e strength of us seven men was hardly sufficient
to hold the canoe, particularly as all of us were immersed waist-deep and
could scarcely keep our footing in that great rush of water. It was only
with the greatest care that we could possibly accomplish the feat, and
of this I warned my men. In fact, the moment the canoe came down at an
angle on the steep incline she gave such a mighty jerk that my men, with
the exception of Alcides, let go the ropes. Some of them had the skin
taken clean off their fingers. I saw the canoe give a great leap. To my
horror, a moment after the canoe had passed me down the rapid--I was
holding one of the ropes at the lower part of the rapid--I saw Alcides,
who bravely had never let the rope go, being carried away in the current.
I just managed to grab him as he was about to be drawn into the vortex,
where most certainly he would have lost his life. I lost my footing too,
and we were both thrown against a rock, which I grabbed with one hand
while still holding on to Alcides. There we remained powerless for
several minutes, swallowing a good deal of water, which went right over
our heads with the resistance we made against the current, until Filippe
the negro--with wonderful courage, since he was no swimmer--came to our
rescue.

Alcides was undoubtedly a brave man, but he certainly had a beastly
temper. No sooner had he recovered from the accident than I heard some of
the other men tell him that he had had a narrow escape and would have
died had I not gone to his rescue. Shouting aloud so that I could hear
his remark, he said to the men: "Oh, the Englishman only came to my
rescue because there was no danger for him, as he could swim, or else he
would not have done it."

[Illustration: Author and his Men in Water up to their Necks for an
Entire Night endeavouring to save their Canoe, which in shooting a Rapid
had become stuck between Rocks.]

There was no time to lose, and certainly no time for argument. The canoe
had most unluckily got stuck at the bottom of the rapid between two
rocks, her fore-part being absolutely submerged. The vibration was
such in the after-portion which stuck out of the water that I thought any
moment she might break in two.

All my men behaved that day with marvellous courage--particularly
Filippe, who, much delighted by the words of praise I gave him when he
risked his life in coming to our rescue, now offered to risk his life
once more in endeavouring to seize on