The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1936-11-19

shortening, the night becoming cold
err and darker.
Delay would mean q seriou:
chance of being caught in early all,
tumn billiards. Even Lilith Ramil
might not be able to survive an all.
day drive of sleet. Such storm
would undoubtedly kill her father
and, not inprobably, Huxby also
Persistent use of the paddles would
continue the toughening of the three
chechahcos. It would also quicken
the speed of the canoe as they &C.
quired skill from practice.
He himself kept to his stroke like
the born voyager he was, dipping
his paddle for hour after hour. His
steady pull never varied except
when, at long intervals, he shifted
the paddle over to the other side. He
stopped that clocklike stroke only
when landings had to be made fol-
food or sleep.
On the third day Lilith attempted
to keep stroke with him. She pad
died until so exhausted that she
broke down and wept. After that
Huxby quit less often, though he
never came so near to overtiring
himself.
They had twice camped on mus
key. The third afternoon brought
them to broken ridges where the
stream dashed through a gorge. Sc
far as could be seen, the rapids look
ed easy to shoot. But Garth said il
was portage.
He slung a pack from his lump
line and took the canoe on his
shoulders. The total load was full
two hundred and fifty pounds. AT
sight of it, the others took on all the
rest of the meat and equipment. For
miles Garth led them up and down
rocky slopes, through brush and
bogs. Twice they skirted sheer falls
that showed why he had taken to
land.
AT last, below the lower fall, he
launched the canoe in the eddy of q
deep pool. The others sank down on
the bank, outspent. He built a fire
and boiled tea for them. They ex-
pected to camp overnight. He order
ed them back into the canoe.
"Can't chance waiting here. May
be too foggy to see tomorrow" he
explained. "Sit flat in the bottom,
and keep your paddles inboard."
They understood when a few
strokes of his paddle brought the
canoe to the foot of the pool. For a
long two miles they crouched low in
the bottom while the frail craft
glanced down the foamnig, swirling
torrent of white water. Garth smiled
at their covering backs. He had oft
en- shot worse rapids, and he had
been down these once before. Skill
fully as an Athabaskan Indian, he
drove the canoe clear of dangerous
whirlpools and lodged past rocks
with def twists of his paddle.
At the foot of the rapids, he head
ed in alongside a bit of gravelly
beach and helped Mr.. Ramill and
Lilith ashore. When he remarked
that there was gold in the gravel,
Huxby nearly upset the canoe in his
haste to get out and look.
"Gold! Why didn't we bring the
gold PAM"
Garth laughed and stretched out
on the dry grass above the gravel.
Gallant gentleman, your lady is
building the fire"
"Don't mind him, Vivian" Lilith
chimed in on the banter. "You can
use the cup for panning. I need only
the pot to boil Alan's tea"
Hubby glanced sidelong at Garth
and fastened to help the girl. Her
father had flattened out beside
Garth. With yawn, Garth stretched
up his arms and let them fall. The
left one came down across the mil
lionaire's body The back of the hand
felt a lump under the leather coat.
Hubby had not again gained posses
sion of the pistol.
Nothing would have been easier
than to have pulled out the weapon
and flung it into the stream. The i'm
pulse to do so passed as quickly as
it flashed into Garth's mind. He was
not the kind of sportsman who
shoots lions from a bona, or tigers
from the backs of elephants. There
is far more sport stalking a beast
that has chance to kill the stalker.
The chechahcos had now expert
enced the different phases of canoe
ing-days of padding through mus
keg, a portage, and the running of
rapids. But all prove to be no more
than mild sample of the difficulties
and hardships that followed. In the
next two weeks three more rapids
had to be shot and two very hard
portages made. Between time, the
canoe was padded interminably
through meandering channels that
twisted and looped and split off in
blind leads.
Down in the lower country, the
pests of black gnats, mosquitoes and
singing flies became worse. At the
same time the flask Of grease and
pitch dope began to give out. Most
of the camps were on wet ground.
For days the party were drenched
by a steady drizzle, varied only by