ey should scrutinize the bank very closely they
would discover him; but the boy's hope lay in their lack of suspicion
that such an artifice was in his mind.

Several circumstances united to help the youth; the water was roiled, as
has already been said, while the friction of the swift current against
the shore made a noise which overcame the slight ripple caused by his
own movements. Only his nose and eyes were kept above the surface, and
the shrubbery which inclosed them made a tolerable screen, though less
effective than he desired.

Jack had landed, as may be said, a dozen yards below the log from which
he had been thrown and on the side from which he set out, consequently
he was opposite the five Indians who stood on the shore. He was led to
do this from a natural desire to get as far away as he could from his
captors, but it was a mistake on his part, for had he crawled under the
other bank he would have been hidden altogether from the sight of the
Indians.

Holding to a wire-like root with his left hand, he swung around so as to
face up stream, and, through the slight spaces in the shrubbery kept his
eyes fixed intently on the brawny red men.

[Illustration: A NARROW ESCAPE.]

Very soon the warriors looked at each other, and talked rapidly and with
growing excitement. There could be no doubt they were discussing the
unexpected shape matters had taken; the joke played on their captive had
proven a very serious matter to him. It must have been that the
pale-faced youth was unable to swim and was drowned. The white warrior
was a pappoose.

"By and by they will make search for me," was the thought of Jack
Carleton, still retaining his hold, "and then will come the tug of war.
It won't be the live boy they'll expect to find, but his dead body,
bobbing up and down and back and forth, and yet I don't see why they
will care to hunt me up."

Whatever might be the issue, Jack was warranted in feeling hopeful, for
he was sure the incident had taken a turn entirely unexpected to the
warriors.

"If I had only floated a little further down stream," he thought more
than once, noticing a sharp bend made by the current, "I would have been
in a good deal better situation than this, for I would have been out of
their sight altogether."

Several times he was on the point of letting go and dropping further
down, but he dreaded some mistake which would draw attention to the
spot. If he should try to swim under the surface,