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                          Transcriber’s Note:

This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects.
Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_.

Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please
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[Illustration: RALPH FINDS THE STOLEN GUNS.]

                      _FOREST AND STREAM SERIES._

------------------------------------------------------------------------

                           SNAGGED AND SUNK;
                                OR, THE
                     ADVENTURES OF A CANVAS CANOE.




                                   BY
                            HARRY CASTLEMON,

              AUTHOR OF “GUNBOAT SERIES,” “ROCKY MOUNTAIN
                 SERIES,” “SPORTSMAN CLUB SERIES,” ETC.




                              PHILADELPHIA
                         HENRY T. COATES & CO.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

                        FAMOUS CASTLEMON BOOKS.

                         ---------------------

=GUNBOAT SERIES.= By HARRY CASTLEMON. 6 vols. 12mo.

 FRANK THE YOUNG NATURALIST.         FRANK ON A GUNBOAT.
 FRANK IN THE WOODS.                 FRANK BEFORE VICKSBURG.
 FRANK ON THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI.     FRANK ON THE PRAIRIE.


=ROCKY MOUNTAIN SERIES.= By HARRY CASTLEMON. 3 vols. 12mo. Cloth.

 FRANK AMONG THE RANCHEROS.          FRANK AT DON CARLOS’ RANCH.
 FRANK IN THE MOUNTAINS.


=SPORTSMAN’S CLUB SERIES.= By HARRY CASTLEMON. 3 vols. 12mo. Cloth.

 THE SPORTSMAN’S CLUB IN THE SADDLE. THE SPORTSMAN’S CLUB AMONG THE
                                     TRAPPERS.

 THE SPORTSMAN’S CLUB AFLOAT.


=FRANK NELSON SERIES.= By HARRY CASTLEMON. 3 vols. 12mo. Cloth.

 SNOWED UP.             THE BOY TRADERS.       FRANK IN THE FORECASTLE.


=BOY TRAPPER SERIES.= By HARRY CASTLEMON. 3 vols. 12mo. Cloth.

  THE BURIED TREASURE.   THE BOY TRAPPER.       THE MAIL-CARRIER.


=ROUGHING IT SERIES.= By HARRY CASTLEMON. 3 vols. 12mo. Cloth.

 GEORGE IN CAMP.        GEORGE AT THE WHEEL.   GEORGE AT THE FORT.


=ROD AND GUN SERIES.= By HARRY CASTLEMON. 3 vols. 12mo. Cloth.

 DON GORDON’S SHOOTING BOX.          ROD AND GUN CLUB.
 THE YOUNG WILD FOWLERS.


=GO-AHEAD SERIES.= By HARRY CASTLEMON. 3 vols. l2mo. Cloth.

  TOM NEWCOMBE.          GO-AHEAD.              NO MOSS.


=FOREST AND STREAM SERIES.= By HARRY CASTLEMON. 3 vols. 12mo. Cloth.

 JOE WAYRING.           SNAGGED AND SUNK.      STEEL HORSE.


=WAR SERIES.= By HARRY CASTLEMON. 5 vols. 12mo. Cloth.

 TRUE TO HIS COLORS.                 RODNEY THE PARTISAN.
 RODNEY THE OVERSEER.                MARCY THE BLOCKADE-RUNNER.
 MARCY THE REFUGEE.


                     _Other Volumes in Preparation._

------------------------------------------------------------------------

                   COPYRIGHT, 1888, BY PORTER & COATES.

                               CONTENTS.

