“Well, I suppose this means the end of this expedition.” Kernertok had not returned and the boys were sitting around the fire.

“What do you mean, end of the expedition?” Bob asked.

“Why, we’ll have to turn back now, won’t we?” Rex asked, with a note of sorrow in his voice.

“Turn back nothing. Have you any idea how long it would take us to paddle back up that river?”

“I didn’t think of that. I suppose it would take us longer to go back than it did to come down.”

“I’ll say it would,” Jack declared.

“What’ll we do then?”

“Unless I’m mistaken, that lake we’re after is not very far from here, and believe me, we’re going to make it if it’s a possible thing, after coming this far. If he’s there he’ll probably have a good stock of provisions and trout and raspberries will get kinder monotonous after a few meals.”
176

“I sure hope we’ve shaken off that lalapaloosla,” Jack said. “Sure and we’ve got trouble enough without that to help it along.”

“Perhaps we can track it if it comes around again, now that Sicum has got his nerve back,” Rex suggested.

“Mebby,” Bob agreed.

“Do you know it’s the strangest thing about that dog,” Rex said thoughtfully. “Do you suppose that plunge in the water made him forget all about his trouble?”

“Possibly he had gotten the idea in his head that he was old and of no more use and then when he pulled me out it convinced him that he had been mistaken and was as good as ever, all his old spunk returned.”

Just then Kernertok returned, carrying on his shoulder a small spruce tree about ten feet long and four inches through at the larger end.

“No could find cedar,” he said, as he threw the trunk down on the ground. “But spruce she do heap well.”
177

It was nearly dark, but the fire, which they kept burning brightly, gave a good light and he began work at once hewing out the paddles. Fortunately the little hatchet was sharp, but even so, it was slow work. It was late when at last he pronounced them finished. They were rough, to be sure, but Rex was amazed that they could be made so well with only a knife and a hatchet as tools.

“There’s not much outside of the canoe to watch to-night,” Bob said, after he had praised Kernertok’s skill.

“But that’s a very important article just now,” Jack asserted.

“Sicum him keep watch now him all right.” Kernertok was very positive in his statement.

“Then to make things doubly safe, I move that we make our beds two on each side of the canoe,” Bob suggested.

“Heap good think,” Kernertok grunted.

“Hope the weather stays warm till we get out,” Bob said. “If it should turn cold it would be mighty uncomfortable without blankets, and we’d better make the beds as close to the fire as possible, because it’s not going to be very hot round the edges along toward morning.”

It was nearly twelve o’clock by Rex’s watch, which, as it had a water-proof case, had not stopped, before they were ready for bed.

“It’s a mighty lucky thing that we went over in time to get our clothes dry before night,” Jack declared, as he stretched himself out on his bed of fragrant spruce boughs.
178

Bob and Rex had dragged onto the fire two good sized logs which they had found near the bank of the river, and Bob declared that they ought to keep it going until morning.

It was still dark when a low growl from the dog made Bob start up wide awake. He could see Sicum by the light of the fire, which still burned, standing a few feet away.

“What is it, boy?” he whispered.

The dog gave another low growl and Bob could see that the hair on his back was bristled. Just then Kernertok, who was on the same side of the canoe, awoke.

“Sicum hears something,” Bob whispered.

The dog paced back and forth, giving vent to low rumbling growls from time to time.

“White boy stay here, watch; Injun go see,” Kernertok whispered, and in another minute without making the slightest sound he was gone.

“Here Sicum,” Bob ordered in a low whisper.

The dog somewhat reluctantly came to his side.

“You stay right here. Remember what happened the last time you left camp alone.”

Bob strained his ears to listen, but except for the roaring of the water as it rushed over the falls, he could hear nothing. He had no way of telling the time, but it seemed to him a long time since the Indian had left, when he noticed that the east was beginning to lighten.

“Wonder why he doesn’t come,” he thought.
179

Soon it was daylight and Kernertok had not returned. He waited until he judged that another hour had passed and then woke Rex, but was careful not to disturb his brother.

“He needs all the rest he can get,” he told himself.

“S——h; don’t wake Jack,” he whispered, as he placed his hand on Rex’s arm. “Come over here a bit.”

As soon as they were far enough away so that they could talk without disturbing the sleeping boy, Bob told him what had happened.

“I can’t imagine what can be keeping him,” he finished.

“How long did you say he had been gone?”

“I didn’t say, but I should say not less than four hours. You know my watch isn’t going, so I had to guess at the time.”

“Sicum seems mighty uneasy.”

“He knows something’s wrong.”

The dog whined and showed an increasing disposition to take to the woods, but Bob restrained him with a word of command.

“If you’ll get some more of those berries, I’ll hook a few more trout, and if he doesn’t come by the time we’ve had breakfast we’ll have to go after him.”

