Boys who lived in those pioneer days always carried flint and steel along with them, in order to kindle a blaze when necessary. Had these been lacking, Roger, no doubt, would have been equal to the occasion, for he could have flashed some powder in the pan of his gun, and thus accomplished his purpose. (Note 2.) In a short time Roger, being expert in these lines, succeeded, by the use of flint and steel, as well as some fine tinder, which he always carried along with him in his ditty bag, in starting a fire. The wood blazed up and sent out a most gratifying heat, so that both boys, by standing as close as they could bear it, began to steam, very much after the manner of some of the warm geysers, during the stated periods when they were not spouting, that the lads had looked upon in the Land of Wonders. "What shall we do about the boat?" asked Roger, when they found that they were by degrees getting dry, though it took a long time to accomplish this desired end. "I was thinking about that," his cousin told him. "It is not worth while for us to try to patch the hole, because we expect to abandon it very soon. Captain Lewis asked us to be with him in his boat. We had better leave it here, and perhaps they may send a couple of Indians down to fetch it to camp." "You mean, Dick, if the captain wishes to see for himself the mark of the treacherous knife blade?" "Which I think he will want to do, so as to settle it in his own mind," returned the other. "This is, after all, the most terrifying thing that has as yet happened to us on our long journey up here into the heart of the wilderness." "That is just it, Dick. Open foes I can stand, because you know what to expect; but it gives me a creep to think of some unknown person standing ready to stab us in the dark, or when our backs are turned. Perhaps, after all, we did wrong to decide on staying with Captain Lewis and Captain Clark, when we might have gone on home with Mayhew, carrying that precious paper." "Oh! I wouldn't look at it that way, Roger," said the other, striving to cheer him up, for Roger was subject to sudden fits of depression. "Just think of all the wonderful things we have seen while here; and then remember that there are still other strange sights awaiting us in the Land of the Setting Sun." "Yes, that's so, Dick, and both of us decided that the chance to look upon the great ocean was one not to be lightly cast aside." "We've been lucky so far," Dick told his chum, "and succeeded in everything we have undertaken; so even this new trouble mustn't upset us. By keeping a sharp lookout we can expect to learn who the traitor is, and after that he will be forced to leave the party. And if that Lascelles is around here again he will have to look out for himself. Anyhow," he added after a pause, "we have gone too far now to turn back, no matter whether we made a mistake or not."