"Well, wasn't it there ?" "I don't know," said Seaforth.

"I couldn't find the canoe." Alton said nothing further, but stumbled in haste towards the river.
Seaforth followed him more slowly, and Alton stood very still when he found nothing but boulders and shingle.

Then he stooped and bent over a little depression in the pebbles, and when he rose again his face was impassive.
"The water has risen since last night, but I'm not sure that accounts for it," he said.

"The bank slopes a little, but we pulled most of her out." "I think we pulled the whole of her clear," said Seaforth quietly.
Alton stood silent for almost a minute with his right hand clenched.
Then he said slowly, "You'll have to go down and look for her while I push on, Charley." Seaforth was about to speak, but he saw his comrade's eyes and did not express himself as he had meant to.

"Yes," he said.