The others are all paddling three, and, though Jonathan and I have beaten three before now, when our scalps depended on our doing so, it makes all the difference in the work whether you have a sitter to take along, or an extra paddle going." It was falling dusk when the boat started, and was, by this time, quite dark.

Scarce a word was heard in the ten canoes as, keeping near the right-hand shore of the lake, they glided rapidly along in a close body.

So noiselessly were the paddles dipped into the water that the drip from them, as they were lifted, was the only sound heard.
Four hours' steady paddling took them to the narrows, about five-and-twenty miles from their starting point.

Here, on the whispered order of Nat, James laid in his paddle; for, careful as he was, he occasionally made a slight splash as he put it in the water.

The canoes now kept in single file, almost under the trees on the right bank, for the lake was here scarce a mile across, and watchful eyes might be on the lookout on the shore to the left.