He broke a rowlock before he
landed, and had to use the substitute we had hung beside it.
We found a good spot for a camp just above the next rapid. Our tent
was stretched in front of a large boulder. A large pile of driftwood
gave us all the fuel needed, and we soon had a big fire going and our
wet clothes steaming on the line.
CHAPTER XIV
A PATIENT AMID THE CATARACTS
An hour or so after making our camp, we began to doubt the wisdom of
our choice of a location, for a downpour of rain threatened to send a
stream of water under the tent. The stream was easily turned aside,
while a door and numerous boards found in the drift pile, made a very
good floor for the tent and lifted our sleeping bags off the wet sand.
We had little trouble in this section to find sufficient driftwood for
fires. The pile at this camp was enormous, and had evidently been
gathering for years. Some of it, we could be sure, was recent, for a
large pumpkin was found deposited in the drift pile twenty-five feet
above the low-water stage on which we were travelling. This pumpkin,
of course, could only have come down on the flood that had preceded
us.
What a mixture of curios some of those drift piles were, and what a
great stretch of country they represented! The rivers, unsatisfied
with washing away the fertile soil of the upper country, had levied a
greedy toll on the homes along their banks, as well. Almost everything
that would float, belonging to a home, could be found in some of them.
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