“And meanwhile Charley may be drowned!” exclaimed Harry.
“I don’t believe he is,” replied Tom. “He’s the best canoeist of any of us, and he is too good a sailor to get frightened. Then, he is very cautious, and I’ll bet that the first thing he did when he found himself in the rapid was to buckle his life-belt round him.”
“If he did that it wouldn’t hurt him if he were capsized.”
“Not if the rapid is like those we’ve run, and the chances are that it is. I feel sure that Charley has got through it all right, and without losing his canoe. We’ll find him waiting for us in the morning.”
What Tom said seemed so reasonable that Harry gave up his wild idea of running the rapid, and agreed to wait until daylight. It was already nearly one o’clock, and at that time of year the day began to dawn by half-past three. There was no opportunity for the boys to sleep, but they occasionally nodded as they sat in their canoes. About two o’clock Harry poked Tom with his paddle, and in a low voice called his attention to the crackling of the twigs in the woods a short distance from the bank. Something was evidently making its way through the forest and coming nearer every minute to the canoes. The boys grasped their pistols and anxiously waited. They remembered that there were bears in the woods, and they fully believed that one was on its way down to the water. “Don’t fire,” whispered Harry, “till I give the word;” but while he was speaking a dark form parted the underbrush on the bank above them and came out into full view.
Chapter VI.
THE early morning visitor was not a bear. He was a very welcome visitor, for as soon as he made himself visible he was seen to be the missing canoeist. Charley was very wet and cold, but he was soon furnished with dry clothes and a blanket, and warmed with a cup of hot coffee made with the help of Harry’s spirit-lamp; and as he lay on the bank and waited for daylight he told the story of his midnight run down the rapid.
When the boys were crossing the river above the rapid Charley’s canoe was close behind Joe’s. The latter ran on a rock, and in order to avoid her Charley was compelled to pass below the rock. In so doing he found himself in great danger of running on another rock, and in his effort to avoid this he drifted still farther down the river. Before he was aware of his danger he was caught by the current at the head of the rapid. He had just time to turn his canoe so as to head her down stream and to buckle his life-belt around him. In another second he was rushing down the rapid at a rate that, in view of the darkness, was really frightful.
It was useless to attempt to guide the canoe. Charley could see so little in advance of him that he could not choose his channel nor avoid any rock that might lie in his path. He, therefore, sat still, trusting that the current would carry him into the deepest channel and keep him clear of the rocks. The rapid seemed to be a very long one, but the Midnight ran it without taking in a drop of water or striking a single rock.