There were no seats or thwarts. The boys sprawled about on the straw in the bottom. The one who rowed sat on a soap-box; the one who sculled--for in the stern was a hole for a sculling-oar--perched on the gunwale.
You see, the boat was so steady that it did not much matter how the persons in it acted.
Sometimes the boys rowed, sometimes they sculled, and sometimes, if in a hurry or fought by a strong current, they both rowed and sculled. When not in use the boat was quartered with Commodore Jones.
Hal jumped in, shipped the single pair of oars, and then plumped into the stern; Ned shoved off, and squatting on the soap-box applied himself to navigating, for it happened to be his turn.
"Say--I bet you it's from the Beaufort Lumber Company's yards!" exclaimed Ned, twisting his head to look over the bows.
Countless bunches of lath, extending up the river as far as the boys could see, were passing down in a long, straight string. A few vigorous strokes with the oars shot the boat out of the eddy formed by the warehouse, and into the current, and carried them through the line of lath. Now the craft was clear of obstructions.
Eagle Island was a large tract of heavily wooded land, reaching down river from off the lower end of town. It was four miles in length, and half a mile or more in breadth. Paper-mill Slough separated it from the mainland. Quite a settlement of wood-choppers, small farmers, and mill employees lived upon it; and with its nuts, its fishing, and its other attractions, it was a favorite resort for the Beaufort youth.
The powerful current of the freshet swept the voyagers rapidly onward. In a moment they had passed under the bridge, against the piers of which the water boiled and swirled. On the nearer shore they caught a glimpse, here and there, of shanties held in place by ropes, and of their tenants paddling about the thresholds in skiffs. The river appeared to be among the lumber piles of the Mosher Lumber Company, even!
Of the farther shore nothing was to be seen. The water stretched in this direction for miles and miles, only a fringe of willows marking its ordinary bounds.
And now they were beyond the lumber yards, and had entered Paper-mill Slough.
The head of Eagle Island was still high and dry, above the reach of the flood. The current, split by the promontory, was not so swift in the slough as in the river proper.