THE RIVER OF DOUBT 269 



their strength into the swift current, one of the shifting 

 whirlpools of which I have spoken came down-stream, 

 whirled them around, and swept them so close to the rapids 

 that no human power could avoid going over them. As 

 they were drifting into them broadside on, Kermit yelled 

 to the steersman to turn her head, so as to take them in 

 the only way that offered any chance whatever of safety. 

 The water came aboard, wave after wave, as they raced 

 down. They reached the bottom with the canoe upright, 

 but so full as barely to float, and the paddlers urged her 

 toward the shore. They had nearly reached the bank 

 when another whirlpool or whirling eddy tore them away 

 and hurried them back to midstream, where the dugout 

 filled and turned over. Joao, seizing the rope, started to 

 swim ashore; the rope was pulled from his hand, but he 

 reached the bank. Poor Simplicio must have been pulled 

 under at once, and his life beaten out on the bowlders be- 

 neath the racing torrent. He never rose again, nor did we 

 ever recover his body. Kermit clutched his rifle, his fa- 

 vorite 405 Winchester with which he had done most of his 

 hunting both in Africa and America, and climbed on the 

 bottom of the upset boat. In a minute he was swept into 

 the second series of rapids, and whirled away from the 

 rolling boat, losing his rifle. The water beat his helmet 

 down over his head and face and drove him beneath the 

 surface; and when he rose at last he was almost drowned, 

 his breath and strength almost spent. He was in swift 

 but quiet water, and swam toward an overhanging branch. 

 His jacket hindered him, but he knew he was too nearly 

 gone to be able to get it off, and, thinking with the curious 

 calm one feels when death is but a moment away, he real- 



