do--jump over and swim for the shore right here?"

"Don't be silly, Bandy-legs!" cried Max. "If something has happened to
your boat, why, head for the shore, and paddle hard. It ain't so far
away but you can reach it easy enough. You must have hit a snag, and
punched a hole in the skin of the canoe."

"I never hit nothin'!" called back the other, as in his clumsy fashion
he managed to presently change the course of his boat, and start for the
nearest bank, with the war canoe and that of Max accompanying him.

"Hey, what you goin' to do, have a snack?" yelled Steve, who at that
moment chanced to be a little way ahead of the others.

"Bandy-legs is sinking, and we've got to see what ails his boat!"
answered Max, making a speaking tube or a megaphone of his hands.

No doubt Steve, impatient to reach their destination, and make camp
before dark, would be saying things not at all complimentary to the
sufferer, as he retraced his course, in order to join them.

Meanwhile, when the canoes reached a pebbly stretch of shore, they were
beached; and then Max set to work to ascertain what could have happened
to the cedar boat to make it start sinking in such a mysterious way.

First the bundles were taken out, and they all observed that it was
fortunate they had decided at the last minute to let Bandy-legs have one
of the tents instead of the foodstuff he had been given in the
beginning.