Uncle Isaac now elevated each end by putting a stone under in two places, to give a proper curve. He then went all over his work, pulling up or shoving down the ribs that were placed between the gunwales, and thus shaping her to suit his eye, till, being satisfied with his efforts, he fastened several of the ribs securely to the inner rail strip to preserve the shape, and bringing up the bark, fitted it between the strips, and sewed it with roots, through both the bark and the ribs.
A number of bars were now put across, their ends brought against the rail, and sewed to it. The seams in the bark, at the ends and along the sides, were sewed, and then payed over with spruce gum mixed with charcoal dust.
The boys enjoyed themselves much at this work, as it was the very thing they had resolved to do in their summer holiday, with which the building of the Hard-Scrabble had so rudely interfered.
“I calculate to give these canoes to you boys; so I suppose you want them made in style.”
“Of course, Uncle Isaac,” said Charlie, “because, you know, we shall be asked who made them.”
Uncle Isaac boiled the moss of a tree in water in which the roots of wild gooseberries had been boiled, and made a red dye. In this he colored porcupine quills; others he colored blue and green, with other barks and roots, the names of which he would not tell, and ornamented the canoe and stained the paddles. The canoe was thirty-four feet long, four and a half wide, and nearly three deep.
“I’ll warrant her to carry twenty-five hundred,” said Uncle Isaac.
They now built a smaller one, and packing their furs, furnished themselves with moose meat, smoked and dried, for provision on the way, turned their backs on the woods, and arrived safely at home in hoeing time, where Uncle Isaac found his crops and cattle in fine order, all his affairs having been intrusted to Ricker during his absence.
When they started for home, John said to Charlie, as he took up his paddle, “I’ve had woods enough to last me for a long time, and shall be contented to go to work.”
“I am only sorry,” said Charlie, “that I couldn’t find a bear’s cub that I could take home with me.”