UP THE RAPIDS. — THE EDITOR. — CIIRFS.'s JOKES. 97 



steam. Meainvhile. the slim passenger was reaping the 

 benefit of thinness and conservative avoirdupois; for Hal - 

 sey insisted on seating him on the higgage in the middle of 

 the boat, "to keep it dr}'" he said, Avhile he, the kind-hearted 

 little fellow, pushed and pulled the boat up-stream. How- 

 ever, the situation was onl}' moistlj^ satisfactory, for the 

 rain let down fearfully, but didn't let up a bit. 



The Editor, half the time up to his knees in the water 

 beneath, while the waters above poured in stretuns from 

 hat and coat, looked back appreciatively upon the triumphal 

 progress T was making; — and 1 saw through the rain, by 

 the humor in his vye and the comed^y all o\'er his face, that 

 he fully comprehended both the hiuiiidity and the humor of 

 the situation 



And Chris., — it Avas rough coined)' for his one leg and 

 crutch and cane. He couldn't even contemplate the satis- 

 faction there would be in telling the story of this tramp up 

 the rapids, — it Avould be such an old storj'. Yet he could 

 joke, even in the river, among the rocks and pouring rain, 

 — but such jokes! They were Titanic, — belching like a 

 volcano, — the thumps of Thor's hammer, — thunderous,— 

 and I am sorry to say, in connection with this sweet picture, 

 profane as the Devil — or Prometheus, if he sAvore. It Avas 

 apparent that Chris., after all, jireferred (by land for his 

 one leg to tramp on, and that it Avas not so much consola- 

 tion as the mathematics of the ca.se Avould suggest, that in 

 Avading he only Avet one foot while other men must Avet 

 two. 



But it was over at last, — this passage up the rapids, — and 



