He got his position, facing stern
downstream, gave the slightest shove forward, and the released boat
whizzed down for fifty feet and ran up on the rock. She paused a
moment, as the water prepared to return. He gave two quick pulls,
shooting back again, slightly to the right, until he struck the narrow
channel, then reversed his course and went through stern first exactly
as we had planned it. The square stern, buoyed up by the air-chamber,
lifted the boat out of the resulting wave as he struck the bottom of
the descent. This much of the rapid had only taken a few seconds.
I followed at once, but was not so fortunate. The _Defiance_ was
carried to the left side, where some water dropped over the side of
the rock, instead of reversing. I pulled frantically, seeing visions,
meanwhile, of the boat and myself being toppled off the side of the
rock, into the boulders and waves below. My rowing had no effect
whatever, but the boat was grabbed by the returning wave and shot, as
if from a catapult, back and around to the right, through the sloping
narrow channel,--my returning course describing a half circle. Instead
of rising, the pointed bow cut down into the waves until the water was
on my shoulders. Emery turned his head for an instant to see what
success I was having, and his boat was thrown on to a rock close to
the shore. I passed him and landed, just before going into the next
rapid. I then went back and helped him off the rock, and he continued
his course over the leaping waves.
Pages:
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148