"How far do you believe we will be from home when we get to land?" was what he first of all asked his brother, just as though the other was a knowledge box upon which he could draw at will. "That would be hard to say," replied Bob. "It all depends on how long we are in landing. This flood must be going anywhere from six to seven miles an hour; and, even if we are lucky, we would find ourselves perhaps ten miles below our home." "That would be further than we have ever wandered down the river," remarked Sandy, for their trapping and hunting had all been done within the immediate vicinity of the settlement, since game could often be found inside of ten minutes' walk. Once only had the brothers been tempted to take a long journey. This was when their sister Kate, at a time when their father had gone in Virginia on urgent business, had been carried off by a young chief of the Delawares; and a pursuit was undertaken by the brothers that led them to the far distant great lakes.[5] "Well, if we can make the bank in safety, I, for one, will not complain of the distance," declared Bob. "How is your gun fixed now; are you sure that it will hold safe, even if we should knock up against another log?" "Yes, it is fast to the tree trunk, and can never slip loose," returned Sandy. "The more I think of this plan of yours, the better I like it, Bob. Once we are in the water, and swimming, we can urge the log toward the shore, a foot at a time, it may be, but with a constant pressure, until at last we find that we can touch bottom. Then for a fire, and warming up, for I fear by that time both of us will be chilled to the bone." "And if your lame ankle is so bad that it prevents our getting back to-night, why, Sandy, what should hinder us from making camp in the forest, under some ledge, where we can keep out of the rain? Then, when morning comes, we can follow up the river until we reach our home again." "It makes me feel better to hear you talk like that, Bob," declared the younger of the two. "I wonder what I would have done without you?" "Perhaps just what we mean to do right now," Bob went on to say. "The trouble is, Sandy, you will not think for yourself, when you have me to depend on. You must remember what father told you once, that every tub ought to stand on its own bottom. But Simon Kenton tells me he was just such a youngster, until he found himself thrown on his own resources. It was the making of him, he declares; because such things are apt to bring out all there is in a boy." Both of them were still diligently working to secure their possessions safely to the friendly trunk, which, having been the means of their disaster, now seemed willing to make reparation as best it could by offering them an asylum for those things which otherwise must have gone into the river with them.