increasing. It seemed hopeless, when 

 the downpour stopped as suddenly as 

 it had begun; and before we could 

 manage to land, far from where 

 we wanted to go, the sun grinned out 

 at us, as though it were a huge joke, 

 and he wished to say: "I've come 

 out to dry you off. It does n't 

 matter." 



So it is, out-of-doors, the elements 

 are somewhat rough and inconsider- 

 ate playfellows sometimes, but one 

 must accept them with all one's puny 

 strength, or not play the game live 

 in cities and forget the gods. 



When finally a dry match was 

 found, a fire built Nimrod has a 

 record on one-match fires with wet 

 wood and as we stood around it 

 drying clothes and eating lunch, I 

 was received into the order of 

 canoeists, having successfully passed 

 through the initiation. 



Clifford said something in Indian 

 to his friend. Nimrod, understand- 

 ing a little, looked at him enquir- 

 ingly. "I said, Squaw all right. No 

 afraid! bad water, very bad. She 

 no cry! Take her anywhere." And 

 I felt that honours perhaps when 



