“Sure. Go ahead. I’ll watch the canoe and things,” Bob assured them.
Kernertok was gone longer than Bob expected and he was beginning to get a bit uneasy when the Indian returned.
“Pitch heap few,” he explained his long absence. “Have to go heap long ways before find.”
“Didn’t see any sign of anyone, did you?”
“No sign,” the Indian replied, as he set about the work of repairing the canoe.
He had it nearly completed when Rex and Jack returned with a dozen fair-sized trout.
“She be right in mornin’,” he assured them.
“Another half day lost,” Bob sighed.
“Never mind. We’re lucky to have the canoe at all,” Rex declared.
The afternoon, or what was left of it, passed slowly to the boys, eager to be on their way. They arranged to keep watch by twos that night, Bob and the Indian to take the first turn until twelve o’clock.