RUNNING THE RAPIDS. 157 



" All right ! that's business, fire away ! " And I 

 knew he meant business ; for he had taken off his 

 hat and coat, and stood bareheaded and erect, with 

 his eyes sparkling with unwonted fire. 



Well, we started ; a few strokes of the paddle 

 brought us to the edge of the first fall, and again 

 we plunge into the roaring waters ; away we flew, 

 Joe steering for the wildest water, knowing it to be 

 the safest : now we pass close by a heavy boulder 

 just rising to the top of the stream ; and now we 

 take a bucket of water over the bow, and feel it 

 trickling down our cheeks, but we move not ; 

 another bucketful. " Look out, old boy ! don't 

 swamp us " (this in thought, for not a word was 

 spoken) . 



On, on we dash; thump, thump, resistless as 

 death, the waves strike the bottom of the birch ; 

 now the wild water seems to be rolling towards us, 

 and now dashing on ahead with the speed of a 

 race-horse ; the air about us is flecked with foam, 

 and we seem vying to outrun the flying waters 

 themselves. We pass beneath the bridge, and the 

 lookers-on cheer us as we dart into sight again : we 

 are in rough water, we are in rougher water, we are 

 in white water, and we are in foam. And now we 

 round a bend in the stream, and in an instant strike 

 out upon the smoother water below. 



