ough the
handle.

The canoe was a hundred yards from the tent now, and was going so fast
that it offered no easy target to the men behind, who, however, still
continued to shoot. Another bullet nicked the stern. Glancing over
his shoulder, Fred saw the three trappers running down the shore, and
firing as they ran. But in another moment the canoe swept round a bend
in the river, and was screened from the trappers by the wooded shore.

"Keep it up! Make all the speed you can!" cried Horace.

Down the fast current they shot like an arrow. As they went round
another curve, they heard the roar of rushing water ahead; a short but
turbulent rapid confronted them. There the river, foaming and surging,
dashed down over the black rocks; the shore was rough and covered with
dense thickets. The boys remembered the hard work they had had making
a portage here on the way up; but there was no time to make a portage
now.

"Down we go! Look sharp for her bow, Mac!" Horace sang out.

The rush of the rapid seemed to snatch up the canoe like a leaf. Fred
caught his breath; the pit of his stomach seemed to sink. There was a
deafening roar all around him, a chaos of white water, flying spray,
and sharp rocks that sprang up and flashed behind. Then, before he had
recovered his breath, they shot out into the smooth river below.

Six inches of water was slopping in the bottom of the canoe, but they
ran on without stopping to bale it out. For over half a mile the
smooth, swift current lasted; then came another rapid. It was longer
and more dangerous than the other, and the boys carried the canoe and
the foxes round it. They would not risk spilling the precious cage,
and for the present they thought that they had outrun their pursuers.

For another mile or two they descended the river, until they came to
another carry. They made the portage, and stopped at the bottom to
discuss their situation and make their plans. They had escaped the
trappers, indeed, and they had the foxes; but except the canoe, a
blanket, the guns, and the light axe that Mac had at his belt, they had
nothing else. "I guess this settles our prospecting, boys," said
Horace. "What are we to do now? Shall we go on, or--"

"Or what?" Fred asked, as his brother stopped.

"I hardly know. But here we are, without supplies, and at least a
hundred and fifty miles from any place where we can get them. We all
know what a hard road it is, and going back it'l