"Here we are!" exclaimed Scott. "And here we are likely to remain, unless we back down stream till we find a place wide enough to turn in."
The obstruction which closed the passage of the river against the Blanchita was a bridge of dead pines which the current had brought down, and they had caught at the sides till they formed the barrier. It was not more than six feet wide, though it might as well have been a hundred so far as blocking up the river was concerned.
"I don't like the idea of stopping here, for I want to see the lakes above; and I hoped we might get some fishing there," said Louis.
"What the matter is?" called Achang from his workshop.
He moved to one side so that he could see the obstruction.
"You can go through that, Captain," he continued, after Morris had corrected his English. "I have come up here before, and we have cut a way through."
"All right; we will see what the bridge is made of," said the captain, as he rang to back the boat.
She backed down the stream about twenty rods, and then he stopped her. He then ordered Clingman to draw a piece of sailcloth over the stem, to prevent the dead pines from scratching the paint on the bow. As soon as this was done, she went ahead again at full speed, and the captain called to the engineer to give her all the steam he could. She went ahead at a furious rate, and Scott pointed her to what seemed to be the weakest place in the barrier.
"Now hold on, fellows, or she will tip you over!" shouted the captain as the boat approached the obstruction.
She struck the mass of pines, and drove her bow far into it, but stopped without going through it. The barrier was not solid, and was held together by the entanglement of the bushes as they were driven into the nucleus of the mass by the current.