Eileen took one look at the portage and balked. To the rest of us, the Helen Falls portage looked like a fairly steep ascent to a breezy ridge through open woodland. At this point, she and Paul held a tense, marital conference to which the rest of us were not privy. And we weren't about to interfere, either. But this is where otherwise loving canoe couples all too often start to descend in tightening spirals of mutual recrimination and resurrected arguments.
Old arguments are the ugliest kind.
At times like these, it's best to stand back to avoid gettin' burned by other people's passions, especially if they're loud and agitated passions. Now, I never woulda credited Paul with much talent in the tact and diplomacy department. But somehow or other he and Eileen argued this thing out to a successful conclusion. And Paul doggedly carried on right beside her. I guess she could steel herself to face each dizzying height once and only once.