When he
became accustomed to the motion of the boat, he raised himself from a
sitting position in the bottom, and, kneeling as the others were doing,
he began to dip his paddle quietly in the water in time with their
stroke. His familiarity with rowing rendered it easy for him to keep
time and swing, and, ere long, he found himself putting a considerable
amount of force into each stroke. Nat looked back over his shoulder.
"Well done, young 'un. That's first rate for a beginner, and it makes a
deal of difference on our arms. 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.
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