Taken in all, it was a rather restless night for some of the adventurers, and the boys in particular awoke many times, to sit up and listen. Once Dick even fancied he could hear a far-off, dull, booming sound that could hardly be thunder, since the stars were out, and not a cloud as big as his hand in sight. "I wonder," the boy said softly to himself, with a feeling almost of awe, "if that can be the sea pounding on the shore. Grandfather has often told us how it makes a great noise when the tide is coming in, each wave running along and turning over as it breaks on the sand." He even sat there for a long while listening, though thinking it best not to arouse Roger, who chanced to be sleeping at the time. Only when the strange sound died out, owing to a change of wind, or the turn of the tide, Dick consented once more to drop back in his blanket. But, when he did get to sleep again, his dreams were of the glorious triumph that awaited them close at hand. The last day dawned, and the camp was early astir. Breakfast was hastily eaten, the small amount of boat packing attended to, and after that a start was made. To-day the paddles were seldom idle. Spurred on by the hope of reaching their goal before darkness again intervened, the men were only too willing to work their passage. The swift current might be very well under ordinary conditions, but on this particular day it proved all too slow for their eager hearts. They glimpsed Indians several times, but, strange to say, none of them manifested the antagonistic manner of those they had seen earlier in their trip down the Lewis and the Columbia rivers. Roger, who had noticed the change in the demeanor of the natives, wondered what was the cause of it, and as usual applied to Dick for his opinion. "They are of the same tribe," he remarked, "for by now I know the Flat Head way of wearing feathers in their scalp-locks. But they seem now to be afraid of us, for those in that dugout paddled frantically for the shore; and never an arrow comes our way now. Can you make it out, Dick?" "The only thing I can think of," Dick replied, "is that word has been sent out everywhere that the 'paleface people' in the hide canoes are under the protection of Manitou, and that no harm must be done to them." "Well," observed Roger, with a happy smile, "if we're going to be guarded by the Indian Manitou all winter, we needn't be afraid of anything. When you come to think of it, Dick, that landslide was the greatest thing that ever happened to us. It held back just long enough to let us pass, and then swallowed our enemies up." Noon came and went. The men were so eager now they hardly wished to land to have something to eat, though Captain Lewis insisted on it, for he knew they needed a rest.