Camping on the St. Lawrence; Or, On the Trail of the Early Discoverers

by Everett T. Tomlinson

The boys were soon all seated at the table again, and now that their lost comrade was found it seemed as if the lost appetites had also been restored. They fell upon the food before them in a manner which highly delighted Ethan, and compelled him and Tom to busy themselves in preparing more.

The dual occupation seemed in no way to interfere with Ben’s ability or disposition to talk, and he at once began his story.

“Well, fellows, it was like this. When I started out last night I intended to go only a little way. I was going up just around the first island and then come straight back to camp; but when I rounded the island, I found the passage so narrow and dangerous I thought I’d go on around the next one. When I got to the end of that I found I was a good way out of my course; for the island was a pretty long one, you see, and when I cleared it, and I came out into the open river again, I must have made a mistake in my bearings. I didn’t realize I’d lost my way till about a half an hour later, but then I knew it. There were islands all around me, and the wind had died away, or at least had died down a good deal.

“I kept on, thinking I’d strike a familiar spot, but the current is much stronger over there than it is here, and I found I was going down the stream all the time. I ran the canoe in-shore and took in my sail and thought I’d paddle, for the wind was mostly gone, as I said. I got along all right till I was out in the open water again, and had gone a good distance, but I couldn’t find the island I was looking for.

“I began to look about me then, for the sun was almost out of sight by that time, and the first thing I knew it was dark, and the rain was on me. I’d been so busy I hadn’t fairly realized there was a storm coming, but I knew it pretty quick then, I can tell you. I kept on and did my best, but that wasn’t much, as you can imagine, and all the time it kept getting darker and darker. I was wet to the skin in no time, and the way the waves began to toss my frail bark about was a caution. Paddling wasn’t of much use, and I began to look about me for some place to run into. Everything was pretty dark, and getting darker all the time, and I couldn’t make out any island anywhere near me. But I wasn’t staying in one place all the time, let me tell you, for the river was busy if I wasn’t, and I went down the stream very swiftly, for the wind was at my back.

“I don’t just know how long the thing kept up, or how far I’d gone, but I pretty soon saw a light ahead of me which I decided in very short metre must be a cottage or a house on some island. The paddle was still in my hands, for I’d been lucky enough to hold on to that, and then I did my best to steer for the light I’d seen.

“It kept coming nearer to me all the time, or so it seemed to me, though I suppose I was the one that was doing the travelling, and after a while I found I was correct, and that it must be ‘a light in the window for thee, poor sailor, a light in the window for me.’ I pulled for the shore, or rather ran for it, and I thought I was just going to run into shelter, when plump! my canoe struck a rock, and I was in the water before you could say Jack Robinson. The water didn’t come much above my knees, and then, when I discovered that I wasn’t dead, I swallowed my despair, also a few gallons, more or less, of this noble river, made a grab for my canoe, and somehow managed to get to the bank.

“The storm was getting in its fine work then, but it didn’t make much difference to me, for I was wet and couldn’t be any wetter. I’d reached the superlative degree, you see, by that time. I looked up, and there on the bluff was the light which I’d seen when I was out on the river; so, when I’d carried the canoe up on the bank, I decided to try my luck in the house, for I knew I couldn’t get back to camp that night, so I marched up to the door and rapped as bold as you please.

“I almost fell over backward when the door was opened by one of the prettiest girls you ever saw. She looked at me a minute as if she didn’t know what to make of it, and to tell the truth, fellows, I couldn’t think of anything to say. But her father came to the door just then, and in a few minutes they knew all about my story, though I don’t remember a word I said.

“At any rate, if I was a stranger they took me in, and the goodman of the house dressed me out in some of his clothes. He was ‘a trifle too short, and a shaving too lean’ for me, so that when I was finally dressed I didn’t hardly dare to go downstairs again, for I could hear their voices through the floor, you see, and I knew there was more than one girl there then.