physical endurance.

She looked faint and weary, indeed, as Shad and Bob bent over her
solicitously, but presently she indicated her desire to rise; and
slowly, for Manikawan's exhaustion was still apparent, Bob led the way
while the three took a direct course to the tilt on the first lake.

It was not far, and in the course of an hour, mounting a ridge, they
saw the lake shimmering below them and the little tilt nestling among
the trees on the shore.

"How good it looks! Almost homelike!" said Shad.

"Aye, almost homelike," echoed Bob.

At the tilt they made a fire under the trees, and Bob quickly brewed a
kettle of strong tea, and prepared food; and when Manikawan had taken
nourishment, she was sent into the tilt for the rest she so much
needed.

Bob and Shad were still lingering over their meal when they looked up
to find Dick Blake, Ed Matheson, and Bill Campbell staring at them
from the edge of the woods.

"Hello!" cried Shad, jumping up in pleasure to greet their friends.

"Evenin'," said Bob; "set in an' have a drop o' tea an' a bite."

"Well, now, I wern't sure I see straight!" exclaimed Ed, and the three
strode forward. "Here we was thinkin' never t' see you lads ag'in, an'
arguin' who were goin' t' break th' news o' your death t' your folks,
an' there you be, eatin'! Bob, I'm never goin' t' break th' news o'
your death ag'in till I sees you dead. I were doin' it once, an' now I
comes pretty nigh havin' to ag'in;" and Ed nearly shook Bob's arm off
in his delight.

"Aye," Dick explained, while he and Bill followed Ed in the greeting,
"th' Injun lass Manikawan comes an' tells us you lads was drove over
th' falls by Mingens."

"An' we goes out huntin' Mingens," went on Bill, "tryin' t' kill un,
an' would ha' killed un if we'd found un."

"Now, what devilment were she up to? That's what I wants t' know,
tellin' us that. They's no knowin' what a Injun'll do, leastways a
female," declared Ed.

"She was about right, now," said Bob, and he proceeded to relate the
experiences of the preceding days, while Shad now and again
interjected dramatic colour.

"Th' lass were doin' rare fine! Rare fine!" said Ed. "An' we was
thinkin' she's up t' some devilment. But why wern't you shootin' at
th' Injuns from th' canoe when they opens on you? Your repeatin' rifle
would ha' scattered un, Bob."

"I left un in th' tilt by th' first lake above th' river. Shad were
steerin', an' he weren't thinkin' t' use his'n," Bo