RUNNING THE RAPIDS 



ashore at that point, if necessary, and examine the stream 

 beyond. 



As we proceeded the stream became fearfully swift and 

 the waves increasingly heavy. At the speed we were making 

 the bend was soon reached, but just beyond it another bluff 

 point came in view. We would have gone ashore to make a 

 further inspection, but this was impossible, as the banks were 

 of perpendicular or even overhanging walls of limestone. So 

 alarmingly swift was the current now becoming that we 

 eagerly looked for some place on the bank where a landing 

 might be made, but none could be seen. Retreat was equally 

 impossible against the enormous strength of the river, and all 

 we could do was to keep straight in the current. My brother's 

 canoe, steered by old Pierre, being a little in advance of my 

 own, gave me a good opportunity of seeing the fearful race 

 we were running. Suspicions of danger were already aroused, 

 and the outcome was not long deferred. As we were rounding 

 the bluff, old Pierre suddenly stood up from his seat in the 

 stern, and in another instant we likewise were gazing at what 

 looked like the end of the river. Right before us there ex- 

 tended a perpendicular fall. We had no time for reflection, 

 but keeping straight with the current, and throwing ourselves 

 back in the canoes in order to lighten the bows, we braced 

 ourselves for the plunge, and in a moment were lost to sight 

 in the foaming waters below. But only for an instant. Our 

 light cedars, though partly filled by the foam and spray, rose 

 buoyantly on the waves, and again we breathed freely. It 

 was most fortunate for us that the canoes were not loaded, 

 for had they been they never would have floated after that 

 plunge, but would have disappeared like lead in the billows. 

 We afterwards found we had taken the rapid in the very 

 worst spot, and that near the right side of the river we might 

 have made the descent free of danger. Without a guide, 

 however, such mistakes will sometimes occur in spite of every 

 precaution. 



37 



