at the storm which was
driving furiously against his broad breast, and into his white, anxious
face, almost blinding and strangling him. His boat was a small one--too
small for the seas of the lower Columbia--but it was trim and light, and
steered easily. Besides, the old mountaineer was a skilled oarsman,
albeit this accomplishment was not a part of the education of American
hunters and trappers, as it was of the French _voyageurs_. Keeping his
little craft head to the wind, he took each wave squarely on the prow,
and with a powerful stroke of the oars cut through it, or sprang over
it, and then made ready for the next. Meanwhile, the storm increased,
the rain driving at an angle of 45 deg., and in sheets that flapped
smotheringly about him like wet blankets, and threatened to swamp his
boat without assistance from the waves. It was growing colder, too, and
his sodden garments were of little service to protect him from the chill
that comes with a south-wester; nor was the grip of the naked hands upon
the oars stimulating to the circulation of his old blood through the
swollen fingers.

But old Joe Chillis had a distinct comprehension of the situation, and
felt himself to be master of it. He had gone over to Astoria that day,
not to drink whisky and tell stories, but to do a good turn for the
"White Rose." Failing in his purpose, he was going back again, at any
cost, to make up for the miscarriage of that effort. Death itself could
not frighten him; for what was the Columbia in a storm to the dangers he
had passed through in years of hunting and trapping in the Rocky
Mountains? He had seemed to bear a charmed life then; he would believe
that the charm had not deserted him.

But, O, how his old arms ached! and the storm freshening every minute,
with two miles further to row, in the teeth of it. The tide was with him
now; but the wind was against the tide, and made an ugly sea. If he only
could reach the mouth of the creek before dark. If he could? Why, he
must. The tide would be up so that he could not find the entrance in the
dark. He worked resolutely--worked harder than ever--but he did not
accomplish so much, because his strength was giving out. When he first
became aware of this, he heaved a great sigh, as if his heart were
broken, then pressed his lips together as before, and peered through the
thick gray twilight, looking for the creek's mouth while yet there was a
little light.

He was now in the very worst pa