're not going to take your canoes through. Say,
I don't want to see you lose the grub and tools. Drop the fool plan
and I'll take off a cent a pound."

"If you had offered that before, we might have made a deal. You're too
late."

"Thought you were bluffing; I guess you're crazy now. You can't make
it, anyway."

"I'm going to try."

The freighter shrugged. "Trying's going to cost you something; you'll
feel pretty mean when you meet the bill. Fools like you make me
tired." He beckoned the landlord. "Get on a move; I want a drink."

He went into the hotel and when the door slammed Jim was thoughtful.

CHAPTER X

THE RAPID

In the morning Jim started with three canoes and a few Indians whom he
had engaged at the settlement, because the Siwash are clever river men.
Sometimes they tracked the canoes, floundering along the rough bank
with a line round their shoulders; sometimes they poled against the
rapid stream; and now and then carried the craft and cargo across a
rocky portage. The canoes were of the Siwash type, cut out of cedar
logs and burned smooth outside. The high bow was rudely carved like a
bird's head; the floor was long and flat. They paddled well and a
strong man could carry one, upside down, on his bent shoulders. Jim
had loaded them heavily, and the tools and provisions had cost a large
sum.

His progress was slow and he was tired and disturbed when one evening
he pitched camp after toiling across a long portage. Speed was
important and he had been longer than he thought, while he did not know
if he could force his way up the dark gorge ahead. Besides, an Indian
had shown him the print of somebody's foot on a patch of wet soil.
There was only one mark and in a sense this was ominous, since it
looked as if the fellow had tried to keep upon the stones. Moreover,
he wore a heavy boot, and Jim could not see why a white man had entered
the lonely gorge where there were no minerals or timber worth
exploit