Nor was he the only one to use the canoes. Sometimes with the bat-wing sails, and at other times with only a paddle, the boys set forth from the camp, and perhaps their lack of skill in no wise detracted from the zest of their enjoyment.
There were trips among the islands on the excursion steamers, visits made to Kingston, Gananoque, and various other points on the Canadian shore, and occasionally the boys donned their evening dress and repaired to the parlors of the hotels at Alexandria Bay. On Sunday Mr. Clarke had stopped for them with his yacht and they had gone up to Thousand Island Park to attend service there in the huge tabernacle. Indeed, the days were all filled with their own interesting experiences, and not one of the boys had found a moment of the time dragging or uneventful.
The nearest approach to that experience had occurred when one rainy day had come and compelled them to remain most of the time within their tents. Bob had improved the opportunity by perusing a book which he refused to let his companions examine, and thereby greatly increased their curiosity as to its contents; but he had declared they would know what he was doing in due time, and must rest content until he should be willing to explain it all.
A decided break in the camp life came one day when Ethan said: “I’ve been makin’ arrangements for you boys to go down the Longue Seaut. I shan’t go with ye; but you won’t need me, for I’ve got word from two o’ the boatmen down there, and they can do more for ye than I could, ’cause they know every foot o’ the ground.”
“Down the Longue Seaut?” exclaimed Jock. “I’d like to go, but I don’t know what my father would say to it. I promised him when we came away we wouldn’t take any chances.”
“I wrote him,” replied Ethan, quietly, “an’ he says it’s all right.”
“Right it is, then,” exclaimed Jock, delightedly. “I’ve been through the rapids there on a steamer when I went to Montreal, and it’s a great experience, I can tell you, fellows. The water is tossing and boiling all around you, and the boat just shuts off all steam and lets her go it. You feel the boat go bump! bump! and all the time it seems as if the water was just dropping out from under you all. Do we really go through the rapids in skiffs, Ethan?”
“Yes, that’s jest what ye do, only ye take what they call the Little Seaut instead o’ the Big Seaut. All the difference the’ is, is that one is on one side o’ the island an’ the other the other. An’ the Little Seaut isn’t quite so big as the Big Seaut, though there isn’t a sight o’ difference between them.”
“You think it will be safe for us, do you?” inquired Bob, quietly.
“Safe? Yes, or I wouldn’t let ye go. ’Twouldn’t be safe for ye to try it alone, but in the hands o’ the men I’m goin’ to trust ye to, ye’ll be all right enough. An’ ye’ll find some fishin’ there what is fishin’, I’m tellin’ ye.”