ction, then, being driven
off immediately at a different angle, curled over itself, producing
mountains of foaming water forty or fifty feet in height, and leaving
great depressions near the inner corner.

We cut down some long poles, and I placed one man with a big pole on
guard at each corner close to the water, in order to push the canoe away
toward the middle of the stream in case she came too near those dangerous
points.

That channel was some 600 m. long. When we were ready we let the canoe
go, all spare hands holding fast to the rope, running and scrambling up
and down and along the high rocky cliff, the canoe giving us violent
jerks when the direction of the current was changed. With much alarm we
saw her spring up in the air like a flying-fish on one or two occasions.
We ran along like mad, out of breath and sweating, trying to keep ahead
of the canoe. The two men with poles also ran along after the danger
points were passed, so as to shove her along when she came too near other
dangerous rocks.

After a race of great excitement, we all, with bleeding feet and
hands--the palms of our hands actually blistered by the rope which slid
through our tightly closed fists--were eventually able to pull the canoe
safely on shore below the rapid.

In that mad flight I found time to pull out the camera for one second and
take a snapshot of the canoe in the middle of the rapid. The photograph
is reproduced among the illustrations of this volume.

My men were so tired that it was impossible to go on. Moreover we had
before us the second section of that formidable rapid, and we could not
negotiate this without emptying the canoe, which was full of water, and
readjusting the rope.

We spent the night of August 6th on those rocks, the minimum temperature
being 63 deg. F.

When we went on with our dangerous work the next morning we had the
greatest difficulty in saving the canoe, as in entering the whirlpool she
was swamped, and it was all we could do to pull her back towards the bank
before she foundered altogether. The actual drop in that rapid was not
less than 8 ft. vertically. We just managed to rest her on a submerged
rock until we were able to bale some of the water out.

That canoe was really wonderful in a way. My men patted her on the prow
as if she had been an animal, and said she was a good canoe. Indeed she
was, but in her old age she felt the strain of that exciting journey.
Every time I looked at her I di