" In such toil as this, the corporal
was found to be very serviceable; but neither of the Indians
declined to lend their assistance, in work of this manly character.
By this time, moreover, Gershom had come round, and was an able-
bodied, vigorous assistant, once more. If the corporal was the
master of any alcohol, he judiciously kept it a secret; for not a
drop passed any one's lips during the whole of that toilsome
journey.
Although the difficult places in the river were sufficiently
numerous, most of the reaches were places having steady, but not
swift currents toward the lake. In these reaches the paddles, and
those not very vigorously applied, enabled the travellers to advance
as fast as was desirable; and such tranquil waters were a sort of
resting-places to those who managed the canoes. It was while
ascending these easy channels, that conversation most occurred; each
speaker yielding, as was natural, to the impulses of the thoughts
uppermost in his mind. The missionary talked much of the Jews; and,
as the canoes came near each other, he entered at large, with their
different occupants, into the reasons he had for believing that the
red men of America were the lost tribes of Israel.
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