Presently the rain was coming down hard, so that the two lads were only too glad to crawl under the shelter that had been built. In less than an hour Sandy was bemoaning the fact that he had not, while he was about it, made the wattled roofing twice as thick, as it would have shed the rain to better advantage. That was certainly a night they would not soon forget; and of course it was Sandy who complained the most, for Bob could take his punishment in grim silence, Indian fashion. "When morning comes, we must try to get home!" declared the younger pioneer, as he crouched there and shivered. "We are so wet now that nothing could make us feel any worse," declared Bob. "I am going to try to weave a heavier roof, for the night is hardly half over." "A good idea," echoed Sandy. They set to work; and by the time an hour had gone by, were able to keep the furious rain from beating in on their guns. Sleep was entirely out of the question, and they could only sit there exchanging a few words to cheer one another up, and praying for the morning to come. It seemed never to dawn, and Sandy really began to declare that it was three nights wrapped in one, when his brother called his attention to a faint gray light in the east. The rain was still falling in sheets, so that the prospect looked poor indeed. Again was the voice of Sandy heard, lamenting the fact that in all likelihood they must go without any breakfast, which, in the eyes of a growing and always hungry boy, was next door to a crime. "Perhaps not," said Bob; "just wait until the day has really come, when we can see around. Surely there must be dead trees somewhere close by; and you know how dry the heart keeps. We have tinder, and we will have a fire yet." That promise sustained Sandy, for he could never remember when Bob gave his word without keeping it. Nor was it broken in the present instance. The rain never gave the slightest sign of stopping, although it must have deluged the headquarters of the great Ohio, and caused the river to rise many feet an hour. But Bob sallied forth, scorning the wet, to return presently, staggering under a load of fuel of a resinous nature, and calculated to burn, despite the storm. And it did; for soon, when the expert had applied his flint and steel to the dry tinder, in the midst of which a little powder had been dropped, the fire started, and in half an hour its genial heat did much to chase away the blues. It had been built close enough to their shelter so that the boys could sit and cook pieces of tender buffalo meat on the end of their reeds. And for perhaps upward of two hours they amused themselves in this fashion. "Now I feel able to carry my share of the game down to the boat, if you say the word," announced Sandy. "And, as I live, I believe the rain does not come quite as heavily as before. Let us be on the move!"