Just wait till he explains." "That's so," said Billy Bowlegs, "only it seems to me he's got a mighty hard sum this time, an' if he's got the right answer I'd like to see just what it is." "He's got it, ain't you, Sam ?" asked Sid, confidently.
"I believe I have," said Sam.
"What is it ?" asked all the boys in a breath.
"Canoe," answered Sam.
"To cross the river with?
That's the trick," said Bob Sharp.
"No," replied Sam, "that was what I first thought of; or rather, I first thought of building some sort of a raft to cross the river on, and then it occurred to me that we could go on faster on high water in a canoe than on foot; so my notion is to dig out a good big canoe and ride all the way in it." "Can we do that ?" "Yes, the Nepalgah river runs into the Connecuh, and the Connecuh into the Escambia, and the Escambia runs into Escambia Bay, and Escambia Bay is an arm of Pensacola Bay.

Here, look at it on the map; you see it's as straight a course as we could go even on land, or pretty nearly." "Well, but you said you couldn't tell till morning about it." "I can't.

I am not absolutely sure where we are, but I think we are within a very short distance of the river.

I shall look in the morning, and if we are, we'll dig the canoe here, or rather, we'll live here and dig the canoe down by the river, for it must be a big one to carry all of us, and we can't carry it any distance.

If I find that we are not as near the river as I suppose, we must break up here and find a camping ground further on.