In spite of his determination not to be afraid and his confidence in the Indian and Bob the first leg of the trip down the river was a trying one to Rex and his mind was greatly relieved when he heard Kernertok shout something to Bob and the next moment the canoe headed in toward the shore.
“Nice smooth run,” Bob said to Jack as the latter stepped out of the canoe a few minutes later.
“Sure was,” Jack returned.
“Eh, what?” Rex asked turning to Bob with an incredulous expression on his face.
“I said we’d had a nice smooth run,” Bob repeated.
“Oh, yes. Wasn’t it smooth? And I suppose a little farther on we get to shooting over falls several hundred feet high you’ll remark casually that there must have been a ripple on the water behind us.”
Both boys let out a roar of laughter and even Kernertok’s stoical face lighted up a trifle while Sicum cocked his head to one side as if trying to ask what it was all about.
“You get used to it after a while and it don’t seem so rough,” Jack assured him, still laughing.
“That’s what the Irishman said after he’d had his second leg cut off,” Rex laughed. “But if you say it was a quiet trip I’ll believe it only I hope we won’t strike any rough ones.”
They had landed in a little cove where was a sandy beach and for some distance out from the shore the water was comparatively quiet.