Middletown transcript., 1909-06-26

pOEh III 4lS Sss- 2 =
Northern Minnesota. Between
us and the large stream that
marked the southwestern boun-
dary Of Ontario there remained
only a stretch of about eighty
miles, but across our course, we
we're told, was thrown the Big
Falls, a powerful cataract with
q plunge of some two hundred
feet.
The first faint roar of the falls,
indeed, had been waited to our
ears the afternoon of the preced-
ing day. and was now continuous
" audible. Two days before,
the smooth course of the Big
Fork, meandering peacefully
through level tracts Of wild rice
and tamarack swamp, had sud
denly forsaken US. Since then
we had been hurried into a long
series CT sWirling rapids, the
ugly rocks In which threatened
every moment dire catastrophe
to us and our canoe.
We would have portrayed"
down the stream to the end Of
the rapids had we not been as
sured by Chippewas and ''squaw
men" that there would be little
more calm padding until after
we should pass the falls, about
forty miles away. Besides, the
fat shores had been transform
ed into precipitous hills covered
with'a dense forest growth and as
the Indians saw nothing in the
rapids to terrify them, they had
made no trails along the stream.
The prospect Of a forty mile
jaunt, therefore, "toting''a couple
of pack-sacks weighing seventy
five pounds apiece, and canoe
weighing one hundred and ten,
oo7eefi. oo7eefi. BIZ Bluffs IS ard ard through virgin
forest, was abandoned by Bruce,
Don and myself without much
reluctance, and we resolved to
let the river do its worst.
That worst pretty was bad.
By common consent, Don had
been placed in the bow of the
canoe with punching-pole OBJ
tanned from an abandoned tepee.
His sole aim and duty was to
keep his weather eye open and
spear any evil.disposed rock
that concealed itself just where
the water split in V.shape.
Don was a chunky Briton, and
phlegmatic. He was supposed
to have no nerves, and that was
why we put him in the prov
with the punching pole. But
after bis first hour at this new
diversion, and after we had thrice
narrowly escaped butting head
on to as many rocks that unex-
pectedly bobbed up when he was
devoting his attention to their
neighbors, Don developed some
thing that, If not a case Of nerves
was as pretty an imitation of
it as one could wish to see.
Let's go in here somewhere
and rest for a minute, he grunt-
ed, as he warily speared another
boulder, and then quickly tried
to mop the great heads of per.
spiration from his face with his
crooked elbow as he held his
lance in rest for another tour.
ney.
We went in somewhere, and
Don threw himself face down
ward on the sward with a huge
sigh of relief. When he lifted
his face, his eyes had the look Of
a hunted thing.
Maybe one Of you chaps would
like to take a hand at the pole
while, he suggested.
Bruce and FASTENED to assure
him we had no desire to under;
mine his job, and pointed out,
moreover, that for an apprentice
hand now to presume to perform
the work that had been so skill
fully and safely accomplished
by his veteran arm would be
even more foolhardy than to
swap horses while crossing a
staeam.
My work, indeed, could hard
ly bhen termed onerous. I was |
middle paddle, but since we en-
tered the rapids my duties bad
been narrowed down to sitting
quietly on the pack.sacks as bal
last. To Bruce, with his 1.-THE
frame and long, sweeping arms,
had been assigned the work of
steering.
So we took up our journey
again. AS the day wore on, the
hosrse growl of the cataract
seemed to grow much louder.
We judged now We could not be
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