I
was worried about his condition and I feared a fever or pneumonia. For
two or three days he had not been himself. It was one thing to battle
with the river when well and strong; it would be decidedly different
if one of us became seriously ill.
For the first time in all our experiences together, where
determination and skill seemed necessary to success, I had taken the
lead during the past two days, feeling that my greater weight and
strength, perhaps, would help me pull out of danger where he might
fail. In two or three rapids I felt sure he did not have the strength
to pull away from certain places that would smash the boats. After
running the _Defiance_ through these rapids I suggested to him that;
he would take a picture while I brought the _Edith_ down. He would
stay near the _Defiance_, ready to aid in case of emergency. After
being once through a rapid I found it quite a simple matter to run the
second boat, and the knowledge that he would save me in case of an
upset greatly lessened any danger that might have existed. He was too
nervous to sleep, and asked me to take a last look at the boats before
going to bed. They were pulled well up on the shore and securely tied,
I found, so that it would take a flood to tear them loose. The rain,
which had stopped for a while, began again as I rolled into the
blankets; the fire, fed with great cottonwood logs, threw ghostly
shadows on the cliffs which towered above us, and sputtered in the
rain but refused to be drowned; while the roar of rapids, Nos.
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