Quickly the canoe worked up alongside the log, to which both the Irish trapper and his native companion fastened a firm grip. "Come aboord, and be sinsible," said Pat O'Mara, who was one of the oldest friends the Armstrong family had; and whom they had known away back in Old Virginia, before the thought of daring the perils of the unknown wilderness had ever entered David Armstrong's mind. "Sure, 'tis a mighty poor sort av a craft ye do be havin', if I might make so bowld." "But it was better than nothing," said Sandy, as he carefully placed his musket in the canoe before even thinking of attempting to get aboard himself. Bob did not make a single move until he had seen his brother safely over the side. Indeed, to judge from his actions, one might be inclined to think that he even kept himself in readiness to clutch Sandy, should the other manage to slide down the side of the log into the water, instead of gaining a lodgment in the boat. Then Bob copied the other's actions, his precious gun being first made secure before he would think of himself. It was rather a ticklish business leaving the log, and entering the canoe that, being made of birch bark, was so light in build that it careened under the passage of the boys, and might have tipped over had not both Pat and the young Shawanee brave leaned far to the opposite side while the embarkation was taking place. "Good-bye, old log!" said Sandy, now in an exultant frame of mind that contrasted strangely with his recent gloomy spirits. "We hope you will have a good voyage down to the great Mississippi. Tell them that, perchance, the Armstrong boys will be navigating that way to see some of the wonders they have so long been hearing about. You were a pretty fair kind of a log, though we are not sorry to part with you." Already was the paddle, in the expert hands of Blue Jacket, busily employed in sending the craft toward the southern shore of the swollen river. Pat O'Mara had his share of curiosity, and he was not the one to keep silent when desirous of knowing the true facts. "Sure, 'tis a quare thing to be findin' the two av yees adrift on a tree out on this high water," he started to say; "and, by the same token, if yees have no objection, 'tis mesilf wud like to know how the same came about." "That is easy enough to tell, Pat," burst out Sandy. "Of course, you mustn't think we started from the shore, to cross over on an old log. It was just an accident, and that's all. My paddle broke under the strain; and, when this log came whirling down on our boat, Bob alone could not get it out of the way. So it was upset, and we were lucky enough to scramble aboard, guns and all." The Irish trapper was loud in his exclamations of wonder.