At the river everything was parcelled out and arranged. The birch-barks
were repitched, and every man found out what he was expected to portage
and do about camp. After breaking and making camp three times, the
outfit could pack up, load the canoes, and move inside of fifteen
minutes. At the first camp the lawyer essayed his canoe, and was
cautioned that the delicate thing might flirt with him. He stepped in
and sat gracefully down in about two feet of water, while the "delicate
thing" shook herself saucily at his side. After he had crawled dripping
ashore and wiped his eye-glasses, he engaged to sell the "delicate
thing" to an Indian for one dollar and a half on a promissory note. The
trade was suppressed, and he was urged to try again. A man who has held
down a cane-bottom chair conscientiously for fifteen years looks askance
at so fickle a thing as a canoe twenty-nine inches in the beam. They are
nearly as hard to sit on in the water as a cork; but once one is in the
bottom they are stable enough, though they do not submit to liberties or
palsied movements. The staid lawyer was filled with horror at the
prospect of another go at his polished beauty; but remembering his
resolve to be dead game, he abandoned his life to the chances, and got
in this time safely.
So the Abwees went down the river on a golden morning, their
double-blade paddles flashing the sun and sending the drip in a shower
on the glassy water.
Pages:
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125