but they got into the
canoe, and poling with two sticks, set out to rescue what they could.

They must, above everything else, recover the venison, but they could
see no sign of it. Some distance down the stream they found both
paddles afloat, and they worked the canoe up and down below the rapid.
On a jutting rock they found the deerskin. Finally they came upon one
of the hindquarters floating sluggishly almost under water. They
rescued it joyfully; but although they searched for a long time, they
found no more of the meat.

They had left the axe in the canoe, and it was now somewhere at the
bottom of the river. They could better have spared one of the guns,
but they were thankful that their loss had been no greater.

"If we had left the foxes in the canoe," said Fred, "they'd have been
drowned, sure!"

Horace had waded ashore, and now had a brisk fire going. Fred and
Macgregor joined him, and the three boys stood shivering by the blaze,
with their wet clothes steaming.

"We're well out of it," said Horace, with chattering teeth. "The worst
is the loss of the axe. It won't be easy to make fires from now on."

Once more the problem of supplies loomed dark before the boys. They
had nothing now except the haunch of venison, which weighed perhaps
twenty-five pounds; unless they could pick up more game, that would
have to last them until they reached civilization. However, they were
fairly confident that they could find game soon, and meanwhile they
could put themselves on rations.

"We've marked our trail all right now," said Mac. "These tracks and
this fire will give it away. We may as well portage, after all."

Their clothing was far from dry, but they were afraid to delay longer.
None of them felt like trying to wade up the rapid again, and so they
carried the canoe round it. At the head of the portage they cut
several strong poles to use in places where they could not paddle.

They soon found that without the poles they could hardly have made any
progress at all; and even with them they moved very slowly. About noon
they landed, broiled and ate a small piece of venison, and after a
brief rest set out on their journey again.

By five o'clock they were all dead tired, wet, and chilled, and Mac and
Fred were ready to stop. Horace, however, urged them to push on. He
felt that perhaps the beaver trappers were not many miles behind.
After another day or two, he said, they could take things more easi