Whoever it was might have hung his coat on the rock to dry if he had been caught in the early morning rainstorm.
“Probably a tramp,” he decided and went back to the coat. He lifted it rather gingerly, and then, because he could not resist the temptation, turned its pockets inside out. To his surprise, he found in the last pocket a letter. It looked as though it had been soaked by the rain and had been dried again by the sun which had been shining upon the coat and rock all morning.
The address upon the torn envelope was blurred, and Brook’s curiosity was hindered by the fact that it was almost lunch time and it might be well to hurry back. Sticking the letter into the waterproof zippered pocket of his bathing trunks, he hurried to his canoe, pushed out and entered the stream again.
As Brook got back into the middle of the stream he suddenly discovered that no paddling was necessary to make his canoe go! The descent which looked so gradual drew canoe and the water itself down rapidly. The current was much stronger than one would have thought! Brook used his paddle skillfully. He was enjoying this exhilarating experience. It was great!
But when he tried to skim around a few rocks to the point, he almost upset the canoe and only by a quick push from a rock did he avoid being thrown out. But the canoe righted and Brook sped on, past the peninsula, around into a wider channel, for which Brook was at first glad. There was more space between rocks.
But the current was stronger, his control over the canoe was getting a little out of hand. Brook was just beginning to realize that he had had no business coming off by himself, when he heard the sound of the falls. His face grew pale, but he set his lips. The current drew the canoe out into a wider part of the river, and when Brook looked ahead for a minute he could see a white spray dashing high over a pile of obstructing rocks. It did not seem so bad off to the right, and Brook tried to edge over in that direction.
But what he saw ahead of him made him sick. It was still some distance away, but the water was boiling over at a little curve and fell somewhere below—he could not tell where!
CHAPTER 10
JIMMY TO THE RESCUE
Back at camp, shortly after Brook paddled off by himself, Jimmy and Alf decided that they had had enough swimming for one day.