“Won’t the war canoe look fine sweeping up the 86 river?” asked Migwan, seeing the picture in her mind’s eye. “This will be a bigger Argonautic Expedition than the other.”
“We won’t be able to take this trip in the war canoe,” spoke up Uncle Teddy. “From what I have seen of that little river it is too shallow in places to float a canoe. If we made the trip in the small canoes we could get out and carry them along the shore when we came to the shallow places, which we couldn’t do with the war canoe very easily.”
“Oh, I’m so glad we’re going in the small canoes,” said Sahwah, delighted. “It’s lots more epic. Of course,” she added hastily, “it’s heavenly in the war canoe, all paddling together, but it isn’t nearly so exciting. There one person does the steering and it’s always Uncle Teddy, but in a small canoe you can do your own steering. And, besides,” she continued in a heartfelt tone, “there’s no chance of the war canoe’s tipping, and there always is in a little one.”
“I take it that upsetting a canoe is one of the chief joys in life for you,” remarked Uncle Teddy. “No trip complete for you without an upset, eh? I must make a note of that, and pack all the valuable cargo in the other canoes. And I shall order the crew of your vessel to wear full dress uniform all the time, namely, your bathing suits.”
The weather was fine and dry and, according to the signs as interpreted by Uncle Teddy, would remain 87 so for the next few days. Orders were given to start immediately after breakfast the next morning. Ponchos had to be rolled for this trip, as they intended camping in the woods somewhere for one or, perhaps, two nights.
“Don’t tell Antha we’re going to sleep on the ground,” Gladys warned the others diplomatically, “or she’ll make a fuss before we start.”
“We’ll save that for a pleasant surprise,” said Sahwah, with a grin over her shoulder.
No special time had been set for the return of the “exploraging” party. They were simply going to paddle up the river as far as they could go and then turn back.
The camp looked like an army preparing to move that Tuesday morning. Blankets were being stripped from beds and spread out on ponchos while their owners raced around hunting for the rest of their belongings which should go in.
“Where’s my toothbrush?” demanded Gladys, having turned the tent upside down in her search for the missing article. “Katherine, if you’ve borrowed it to stir that villainous paint mixture you were daubing Eeny-Meeny with I’ll—”