a bush, were perfectly dry. He packed them away with his
rubber blanket rolled tightly around them, and Jim attended to the duty
of stepping the mast. Then the boys took their places, and Joe pushed
the boat off with the boat-hook. The gentle breeze filled the sail, and
the _Whitewing_ went peacefully on her way up the river.

"Boys," said Harry, presently, "it's getting awfully hot."

"That's because we're sailing right before the wind," said Tom. "We are
going just about as fast as the wind goes, and that's the reason why we
don't feel it."

"Is this a lecture on wind, by Professor Thomas Schuyler?" asked Joe.
"Because if it is, I'd rather hear it when it's cooler. Let's go over to
the other side of the river, where we can get in the shade of the
Palisades."

[Illustration: SAILING BY THE PALISADES.]

It was now about three o'clock, and the sun was very hot. The boat
seemed to the boys to creep across the river, and the Palisades seemed
to move away just as fast as they approached them. When they finally did
come into the shadow of those huge rocks, they thought they had never
known anything so delightful as the change from the scorching sunshine
to the cool shade. Joe and his brother stretched themselves out, and put
their blankets under their heads; presently they grew tired of talking,
and in a little while they were fast asleep. Tom was not sleepy; but he
was so delighted with the beauty of the shore, as seen from the boat,
that he did not care to talk.

For a long time the boat glided stealthily along. The Palisades were
passed, and a long pier projecting into the river from the west shore
gradually came in sight. When the boat came up with the pier, half a
dozen barges lay alongside of it, into which men were sliding enormous
cakes of ice. The Sharpe boys woke up, and proposed to stop and get a
little ice. The men let them pick up as many small pieces of ice as they
could carry, and they went on their way so much refreshed that they
chattered away as gayly as possible.

Uncle John had warned them to select a camping ground long before dark.
They remembered this advice, and at about five o'clock they landed on a
little low point of land a few miles below the entrance to the
Highlands. They first hauled the boat a little way up the beach, so that
it would be sure not to float off, and then began to take the tent, the
cooking things, and the provisions for supper out of her.

"We want to pitch the tent an