"Then I will bait a couple now and fish. We must have a few fish with us, and when we get opposite the boat we will offer some to the men aboard. Thus we shall have an excuse for hanging on to the boat, and a couple can clamber aboard. If the rest of us cannot do the same---" "You've said enough, Steve, so you have," cried Mac, opening his capacious mouth for the first time for many an hour. "If others cannot follow, why, me name's not Mac. Sure, we'll be rhunnin' over the decks afore you can count yer fingers." "Then pass the lines and get to sleep." Steve sat in the centre of the canoe while the hours of darkness passed. On either side of him sprawled his companions, lying packed as closely as possible, for a bark canoe is never of great dimensions, and though this was a large one, it gave little room for men who wished to sleep. In addition, a craft of this sort was very liable to capsize, particularly when manned by novices. But Steve and his friends had learned to manage these canoes when they were very young, and could move about in them, spear fish over the side, and even sleep in them with the utmost security. Almost before he was prepared for it, Steve saw a streak of white break across the black sky towards the east, and knew that dawn would not be long in coming. In half an hour it was beginning to get light, and he at once roused his companions. "Time's up," he called out softly. "Rouse yourselves and rub the sleep out of your eyes. Now, I vote for a meal before we start. Then, if there is trouble, we shall be able to struggle on for a long while without wanting food." They followed his advice with eagerness, for the night's adventure had sharpened their appetites. But very soon the meal was ended, and there being nothing further to wait for, they cast off from the branches, paddled well out into the river, and then, taking in their paddles, drifted down the stream, each one of the party, with the exception of Jim, who steered with the tip of his paddle, having a line overboard. "There yer air," he said some minutes later. "Best not look all together, lest they should get suspicious. Thar's the boat, boys, and a bonny one she seems. I reckon she's ten times bigger'n this." "Forty times," answered Mr. Mainwaring. "She is quite a large craft, and not far short of eighty tons. If so, there are few of larger size that ever venture up the river. That is a peculiarity about the French. I believe they have seldom brought a boat of more than a hundred tons up to Quebec. And yet there must be sufficient water, though there are shoals here and there, and the passage is considered dangerous. She will suit us well, boys. In a little while we shall be exchanging our rôle of Huron Indians for that of a sailor. Lucky it is for us all that one of our numbers has sailed a boat before."