420 
WHICH IS THE MOST DESIRABLE? 
liaving waded to about the centre of a boiling rapid, 
be all at once feels bis legs swept from under bim and 
biraself floundering in tbc turbid stream, carried furi- 
ously upon its uneven breast between and over jagged 
rocks, and possessed of a confused idea that be must 
get to one bank or the other before lie is thrown, bruised 
and insensible, into the dark foaming pool which gene- 
rally terminates such affairs. lie has but one convic- 
tion — one point — to strive for: he must eitlier roach 
the most attainable bank before he is cast against some 
rock and disabled, or he must be cast against that rock 
and subsequently drifted into the whirling pool with 
broken ribs or limbs, and a disagreeably-slini chance 
of being able to swim with those that are left sound. 
I now found myself in a position such as this, and it 
happened after this manner. 
The “old John,” being still afloat, had managed to 
carry us into a half-sheltered bay, where she let go her 
anchor, and despatched her boats and crew to the beach 
to cut and bring on board a supply of drift-wood, to be 
used instead of coal, as this latter article was running 
quite short. 
There being a certainty of the entire day being con- 
sumed in this W'ay, several of us took our guns and struck 
back into the countrj^ in search of a flock of broad-billed 
ducks that the doctor had discovered near the beach, and 
which he had driven to a distant lagoon by shooting otf 
the heads of two of their number with his small-bore 
Kentucky rifle. Always on the alert when there was 
game within reach, this indefatigable sportsman had 
landed in the first boat, shot oft' two heads, and returned 
