One of the strangest sensations was to turn and glance at another one of the locks—for that is what these tubs are called—to see a boat that was headed upstream rising higher and higher in the air. Its tub was filling with water, making it float higher and higher until it would reach the same level as Lake Superior, and then it would sail out.
“Boy, oh, boy,” Jerry said, rolling his eyes. “I’m getting the same dizzy feeling you get in a department store. You know, Sandy—when you’re on the down escalator and you pass somebody on the up escalator.”
Sandy nodded in silence. He was too intent upon what was happening to bother to talk.
He craned his neck over the side to see what was happening up forward. Sandy saw that the James Kennedy was now well over ten feet below the level of Lake Superior. Suddenly, the water gates at the forward end of the lock swung open.
They sailed out!
Sandy shook his head in amazement, and then he heard a friendly voice beside him say, “Pretty tricky, hey?” Turning around, Sandy saw one of the seamen who had helped pull Cookie out of the water. He was short but well-built, with dark-red hair and warm brown eyes. Sandy knew that the other men called him Sam.
“Did you ever sail through the Soo before?” Sam asked.
He seemed pleased when Sandy shook his head, as though he was delighted to have someone he could explain things to. As he began to talk, Jerry joined them.
“First off, boys,” Sam said, “I want you to know that the men all feel that was a mighty brave thing you did this afternoon. Don’t feel too bad about what the skipper said, either. He has his good days and his bad ones, and I guess today was one of the bad ones.”
Sandy and Jerry both bobbed their heads politely, hiding the grins that sprang to their faces when they realized that they were both thinking it was about time for Captain West to have one of his good days!