NAT'S SHAGGY PUP. 
149 
and rifles. Then he sprang to where they were lying, 
and turned them over. It was of no use. No need for 
his father to put into words what was only too plain to 
all ; the axes had been left on the raft ! 
At that moment, Joe, the Indian guide, came running 
up from the water's edge. He evidently had made a 
discovery. 
" No Ayans! " he said, pointing to the river. 
" No Ayans ? Another tribe is on our heels, then ? " 
" No. Raft not carried off. Raft float away itself." 
Float away! How is it possible?" demanded Mr. 
Button, incredulously. 
" High water in night. Big rain in mountains. Now 
him low again. See ! " 
The evidence was indisputable. There was a mass of 
drenched sticks and leaves left stranded on one of the 
large boulders near which the ark of their safety had been 
moored. All remembered that the top of the rock had 
been bare and smooth the night before. 
One source of dread, then, was removed. In much 
better spirits than at first, the leader gave orders to 
prepare breakfast. 
Here again trouble immediately arose. Hugh's rod, 
line, and reel were on the ill-fated raft. Fortunately, his 
small wallet of flies was in his pocket. Three spare 
lengths of snell were found tucked away in it. One of 
these the boy knotted on to a piece of twine, which little 
Nat produced from his pocket. A willow rod was quickly 