They called Jack as soon as breakfast was ready.

“What’s the big idea?” he asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.
180

“We thought you needed to sleep,” Rex replied.

“Well, I want it distinctly understood from now on that I’m no invalid and don’t want to be treated like one. Where’s Kernertok?”

“I wish we knew,” Bob replied, and then told him of the happening in the night.

“Did you look to see if there are any more of those tracks?”

“No; I never thought of it to tell the truth.”

“Then let’s go see.”

As they reached the sandy spot, there, close to the water’s edge, were three of the imprints.

“Just as I expected,” Jack declared.

“Well, let’s get breakfast over with and if he hasn’t shown up by that time we’ll start out after him,” Bob said, as he turned back.

Breakfast was quickly cooked and eaten. Still there was no sign of the Indian.

“Suppose he has got lost!” Rex asked.

“Kernertok lost! You couldn’t lose that Indian in the State of Maine if you should blindfold him, let me tell you that,” Jack replied.

“Jack’s right about that,” Bob declared. “Kernertok knows the country up this way about as well as any man living, I reckon. No; it’s not a question of him being lost.”

“What then?”
181

“That’s it. What then?” Bob repeated. “But come on, let’s not lose any time. Here Sicum.”

After some argument and a good deal of objection on the part of Jack, who insisted that he was as strong as ever, it was decided that Bob and Rex should take up the search while Jack remained to guard the canoe.

“Now don’t you go too fast, boy,” Bob said to the dog, as he told him to go find Injun.

Sicum started off with a yelp of joy, and in spite of Bob’s warning, they had hard work to keep him in sight or hearing.

“Wish I’d had a leash to put on him,” Bob panted, as he called the dog back for the twentieth time.

Their course led them straight back from the river into the forest, and before they had gone far the ground began to rise, and the going became more and more difficult as they advanced.

“Does this hill have any top, I wonder?” Rex panted, as he pulled himself up by a bush. “I really believe we’ll be up in the clouds before long if we keep on going.”

It was nearly two hours since they had left Jack, and they were still climbing, when they heard the dog a few yards ahead give voice to a bark which Bob was quick to interpret.

“He’s found him,” he cried, as he hurried on closely followed by Rex.
182

A moment later they reached the spot where the dog was jumping frantically about, and, for the moment, they could scarcely believe their eyes. There, securely tied to a small spruce tree was the Indian. Over his head was a meal sack.

“Of all things!” Bob gasped, as he sprang forward. “Kernertok!”

But the old man made no reply, and Bob’s heart nearly stopped beating, as the fear came to him that his old friend was past help.

In an instant he had snatched the bag from his head. The old man’s eyes were closed and his head drooped low on his chest. Anxiously Bob placed his ear over his heart. To his joy he could hear the heart beats steady and fairly strong.

“He must have fainted,” he told Rex. “Here, you hold him, while I cut the ropes.”

In another moment the old Indian was lying on the ground, while Bob and Rex chafed his wrists. Presently his eyes opened.

“Don’t talk,” Bob cautioned. “Just lie still and rest. You’ll be all right in a minute.”

“Back heap sore,” he groaned.

They carefully turned him over onto his side and pulled up his shirt.

“Well-what-do-you-know-about-that?” Rex gasped.
183

“I know that whoever did it is going to settle accounts with me if I ever find him out,” Bob said and a look into his eyes told Rex that he was uttering no idle threat.

Criscrossed on the old man’s back were many broad whelts, evidently made by a heavy piece of rope.

“Oh, the brutes,” Bob groaned, as he carefully turned the Indian back. “Who did it, Kernertok?”

“Injun no know. No see um.”

“You mean that you didn’t see anybody?”

“No see um.”

“But what happened?”

“Injun walk along, him heap dark. No see um, no hear um. Bag drop on head. Two three men jump on Injun. No chance fight, heap too many.”

“But did they keep the bag on your head while they beat you?”

“No take bag off. Beat heap lot, then bang on head an’ no more.”

“I should say you did get a bang on the head,” Bob declared, as he felt a big lump on the back of the old man’s skull. “If I ever find out who did it I’ll, well he’d better look sharp, that’s all.”

After resting for about a half hour Kernertok declared that he was able to start back.

“Now you take it easy,” Bob cautioned him. “Remember, you are not as young as you were once.”
184

“Injun heap tough,” the old man grunted. “Take heap lot to kill him.”

“I’ll say it will,” Rex laughed.

Rex was astonished at the quick recovery of the old man and at his endurance. Indeed he was panting, when about an hour and a half later they got back to where Jack was waiting for them. The latter was overjoyed to see his old friend safe once more and was loud in his expression of indignation, as Bob told him what had happened.

“We’ll get those brutes sometime,” he declared, “and when ............