king line fastened a few inches back of the bow
leaving enough loose end to run to the stern and this was tied
securely there to relieve the unusual strain on the bow fastening. Ed
took the position of steersman in the boat, while the other three were
to haul upon the line.

When all was made ready and secure, they started forward, bringing the
craft into the heavy water, which opposed its progress so vigorously
that it seemed as though the rope must surely snap. Stronger and
stronger became the strain and harder and harder pulled the men. All
of Ed's skill was required to keep the boat straight in the
treacherous cross current eddies where the water swept down past the
half-hidden rocks in the river bed.

They were pushing on tediously but surely when suddenly and without
warning the fastening at the bow broke loose, the boat swung away into
the foam, and in a moment was swallowed up beneath the waves. The rear
fastening held however and the boat was thrown in against the bank.

But Ed had disappeared in the fearful flood of rushing white water.
The other three stood appalled. It seemed to them that no power on
earth could save him. He must certainly be dashed to death upon the
rocks or smothered beneath the onrushing foam.

For a moment all were inert, paralyzed. Then Dick, accustomed to act
quickly in every emergency, slung the line around a boulder, took a
half hitch to secure it and, without stopping to see whether it would
hold or not, ran down stream at top speed with Bob and Bill at his
heels.

V

THE TRAILS ARE REACHED

Ed had been cast away in rapids before, and when he found himself in
the water, with the wilderness traveller's quick appreciation of the
conditions, he lay limp, without a struggle. If he permitted the
current to carry him in its own way on its course, he might be swept
past the rocks uninjured to the still water below. If one struggle was
made it might throw him out of the current's course against a boulder,
where he would be pounded to death or rendered unconscious and surely
drowned. He was swept on much more rapidly than his companions could
run and quite hidden from them by the big foam-crested waves.

It seemed ages to the helpless man before he felt his speed slacken
and finally found himself in the eddy where they had begun to track.
Here he struck out for the river bank only a few yards distant, and,
half drowned, succeeded in pulling himself ashore. A few minutes
la