Somewhat to his annoyance, however, she stood still, and he proceeded to drag out the canoe.

The craft was not particularly heavy, but it was long, and he had trouble when he endeavored to get it upon his back.

He had more than once carried the Siwash river-canoes over a portage in this fashion, but there is a trick in it, and the birch craft was larger and of a different shape.

He felt that he could have managed it had there been nobody to watch him, but to do it while the girl noticed every movement with a kind of sardonic amusement was quite a different matter.

He was very hot when, after a struggle of several minutes, he got the craft upon his shoulders; and then, after staggering a few paces, he rammed the bow of it into a tree.