I'll get the roots now and put un to
soak."

Andy dug around the white spruce tree and in a little while gathered a
sufficient quantity of long string-like roots. He scraped them and
then split them carefully with his knife. When they were split he
filled the big kettle with water from a spring, placed the roots in it
and put them over the fire to boil.

They all worked as hard as they could on the boards, and when dinner
time came David announced that the boards were smooth enough for their
purpose.

"Now all we'll have to do," said he as he sliced pork for dinner, "is
to make the holes in un and fasten un on."

"What were that now?" Jamie interrupted as a hoarse blast broke upon
the air.

"'Tis the steamer whistle!" David dropped the knife with which he was
slicing pork, and with Jamie and Andy at his heels ran to the top of
the highest rock on the island, where a wide view of the Bay lay
before them.

A mile away the lumber company's big steamer was feeling its way
cautiously toward the west, bound inward to the Grampus River camps.
The boys waved their caps and shouted at the top of their lungs, but
no one on the steamer appeared to see them. It was not until the great
strange vessel had become a mere speck in the distance that they
turned back to the preparation of dinner.

"They didn't see us," said David in disappointment.

"We're not wantin' to go to Grampus River, whatever," Andy cheered.
"We're goin' to Fort Pelican when we has the boat fixed up, and she's
'most done."

After dinner they settled to the task. Two of the narrow boards which
they had prepared were required to cover the break, which occurred
between two braces. The edges of the boards where they were to join
were whittled straight, that the joint might be made as tight as
possible. Then David held them in place while Andy marked the position
for the holes through which the spruce root thongs were to pass.

Four holes were to be cut in each end of both boards, and holes to
match in the bottom of the boat, and in an hour they were neatly
reamed out. When Andy removed his thongs from the water they were
quite soft and pliable, and proved to be strong and tough.

Andy lashed the boards into place, threading the thongs through the
holes and drawing them round the brace several times at each place
where provision had been made for them. Thus a dozen thicknesses of
fibre bound the boards to the brace at each set of holes.

It was now nec