A CLOSE SHAVE 
gear, mentioned the fact that we should all be drowned 
in a few moments. He became perplexed when we entered 
the rapid, which tossed the canoe about in a merciless 
manner. In one place, where the water, driven through 
with great force along a narrow channel, formed a central 
wave of great height, the canoe stood up almost vertically 
on her stern. Baggage and men all slid down in a heap. 
The next thing I saw, when the canoe righted herself, was 
that we were going down the rapid sideways and at a 
really vertiginous pace. We managed to clear by a mere 
hair’s-breadth two great rocks which stood in the way. 
Had we struck a rock on that particular occasion all of 
us would certainly have been killed. As luck would have 
it, before we knew what was happening we were shot 
into the whirlpool under the rapid, and there we turned 
round upon ourselves three or four times before my men 
had recovered from the amazement of finding themselves 
still alive, and had begun to paddle again after I had 
told them to do so for the twentieth time. 
Filippe the negro exclaimed: “As long as we come 
with you, sir, we shall never be killed, but you let us go 
very near death sometimes! ” Then they discussed among 
themselves, saying that I must have some particular 
mascot which I carried upon my person and which pre¬ 
vented disaster. 
The range which was before us to the northwest 
developed itself into a flat-topped hill mass about 500 feet 
above the level of the river. 
Another rapid, fairly violent, was reached some dis¬ 
tance beyond, my men this time offering at once, of their 
own accord, to unload the canoe and take her down care¬ 
fully with ropes. I pretended not to care, as I wanted 
to give them a lesson, and said we had better shoot it, as 
we had done the previous one. 
“ No, no, no, no! ” they all said in a chorus; “ there 
is such a thing as tempting Providence!” 
vol. II. —11 161 
