THE ALLEGASH AND EAST BRANCH. 
257 
paddle so hard in order to keep his canoe straight in its 
course, having no one in the bows to aid him, and, shal¬ 
low as it w r as, said that it would be no joke to upset 
there, for the force of the water was such that he had as 
lief I would strike him over the head w r ith a paddle as 
have that water strike him. Seeing him come out of that 
gap was as if you should pour water down an inclined 
and zigzag trough, then drop a nutshell into it, and tak¬ 
ing a short cut to the bottom, get there in time to see it 
come out, notwithstanding the rush and tumult, right 
side up, and only partly full of water. 
After a moment’s breathing space, while I held his ca¬ 
noe, he was soon out of sight again around another bend, 
and we, shouldering our packs, resumed our course. 
We did not at once fall into our paths again, but made 
our way with difficulty along the edge of the river, till at 
length, striking inland through the forest, we recovered 
it. Before going a mile we heard the Indian calling to 
us. He had come up through the woods and along the 
path to find us, having reached sufficiently smooth water 
to warrant his taking us in. The shore was about one 
fourth of a mile distant, through a dense, dark forest, and 
as he led us back to it, winding rapidly about to the 
right and left, I had the curiosity to look down carefully, 
and found that he was following his steps backward. I 
could only occasionally perceive his trail in the moss, 
and yet he did not appear to look down nor hesitate an 
instant, but led us out exactly to his canoe. This sur¬ 
prised me, for without a compass, or the sight or noise 
of the river to guide us, we could not have kept our 
course many minutes, and could have retraced our steps 
but a short distance, with a great deal of pains and very 
slowly, using a laborious circumspection. But it was 
