“It beats me why he didn’t smash it all to pieces while he was about it,” Bob mused.
“Perhaps he intended to, but didn’t have time,” Rex suggested.
“I think you hit it,” Jack told them. “See. Here’s the big cut and right back of it is a little one. Looks as though he had just started on the second one when he saw us and had to beat it. I’ll bet he intended to cut it all up, so that it would be impossible to fix it.”
“That heap right,” Kernertok said sadly. “Him start to spoil boat.”
“Well, we can thank our lucky stars that we didn’t stay back there any longer,” Bob said.
“And we mustn’t let this canoe out of our sight for a single minute after this,” Jack added.
“We won’t,” Bob assured him.
They lifted the canoe from the water and carried it up the bank, where they placed it bottom up. Kernertok at once went off in search of bark and pitch, and, as there seemed nothing else to do, the boys threw themselves on the ground to await his return.
“Guess we might as well get some trout for supper while we’re waiting,” Jack said after a while.
“I’ll go with you if Bob don’t mind staying alone,” Rex said.