“Yes. I saw the north-star, and knew that if I could swim long enough I could find the shore. When I struck these rocks I was disappointed, for I couldn’t find a place where I could land until I got my hands on this ledge and drew myself up.”
“Unless Tom wants to stay where he is we’d better invent some way of taking him with us,” remarked Joe.
“He’ll have to get into my canoe,” said Harry.
“How deep is the water where you are?” asked Tom.
“It’s anywhere from six feet to sixty. I can’t touch bottom with the paddle, so it’s certain to be more than seven feet deep.”
“Then, if you’ll please to give me room, I’ll jump, and somebody can pick me up.”
Tom jumped into the water, and had little trouble in climbing into Harry’s canoe—the water being perfectly quiet. The fleet then paddled back to the sand-spit, where they landed and breakfasted, while Tom dried his clothes by the fire.
Every member of the expedition except Joe had lost something, and poor Tom had lost his canoe and everything except the clothes which he was wearing. As long as the water continued to be smooth Tom could be carried in either Harry’s or Charley’s canoe, but in case the wind and sea should rise it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to keep the canoe right side up with two persons in her. Quebec was still at least twenty-five miles distant, and it would take nearly a whole day of very hard work to paddle a heavy canoe, with two boys in her, only one of whom was furnished with a paddle, twenty-five miles, even in the most favorable circumstances. Moreover, Joe’s sprained wrist made it impossible for him to paddle, and the wind was so light that sailing to Quebec was out of the question.
It was therefore decided that Harry should take Joe in the Sunshine back to the Jacques Cartier, and leaving him to walk to the nearest railway-station, should return to the sand-spit and join Tom and Charley in paddling down to Quebec, Tom taking Joe’s canoe. Although the boys had originally intended to end their cruise at Quebec, they had become so fond of canoeing that they would gladly have gone on to the Saguenay River and, if possible, to Lake St. John; but now that Tom was without a canoe no one thought of prolonging the cruise.