412 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
Nov. 23, 1901. 
early days when, as a member of the committee of a 
certain dog show, his share in the management consisted 
in sitting up at night to see that the ordinary watchman 
did not shimber at his post. There were dogs which 
seemed to be able to slip their collars at will, including a 
great black and white Newfoundland, a savage brute un- 
der ordinary circumstances, which ought not to have been 
allowed immuzzled. Time after time iie got loose from 
his bench, inA^ariably making his way quietly and fearfully 
to the small office in which watch was kept, attracted by 
the dim light. He whined outside for human company, 
and when this was obtained, the whilom ferocious beast 
became as quiet and as kindly as any pet lamb. The same 
correspondent goes on to say that he finds our London 
fogs, of which we are having such sad experience, seem 
to be detested by the dogs as much as darkness. Hardly 
one is seen about where the fog hangs thickly, and the 
two or three he keeps at home are disinclined to leave 
their comforts for the murkiness of the streets. We have 
noticed the same thing, and in our suburban quarters have 
not. during the prevailing period of typical November 
weather in town, been disturbed by the yelping and whin- 
ing of the neighbors' terriers, nor the conflicts between 
Great Danes and collies, which are, under ordinary circum- 
stances, of daily occurrence in our streets. Still, after all 
we could put up with the troublesome dogs if the un- 
healthy fogs would depart. 
— • — 
'Mid Reef and Rapid.— XXDC. 
BY F. R. WEBB. 
The river swept in a majestic curve around to the left. 
The valley closed in, and isecame a defile, and the defile 
became a gorge as the river ate its way down into the 
depths to join the Potomac, but a few miles below. A 
mile below Watson's Falls lie the Brick IMill Falls, the 
intervening reach being a conglomeration of reefs ' and 
swift water, only less difiicult to navigate than the falls 
themselves, and requiring nerve and skill to avoid ship- 
wreck. The boat channel, which formerly led along the 
left bank from lock to lock, is now, for the most part, 
abandoned and filled up, consequently we were unable to 
make any use of it, and had to take our chances in the 
open river. 
The long, low, straggling mill dam, just above the 
falls, was finally reached, and was easily portaged _ by 
sliding oitr canoes over it; Lacy even made the trip with- 
out getting out of his canoe, and the head of the falls was 
reached. The river swings around sharplj' to jthe left, and 
a great reef extends across in line with the left bank, after 
the manner of many of the mill dams above. 
The absolute chaos of rocks, reefs and islands here was 
confounding. In a word, the river simply disappeared 
from sight in a wilderness of rocks and bushes. Where 
it went to we could form no idea. We were bewildered, 
confused, and had apparently reached the end of it. That 
it went somewhere the swift, strong volume of water, 
steadily moving into the labyrinth with undiminishing 
force, and the htaxy, pervading roar of falling water gave 
ample evidence, and warned us to beware how we ap- 
proached too near in our frail, canvas craft. The mas- 
sive ledge was worn into fissures and crevices innumer- 
able, through which the chafed and fretted waters made 
their Avay, and between which what remained of the 
ledge stood up in masses of stone of every conceivable 
variety of shape and size, fantastic beyond description. 
We had no idea — no conception — that solid rock could 
be worn into such a variety of shapes by the action of 
water. 
The ever-present tough, hardy bushes — their roots 
gripp'ng the barren rocks with a tenacious grasp — clothed 
and subdued everything in a mantle of living green the 
while they rendered the confusion and chaos the greater. 
"Lacy and I made it without touching." 
"Great Scott !" cried Lacy, as we paused in utter be- 
wilderment as to where to go next, "I wish I was up a 
tree, or on top of a mountain, so I could look down and 
see wdiat has become of the imprecated river." 
"Well, we've got to go somewhere," said George, pad- 
dling desperately out above the wilderness. "Let's get 
out and take a look at it somehow or other." 
We followed him, but the strong floAV of the current 
down into the unknown labyrinth warned us not to be too 
brash, so we let our boats drift down upon a low, rocky 
island, which lay at the head of the ledge near the left 
side, and seemed to extend down over it, upon which we 
made a landing to take an observation, if possible. 
"I'll tell yoii what," said George, taking a turn of his 
painter around the gnarled and twisted stem of a tough 
little bush at his feet as he spoke. "I'll tell you what. 
Suppose we shoot that channel there," pointing to a heavy 
volume of water, which shot around the head of the 
island-between us and the left bank, and, pitching sharply 
pve-r the ledge, turned te the right, ar[4, with yn4imiwsh'ed 
force, disappeared from sight among the shaggy, little' 
islets a short distance below. "Look sharp for those 
rocks, there in the elbow of the bend ; bring the canoes 
round to the right of them and then " 
"It will be hard to do," ventured Lacy, "and I don't 
know where we'll bring up when we do it." 
