“Two hours isn’t much time, is it, Dick?”
“Well,” replied the other, with a smile, “that all depends on the conditions. You can look back to lots of times when it would seem like an eternity. Remember that night when you slipped and fell over that precipice, just managing to get hold of a bush, and holding on while you shouted for me to come and help you up, because you couldn’t do anything yourself? If you’d had to hang there, kicking your heels in space, two hours, instead of ten minutes, I think they’d have seemed the longest you ever knew.”
“That’s so,” admitted Roger, smiling a little himself at the scene which his comrade’s words recalled. “And just as you say, Dick, we have been through a good many hard scrapes together, haven’t we; and always, up to now, managed to come out on top? Perhaps we’ll do the same this time, too.”
“Why, to be sure we will,” declared the other, stoutly, “don’t let any other notion get hold of you, Roger. It’s all bound to come out right; haven’t we been told that many times by our mothers, when things looked a little black—and didn’t the sky clear every time? We’ll escape from this island, overtake the expedition, get that paper signed by Jasper Williams, and bring joy to all our dear ones at home. Why, I’m just as sure of that, Roger, as that we’re standing here right now, wondering how we’re going to get ashore. But a way will be provided, mark my words.”
Never was a prophecy more speedily fulfilled. Hardly had five minutes passed than Roger clutched the sleeve of his cousin’s tunic, and in a voice that trembled with emotion, burst out:
“Look! oh! look, Dick, are my eyes going back on me—is this one of those mirages they told us we would meet with on the prairies; or is that really a boat—yes, two, three of them—down at the bend below, and working up against even all this fierce current? Three boats, Dick—wasn’t that what Captain Lewis had with him when he started away from St. Louis? Oh! speak and tell me if I am going out of my mind, and seeing things that I’ve been dreaming about so long!”
Dick laughed, and hugged his cousin with rapture.
“No, no, Roger, your eyes are all right, and the boats are there!” he cried. “We’ve only managed to get ahead of the expedition, that’s all. And we’ll be saved now, Roger! We’ve won out at last!”