Pita took a lariat from the canoe and prepared to throw it, so as to catch one of the branches when they neared the shore. He tried several times, but the distance was too great; and indeed it was necessary to catch the trees at some little distance before reaching the point opposite to them, in order to pull diagonally across the current, for a jerk when the canoe was at right angles would have torn the raft to pieces. “Could we launch the canoe and paddle out of the whirlpool in that?” Stephen said. “We might do that,” Hurka replied, “but a touch from any of these logs would sink her in a moment; and besides, we should be sorry to lose the raft, for we have no skins to make floats, and the rushes of which we constructed it only grow in the quiet waters of the upper river. We might take to the canoe as a last resource, but we should be very loth to do it.” “How long would the lariats be, tied together, with that piece of thin rope you brought to check the raft in dangerous places?” “The rope is a hundred and fifty yards long, señor, the lariats reach about thirty yards.” “That would be plenty,” Stephen said. “My idea is that you might fasten the end of the rope to an arrow and shoot it among the trees. It might not catch the first time, but no doubt it would after a few trials. The rope will, of course, be coiled up so as to pay out easily, and we could pull it in or pay it out as we went round and round. Each time as we approach the shore, we could pull on it a little and edge the raft a few feet out, slackening out again as we came to the nearest point to the trees. If there were any logs in our way of course we should not pull; thus, by choosing our opportunity, we might get her out little by little till we are outside the full force of the stream.” The Indians did not quite understand Stephen’s plan, but at once agreed to try it. Pita chose his heaviest arrow and lashed the end of the rope firmly to it, close to the feathers. Stephen knotted the lariats to the rope, and coiled them up so that they would run out easily, and they then prepared for the first attempt. [Illustration: PITA TRIES STEPHEN’S PLAN IN ORDER TO ESCAPE FROM THE WHIRLPOOL.] CHAPTER XVIII. CAPTURED BY INDIANS. Drawing the bow till the point of the arrow almost touched the wood, Pita stood like a statue until the boat was opposite to the trees, then he loosed it, and it flew far into the foliage. The instant the boat reached the opposite side of the whirlpool Stephen and Hurka drew in the rope hand over hand. “Leave go, Hurka,” Stephen said as the rope tightened. “I will try as we pass whether it has caught in the trees.” As the canoe passed on he put a slight strain on the rope. It yielded for a moment, and then flew through his fingers rapidly.