"Yes, it's hard to do," George admitted, as he plucked 
a bunch of leaves from the bushes at his feet and chewed 
at the tough stems meditatively, "but it's all we've got 
to do, as far as I can see, and it must be done or there's 
liable to be a capsize or a smash. Well, we'll land on that 
point of rocks there to the left, soyds. below, at the end 
of the shoot, or what We can see of it, and see what to 
do next," 
There appeared to be nothing any more feasible in 
sight, so, after re-embarking and back paddling a little 
distance up into the clear, swift water above, to get well 
in line with the shool. we essayed it, George first, I 
next and Lacy last. The run was successfully accom- 
plished at the expense of a few severe thumps all round 
on the dangerous rocks before mentioned, which were 
located exactly where they were hardest to dodge, and 
where they were calculated to get in. their work to the 
best advantage, and the shipping of a few gallons of 
water apiece from the big waves as our canoes careened 
heavily on the rocks. 
After landing on the high rocks indicated from above, 
we found ourselves below the first pitch of the ledge, and 
in position where we could get a partial view up the 
falls above. The water comes down over the ledge, not in 
a long, steady, sloping rapid like Watson's Falls, but in a 
literal cataract, some 6 or 8ft. in height. The fall was not 
a smooth, mill-dam-like pitch, but a series of irregular, 
little, brook-like cascades, through channels and crevices 
among the huge masses of rock, which completely filled 
"My canoe was seized by the remorseless rush and whirled away." 
the river bed, so that no open water was visible above, 
and it looked as though one might step across from 
rock to rock, although in reality some of the channels 
were 20 or 30ft. wide. All, of course, was impassable 
for any kind of boat. 
From our new point of view numerous islands filled 
the river above and below, but a tolerably broad stream, 
formed by the union of numerous small streams and 
chutes over the falls, led away below. The channel 
down which we had just arrived led around the lower 
end of the rockj' islands above and debouched into this 
main channel at a right angle. A huge ledge obstructed 
the exit into this channel, over which the water plunged 
in a foaming sheet,' too shallow to admit of our shoot- 
ing it. 
"Now," said George, as he picked up his paddle from 
the bushes, where he had carelessly thrown it on land- 
ing, "we'll portage this ledge and make that point of 
rock there, on the left, where the channel seems to turn 
around it, and land and reconnoitre again." 
"We can shoot it over at the right-hand end, beyond 
that mass of rocks, there," said Lacy, as he clambered 
down off the rocks and into his canoe. 
"All right, go ahead," said George; "I don't think it 
w rth the trouble, myself," 
The shoot was rough, but deep, and Lacy and I made 
it without touching, while George, from his position on 
the rocks, drifted his canoe over the ledge by maneuver- 
ing her with her bow and stern painters, and we shot 
swiftly down to the rock indicated. 
From our new point of observation the open channel, 
broadening as it went, led straight away for a quarter of a 
mile, until it finally rippled out into the smooth, open 
river below, whose lake-like expanse, with the little rip- 
ples sparkling in the sun, as it was caressed by the 
breeze, smiled tantalizingly at us. as we hung up on the 
rocks but half-way to its smooth haven, for, while we 
were below the falls, this channel was a rapid, so rock 
and reef ribbed that it was out of the question to at- 
tempt to rim it; although close around its right side, or 
along the left side of the long, tree-clothed island, in 
midstream, which extended from above the falls to the 
still water at the foot of the rapid, a tolerably practicable 
shoot seemed to present itself. 
"Ah, here we are !" I exclaimed in delight, as I hastily 
scrambled down into my boat again, as, having surveyed 
this rough, unpromising channel, my eye, in swinging 
across to the left side, upon which we stood, rested upon 
a sharp, little rapid which swung around to the left at 
our feet, swinging around the head of an island just 
below us, while, at the point where it was losf to sight, 
embowered among the trees and bushes on the mainland 
on the left, could be discerned the massive stone walls of 
an old lock, from whose open portals a swift, little stream 
of water shot out, and mingled with the stream below. 
"There's the boat channel again ! We'll shoot this rapid 
and then we^ll be in it, and I'll wager a beer to a biscuit 
we'll reach the mill without further trouble." 
This view was, of course, shared by the other two, and, 
hastily re-embarking,' we pushed out into the current and 
shot swiftly over the head of the rapid, and danced mer- 
rily- down its rough slope. 
As we passed the old, disused lock anT straightened 
out around the~bend. we saw that my prognostication was 
correct. We: were in a swift, clear, little channel, over- 
arched with big tr?:^s e^ch side, wl^ich Ie4 straight 
away for a quarter of a mile, at the end of which loomed 
up the walls of the brick mill on the left bank of the 
river, which we knew to be at the foot of the rapids 
below the falls, and, in a few minutes more, we made a 
landing on a sandy, shady beach below the mill, and 
sponged the water out of our canoes, where we were 
speedily surrounded by a little crowd of employees and 
idlers from around the mill, who listened with interest 
to our story, told while we were eating our noonday 
lunch. 
