with the rope on the succeeding pile of rocks. We found this passage much
worse than the previous one, and our position was rather a bad one. To go
back was impossible; before us, the cataract was a sheet of foam; and shut
up in the chasm by the rocks, which, in some places, seemed almost to meet
overhead, the roar of the water was deafening. We pushed off again; but,
after making a little distance, the force of the current became too great
for the men on shore, and two of them let go the rope. Lajeunesse, the
third man, hung on, and was jerked headforemost into the river from a rock
about twelve feet high; and down the boat shot like an arrow, Basil
following us in the rapid current, and exerting all his strength to keep
in mid channel--his head only seen occasionally like a black spot in the
white foam. How far we went, I do not exactly know; but we succeeded in
turning the boat into an eddy below. "'_Cre Dieu_," said Basil
Lajeunesse, as he arrived immediately after us, "_Je crois bien que j'ai
nage un demi mile_." He had owed his life to his skill as a swimmer,
and I determined to take him and the two others on board, and trust to
skill and fortune to reach the other end in safety. We placed ourselves on
our knees with the short paddles in our hands, the most skilful boatman
being at the bow; and again we commenced our rapid descent. We cleared
rock after rock, and shot past fall after fall, our little boat seeming to
play with the cataract. We became flushed with success, and familiar with
the danger; and, yielding to the excitement of the occasion, broke forth
into a Canadian boat-song. Singing, or rather shouting; we dashed along,
and were, I believe, in the midst of the chorus, when the boat struck a
concealed rock immediately at the foot of a fall, which whirled her over
in an instant. Three of my men could not swim, and my first feeling was to
assist them, and save some of our effects; but a sharp concussion or two
convinced me that I had not yet saved myself. A few strokes brought me
into an eddy, and I landed on a pile of rocks on the left side. Looking
around, I saw that Mr. Preuss had gained the shore on the same side, about