

loading our duffle and fixing a cozy nest for the two passen- 

 gers, we were off at five minutes before our appointed time. 



The river was still and smooth, but with a deep, powerful 

 rush which told us its strength. The stars faded, and the air 

 was still as it grew lighter, while we passengers hoped for 

 the sun to warm us as we snuggled in our covers. A small 

 cloud in the west grew, and, though the sun was an hour 

 high, it soon was blotted out, and the sky was overcast by a 

 gray driving mist. At six o'clock we passed St. Peter. Not a 

 person could be seen, and our commodore gave his famous 

 hailing whoop, with no response. 



At eight o'clock a stop was made for breakfast. The fire 

 was soon going, and the smell of bacon, eggs and coffee tan- 

 talized our nostrills. How hungry we were, and how good it 

 all tasted! 



Everything being packed and ready at nine, we embarked, 

 twenty-five miles on our journey, with a shift of crews. The 

 day grew warmer; the sun shone fitfully as we shot from 

 point to point on the stream, each new turn bringing new 

 scenes into our panorama of fields, woods and steep bluffs on 

 which the cattle seemed to hang. Occasionally, in a sharp 

 bend, huge chunks of earth undermined by the current would 

 fall with a splash into the stream, to be carried off in the rush 

 of the waters. 



About eleven o'clock, in a heavy current, we came to a split 

 in the stream, with the water tearing to the right like a mill- 

 race. After a short parley, it was decided to take this course, 

 for by so doing a mile could be saved, as the main channel 

 made a large loop to the left to come back again a hundred 

 yards from where it had started. Down the current we 

 plunged, the water boiling and foaming around us. We shot 

 out over the bank of the old channel, and the water being too 

 shallow for our heavy draft, we stuck. Imagine our conster- 

 nation! But our brave commodore, divesting himself of shoes 

 and socks, and rolling his trousers high, stepped out into the 

 rapid current; and, in spite of his some one hundred and 

 eighty pounds, it nearly swept him from his feet. Being given 

 a shove, we catapulted over the brink into the swift water of 

 the main channel, to return against the current, after ten 



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