uiet rapeed. S'pose you'll ron on the river there, an' smoke a
pipe, an' talk, an' not think of nothing. All at once, _Boum_! You'll
been in those rapeed, an' he'll not said a word to you!"

"Well," said Rob, "the traders used to run them somehow, didn't they?"

"Yes, my onkle he'll ron them in beeg boat many tam, but not with
leetle boat. She'll jump down five, three feet sometams. Leetle boat
she'll stick his nose under, yes. My onkle he'll tol' me, when you
come on the Parle Pas take the north side, an' find some chute there
for leetle boat. Leetle boat could ron the Parle Pas, maybe so, but I
suppose, us, we'll let those boat down on the line because we'll got
some scares, _hein_?"

"It's just as well to have some scares on these mountain rivers,
Moise," said Alex, reprovingly. "This water is icy cold, and if even a
man got out into the rapids he couldn't swim at all, it would tumble
him over so. We'll line down on the Parle Pas, yes, depend on that.
But that's down-stream a couple of days if we go slow."

"When do we get that bear hunt, Alex?" asked John, who loved
excitement almost as much as Moise.

"Almost anywhere in here," answered Alex; "but I think we'd better put
off the hunt until we get below all the worst water. No use portaging
bear hides."

"It looks like good bear country here," said Rob. "We must be in the
real Rockies now, because the mountains come right down to the river."

"Good bear country clear to Hudson's Hope, or beyond that," assented
Alex.

"All right," said Rob; "we'll have a good hunt somewhere when we get
below the Parle Pas. If we have to do any more portaging, we don't
want to carry any more than we can help, that's true. And, of course,
we're going to get that grizzly."

Having by this time reloaded the boats, they re-embarked, and passed
merrily on down the river, which now seemed wholly peaceful and
pleasant. The mountains now indeed were all about them, in places
rising up in almost perpendicular rock faces, and the valley was very
much narrower. They were at last entering the arms of the great range
through which they later were to pass.

The character of the river changed from time to time. Sometimes they
were in wide, quiet reaches, where they needed the paddles to make
much headway. Again there would be drops of faster water, although
nothing very dangerous. Relieved as they were now of any thought of
danger for the next sixty or seventy miles ahead, this part of t