With Gun ^ Rod in Canada 



" Herb, stand back ! Stand well back, Herb, to avoid 

 being splashed !" 



I will never forget the first time I saw a Nova Scotia 

 guide stand up in his canoe and pole over a swift run. 

 I thought he was crazy. It was about fourteen years 

 ago. I had been trout-fishing down the Kejimkujik 

 River from Fairy Lake to Lake Rossignol. There were 

 practically seven miles of falls and rapids. 



We were tenting at a place called Arthur's Ledges, and 

 after lunch I suggested to one of the ladies in the party 

 that she should go out with me in one of the canoes and 

 fish without taking a guide along. She stepped into the 

 canoe and I pushed off. The current was very swift, 

 and immediately it swept us downstream sideways. 

 I had no pole, and would not have known how to use it 

 if I had had one. I finally succeeded in getting the 

 canoe headed upstream, but the current was too strong 

 for me to paddle against, and was rapidly sweeping 

 us toward the next falls. I succeeded in running the 

 canoe ashore about a quarter of a mile below the camp 

 and on the opposite shore. I was frightened, and of 

 course humiliated. A guide answered my distress 

 signal, paddled down with his canoe, took us both aboard, 

 tied my canoe astern of his with a long painter, 

 stood up in his canoe with a pole, and landed us 

 safely back at camp in about five minutes. He chatted 

 pleasantly with the lady on the way up. The mem- 

 bers of the camping party were all quite polite, and 

 did not discuss the incident at length during the entire 

 trip. 



After considerable pondering upon the subject of 

 canoes, paddling, swift water, and poling, I concluded 

 I still had quite a lot to learn. For the next two days 

 I worked the guides in shifts, and spent most of the time 

 having them pole me up over the various rapids and 



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