THE UPPER RAPIDS. 157 



without any one knowing how it came to be 

 so ; fingers stuck to each other and to the 

 sides of the boat, or to anything that they 

 touched ; chills seemed to be creeping 

 through the air, though no one could say 

 that the evening was exactly cold ; the air 

 seemed to be hot and cold at the same 

 moment. 



By the time the low, steady, earth-shaking 

 sound of the falls began to strike the ear, it 

 was not easy to tell whether it was a very 

 heavy dew or a very fine, quiet rain, that was 

 settling down upon everything. The night 

 fell so dark that the forms of the men, as 

 they rose to their oars, could scarcely be 

 seen by the steersman : every one felt a sort 

 of relief as the lights of the fair rose upon 

 the view; and it was with more regard to 

 their own personal comfort than the preser- 

 vation of their tackle, that the fishermen 

 leaped on shore as soon as the boats touched 

 land, and, pushing through the still crowded 

 street, dried their chilled hands at the jolly 

 blaze of Mrs. Johnstone's bright turf fire. 



