CHAPTER XVIII.--IN THE RAPIDS.
The bravest soldier, no matter how cool his bearing, feels a sense ofawe and dread when the rattle of rifles along the skirmish line tellshim that the murderous battle has begun.
If there be men who never felt fear under such nerve-tryingcircumstances, then they certainly deserve no credit, for true courageconsists in the determination to face a danger while fully comprehendingits awful possibilities.
Sam Willett wisely decided not to picture to Ike and Wah Shin thedangers that lay before them; but while doing this he did not attempt tohide from himself the fact that within a few hours himself and hisfaithful companions might be the dead playthings of the wild waters.
As calmly and sternly as the cavalry leader wheels his battalions intoline in front of the murderous artillery which he intends to charge, SamWillett made his preparations for the passage of the rapids.
He strengthened the raft and fastened to it their arms and blankets, andthen to prevent their being washed off, or lost if they fell overboard,he insisted that each should tie a rope about his waist, the other endbeing fastened to the logs.
It was not until the last precautions against the danger that lay aheadwere proposed that Ike began to feel greatly alarmed.
"Golly, Mistah Sam," he said, with trembling lips, "hitchin ob ourselsto dese yar logs wif ropes looks to me kinder skittish."
"I hope they may not be needed," said Sam, as he made ready to push theraft off.
"You seed dem currents down de ribber?"
"I did."
"Pooty ugly, ain't dey?"
"We must pass them."
"'Twas dem as drownded Ulna?"
"He fell from a rock into the river."
"Den if he couldn't swim back, dem currents must be mighty bad."
"No can stay hele; no can backee go; den wat we do; allee same we musteeglong down ribbel," said Wah Shin, who seemed to have no trouble intaking in the situation.
"Wa'al," said Ike, desperately, "I reckon de job's got to be did. Idon't want to be drowned way down har, when no one won't neber heah obme agin, an' moah 'ticklah, Mistah Sam, I doesn't want you to die, butif dat be de good Lor's will, den I says amen, an' goes ahead."
Sam at first thought that he would tie Maj to the raft, but as theanimal had not the reason to avail himself of this advantage, he decidedto let him take his chances if he should be washed off.
"Now, I am about to push off," said Sam, standing at the stern with thepole in his hand, "and if we get into danger I want you both to keepcool and do as I say. Don't yell out, or try to hang on to each other,if the raft should go to pieces."
Ike and Wah Shin promised to do as they were told, and then with amental prayer to Heaven to guide and protect him, Sam set one end of thepole against the bank and pushed the raft into the current.
"Dis don't seem so powahful bad," said Ike, as he looked ahead and saw asmooth expanse extending for nearly a half mile in front.
"Not so bad, Ike," said Sam, his eyes fixed on the bend, beyond which heknew the dreaded rapids rolled.
As they drifted on he could not help recalling the mighty falls ofNiagara which he had visited with his father a few years before.
He remembered that a few miles above the falls the majestic river flowedon grandly and swiftly, without a ripple to break its glassy surface, ora murmur to suggest the frightful plunge it was soon to take. Then camethe roaring rapids and the thundering fall.
What if these rapids ended in the same way?
This thought had just flashed through his mind, when the raft shot pastthe rock from which Ulna had fallen, and the next instant it swung roundthe bend, and the thunder of the waters was heard and the seething whitewaves came to view.
Every stick of timber in the raft groaned, as if it were a sentientbeing, trembling at its coming destruction.
Ike and Wah Shin fell flat on the logs and clung to them with all theirmight, not daring to look at the prospect ahead.
Even Sam dropped on his knees and gazed steadily in front, while the dogcrept towards him, and, with a plaintive whine, thrust his nose into hismaster's breast.
Sam soon discovered that it would not only be useless, but absolutelydangerous to attempt to steer the raft, so he hauled in the pole andwith his hands clung to the logs on either side.
The speed at which they went down soon became so frightfully great thatthe objects along the shore could not be distinguished, but becamestreaked and confused to their sight.
Now and again the raft would strike against one of the black rocks, thatrose like a monster out of the water, and then it would spin and whirldown the torrent as if determined to throw off its occupants.
Bend after bend was passed, and Sam began to think that the rapidsextended indefinitely, when to his horror the raft struck againstanother rock, and with such force that the ropes, fastening one end,snapped and broke like a silken thread in the hands of a giant.
At the same instant the logs parted and spread out like a fan, throwingall the occupants into the water.
Now the wisdom of Sam's precaution in tying themselves to the raftbecame evident.
Had it not been for this they would have been swept apart and drowned atonce, but as it was the ropes not only kept them together, but enabledthem to haul themselves back to the logs and cling to them for support.
The dog was, of course, thrown out with the others, and was at onceswept beyond reach, though for some minutes Sam could see the bravecreature facing the current and making a desperate effort to swim back.
Sam was just beginning to feel that the raft must soon go to pieces,when they were suddenly swept around a bend and into a calm expanse ofwater, though a few hundred yards further on he saw the line of whitefoam that indicated other rapids ahead.
Calling to his companions to assist him, and putting forth a superhumaneffort himself, Sam succeeded in getting the raft out of the current andinto a little cove where there was shallow water and a ledge of smooth,shelving rocks that made a good landing place.
They straightened out the logs, made them fast again, and then they tookoff the arms and frayed blankets that had not been swept from the raftby the rocks and rapids.
This done the three clambered up to a dry place, though they were so wetthat it would not have made any difference if they stood in the water.
Thinking that Ulna might have made a landing at some point along theshore of this calm expanse, Sam looked up and down both banks, butexcepting Ike, Wah Shin and himself there was not a living creature insight, even the dog had been unable to resist the force of the current.
"Dis am a mighty bad fix, sure enuff," were Ike's first words as hesurveyed his dripping form and then began slowly to take in thesituation.
"It might be worse," was Sam's comment, though if he had been called onto explain how it well could be worse, he would have been at a loss totell.
"Watel we do nex," asked Wah Shin, and he half-raised his hands and letthem fall again to indicate his utter helplessness.
Sam could not reply. He would have felt a great sense of relief ifeither of the others had made a reasonable suggestion.
It was growing dark, and he knew that it would be madness to attempt theriver again till the light of another full day lay before them.
In answer to Wah Shin's question, Ike said:
"I'll tell yeh w'at I'd like to do, Wah."
"I can tellee mesel lat too," said Wah Shin.
"In de fust place I'd like some nice dry clothes."
"I too," said Wah.
"Den I wouldn't mind bein' in a nice house."
"Ugh," and Wah shrugged himself as if he thought that a very lovelyidea.
"Den," continued Ike, as he smacked his lips, "I'd like to be a settin'down to a table in dat house."
"Ha!" cried Wah.
"An'--an' I'd like to hab dat table filled way up wid good tings, an' mea settin' dar free to pile in all I wanted----"
"Dat am belly nice," said Wah.
&n
bsp; "Den arter I'd eat, an' eat an' eat, till I couldn't more'n stan', I'dhave some one pick me up and tote me off to de wahmest, softest bed----"
At this point Sam interrupted by saying:
"We must all take off our clothes and wring them out, for I am not goingto try it again till morning."