They halted half a mile out, and Captain Rogers went forward with his own and another canoe and landed, and it was not for half an hour that the signal was given, by an imitation of the croaking of a frog, that a careful search had ascertained the forest to be untenanted, and the landing safe.
No sooner was the signal given than the canoes were set in motion, and were soon safely hauled up on shore.

Five men went out, as usual, as scouts, and the rest, fatigued by their paddle and the hard day's work, were soon asleep.
In the morning they were about to start, and Rogers ordered the canoes to be hauled up and hidden among the bushes, where, having done their work, they would for the present be abandoned, to be recovered and made useful on some future occasion.
The men charged with the work gave a sudden exclamation when they reached the canoes.
"What is that ?" Rogers said angrily.

"Do you want to bring all the redskins in the forest upon us ?" "The canoes are all damaged," one of the scouts said, coming up to him.
There was a general movement to the canoes, which were lying on the bank a few yards' distance from the water's edge.

Every one of them had been rendered useless.

The thin birch bark had been gashed and slit, pieces had been cut out, and not one of them had escaped injury or was fit to take the water.