"That may be, but it would simplify matters if we could have some
definite description of the craft. Now we shall have to board every
raft we overhaul, on some pretence or other, and make inquiries. And
that reminds me that the _Whatnot_ does not seem to be provided with a
skiff."
"Yes, Solon said there was one on this deck, covered with canvas. That
must be it there," replied Winn. As he spoke he lifted an edge of the
bit of old sail that protected some bulky object from the weather, and
looked beneath it. Then he uttered a cry of amazement, and tore the
canvas completely off.
"It's my canoe, as sure as I'm standing here!" he shouted. "The very
one that was carried off on the raft!"
CHAPTER XXIII.
REWARD RUNS AWAY WITH THE PANORAMA.
There was not the slightest doubt that the canoe, covered by a bit of
canvas, which had rested all this time on the upper deck of the
_Whatnot_, was the very one whose loss had grieved Winn almost as much
as that of the raft itself. If he had needed proof other than his
certain knowledge of the little craft, it was at hand; for, as he
pointed out to Billy Brackett, there were his initials, rudely cut with
a jack-knife, just inside the gunwale. How well he remembered carving
them, one sunny afternoon, when he and Elta were drifting down the
creek! Yes, indeed, it was his canoe fast enough, but how came it
there? There was but one way to obtain an answer, and in another
minute Cap'n Cod was being plied with eager questions as to when,
where, and how he came into possession of the dugout.
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