The Greatest Works of Emerson Hough – 19 Books in One Volume (Illustrated Edition). Emerson Hough
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said Moise, “we’ll show those boy how the voyageur ron the rapeed.”
“One thing I want to say to you young gentlemen,” resumed Alex, “not to alarm you, but to teach you how to travel. If by any accident the boat should upset, hang to the boat and don’t try to swim. The current will be very apt to sweep you on through to some place where you can get a footing. But all these mountain waters are very strong and very cold. Whatever you do, hang to the boat!”
“Yes!” said Rob, “‘don’t give up the ship,’ as Lawrence said. Sir Alexander tells how he got wrecked on the Bad River with his whole crew. But they hung to the canoe and got her out at the foot of the rapids, after all, and not one of them was hurt.”
“He didn’t lose a man on the whole trip, for that matter,” John added.
“Well, now, let’s see about the rapids,” said Rob again, spreading out his map and opening one of his books which he always kept close at hand. “Simon Fraser tells as day by day what he did when he was going west. They got into that lake we’ve just left, about noon. They must have poked up the creek some time, and very early that same morning. That was June thirtieth, and on the same day they passed another river coming in from the west side — which must be between here and the outlet from McLeod Lake.”
“What does the map say about the other side of the stream?” asked John, peering over Rob’s shoulder.
“Well, on the twenty-eighth, as they were coming up they passed two rivers coming in from the east. That can’t be very far below here, and the first stream on the west side must be pretty close, from all I can learn. Below there, on the twenty-seventh, there was another river which they passed coming in from the east, and Simon says near its mouth there was a rapid. He doesn’t seem to mention any rapids between there and here — probably it had to be a pretty big one for him to take any notice of it. That’s two or three days down-stream, according to his journal, and, as Alex says, it was high water, and they made slow time coming up — not as fast as Sir Alexander did, in fact.”
“Plenty good water,” said Moise, looking out over the rapid little stream with professional approval. “She’s easy river.”
“Then we ought to make some sort of voyage,” said Rob. “You see, Sir Alexander took thirty-four days coming up to this point from the place where he started, far east of the Rockies, but going downhill it only took him six days.”
“That was going some,” nodded John, emphatically, if not elegantly.
“But not faster than we’ll be going,” answered Rob. “You see, it took him a sixth of the time to go east which it needed to come west. Then, what they did in three days coming up, we ought to run in a half-day or less going down.”
Alex nodded approvingly. “I think it would figure out something like that way,” said he.
“So if we started now, or a little after noon,” resumed Rob, “and ran a full half-day we ought to pass all these rivers which Simon mentions, and get down to the first big rapid of which he speaks. They were good and tired coming up-stream, but we won’t have to work at all going down.”
“Well, don’t we eat any place at all?” began John again, amid general laughter.
“Sure,” said Moise, “we’ll stop at the first little beach and make boil the kettle. I’m hongree, too, me.”
They did as Moise said, and spent perhaps an hour, discussing, from time to time, the features of the country and the probable time it would take them to make the trip.
“The boat goes very fast on a stream like this,” said Alex. “We could make fifty or sixty miles a day without the least trouble, if we did not have to portage. I should think the current was four to six miles an hour, at least, and you know we could add to that speed if we cared to paddle.”
“Well, we don’t want to go too fast,” said Jesse. “We have all summer for this trip.”
This remark from the youngest of the party caused the old voyageur to look at him approvingly. “That’s right,” said he, “we’ll not hurry.”
Moise was by this time examining the load of the Mary Ann, arranging the packs so that she would trim just to suit his notion when Rob was in place at the bow. Alex paid similar care to the Jaybird. The boats now ran practically on an even keel, which would give them the greatest bearing on the water and enable them to travel over the shallowest water possible.
“En roulant?” said Moise, looking at Alex inquiringly.
Alex nodded, and the boys being now in their proper places in the boats, he himself stepped in and gave a light push from the beach with his paddle.
“So long, fellows,” called out Rob over his shoulder as he put his paddle to work. “I’m going to beat you all through — if I’m bow paddle in the first boat I’ll be ahead of everybody else. En roulant, ma boule!”
The Mary Ann, swinging fully into the current, went off dipping and gliding down the gentle incline of the stream. “Don’t go too fast, Moise,” called out Alex. “We want to keep in sight of the cook-boat.”
“All right!” sang out Moise. “We’ll go plenty slow.”
“Now,” said Alex to John and Jess as he paddled along slowly and steadily; “I want to tell you something about running strange waters in a canoe. Riding in a canoe is something like riding a horse. You must keep your balance. Keep your weight over the middle line of the canoe, which is in the center of the boat when she’s going straight, of course. You’ll have to ease off a little if she tilts — you ride her a little as you would a horse over a jump. Now, look at this little rough place we’re coming to — there, we’re through it already — you see, there’s a sort of a long V of smooth water running down into the rapid. Below that there’s a long ridge or series of broken water. This rapid will do for a model of most of the others, although it’s a tame one.
“In this work the main thing is to keep absolutely cool. Never try a bad rapid which is strange to you without first going out and getting the map of it in your mind. Figure out the course you’re going to take, and then hang to it, and don’t get scared. When I call to you to go to the right, Mr. John, pull the boat over by drawing it to your paddle on that side — don’t try to push it over from the left side. You can haul it over stronger by pulling the paddle against the water. Of course I do the reverse on the stern. We can make her travel sidewise, or straight ahead, or backward, about as we please. All of us canoemen must keep cool and not lose our nerve.
“Well, I’ll go on — usually we follow the V down into the head of a rapid. Below that the highest wave is apt to roll back. If it is too high, and curls over too far up-stream, it would swamp our boat to head straight into it. Where should we go then? Of course, we would have to get a little to one side of that long, rolling ridge of white water. But not too far. Sometimes it may be safer to take that big wave, and all the other waves, right down the white ridge of the stream, than it is to go to one side.”
“I don’t see why that would be,” said Jesse. “I should think there would be the most dangerous place for a canoe.”
“It is, in one way,” said Alex. “Or at least you’re surer to ship water there. But suppose you are in a very heavy stream like the Fraser or the Columbia. At the foot of the chute there is very apt to be some deep swells, or rolls, coming up from far down below. Besides that, there’s very apt to be a strong eddy setting up-stream just below the chute, if the walls are narrow and rocky. Now, that sort of water is very dangerous. One of those big swells will come up under a boat, and you’d think a sledge-hammer had hit her. Nothing can stop the boat from careening a little bit then. Well, suppose the eddy catches her bow and swings her up-stream. She goes up far enough, in spite of all, so that her nose gets under some white water coming down. Well, then, she swamps, and you’re gone!”
“I don’t like this sort of talk,” said Jesse.