cross-pieces.

A mast, about the same height as the canoe was long, was then set up; it
was made from a young fir-tree. Another smaller fir supplied the yard,
which extended fore and aft, nearly the length of the boat. The sail, of
coarse canvas, was not very high, but long, and rather broader at each
end where the rope attached it to the prow and stern, or, rather, the
two prows. Thus arranged, it was not so well suited for running straight
before the wind, as for working into it, a feat never attempted by the
ships of the time.

Oliver was delighted with the appearance of the boat, so much so that
now and then he announced his intention of accompanying Felix on his
voyage. But after a visit to the town, and a glance at the Princess
Lucia, his resolution changed. Yet he wavered, one time openly
reproaching himself for enduring such a life of inaction and ignominy,
and at another deriding Felix and his visionary schemes. The canoe was
now completed; it was tried on the pool and found to float exactly as it
should. It had now to be conveyed to Heron Bay.

The original intention was to put it on a cart, but the rude carts used
on the estate could not very well carry it, and a sledge was
substituted. Several times, during the journey through the forest, the
sledge had to be halted while the underwood was cut away to permit of
its passing; and once a slough had to be filled up with branches hewn
from fir trees, and bundles of fern. These delays made it evening before
the shore of the creek was reached.

It was but a little inlet, scarce a bowshot wide at the entrance and
coming to a point inland. Here the canoe was left in charge of three