Page:Edward Ellis--Seth Jones.djvu/103

100 was made for breakfast, for they were all too anxious to get forward upon their way. In the course of an hour or so, they struck a sort of path, made by the passage of wild animals, which, besides being so hardened as to conceal their trail, was easily traveled.

Seth and Haldidge were too experienced woodsmen to relax their vigilance. They maintained the same duties as before, the former taking it upon himself to lead the way through the wilderness, and the latter to guard against danger from behind. The settlement toward which they were so anxiously hastening, was still several days distant, and to reach it, it was necessary to cross a river of considerable breadth. This river was reached by Seth at noon.

"By gracious! I forgot about this!" he exclaimed to himself. "Wonder if the gal can swim? If she can't, how are we going to get her over? Put her on a chip, I s'pose, and let the breeze blow her across: the rest of us can swim, in course."

A few minutes later, our friends stood consulting upon the bank of the stream.

This consultation ended in active preparations for crossing on a raft. Hunting up material for constructing a raft now was the order of the hour. This was work of extreme difficulty. They had no instruments except their hunting-knives, and these were little better than nothing. Large, rotten limbs were broken from the trees, and placed together by Haverland, who took upon himself the task of lashing them with withes, while the others collected wood.

Haldidge went up the river, and Seth and Graham went down. Graham soon noticed a large, half-decayed log, lying partly in the water. "Just the thing, exactly! Why it's a raft itself. This will save further trouble. Let us launch it at once, and float it up to the spot," he said, delightedly.

The two approached it, stooped, and were in the very act of lifting it into the water, when Seth suddenly removed his shoulder, and arose to the upright position.

"Come, give a lift;" said Graham.

"Graham, I guess I wouldn't take the log, I don't think it will answer."

"Won't answer? Why not? In the name of common sense, give some reason."