"A canoe?" suggested Rob.

"That would be just the thing," agreed Jack. "But a regular canoe,
made of birch bark or paper, would cost too much. I'll tell you what
it is, Rob. Jim and I have next to nothing in the treasury at present.
We haven't had a chance to earn much lately."

"I'm about dead broke, too," replied Rob.

"I say," exclaimed Jack, after a moment of silence, "suppose we make
one?"

"Make one!" echoed Rob, surprised.

"Why, yes. All we need is a flat-bottomed boat; and it ought not to be
hard to put one together. Uncle Gerald promised to give me some boards
for my chicken-coops; perhaps he would add a few more if he knew what
we wanted them for. Let's go over and see if he is at home now,"

"All right," answered Rob, preparing to start.

Jack and Rob might almost always be found together. They were of about
the same age,--Jack being fourteen on his last birthday, the 22d of
January, and Rob on the 30th of the following March. They lived within
a stone's-throw of each other, and had been friends from the time they
were little chaps.

Mr. Gerald Sheridan was a merchant who did business in New York, but he
was now taking a few days' vacation, to look a little after the work