  CHAPTER                                                          PAGE
       I. IN WHICH I BEGIN MY STORY,                                  5
      II. CAPTURED AGAIN,                                            28
     III. IN THE WATCHMAN’S CABIN,                                   52
      IV. A NIGHT ADVENTURE,                                         74
       V. JAKE COYLE’S SILVER MINE,                                  98
      VI. JAKE WORKS HIS MINE,                                      120
     VII. AMONG FRIENDS AGAIN,                                      142
    VIII. JOE WAYRING IN TROUBLE,                                   166
      IX. TOM VISITS THE HATCHERY,                                  192
       X. MORE TROUBLE FOR TOM BIGDEN,                              217
      XI. SAM ON THE TRAIL,                                         242
     XII. ABOUT VARIOUS THINGS,                                     265
    XIII. JOE WAYRING’S PLUCK,                                      289
     XIV. THE GUIDE “SURROUNDS” MATT’S CAMP,                        314
      XV. ON THE RIGHT TRACK AT LAST,                               338
     XVI. AT THE BOTTOM OF THE RIVER,                               363
    XVII. THE EXPERT COLUMBIA,                                      381
   XVIII. CONCLUSION,                                               398

------------------------------------------------------------------------




                            SNAGGED AND SUNK;
                                   OR,
                    THE ADVENTURES OF A CANVAS CANOE.




                               CHAPTER I.
                       IN WHICH I BEGIN MY STORY.

           “Beneath a hemlock grim and dark,
             Where shrub and vine are intertwining,
           Our shanty stands, well roofed with bark,
             On which the cheerful blaze is shining.
           The smoke ascends in spiral wreath;
             With upward curve the sparks are trending;
           The coffee kettle sings beneath
             Where sparks and smoke with leaves are blending.”


  Joe Wayring’s voice rang out loud and clear, and the words of his song
  were repeated by the echoes from a dozen different points among the
  hills by which the camp was surrounded on every side. Joe was putting
  the finishing touches to the roof of a bark shanty; Roy Sheldon, with
  the aid of a double-bladed camp ax, was cutting a supply of hard wood
  to cook the trout he had just cleaned; and Arthur Hastings was sitting
  close by picking browse for the beds. The scene of their camp was a
  spring-hole, located deep in the forest twelve miles from Indian Lake.
  Although it was a noted place for trout, it was seldom visited by the
  guests of the hotels for the simple reason that they did not know that
  there was such a spring-hole in existence, and the guides were much
  too sharp to tell them of it.

  Hotel guides, as a class, are not fond of work, and neither will they
  take a guest very far beyond the sound of their employer’s dinner
  horn. The landlords hire them by the month and the guides get just so
  much money, no matter whether their services are called into
  requisition or not. If business is dull and the guests few in number,
  the guides loaf around the hotel in idleness, and of course the less
  they do the less they are inclined to do. If they are sent out with a
  guest, they take him over grounds that have been hunted and fished
  until there is neither fur, fin, nor feather left, cling closely to
  the water-ways, avoiding even the shortest “carries,” their sole
  object being to earn their wages with the least possible exertion.
  They don’t care whether the guest catches any fish or not. But our
  three friends, Joe Wayring, Roy Sheldon, and Arthur Hastings, were not
  dependent upon the hotel guides for sport during their summer outings.
  Being perfectly familiar with the country for miles around Indian
  Lake, they went wherever their fancy led them, and with no fear of
  getting lost.

                 “And on the stream a light canoe
                   Floats like a freshly fallen feather—
                 A fairy thing that will not do
                   For broader seas and stormy weather.
                 Her sides no thicker than the shell
                   Of Ole Bull’s Cremona fiddle;
                 The man who rides her will do well
                   To part his scalp-lock in the middle,”

  sang Joe, backing off and looking approvingly at his work. “There,
  fellows, that roof is tight, and now it can rain as soon as it
  pleases. With two acres of trout right in front of the door, and a
  camp located so far from the lake that we are not likely to be
  disturbed by any interlopers—what more could three boys who want to be
  lazy ask for?”

  “There’s one thing I would like to ask for,” replied Roy, “and that is
  the assurance that Tom Bigden and his cousins will go back to Mount
  Airy without trying to come any tricks on us. I wonder what brought
  them up here any way?”

  “Why, they came after their rods, of course,” answered Arthur