The Strange Cabin on Catamount Island | Page 5

up ahead.
"Ditto here!" echoed Toby, and Owen added his words of praise.
"It seems like bully good fun!" declared Bandy-legs, who was puffing a
little, his boat being somewhat more weighty than the other two single
canoes, and who consequently was somewhat behind the rest; "but I
wish you'd get a rope on Steve there, and hold him in. He ain't fit to be
the pace-maker. I just can't keep going like wildfire all the time."
"That's right, too" remarked Max. "We ought to let up a little in the
start. It never is good policy to do your best in the beginning of a race.
And we've really got loads of time to make that island before nightfall."
Of course Steve could do as he pleased; but since the others dropped
back a little so as to accommodate the less skillful Bandy-legs, he had

to follow suit, or be all alone in the van. Steve grumbled more or less
because some fellows never could "get a move on 'em," as he
complained; but outside of making an occasional little spurt, and then
resting, he stuck pretty well by his mates during the next hour or two.
Then something happened, something that they had never once
dreamed of, and which was at first utterly beyond the understanding of
any of the paddlers.
Bandy-legs seemed to find more or less trouble about getting himself
settled in the best attitude for his work. It was all pretty new for him,
though Max thought the other did very well for a greenhorn. He
wriggled about in his cedar boat like an uneasy worm, changing his
position often, and each time thinking that he had improved his
paddling powers, only to find the same old fault.
All at once he set up a whoop that startled his chums.
"Hi! looky here, what's happenin' to this old coffin!"
The others saw nothing wrong, save that Bandy-legs himself seemed to
be engaged in scrambling about more or less, as though he had
suddenly discovered a venomous spider crawling out from under the
false bottom of his delicate craft.
"What ails you?" called out Max, stopping the use of his handy spruce
blade, as he turned his head toward the one who appeared to be in
trouble.
"Wow! I tell you she's sinkin'!" continued Bandy-legs, as if aghast.
"What! your canoe?" cried Owen, as if unable to believe his ears.
"Sure she is, boys! Water's just bubbling up in her to beat the band! I
felt it gettin' wet down by my feet, and looked just in time. What'll I
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.
"Give me a hand here, fellows," remarked Max, "and we'll turn her
over to let the water get out faster. I can see right now where the
trouble lies, and it's right down in the bottom. There's a leak as sure as
anything!"
"Then its good-by to my bally little canoe right in the start, I reckon,"
complained the owner, sadly. "I'm a Jonah, all right. All sorts of things
keep happening to me. What does it look like, Max?" as the boat was
finally turned completely over, so that the bottom was fully exposed.
Max uttered an exclamation that told of astonishment.

"Well, that is queer!" they heard him