"I wish we had our boat here," remarked Ned, as later on the four chums
strolled off in the direction of the little stream.
"It would be too big for this creek," observed Ned. "If we had a smaller
boat, or a canoe, it would do very well."
"Let's make one," suggested Fenn. "There's lots of birch bark here and we
can do it in a few days."
"All right," agreed Bart. "We'll start it in the morning. I never made a
canoe, but we can't do any worse than try, at any rate."
The boys found it harder work than they had expected, but they had plenty
of time and knew something of boat building, for they had constructed
several small craft.
They had their knives, and two small hatchets. They used young saplings
for keel and the ribs, and, with patience, they managed to strip off
enough of the birch bark to cover the canoe.
It took them two days to get all the materials together and then, when
the canoe was roughly shaped, they had to spend much more time on it,
rendering it water-proof by smearing the seams with pitch and gum which
exuded from several trees near at hand. They had used withes of willow to
bind the boat together, and, though it was a very crude looking affair,
the boys thought it would serve for what they wanted.
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