ompleted, and the papers
all signed. Git!"

Driggs followed them out to show them how to launch the canoe
with the least trouble.

"Have any of you boys ever handled a paddle before?" inquired
Hiram Driggs.

"Oh, yes; in small cedar canoes," Dave answered.

"All of you?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then you ought to get along all right in this craft. But be
careful at first, and don't try any frolicking when you're aboard.
Remember, a canoe isn't a craft that can be handled with roughness.
Don't anyone try to 'rock the boat,' either. In a canoe everyone
has to sit steadily and attend strictly to business."

"A war canoe! Isn't it great?" chuckled Dan, as he started to
help himself to a seat.

But Tom grabbed him by the coat collar, pulling him back.

"First of all, Danny Grin, shed that coat. Then ask Dick which
seat you're going to have. He's the big chief of our tribe of
Indians."

"Better all of you leave your coats here," suggested Driggs.
"You can get 'em when you come back. And you can keep the canoe
here without charge, so you'll have a safe place for it. Some
fellows, you know, might envy you so that they might try to destroy
the canoe if you left it in a place that isn't locked up at night."

When the boys were ready, in their shirt sleeves, Dick assigned
Dave Darrin to the bow seat. The others were placed, while Prescott
himself took the stern seat, from which the steering paddle must
be wielded.

"All ready, everyone," Dick called. "Dave, you set the stroke,
and give us a slow, easy one. We mustn't do any swift paddling
until we've had a good deal of practice. Shove off, Dave."

Darrin pushed his paddle against the float, Dick doing likewise
at the stern. Large as it was, the canoe glided smoothly across
the water.

"Now, give us the slow stroke, Dave!" Dick called.

Soon the others caught the trick of paddling in unison. Each
had his own side of the craft on which to paddle. Dick, alone,
as steersman, paddled on either side at will, according as he
wished to guide the boat.

"You're doing finely," called Hiram Driggs.

"Let's hit up the speed a bit," urged Dan Dalzell.

"We won't be in too big a hurry about that," Dick counseled.
"Let us get the knack of this thing by degrees."

"Whee! When we do get to going fast I'll wager there is a lot
of fine old speed in this birch-bark tub!" chuckled Tom Reade.

Dick now headed the canoe up the river. For half a mile or more
they glid