“As large as that?”
“Yes.”
The factor wrinkled his nose in perplexity. “That lets out a raft or canoe. Why not build a scow?”
For a moment, Dick’s heart leaped. Then suddenly he became serious again.
“No, that wouldn’t do either. Even a scow would be battered hopelessly about in the rapids. The dinosaur, unless very carefully taken apart and crated—and I wouldn’t know how to do that—could not be carried over the portages. And even if it could be, you couldn’t portage a scow. If you let it go through the rapids, it would be broken up. Remember, too, that you are bucking an upstream current. What motive power would you use for the scow?”
Mr. Scott threw up his hands in a gesture of mock despair.
“Enough! Enough!” he cried. “I can see now that a scow is out of the question.”
“At the same time,” puzzled Dick, “it wasn’t a bad suggestion. As you know, the skeleton of the dinosaur is on an island in the center of a lake. We could build a scow to take it to shore. But what to do with it after we got it there, is more than I can tell you. I’ve racked my brains trying to figure it all out. From the lake of the dinosaur to Big Rock River, a tributary of the Peace, is over five hundred miles. There are no trails. Even if we had plenty of horses and wagons, it would be absolutely impossible to take the dinosaur out that way.”
“I give up,” sighed the factor. “From what you have told me, that dinosaur seems to be pretty safe from molestation. It’s a hard problem, and just now I can’t think of any solution. Why bother with it, Dick? The game isn’t worth the candle.”
Dick shook his head stubbornly. “There must be some way. Nothing is impossible. I won’t give up yet. I won’t!”