If there were no other reason, we should have to come back here for you, and I expect that in the daylight we shall find a shorter way up.

It will be noon anyway before we get there, and you wouldn't wish to keep your friends waiting longer." Ida rose with an effort, and clung heavily to his arm when they crept downward again; but the light grew a little clearer as they proceeded, and the sound of the river rang louder in their ears.

Then, in the gray of the morning, they staggered out upon the bank of the river.
Walking, half awake, Ida floundered among the boulders and through a horrible maze of whitened driftwood cast up by the stream.

Farther on they fortunately found stretches of smooth sand, and they plodded over these and through little pools, though she afterward fancied that Weston carried her across some of the deeper ones.
The sun was high when they saw the two canoes drawn up on the bank, and a few moments later Mrs.Kinnaird appeared among the firs.

She ran toward them, stumbling in a ludicrous fashion amidst the boulders, and then stopped a few yards away and gazed at Ida.