Eat that the boys could not lift them
to the water. They determined, therefore, to get their pushing

poles first, and then to carry the squares one by one to the river, and, arranging
them there,
to embark soon after nightfall. The work of construction had occupied many
days, and it was now the 12th of November.
The boys hoped to complete their undertaking the next
day and embark the next night. After their return to the drift-pile, however, it occurred to Tom to inquire whether or not Joe knew the way from the river to the fort, after they
should reach the end of their voyage. "I 'clar', Mas' Tom, I never thought o' dat at all!" said Joe
in consternation. "I dunno a foot of de way, an' I dunno whar' de fort is either."

Tom being equally ignorant, their long consultation held on the spot, ended in an enforced abandonment of the enterprise which had occupied their heads and hands for so long a time. "Now dar' it is, Mas' Tom," said Joe.
"Dat's always the way.

Mas' Sam never makes no blunder, 'cause he thinks it all out careful
fust. Poor Joe's head gets things all mixed up. I ain't no count anyhow, an' I jest wish I was dead or somethin'." Poor Joe! The disappointment was a sore one to him. He had been
thinking all along of the glory he
should reap as the saviour of the little party, and now his whole plan was found to be worthless. He slept little that night, and once Tom heard him quietly sobbing in his corner. Creeping
over to him
Tom said: "Don't cry, Joe. You did your best anyhow, and it isn't your fault that you don't know the way
to the fort,"