in the boat,
as if beneath the blast of a tremendous gale.

"Sit fast, boys, every one!" yelled Joe; but he stood upright himself,
and the next minute with a wild rush a great bank of water was upon
them, seeming to come with a leap and dash, to plunge beneath the boat's
bows as if to toss her on high and roll her over and over in the flood.
But as it struck them the trained men sat for a moment or two, till in
little more than a whisper above the roar of water, Joe Cross's voice
was heard to give the order "Pull," when seven balanced oars dipped
together, and the bows began to sink.

The men got well hold of the water, and after three or four rapid tugs
the boat sat level once more upon the surface of the flood, obeyed her
helm, and though being carried rapidly along stern on, she shipped very
little water, and in a very few minutes the greater peril was passed.

The crashing roar and rush of the water was almost deafening, but Joe
retained his upright position and signalled with one hand to the
steersman, while he followed suit to the rowers, who kept up a steady
pull against the furious stream, with the result that now the boat sped
on stern foremost at the same rate as the flood.

But the frail craft was exposed to endless risks as the water rushed
along between the two great walls of verdure which marked out the
devious winding course of the river. Time after time they were within
an ace of being swept amidst the boughs of some towering tree; at others
they were brushing over the tops of the shrub-like growth; and yet
amidst the many dangers the crew never flinched, but kept on for hour
after hour, head to stream, with the boat always being borne onward
along straight reaches and round winding curves which looped and almost
doubled back, till at last the violence of the flood grew less, leaving
them more and more behind, till the greatest danger was over and the
speed at which they glided was reduced to nearly half that of the first
rush of the flood.

Another hour passed, and they were still gliding on, and now as they
were swept into a wider reach, it was plain to see how the whole forest
was flooded on either side, apparently to the depth of some six or eight
feet, as near as the coxswain could judge.

Four times over he had drawn attention to the fact that they were
passing the entrances to similar rivers to that down which they sped,
one of them being remarkable for the fact that a portion of their str