To add to the unpleasantness of his situation, the leafless branches above his head were tossing about in violent commotion, and the surface of the water was whirled into eddies by a fierce wind, which increased in fury every moment, betokening the approach of a tempest.
Some boys would have been frightened, but Mark was not. He ate his lunch with great deliberation, glancing up at the clouds occasionally, thinking over the incidents of the day, and trying to determine upon some plan of action.
There were two ways for him to return home. One was to pull back up the bayou in the direction from which he had come, and the other to float down the stream until he reached the river.
There was one insurmountable obstacle in the way of carrying out the first plan, and that was, that alone and unaided he could not possibly propel his canoe against the current.
To the second plan there was also an objection—quite a formidable one, too—which, in order that you may understand what followed, I must explain at some length.
I have told you that the bayou emptied into the Mississippi River. About a mile above its mouth was a succession of falls, perhaps fifteen feet high, and at this point the bayou, which ran between two rocky bluffs, made a very abrupt bend. The foot of the bluff on the lower side had been worn away by the constant action of the water, causing the top to hang threateningly over the bed of the stream.
Against this bluff, and along the whole length of it, was piled a dense mass of logs and trees, thus forming a sort of cavern, open at both ends.
This cave went by the name of “Dead Man’s Elbow,” from the fact that more than one lumberman had lost his life there.
When the water was low it could be easily explored, and many a hot summer’s day had our fellows spent there fishing and shooting alligators; but during a freshet it was a dangerous place.
The space between the bluffs was so narrow that only a small portion of the water could pass over the falls, and the most of it found its way into this cavern, through which it rushed and roared with the speed of a small Niagara; and any thing that came within its reach was hurried along with almost incredible fury, and dashed upon the logs and rocks below.