CHAPTER XV.
IN A FOREIGN LAND.
On either side the boys could see great eddies in the stream, in which the water whirled as if it were twisted about on some unseen axis. The boat itself was moving swiftly, and as it was swept onward by the current, they of course could not fully perceive the motion of the river. The experience was a novel one, and the alarm of the boys was but natural.
Their confidence was in a measure restored when they saw that Ethan apparently was not frightened, and as he noticed them watching intently a whirling eddy off to their right, he laughed and said,—
“That’s a pretty good twister, isn’t it, boys?”
“Yes,” replied Bert. “What would happen to us if we should be caught in it?”
“Nothin’. Nothin’ at all.”
As the boys looked up in surprise, he continued, “There’s a mighty sight o’ difference between the eddy and the current, let me tell you. Some folks mistake one for the other in more ways than one, I’m thinkin’. In my paper, which comes reg’lar every Friday, I sometimes read the most alarmin’ articles. I suppose the men that write them think they’re all true enough, an’ they really are afraid the country is goin’ to the dogs. When I read ’em I confess I’m a bit skeered at times; for what with the strikes an’ riots an’ all sorts o’ things that happen, it does look like as if it was goin’ to be a bit of a blow; but I look out o’ the window o’ my house, an’ I see the great river a-hurryin’ on as if it was all the while afraid it would be late, or wouldn’t get there on time. But I see more’n the current, for I see some big eddies, too. They whirl an’ boil as if there was a big fire down below, an’ when I see ’em I always think that some folks can’t tell the difference between a eddy and the stream. Then I make up my mind that that’s what’s the trouble with those newspaper fellows. They’ve seen a eddy and mistook it for the current: an’ all the time the great stream is a-goin’ on jist as smooth and swift as ye please. This river is a great teacher, in my opinion.”
Ethan’s quaint words served to quiet the fears of the boys, though doubtless they failed to appreciate the deeper philosophy which lay beneath them. At all events, they soon perceived that the river was calmer now, and that the boat was not moving at the speed it had had a few minutes before.
“That must have been one of the rapids, wasn’t it, Ethan?” inquired Jock.