CHAPTER VI 



TO ALERT BAY 



The morning of the 27th fulfilled the promise 

 of the previous day. The weather had at 

 last broken, and it was in a dense wetting mist 

 that we crept north, bound for Alert Bay. 

 We had no delay at the Seymour Narrows, 

 which can only be navigated at a certain state 

 of the tide. The whole force of the Pacific 

 runs through these narrows — not more than 

 half-a-mile broad — and the eddies and whirl- 

 pools that are formed are terrifying. There 

 is one great rock in the middle of the passage — 

 a special source of danger. 



I had visited these narrows in a steam 

 launch from the hotel, and had there seen the 

 water at its worst — a wonderful sight ; but the 

 tide was now suitable, and as the Queen City 

 passed through there was only a strong current. 



The best guides and hunters are always 

 snapped up early in the season, and before I 

 left England, Mr. Bryan Williams had secured 

 for me the services of Cecil Smith — better 

 known in the local sporting world as " Cougar " 



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