PEPACTON: A SUMMER VOYAGE. 19 



" All right ; may we, Mister ? " 



I assented, and we were soon afloat again. How 

 they enjoyed the passage ; how smooth it was ; how 

 the boat glided along ; how quickly she felt the pad- 

 dle ! They admired her much ; they praised my 

 steers man ship ; they praised my fish-pole and all my 

 fixings down to my hateful rubber boots. When we 

 stuck on the rifts, as we did several times, they leaped 

 out quickly with their bare feet and legs, and pushed 

 as off. 



" I think," said Johnny, " if you keep her straight 

 and let her have her own way, she will find the 

 deepest water. Don't you, Denny ? " 



" I think she will," .replied Denny ; and I found 

 the boys were pretty nearly right. 



I tried them on a point of natural history. I had 

 observed, coming along, a great many dead eels lying 

 on the bottom of the river, that I supposed had died 

 from spear wounds. " No," said Johnny, " they are 

 lamper-eels. They die as soon as they have built 

 their nests and laid their eggs." 



" Are you sure ? " 



" That's what they all say, and I know they are 

 lampers." 



So I fished one up out of the deep water with my 

 paddle-blade, and examined it ; and sure enough it 

 was a lamprey. There was the row of holes along 

 its head, and its ugly suction mouth. I had noticed 

 their nests, too, all along, where the water in the 

 pools shallowed to a few feet and began to hurry to- 



