190 NARRATIVES. 



" THE ROUGH-AND-READY WAY. 



" John P. had charge of one of the small boats, and at the 

 same time kept within hailing distance of the large boat, so 

 as to assist the three civilians at the worst pinches. He had 

 seen service of this kind in other days, and knew that the best 

 way was to " take the bull by the horns." He laughed at our 

 policy of keeping the water out of our boots by balancing and 

 teetering on the logs, and set us an example of working on 

 firm footing at the bottom of the creek, without regard to the 

 depth of water. He reasoned and exhorted and scolded ; and 

 slowly his radicalism began to prevail over our timidity. The 

 ex-clergyman (otherwise called the inventor) first gave in and 

 went to work in John P.'s fashion, without the fear of wet 

 feet before his eyes. The financier soon followed suit, and 

 the ex-editor, slowly, reluctantly, but finally with a faithful 

 willfulness that beat us all, adopted the simple policy of con- 

 sidering cold water a harmless medium to travel and work in, 

 favorable probably to health by causing reaction. Thenceforth 

 we worked at boat-shoving with free hands and firm feet, and 

 a strenuous heartiness that changed toil into sport, and carried 

 us triumphantly through the most tremendous job of uncivil 

 engineering that three civilians ever undertook. The differ- 

 ence between our first policy and our last was, that we began 

 with trying to keep the water out of our boots, and ended 

 with being contented to keep it out of our breeches pockets ! 



" After our first conversion to the " rough-and-ready " pol- 

 icy, we had still to learn an important subordinate lesson in 

 regard to the best way of economizing vital heat in dealing 

 with the water in our boots. At first we imagined it was best 

 to get rid of the cold and incumbrance of each bootful we 

 took in as soon as possible ; and, for this purpose, at every 

 opportunity we would sit down and lift first one foot and then 

 the other to a position about as high as the head, and let the 

 water run out at the top of the boots, taking care of course to 

 keep the pantaloons out of the reach of the torrent ; as, other- 

 wise, what left the boots would run down in the cloth tube to 

 the central and posterior regions of the body. But reflection 



