Nevertheless, Don made up his mind to get one log in the river at any cost. He couldn't stand the thought of being defeated by an inanimate log.
He found that, the large ice-floe being out of the pathway to shore, he would have to jump from one small cake to another and follow the bank of the river until he reached a small land-jetty about fifty feet down stream.
This he did while Dot watched him breathlessly, expecting every moment to see the ice sink and slide him into the stream.
Don reached the bank in safety and then ran back toward the place where the raft was anchored. Before he reached the place, however, he stopped and looked with interest at some attraction on the bank. Dot saw him stop but could not see what it was as the logs all along the edge of the river hid the object from view.
After a few minutes, he ran on to the narrow landing where they had boarded the raft.
"Say, Dot, there are lots of logs lying almost in the water down there by that crooked tree. If we could move that raft down there we could have lots of fun floating them out to the current," said Don.
"That's easy to say—move the raft! How can you move anything that's chained as this is?" asked Dot, disgustedly.
"I don't know! Let me think!"
Don crawled in under the tier of logs to the place down at the edge of the river where the chain of the raft ran ashore. He pulled the chain up as it lay slack in the water and found that the loop on shore was thrown about a low stump of pine that was left sticking out of the bank, almost hidden by the high pile of logs over it.
"Ha! if I can haul the raft in a few feet, while you push with your stick, I can lift this chain off of the stump," called Don, showing Dot how the raft was fastened.