tionless,
in a standing position, his head kept up by the
life-preservers. The next rapid was not over fifty yards
below. If he was to be saved it must be done instantly."

"I pried the boat loose, jumped in as she swung clear, and
pulled with all my might, headed toward the centre of the
river. I was almost clear when I was drawn over a dip, bow
first, and struck a glancing blow against another rock I had
never seen. There was a crash, and the boards broke like
egg-shells. It was all done in a few moments. The _Edith_
was a wreck, I did not know how bad. My brother had
disappeared. Lauzon was frantically climbing over some large
boulders trying to reach the head of the next rapid, where
the boat was held in an eddy. My boat was not upset, but the
waves were surging through a great hole in her side. She was
drawn into an eddy, close to the base of the wall, where I
could tie up and climb out. It seemed folly to try the lower
end with my filled boat. Climbing to the top of the rock, I
could see half a mile down the canyon, but my brother was
nowhere to be seen and I had no idea that he had escaped. I
was returning to my wrecked boat when Bert waved his arms,
and pointed to the head of the rapid. Going back once more,
I saw him directly below me at the base of the sheer rock,
in an opening where the wall receded. He had crawled out
twenty feet above the next rapid. Returning to my wrecked
boat, I was soon beside him. He was exhausted with his
struggle in the icy waves; his outer garments were frozen. I
soon procured blankets from my bed, removed the wet clothes,
and wrapped him up. Lauzon, true to our expectations of what
he would do when the test came, swam out and rescued the
_Defiance_ before she was carried over the next rapid. He
was inexperienced at the oars and had less than two hours
practice after he had joined us. It was a tense moment when
he started across, above the rapid. But he made it! Landing
with a big grin, he exclaimed, 'Young fellows, business is
picking up!' then added, 'And we're losing lots of good
pictures!'"

"These experiences were our Christmas presents that year.
They were not done up in small packages."

"We repaired the boat on Christmas day. Three smashed side
ribs were replaced with mesq