water and the speed of the current,"
said the older boy. "It's no trouble to go fifty miles a day
straightaway traveling, or farther if we had to. Some days they didn't
make over six or eight miles going up, but coming down--why, they just
flew!"

"That wouldn't take us long to go clear through to where Uncle Dick
is."

"A few weeks or so, at least, I hope. We're not out to beat Sir
Alexander's record, you know--he made it from here in six days!"

"I don't remember that book very well," said Jesse; "I'll read it
again some time."

"We'll all read it each day as we go on, and in that way understand it
better when we get through," ventured John. "But listen; I thought I
heard them in the bush."

It was as he had said. The swish of bushes parting and the occasional
sound of a stumbling footfall on the trail now became plainer. They
heard the voice of Moise break out into a little song as he saw the
light of the fire flickering among the trees. He laughed gaily as he
stepped into the ring of the cleared ground, let down one end of the
canoe which he was carrying, and with a quick twist of his body set it
down gently upon the leaves.

"You'll mak' good time, _hein_?" he asked of the boys, smiling and
showing a double row of white teeth.

"What did I tell you, boys?" demanded Rob. "Here they are, and it
isn't quite dark yet."

The next moment Alex also came in out of the shadow and quietly set
down his own canoe, handling it as lightly as though it were but an
ordinary pack. Indeed, these two woodsmen were among the most powerful
of their class, and well used to all the work which comes on a trip in
a wilderness country.

As they stood now a little apart, it might be seen that both of the
guides were brown-skinned men, still browner by exposure to the
weather. Each of them had had an Indian mother, and the father of
each was a white man, the one a silent Scot, of the Hudson Bay fur
trade, the other a lively Frenchman of the lower trails, used to
horse, boat, and foot travel, and known far and wide in his own day as
a good _voyageur_.

Indeed, two better men could not have been selected by Uncle Dick for
the work now in hand. As they stood now in their shirt-sleeves, each
wiping off his forehead with his red kerchief, they looked so strong
and tall that the boys suddenly felt all uneasiness pass away from
their minds. The twilight came on unnoticed, and in the light of the
fire, freshly piled up with wood, the c