aid quietly.
"If we're not under way by that time, there's going to be trouble."

Hooliam received the message with apparent indifference. Garth held his
watch in his hand. Three minutes before the expiration of the time, he
had Charley convey a final warning to the breed. Hooliam suddenly became
voluble and expostulatory.

"He says the boys won't work when there's a breeze coming up," said
Charley.

"You tell him, then, that I will take command of this boat, and run her
myself," said Garth.

At the last moment the orders were hastily given. The mast was
reluctantly taken down, and hung over the side; the cargo was shifted
back, and the sweeps run out. The breeds rowed half-heartedly, with
furtive scowls for the _moon-i-yas_ who made them work.

After a couple of hours during which they covered a scant three miles,
a breeze _did_ spring up from astern; whereupon the whole business
of raising the mast was gone through with again. Little by little it
freshened, and the _Loseis_ began to forge ahead, making a pleasant
little murmur under her forefoot. The hearts of the three passengers
rose in unison.

But they had not sailed two miles more, when the exasperated Garth
discovered that Hooliam was slyly edging his craft inside a point of the
shore. At first the breed unblushingly denied any intention of stopping;
but when it became apparent that he could not round the point without
hauling down the sail, he coolly admitted that he was going to land.

"What for?" Garth demanded.

"They're going ashore to spell--to cook and eat," Charley explained.
"Hooliam says there is no other place to land in fifteen miles."

Garth was obliged to be content.

With the characteristic prodigality of the breeds, an enormous fire
was built on the shore, over which their tea was furiously boiled in an
iron pail, and their dried moose meat stewed a little less tough than
moccasins. At a little distance the three passengers made their own
preparations for lunch.

Natalie, serenely trusting in Garth, put aside all anxiety about the
outcome of their journey; and was frankly interested and amused.

"Mercy!" she exclaimed. "They'll all die of tannic poisoning! And look
what they eat! The bacon is as green as arsenic!"

She proved to be using her eyes and ears to good advantage on the way.

"The tall boy," she said, "the one that looks like an actor; he's the
humourist of the party. He keeps them in fits of laughter by giving
_moon-i