After lunch I lit a cigar and wandered up to the mill — 
a large, brick structure — and took a look at it, and at the 
thrifty, little hamlet surrounding it, after which I crossed 
the race on the logs spanning the forebay, and strolled 
along up its shad)' banks a few hundred yards, until I 
came to the old lock before mentioned. It was substan- 
tially built, with stone walls, and, although out of use 
for years and years, could have easily been put in good 
repair again by the construction of a pair of lower gates, 
the vipper gates still remaining intact and in good condi- 
tion. It led from the race — into which the boat channel 
evidently debouched somewhere up above the dam — into 
the river below, and was some 15 or i8ft. deep. Re- 
turning to the mill, I passed through its lower floor. A 
horizontal line on its whitewashed brick walls up near 
the ceiling of the first floor was pointed out to me as the 
h-gh- water mark of the great flood of 1870; the high- 
water marks of ordinary years do not come nearer the 
mill than to wash its basement walls. 
"Boys, I've got an idea !" I exclaimed, as I rejoined 
the party, and seated myself on my camp stool. 
""You surprise me," Lacy responded, looking up ab- 
stractedly from his book, and utilizing the interruption 
by knocking the ashes out of his pipe against the heel 
of his shoe, and replacing the pipe in his pocket. 
"Get it out quick !" exclaimed George. "It might ex- 
pand if you keep it too long, and do you some damage in 
your thinking fixings." 
"That's all right," I responded, lighting a fresh cigar ■ 
from the stump of the old one. "I have them frequently, 
and never experience any ill eft'ects from them. It is 
this," as the stump of my old cigar fell hissing in the 
water, while a tiny curl of steam hovered over the little 
ripple, where it floated. "The next time we come down 
over those falls just above there, we won't do it; we'll 
come down the mill race from above the dam until we 
reach the mill, and then carry the canoes down the bank 
just above the mill, into the river again. It's in- 
finitely easier, and there's no sport in running the falls, 
and I, for one, have been cruising too long to care for 
working through such places just for the glory of it." 
"Right you are, Roderick !" exclaimed Lacy. 
"That's not a bad idea," said George. "When and 
where did it strike you?" 
"While I was looking around up above there," I re- 
sponded. "The mill hands told me the flatboats used to 
come down the race to the lock just above the mill, and 
the race is perfectly free and open from the dam clear 
down to the mill." 
"How far is it?" asked Lacy. 
"A half or three-quarters of a mile," I replied, "every 
foot of which is difficult and dangerous in the river." 
"It is that," assented George. "Now, just to give you 
some idea of the fall of the river in this distance, you can 
see by the overflow from the race there that it is some 
T5 or 2oft." 
"Yes. and there is a good, stiff current all the way 
down the race, too," I answered, as I picked up the 
mess chest and replaced it in my canoe. "I was told at 
the mill that the fall of the river, from the old stone 
factory at the head of Watson's Falls to this mill here, 
about a mile and a half, is 37ft.," as I finished my re- 
packing and closed and fastened my hatches. 
"It isn't but four or five miles to Harper's Ferry," said 
Lacy, as he laid his book aside, and settled himself com- 
fortably back on his mattress, "and it's only a little after 
I o'clock, now ; what's the matter with lying by here a 
couple of hours or so and taking a comfortable siesta? 
We've had a hard morning's work, and I'm tired, and 
there's no occasion for our rushing ofT so hurriedly." 
"It won't do," said George, decisively, as he also .set 
"She was seized by the big surges and buffeted violently right and 
left." ■ 
about his repacking and other preparations for depart-, 
ure. "The distance is not great, but you've got the big- 
gest afternoon's job cut out for you you've had yet on 
this cruise to get to Harper's Ferry this evening." 
"iVll right," said Lacy, as he picked up his book. and 
reluctantly rose from his mattress. "Just as you say, but 
it certainly seems to me there's plenty of time." 
The river flowed broad, still and deep, a quarter of a- 
mile wide or thereabouts, for two or three miles — a noble, 
majestic stream, in whose mirror-like surface the moun- 
tains, as the3' crowded in around us on eyery side and. 
reared their great, green shoulders in stately confusion 
from the river, were faithfully reflected, their outlines 
broken in curious,, quivering distortions: by the fong,. 
gentle furrows that led away in wavering, V-shaped lines 
from the bows of our canoes. 
As we rounded a stately bend to the right, we noted 
the tracks of the Baltimore ^ Oh,io i^ilroad winding 
