"Yes; it's getting tedious," hinted Tom Reade.

Dalzell and Hazelton also appeared to lose all interest in the
auction.

"I was in hopes they'd want that canoe," muttered Fred Ripley,
feeling as though he had been cheated out of a great pleasure.
"As it happens I know all about that canoe. Wow! Wouldn't they
groan if they put up all their money for the canoe---_and then
found out_!"

Just then the canoe was brought out. It was bolstered up on a
long truck, drawn by a pair of horses. Twenty-eight feet long,
slender and of graceful lines, this canoe, with its oiled birch
bark glistening in the sun, was a thing of beauty. It was one
of the genuine articles that the show had carried---of real Indian
model and workmanship.

"Gaze upon it, gentlemen!" cried the auctioneer enthusiastically.
"Did you ever see the like of this grand war canoe? History
in every line of it! Picture to yourselves the bygone days in
which such a canoe, filled with painted braves, stole along in
the shadows fringing the bank of some noble stream. Portray to
your own minds such a marauding band stealing down stream upon
some settlement, there to fall upon our hardy pioneers and put
them to the death!"

"I'm glad I'm living now, instead of in those days," called a
man from the crowd, raising a laugh.