“We’ve been lucky so far,” Dick told his chum, “and succeeded in everything we have undertaken; so even this new trouble mustn’t upset us. By keeping a sharp lookout we can expect to learn who the traitor is, and after that he will be forced to leave the party. And if that Lascelles is around here again he will have to look out for himself. Anyhow,” he added after a pause, “we have gone too far now to turn back, no matter whether we made a mistake or not.”
“Yes, and as my father used to say,” continued Roger, “‘what can’t be cured must be endured.’ We have made our bed, and must lie in it, no matter how hard it may seem. I’m going to believe just as you do, Dick—that the same kind fate that has always watched over us in times past is still on duty.”
He glanced upward toward the blue sky as he said this, and Dick knew what he intended to imply; for boys in those days were reared in a religious atmosphere in their humble homes, and early learned to “trust in the Lord; but keep their powder dry,” as the Puritan Fathers used to do.
“Our fathers often had to meet situations just as dangerous as any that can come to us,” continued Dick, “and they grappled them boldly and came off victorious. So, from now on, we’ll devote ourselves to finding out whose was the unseen hand that held the knife with which our hide boat was slashed so cleverly.”
“How far are we from camp, do you think, Dick?”
“As the crow flies it may be five miles, though we came further than that on the river,” the other boy replied without any hesitation, showing how completely he kept all these things in his mind, to be utilized on short notice.
“We came down with a swift current,” Roger admitted, “and it hardly seemed as if we could have been an hour on the way. It will take us some time to tramp back to camp, even if we take a short-cut to avoid the bends in the river.”
“What of that,” asked Dick, “since we expected to spend a good part of the day in paddling up the stream, after shooting the rapids? But, if you are dry enough now, I think we had better make a start.”
“Suppose we drag the boat into these bushes first, Dick,” suggested Roger.
“Not a bad idea either, for some passing Indian might think it worth while to mend the hole and carry the boat off. We would like to have Captain Lewis take a look at that knife mark, so as to prove our story. He trusts all his men, and it is going to make him feel badly to know that one among them has sold himself to an enemy.”