of spray; then they saw him half-way down the rapids, going like a
bullet. With incredible skill, he was keeping his craft upright.

The boys drove their canoe toward the landing, and still watched the
man. When he was almost through the rapids, they saw his canoe shoot
bow upward into the air, hang a moment, and then go over.

Shouting with excitement, they dragged the canoe ashore, picked it up,
and went over the portage at a run. Far down the stream they saw the
birch canoe floating on its side, near the fox cage. They had just
launched the Peterboro at the tail of the rapids, when they saw
something black bobbing in the swirling water.

It was the head of the half-breed. He was swimming feebly, and when
they hauled him into the canoe, was almost unconscious. He had a great
bleeding gash just above his ear, where he had struck a rock; but he
was not seriously injured. The boys paid little attention to him, but
hastened to rescue their treasure. When they came up with the birch
canoe, they found that the fox cage had been lashed to it with a strip
of deerskin, and, to their great relief, that the foxes were there, all
four of them, alive and afloat.

They got the cage ashore as quickly as possible. The foxes were
dripping with water, but looked as lively as ever. To all appearances,
the ducking had not hurt them.

The canoe itself had not come off so well. It had a great rent in the
bottom, and Horace stamped another hole through the bow. Then the boys
examined their new outfit. From their own former store they had a
kettle, a frying-pan, a box of rifle-cartridges, and a sack of tea.
They had taken from the trappers' supplies half a sack of flour, a lump
of salt pork, two blankets, and two rifles.

The half-breed had recovered his wits by this time; sitting on the
bank, he glared savagely at them.

"You'll find your partners waiting for you up the river," Horace said
to him. "We've got what we need, and you'll find the rest of your kit
on the shore where you unpacked it. As for your rifles--"

He picked them up and tossed them into six feet of water. "By the time
you've fished them out and mended your canoe I guess you won't want to
follow us. If you do, you won't catch us napping again, and we'll
shoot you on sight. _Savez_?"

The half-breed muttered some sullen response. The boys loaded the fox
cage into the Peterboro, got in themselves, and shot down the river
again in a fresh start for