54 TJic Home of the Wolverene and Baxver. 



of each boat as it approached the rapid, and was 

 then able to form a correct idea of the nerve and 

 skill requisite to overcome the dangers of the 

 situation, and hardly knew which to admire most, 

 the steadiness and obedience of the crew, the good 

 judgment and coolness of the steersman, or the 

 behaviour of the light craft themselves, so frail in 

 their structure that a lady's bodkin would almost 

 pierce their sides, and which yet rode safely v/here a 

 stronger built and less handy vessel would infallibly 

 have been dashed into a thousand pieces. 



After all the goods were re-embarked the flotilla 

 paddled on a couple of miles to escape from the 

 dead roar of the rapid, and then, steering for the 

 shore, the travellers landed and made their camp 

 for the night. This was a far simpler and more 

 speedy operation than the reader would probably 

 imagine. The time was summer, and the climate 

 so mild that none of the extra precautions we are 

 so accustomed to associate with bivouacking in 

 Canada were necessary. The boatmen first knocked 

 up a couple of rough shelters with pine saplings, 

 one for Paul, the other for Pierre Lefranc and his 

 wife, and then betook themselves to fishing for their 

 supper, too hardy to care about even the slight 

 shelter afforded by a few boughs, and quite con- 

 tented to stretch themselves in their blankets beside 



