RUNNING THE RAPIDS. 83 



width would yet allow, wishing some' steerage-way 

 before I entered the chasm, I threw my whole 

 strength upon the oars. The lithe ash bent to 

 the strain, and the boat quivered from stem to 

 stern under the quick stroke. Then, bending for- 

 ward upon the seat, with oars at a trail, I shot 

 into the opening between the rocks. For an in- 

 stant the oar-blades grated along their sides, and 

 then, riding upon the crest of a wave, I passed out 

 of the damp passage, and lo ! the fall whose roar I 

 had heard yawned just beneath me. Quick as 

 thought, I swung the oars ahead, and as the bil- 

 low lifted me high up upon the very brink, gave 

 way with all my might. "V\Tiatever spare strength 

 I had lying anywhere about me, at that particular 

 point of time, I am under the impression was 

 thrown into those oar-blades. The boat was fairly 

 lifted off the wave, and shot into the air. For an 

 instant, it touched neither water nor foam, then 

 dropped into the boiling caldron. Another stroke 

 and it darted out of the seething mass with less 

 than a gallon of water along the bottom. 



The ra2nds ivere rim ! Wiping the sweat from 

 my face, and emptying the water from the barrels 

 of my rifle, I rested on my oars, to see the boys 

 come down. O, royal sight it was, to see them 

 come, one after another, — John leading the van, 

 — over the verge ! As boats in air they seemed, 

 with airy boatmen, as they came dashing along. 



