we have said, remarkably
expert, it does not follow that those were equally so who managed the
other two canoes of the expedition. On the contrary, their experience
in canoeing had hitherto been slight. Karlsefin and his bowman Krake
were indeed tolerably expert, having practised a good deal with the
Scottish brothers, but Thorward turned out to be an uncommonly bad
canoe-man; nevertheless, with the self-confidence natural to a good
seaman, and one who was expert with the oar, he scouted the idea that
anything connected with fresh-water voyaging could prove difficult to
_him_, and resolutely claimed and took his position as one of the
steersmen of the expedition. His bowman, Tyrker, as ill luck would have
it, turned out to be the worst man of them all in rough water, although
he had shown himself sufficiently good on the smooth lake to induce the
belief that he might do well enough.

But their various powers in this respect were not at first put to the
test, because for a very long way the river was uninterrupted by rapids,
and progress was therefore comparatively easy. The scenery through
which they passed was rich and varied in the extreme. At one part the
river ran between high banks, which were covered to the water's edge
with trees and bushes of different kinds, many of them being exceedingly
brilliant in colour. At another part the banks were lower, with level
spaces like lawns, and here and there little openings where rivulets
joined the river, their beds affording far-reaching glimpses of
woodland, in which deer might occasionally be seen gambolling.
Elsewhere the river widened occasionally into something like a lake,
with wooded islets on its calm surface, while everywhere the water,
earth, and air teemed with animal life--fish, flesh, fowl, and insect.
It was such a sight of God's beautiful earth as may still be witnessed
by those who, leaving the civilised world behind, plunge into the vast
wildernesses that exist to this day in North America.

Beautiful though it was, however, the Norsemen had small leisure and not
much capacity to admire it, being pre-occupied and oppressed by anxiety
as to the fate of the children. Still, in spite of this, a burst of
admiration would escape them ever and anon as they passed rapidly along.

The first night they came to the spot where the natives had encamped the
night before, and all hands were very sanguine of overtaking them
quickly. They went about the encampme