“Are ready,” grinned Pop. “Yuh forget yore plural nominative, Bug Eye. Well, let’s see you work now!”
Roy, who had given up his place and paddle to Pop and was seated in the bottom facing front, saw ahead of him that the banks of the stream were coming together—closing in. It had been long since he and Teddy had come over this route, and the landmarks were unfamiliar. But he knew that just below the point where the shores converged were the rapids.
The river seemed to take on new strength now. The soft purr was developing into a roar, and Teddy, remembering the last time they had heard that, hunched his shoulders. But this sound was different, somehow, from the boiling of the stream after the storm. That had been an unwholesome noise, as though the river had suddenly taken upon itself an evil accomplishment, whereas the deep thunder that came to Teddy’s ears from the rapids below was the voice of a giant who is proud of his strength and who gives fair warning to any one who contests his supremacy.
“Feel it pull?” Pop Burns asked excitedly, as they came nearer and nearer the rapids. “Wait till we hit the worst part! You’ll know yo’re in somethin’ then, let me tell yuh!”
Teddy and Roy were too absorbed in the spectacle to answer. Directly before them a curtain of spray arose like a white cloud, pierced now and then by a jet of water that leaped upward like a silver fish. A cold haze hung over the boat—penetrating, knife-like—that sent the blood tingling through the veins. All four were leaning forward now, waiting, ready.
“Left!” Pop yelled, and Bug Eye shifted his paddle swiftly. “Steady—steady—Take it!”
The canoe plunged into the maelstrom. About them the waters tumbled and tossed in an agony of movement. The craft shot forward like an arrow from a bow.
“Yay!” Teddy yelled, his eyes alight with a fierce joy. “Let’s go!”
Roy was too fascinated to exclaim. He sat perfectly still, gripping the sides of the boat, his head thrown back, his lips smiling. This was life!
A deep whirlpool lay directly in their path. Teddy saw that it was spinning with incredible rapidity, and thought that if they hit it destruction was certain. He turned to Pop to sound a warning.