“We can hardly ask you to take us any farther,” young Wentworth replied. “We are now beyond the swamp, an’ you have saved us a good five-mile tramp, so we’ll thank you again for your kindness, an’ push on afoot.”
“Not by any means,” Master Daggett declared. “It makes no difference where I am. I find birds, birds, everywhere. I have counted seventy-two since we came up the river. I’ll see more above the falls. We’ll go on together until night.”
The boys could not persuade him to any other course, therefore they carried their packs above the falls and returned for the canoe, the old man walking by their side and assuring them he had not found such pleasant companions for many a day.
“I cannot bear to part with you,” he declared. “We’ll go on together as long as you can get along with the old man.”
The voyage above the falls differed greatly from that below. There the course had been through an unbroken wilderness; now they occasionally passed small clearings, in which were the cabins of hardy settlers; but they made no stops, and when the day was nearly spent entered again a long tract of forest. After having paddled another mile they came to a series of rapids, where a portage became necessary.
To their urging that he accompany them no farther, the old man grew indignant.
“I shall stay with you to-night,” he declared. “We’ll go around the rapids, and then make camp. You’ll have to land on the south bank for the portage, because the north side is impassable, except by making a long detour.”
Believing this statement to be correct the boys steered the canoe to the southern shore, and disembarked. The lads carried their packs around the rapids, while Master Daggett remained by the boat. Returning in a few minutes, they waited for him to shoulder his own traps, when they lifted the light craft and followed the old man up the bank. Traveling somewhat slower than he did, they had a chance to talk over the situation.
“We must get rid of him,” Late said in a whisper.
“Yes,” Joe agreed. “Let us cross over to the other bank for our camp, and then we can slip away in the mornin’ ’fore he wakes up.”