fern-covered marsh and dense underbrush. Coming to an opening in the
wood at the far end of the portage, they quickly tossed their burdens
aside, and back again they ran. Nowhere could one see more willing
workers. You heard no swearing or grumbling about the exceedingly hard
task before them. On the contrary, every man vied with the rest as to
which could carry the greatest load and most swiftly cross the portage.
Rivalry sped the work along. Shirts and trousers reeked with
perspiration. The voyageurs puffed and panted as they went by, and no
wonder--the portage was three quarters of a mile in length.

Then away we went again, and up, up, up, we mounted day by day, toward
the height-of-land, where a long portage over low-lying marshy ground
brought us to the place where our descent began; then for days we ran
with the current until it entered a larger river, and soon we found
that endless rapids interrupted our work, and down many of them the
canoes were run. The Hudson's Bay Company, however, never allows its
men to shoot rapids with fur-laden canoes; so it was on that wild
stretch of our trip that the skill of the voyageur was tested most.


FIGHTING WITH DEATH

At the head of one of the great rapids Oo-koo-hoo, seeing that I mated
well with one of his crew, invited me to take a paddle and help them
through. Tossing in an extra paddle for each canoeman we stepped
aboard, and with a gentle shove the current caught the light canoe and
carried us out to mid-stream. Long before we sighted white water the
roar of the cataract was humming in our ears. We midmen sat upon
dunnage sacks and braced our moccasined feet against the ribbing.
Presently the bowman stood up and scanned the river. Dark, ominous