n it
started; but nothing could be done; it broke and went out with a rush.
We, who were ahead, ran on down the ledges to see it go through the
falls, and we had to run fast to keep up. The instant the logs entered
the rapids they left us behind. We could see them going down, however,
end over end, and hear them "boom" against the sunken rocks. Turtlotte
and a Welshman named Finfrock were ahead. I heard Turtlotte call out
in French that the logs were jamming, and saw the butt ends of great
sticks fly up, glittering, out of the water. The logs had struck and
hung on one of the centre rocks, and on the shelving ledges upon the
east side. The ends of three large sticks, three or four feet across,
stood out fifteen feet or more. We ran on, clambering from crag to
crag, till we came to a point looking down on the glut, sixty feet
beneath; and that was about near enough, for the ends of the logs flew
up almost on a level with our eyes, as they went over, and the spray
drenched our faces. The ledges under our feet trembled as if an
earthquake were shaking them, and not a word could be heard, even when
shouted in the ear. The combined noises were louder than thunder,
heavier, deeper. It was a warm forenoon, and the sun shone into the
rock dazzlingly bright, making a vivid rainbow. It was the hottest,
maddest chasm that can well be imagined; and to see that brilliant
rainbow hanging there so still and motionless amidst all that uproar,
gave one a queer sensation.

Old man Villate himself, with his red cap over his ears, came puffing
down, shouting at the top of his lungs. We could see his lips fly. The
hitch was betwixt the shelving ledges on the east side and one of the
mid-channel rocks. It was not one log that had caught, else the weight
of the water would have broken it out. It appeared that two large
sticks had come down with the ends lying across each other, and a
third log, perhaps several logs, overlying these. When the current
sucked them through the rapid, between the centre rock and the shore
ledges, the outward ends of the crossed logs struck on both sides.
Instantly the current and the momentum of the overlying logs thrust
the submerged ends of the cross among the rocks on the bottom of the
channel, and the momentarily increasing weight of logs held them
there--this at least was the theory at the time. When first we got
down there, however, there were more than a thousand logs in the glut;
and the ends stood up lik