She smilingly commended his caution, though she was conscious of a desire, which must be held in check, to see what he would do if he could be shaken out of his self-control. She approved of his restraint, because only while it was exerted could she meet him on friendly terms; but, as had happened on his last afternoon in England, it piqued her. She wondered how much it cost him.
“After all,” she said with a forced laugh, “it’s better to keep carefully clear of danger.”
“Yes,” he agreed; “but there’s now and then a temptation to face the hazard. One feels that it’s worth while.”
“Never mind that. I think I’d rather enjoy the wildness of this scene than to philosophize. Tell me about the bear and deer we are likely to come across.”
He discoursed at length, and she sat listening while the light faded and the cedars grew blacker. Then the others approached and they went back to camp.
“Breakfast will be at seven prompt,” he informed them. “The packers will strike tents while you eat, so have everything ready. There are two awkward portages to be tackled to-morrow.”
They started in a clammy mist which clung about them until they reached the foot of the first wild rapid, where the green and white flood came roaring over ledges and between huge boulders, with wisps of spray tossing over it. This was Millicent’s first sight of the river in anger, and she watched, at first almost appalled and then thrilled with strong excitement, when Lisle and one packer took the leading canoe up the lowest rush. They stood upright in the unloaded, unstable craft, long pole in hand, guiding her with what seemed wonderful skill across madly-whirling eddies and through tumbling foam, while Nasmyth and another man, floundering deep in water, assisted them at intervals with the tracking-line. Once Nasmyth’s companion lost his footing and disappeared, but he rose and Millicent saw that instead of clinging to the line for safety he loosed it, and swimming down a wild white tumult, came dripping ashore. This, she thought, was bracing work that made for more than physical vigor; but she could not imagine Clarence indulging in it. It was too elemental, too barbarous for him. He was fond of exertion in the form of sport, but he required somebody to saddle and lead out his horse and to load his second gun. There was a difference between him and those who delighted to grapple at first hand with nature.
She was astonished to see Crestwick get a heavy flour bag upon his back and move away with it over very rough stones, and she joined in Bella’s laugh when Carew attempted to shoulder another and dropped it.
“It’s the first time he’s ever tried such a thing in his life,” Bella remarked. “There’s nothing like personal experience. You don’t realize that it isn’t easy when you give a porter sixpence to lift your biggest trunk at a station.”
“The difference is that the porter’s used to it,” Carew, who was red-faced and breathless, pointed out.