Here we had infinite difficulty in passing the rapids, and crossed and recrossed the river several times.

I sat in the boat stripped and shivering, for shipwreck seemed certain, and I did not wish to be drowned like a rat.

For cool daring I never saw the equal of my boys, and their nicety of judgment was remarkable.

Creeping along close to the bank, every moment in danger of having its bottom knocked out, the boat would be worked to the exact point from which the crossing of the river was feasible, balanced for a moment in the stream, then with sail set and a clipping breeze, and my men working like demons with the oars, taking short strokes, and stamping time with their feet, the boat shot into the current.

We made for a rock in the centre of the river; we missed it, and my heart was in my mouth as I saw the rapid below us into which we were being drawn, when the boat mysteriously swung half round and glided under the lee of the rock.