MOOSEHEAD LAKE 17 



not more than four or five feet wide. At night, how- 

 ever, the sight is not quite so captivating, especially 

 if the night be a dark one and you happen to make up 

 a part of the canoe's cargo. 



We got through, however, without any greater mis- 

 hap than breaking the rib of one canoe and shipping 

 some water into another. A few minutes after emerg- 

 ing from the boiling Rips we heard the roar of the falls 

 about a mile further down. The sound was grand, 

 and we thought we were going to have another excit- 

 ing run. In this we were disappointed. The guides 

 said that, in order to lighten the canoes, we sports 

 would have to get out and walk through the woods to 

 the bottom of the falls about half a mile. They then 

 rearranged the loads and started down the falls by 

 water while we went down by land ; and it was darker 

 in the woods than it was on the river. We stumbled 

 and tripped over roots and logs, while the guides 

 stumbled and tripped over rocks. We managed to get 

 through and so did they, after a fashion. One man 

 had to jump out of his canoe to save it and another 

 man brought his down leaking. Neither man seemed 

 happy. However, there is very little pure happiness in 

 this world and perhaps the adulterated article tastes 

 all the better for its mixture with a little misery. 



In a few minutes the loads were changed and we 

 were off again down the river. After a run of about 

 an hour we saw the lights, of the Chesuncook House 



