The Boy With the U. S. Survey Part 27

"That's true," said Roger, "I hadn't thought of that. We might get nipped between the ice behind and rocks in front."

"You see," said Bulson, as he stepped on to the jam, "it's never wise to leave dangers at your heels."

The tree having been cut through, all save a few inches, one of the choppers returned to the sh.o.r.e, while the other stood ready, watching Bulson. The latter, who was standing on the blocks of ice behind the tree, was studying their positions, how they were jammed, and what was the best way to free them without getting caught himself in the resultant turmoil.

Presently he seemed satisfied for, inserting his huge crowbar between two pieces of ice, he yelled:

"Cut!"

The axman brought down his blade with his full strength three times, and the fibers of the tree cracked and began to give way. Back over the slowly moving tree came Magee, leaving Bulson alone on the jam. Suddenly the tree parted with a sharp crack and as it did so there arose a grinding roar, and the blocks of ice which had been jammed behind the tree seemed to leap up and fling themselves over the rapid. It did not seem possible that any man could ride that furious clas.h.i.+ng of the jam, but Roger noticed that Bulson, making his way to sh.o.r.e over the grinding ice, yet had coolness to stop and give a shove here and a heave there, unlocking the jam, as it were, until, standing on the ice nearest the sh.o.r.e, he gave one last mighty shove and sprang to the bank just as with a seeming disappointed roar the whole jam broke and sped down the foaming river.

"That, Mr. Rivers," said the boy, as Bulson quietly threw his impromptu crowbar into the river, "is one of the things I did not learn to do."

"Bulson's very good at that sort of thing," was the chief's quiet comment.

But the river below the jam was far less kind to the travelers than it had been above. Progress was only possible by careful paddling and short portages. Half the time was spent in the icy water and half on the frozen bank, and though the water was cold beyond belief, and hands and feet were heavy and numb, the sun burned fiercely upon head and shoulders as though it were the height of midsummer, a condition the harder to be borne because it was so early in the season that no one was as yet acclimatized to the heat.

It was the most fatiguing day Roger had yet spent on the Survey, not even excepting the famous trip across the Grand Canyon, for in the latter the pace had been his own, while in this he had to play an equal part with exceptionally vigorous and seasoned men, coping with a mountain torrent. The dusk was falling as, once more in boats, and pa.s.sing through a small gorge, the party reached the confluence of the Jack and Cantwell Rivers. Although the distance traversed had been but twenty-eight miles, and the party had been traveling with the current, so arduous and rough had been the way that eleven hours had been spent in making the journey.

After supper Rivers came to Roger and said to him, not with criticism, but in a kindly manner:

"Are you tired, Doughty?"

The boy would have longed to be able to reply "No," but he knew he could not do so with any pretense at honesty, and so he replied fairly:

"Yes, Mr. Rivers, I am a little tired, but I'll soon get toughened up."

"Well," said the chief of the party, "I just wanted to let you know that this really has been a hard day, and that no one need be ashamed of feeling tired. We are all conscious of having done a day's work. I thought perhaps you might worry a little at the thought that, if it was to be all like this, you would not be able to keep up. But it won't, and you did well."

So Roger lay down to sleep and tucked himself in his sleeping bag with absolute happiness. The next day proved to the boy how right the chief had been. For the first forty miles of its pa.s.sage the boy found the Cantwell River, into which they had run, to have a fair channel and good banks; and of course, at this season of the year it was full to overflowing, so that the only difficulty of its upper reaches, shoals, was set aside by the volume of water in the stream. That day's trip was rapid and easy. Camp was made that night beside the river, just where another tributary called the Yanert joins, leaping a twenty-foot fall just before reaching the main stream.

