fted in among the rocks above the shore. The trail
led them three hundred yards to the eastward, and then down into a
sheltered hollow just above the water's edge, where a small boat was
drawn up upon the shore.

"Here's a boat!" exclaimed Jamie, who had run ahead.

"A boat!" shouted David. "They left un and took our boat."

"And good reason!" said Jamie, who had reached the skiff. "The
bottom's half knocked out of un."

It was evident that the boat had been driven upon the rocks in making
a landing, and a jagged hole a foot square appeared in the bottom,
rendering it in that condition quite useless. Near by a tent had been
pitched, and there was no doubt that the men who had abandoned the
boat had been in camp for a day at least in the sheltered hollow.

The boys turned the boat over and examined the break.

"'Tis a bad place to mend," observed David.

"But we can mend un," declared Andy. "We can mend un by noon whatever,
and get to Fort Pelican this evenin'."

"I'm doubtin'," David shook his head. "'Twill take a day to mend un
whatever, and she'll be none too safe. 'Twill be hard to make un
water-tight."

"We can mend un," Andy insisted.

A close examination of the tracks disclosed the fact that there had
undoubtedly been two men in the party. They had reached the island
before the rain of two days before. This was disclosed by the fact
that some of the tracks were partly washed away by the rain, and the
earth was caked where the wind and sun had dried it afterwards.

Natives of the coast, as was the case with David and Jamie and Andy,
wore home-made sealskin boots in summer and buckskin moccasins in
winter. The sealskin boots had moccasin feet with one thickness of
skin, and were soft and pliable. None of them ever wore soled boots
that would admit of hobnails. It was plain to the boys, therefore,
that the men who made the tracks were not natives of the country.

Early in the summer a lumber company had begun the erection of a camp
at Grampus River, which lay twenty miles to the southward from The
Jug, and on the opposite side of Eskimo Bay. A steamship had brought
in men and supplies, and all summer men had been building camps and
preparing for lumbering operations during the coming winter.

It was the first steamer to enter the Bay, and its advent had been an
occasion of much curiosity on the part of the people. Many of them
made excursions to Grampus River to see the strangers at work. Thomas
had m