ing.

After supper he got ready to start again at daybreak. This was his
usual plan, because one's brain is dull when one rises from a hard,
cold bed at dawn, and in the wilds to leave tools or food behind has
sometimes disastrous consequences. He saw he had forgotten nothing,
and when dusk was falling rested for a time on the bank, although he
thought it prudent to sleep on board. Up stream, the water threw back
faint reflections, but its surface was dull and wrinkled where it
narrowed at the top of the rapid, round which he had carried the
canoes. Then it plunged down into gloom that was deepened by a cloud
of spray and its hoarse turmoil echoed among the hills. A few charred
rampikes rose behind the camp, and Jim sat beneath one, with his back
against a stone. He had thrown off his jacket and his thin overalls
were wet. His back and arms ached and his feet were bruised.

He pondered about the footstep. The pack-horse trail running North was
not far off, and while he slowly poled up stream the freighter could
have reached the river in front of him. When they talked at the hotel,
the fellow's manner was threatening, but Jim hardly thought he would
meddle. His party was strong, and if the other had meant to do him
some injury, it was hardly probable he would have uttered his dark
hints while the landlord was about. After all, the hints might
forecast the difficulty Jim would have to engage transport another
time. Still, somebody had passed the spot not long since.

The gloom deepened, and although some light would linger in the sky all
night, it was nearly dark at the bottom of the gorge. The packers lay
about the fire, and by and by Jim, calling one of the Siwash, hauled
the first canoe to the bank. When they got on board, he let the craft
swing out with the eddy, and the row, curving as the current changed,
rode behind a half-covered rock a short distance from the stones.
Blurred rocks and trees loomed in the mist up stream; below, the
foaming rapid glimmered through the spray. The river, swollen by
melting snow and stained green by glacier clay, was running fast.

There was not much room in the canoe, for bags of flour occupied the
bottom and a grindstone and small forge were awkward things to stow.
Jim, however, found a spot where he could lie down and the Indian
huddled in the stern. He was a dark-skinned man, dressed like the
white settlers, except that he wore no boots. As a rule, he did not