The turbulent manner of the Yanert's union, however, was an augury of trouble. It seemed as though the larger river had been led into bad habits by the new arrival, for it became a wild scramble of water, rus.h.i.+ng through the canyons and gorges of the Alaskan Range with terrifying speed. Two or three nasty rapids had been shot, in each of which Roger acquitted himself very creditably, but the water had grown rougher and harder to deal with at each successive step, so that when a short beach a few miles long closed in a harsh and ragged-edged canyon, Rivers called a halt and went forward to reconnoiter from the summit of the gorge whether it were safe for pa.s.sage. Taking Roger and Magee with him, he followed the west bank of the river, sending Gersup, Bulson, and Harry, along the other bank to determine the possibility of the rapid below, and also to find out which was the better side for a portage, should that be deemed necessary.

To Roger's uninitiated eye, the water below seemed a seething witches'

caldron of confusion, but he could see that the chief did not regard it as being impossible. Suddenly the geologist turned to him:

"Doughty," he said, "do you think you could run that rapid?"

"If you told me to," answered the boy st.u.r.dily.

"You mean that you would try to do it, whether you thought it possible or no, if I told you?"

"No," said Roger, "that would be unreasonable. What I mean is that if you told me to go it would be possible, and if it is possible I am quite ready to try it at any time."

The older man said no more, but tried to force his way along the dense growth by the gorge's edge. The underbrush was very thick, and if a portage was to be made on that side the road would have to be cut almost the entire distance. So the three turned back to the canoes and waited the return of the topographer.

"Well?" inquired the chief as the party hove in view.

"I shouldn't care to tackle it," said Gersup, "but Harry says he can take the boats through, but not loaded. They would have to go down light and the loads portaged. There is a fair carry on that side, but it's through small trees pretty close together, and the canoes would be awkward to take through. It's about a twelve-mile portage, too, as I should judge, before we can strike a place where the boats could land."

"That's just about what I expected you to say," commented the geologist.

"I thought so, too, but there's a bad carry on this side. Well, I suppose Harry and Bulson had better take the boats through."

But when the canoeists were approached Bulson shook his head.

"Of course, if you say so, Mr. Rivers," he replied, "there's no more to be said, but as I understand it, the boats have got to go through light.

Now I tip the scale at a trifle over two hundred and twenty pounds, and you couldn't very well call that light. Besides, if it comes to a portage, I can carry a whole lot more than any one else could do. If I might suggest----"

"Go ahead, man," said Rivers impatiently.

"Send the boy, then. He knows just as much about a canoe as I do and he's seventy-five pounds lighter. That's an awful difference in the bow of a canoe. Then, too, he isn't as hefty for the carry. I think you'd better let Harry and the boy try it."

"But it's a man's job. What do you think, Harry--because, after all, you will lead the way?"

"Bulson heap good in canoe. Boy all right. Boy light, man heavy, take boy."

"You think you can take the boat through all right?" The Indian nodded.

"I'd like to go with you myself, but I'm nearly as heavy as Bulson. All right, then, let it go that way; it's only a chance, but we'd better try it with one boat, rather than spend a week or two cutting a twelve-mile road through the timber for the boats."

Orders having been given for the unpacking of the canoes, an early stop was made, and Harry went off with Bulson to con the rapid from the other bank. He did not come back till after dark, and then, simply saying to Rivers:

"Sure, can do it all right," he tumbled off to the tent and rolled up for the night.

The chief of the party then turned to Roger, and said kindly:

"I don't want you to do this, Doughty, unless you feel quite up to it, because confidence is one of the most important things needed.

However, I have great faith in Harry's knowledge of rapids, and if he says they are pa.s.sable I don't think there is any cause to fear. But if you are in the least afraid of it, don't hesitate to say so."

[Ill.u.s.tration: RESTING AFTER A LONG PULL.

A good place to stop for dinner, though hundreds of miles from any white settlement.

_Photograph by U.S.G.S._]

"I'd be afraid to tackle it alone, Mr. Rivers," the boy said truthfully, "but I feel that with Harry in the stern I could take the rapids of Niagara, and the whirlpool into the bargain."

CHAPTER XV

FACING DEATH IN A CANOE

Early next morning, the first boat, having been stripped of everything movable, was made ready, and Harry got in the stern. He had taken off the more c.u.mbersome of his clothing and had bidden Roger do the same, so they started off with only enough on for comfort, but wearing their shoes, for the return journey would have to be overland through the forest.