In the meantime, Joe had come down the rapids unhurt and crawled into Jean's boat as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. While the others were bringing Bob and Bill back to the world, he and Jean set out after the broken canoe and captured it. Owing to the great care with which their duffle bags had been made up that morning, nothing was really injured. Bill and Bob did not have much appetite for supper that evening as both were suffering more from shock than they recognized. In the morning, Mr. Waterman let them sleep until the last call for breakfast. After a swim, they were both just about as good as ever.
"How are we going to get everything into the canoes this morning?" asked Pud.
"What's that?" asked Mr. Waterman in turn.
"We had the canoes pretty well filled yesterday," said Pud. "With one less canoe, we'll have to shift things around, won't we?"
"Who said that we had one less canoe?" asked Mr. Waterman quietly. Pud looked to the bank of the stream and sure enough, there were four canoes there.
"Where did we get the extra canoe?" asked Pud puzzled.
"We didn't get it any place," replied Mr. Anderson. "Joe and Jean were up real early this morning and they fixed the one that seemed such a wreck last evening."
Pud went over to the canoes and sure enough, he saw where the canoe had been patched up.
"This isn't a very good job," said Mr. Waterman. "When we get back to camp, they will take out those broken ribs and replace them entirely instead of splicing them up as they have done. It will do all right until we get home but when Joe really gets through with that canoe, there won't be a sign of that smash-up."
"He's certainly clever," said Bill.