Attached to a tree on the shore was a small flat-bottomed boat, which attracted the attention of the soldier boy.

Tom was accustomed to boats, and the sight of this one suggested a change of programme, for it would be much easier to float down the stream, than to walk the thirty miles.

This was a point which needed no argument; and unfastening the painter of the boat, he jumped in, and pushed off.

Seating himself in the stern, with the paddle in his hand, he kept her head with the current, and swept down the rapid stream like a dreamy youth just starting upon the voyage of life.
Like the pilgrim on the sea of time, Tom was not familiar with the navigation of the Shenandoah, and he had neither chart nor compass to assist him.

The current was very swift, and once in a while the bateau bumped upon a concealed rock, or bar of sand.