1 3 o BY MEADOW AND STREAM. 



were in a nice fix. We must either tackle the fall 

 and smash the boat to pieces, or get it somehow over 

 these dribbling shallows for a distance of fifty yards 

 at least ; and then there were innumerable rocks just 

 showing their points, or partly hidden by the water. 

 After getting over these fifty yards of gravel by terribly 

 hard work, my oarsmen had to look out for these 

 nasty rocks, and to steer the boat between them was 

 even more arduous than scraping her over the shal- 

 lows. It occupied quite an hour to get over this one 

 of our forty impediments. Then we floated along 

 merrily in deep water for a mile or two with few 

 obstacles. At a ford there were two men with a 

 team of horses and a cart. They offered us some 

 cider and the loan of a horse to pull the boat along, 

 but we did not take advantage of either offer. We 

 were told at the next ford, about eight miles from 

 Hereford, by the ferryman that we had only to keep 

 always to the right, close under the bank, and we 

 should have plain sailing all the way ; no more shal- 

 lows to trouble us. We did keep to the right there 

 was no help for it the strong current carried us 

 down irresistibly right under some overhanging wil- 

 lows, carrying away one of our sculls, and scratching 

 our skulls all round. We got out of this trouble in 

 time, caught up our floating scull which was making 

 rapid way for Hereford and on again. There was a 

 fellow lying lazily on the bank smoking; he had 

 fastened his boat, and was taking his ease. We asked 

 him if there were any more shallows between us and 

 Hereford. " Lots of 'em " was the only reply we got 

 from him. 



