Jim stood with his boot upon one log and his hand on his knee, supporting his chin. His eyes had a dull glaze and from this symptom and his attitude, I want you to know that Jim was cogitating, and it was a subject worth thinking about, too, for it was of great importance that we should have a raft that would meet the requirements of the river.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE BUILDING OF THE BOAT
"All right, Jo," said Jim, "I'll give you a contract that you can work on until sunset."
He looked over our bunch of logs carefully and picked out the three largest and finest.
"You can begin on these," he said. "Take the adzes and the axes and go to work and hollow them out."
"What for?" I asked.
"You will see later," he replied. "Try to think it out for yourselves."
Then he took himself off and we went busily to work. We certainly had our task cut out for us.