Now the small sack of flour and the side of bacon and the loose
provisions brought from the Post could last but a little time, and the
journey was like to be long. The travellers were to be forced from now
on, just as are the wolves, the eagles, the hawks, the carcajous, and
other predatory creatures of the woods, to give their first thoughts to
the day's sustenance. All other considerations gave way to this. This
was the first, the daily tribute to be wrested from the stubborn grasp
of the North. Winning that, anything was possible; failing that, nothing
could follow but defeat. Therefore, valuable exceedingly were the two
little steel traps and the twelve-foot length of gill-net, the sharp,
thin knives in the beaded sheaths, and especially precious, precious
above all things else, the three hundred rounds of ammunition for the
rifles. They must be guarded and cared for and saved.

Therefore an incident of the early afternoon was more than welcome.

All the morning they had toiled against the current, sometimes poling,
sometimes "tracking" by means of a sixty-foot cod-line. Dick looped this
across his chest and pulled like a horse on the tow-path, while Sam
Bolton sat in the stern with the steering-paddle. The banks were
sometimes precipitous, sometimes stony, sometimes grown to the water's
edge with thick vegetation. Dick had often to wade, often to climb and
scramble, sometimes even to leap from one foothold to another. Only
rarely did he enjoy level footing and the opportunity for a straight
pull. Suddenly in a shallow pool, near the river's edge, and bordered
with waist-high grass, he came upon a flock of black ducks. They were
full grown, but as yet unable to fly. Dick dropped his tow-line and ran
forward with a shout. At once the ducks became confused, scattering in
all directions, squawking madly, spattering the water. The mother flew.
The brood, instead of making for the open river, where it would have