BOATING ADVENTURES. 5b 
young idea how to shoot the rapids. At first our progress 
was much the same as before, the men pulled hard, and 
the boat went fast; our steerer chewed his quid, and 
guided the boat with the skill of a London cabman in a 
crowd. I should have thought twice about steering even 
there, but it was evident that we were unly at the begin- 
ning. The banks grew wilder, and rocks here and there 
replaced the rounded boulders which had hitherto been 
the principal feature of the river-bed. Presently our 
friend began to roll his eyes, and grip the spade-handle of 
his steering-paddle, and the roar of the water a-head told 
of something coming 
‘T raised my head to look, and was ordered to lie down 
and not hide the view; so down I went, but I could still 
see that we were rushing, end on, at a ridge of black 
stones that reached half over the river, and that the whole 
of the stream was dancing and tossing, like a mill-race, 
past the end of the bank. There was broken water, like 
a heavy surf, right up to a steep broken rock on the 
Swedish side. We seemed to be rushing to certain 
destruction; but just as we seemed to be rushing into 
the race, a turn of the wrist cleared the outermost boulder 
by a few inches, and we shot round a corner into a splen- 
did pool. It was done with the most perfect neatness and 
composure, but a few inches the one way or the other 
would have given us a hard swim. 
‘The steerer now seemed to explain to his pupil all about 
this point, and how to pass it; and then he condescended 
to take off his mittens. 
‘The next shoot we had, to go further into the stream. 
We were drenched, the boat was half-filled with water, 
and then, as there was worse to come, we rowed to the 
Russian bank, and baled, and shook our feathers. 
‘We had not much time to look about us. The river 
had gathered force and speed for the last six miles, and 
here it made a final leap. The river-bed made a bend 
below us, and the whole body of water dashed with a roar 
like thunder, against a perpendicular rock, some 20 or 30 
