I
was returning to my wrecked boat when Bert waved his arms,
and pointed to the head of the rapid. Going back once more,
I saw him directly below me at the base of the sheer rock,
in an opening where the wall receded. He had crawled out
twenty feet above the next rapid. Returning to my wrecked
boat, I was soon beside him. He was exhausted with his
struggle in the icy waves; his outer garments were frozen. I
soon procured blankets from my bed, removed the wet clothes,
and wrapped him up. Lauzon, true to our expectations of what
he would do when the test came, swam out and rescued the
_Defiance_ before she was carried over the next rapid. He
was inexperienced at the oars and had less than two hours
practice after he had joined us. It was a tense moment when
he started across, above the rapid. But he made it! Landing
with a big grin, he exclaimed, 'Young fellows, business is
picking up!' then added, 'And we're losing lots of good
pictures!'"
"These experiences were our Christmas presents that year.
They were not done up in small packages."
"We repaired the boat on Christmas day. Three smashed side
ribs were replaced with mesquite, which we found growing on
the walls. The hole was patched with boards from the loose
bottom. This was painted; canvas was tacked over that and
painted also, and a sheet of tin or galvanized iron went
over it all.
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