winds all day. When crossing here I was caught by a sudden gust of
wind and carried to the head of the rapid. I heard Emery call, "Look
out for the big rock!" then over I went. The wind and water together
had turned my boat sideways, and try as I would I could not get it
turned around. I saw the rock Emery referred to straight ahead of me.
It was about fifteen feet square and about fourteen feet from the
shore, with a powerful current shooting between the rock and the
shore. It seemed as if I must strike the rock broadside, and I ceased
my struggle, but held out an oar with both hands, hoping to break the
blow. But it never came. The water struck this rock with great force,
then rebounded, and actually kept me from even touching the rock with
the oar, but it caught the boat and shot it through the narrow
channel, bow first, as neatly as it could possibly be done, then,
turned the boat around again as I scrambled to regain my hold on both
oars. No other rocks threatened however, and besides filling the
cockpit with water, no damage was done.

Emery had no desire to follow my passage and crossed back to the other
side. Shooting over the upper end of the rapid, his boat ran up on a
rounded rock, the stern sticking high in the air; it paused a moment,
the current slowly turning it around as if on a pivot, and the boat
slid off; then down he came lurching and plunging, but with no more
difficulty. Many times in such places as these we saw the advantage of
our flat-bottomed boats over one with a keel, for these would surely
be upset when running up on such a rock.




CHAPTER X