hey would have an
opportunity to see him off. At six forty-five o'clock the following
morning, a goodly sized company was present to witness the start.
After passing the railroad bridge at Coos, he had about six miles of
rapids, the river being only about forty yards wide and rather speedy,
the voyager averaging about five miles an hour. At eleven o'clock he
passed Stratford Hollow and inquired of a countryman there how far it
was to Northumberland:

"Seven mile b' road an' twenty-b' river, b' gosh," was the native's
reply.

Though laconic, the answer was correct, for the stream bowed and bended
frequently, and at one time he passed the same farm house twice in an
interval of two hours and a half, giving him an opportunity to observe
both sides of it. About two o'clock in the afternoon a heavy rainstorm
blew up, while the booms and logs in the river also caused a great deal
of trouble. Whenever a person on the bank could speak to him he was
invariably warned of the Fifteen Mile Falls.

"Look Bout, straanger, fur them 'ere Fifteen Mile Falls. They'll jus'
squeeze yeou sure'n daylight," was almost always the style of warning.

Paul hauled up to question one man who looked like a waterman,
concerning the falls. The fellow said he had gone over once on a raft,
when the water was much higher. "An' would yeou b'lieve it," he added,
"one o' them 'ere wimmen were boun' an' determined tew come wuth us."

"Did she go?" asked Paul.

"Neow yeou jus' bet she did."

"Well, how did she act?"

"I'll tell yeou straanger. I tol' her tew go astern an' hol' on hard tew
th' stake. She went aft ju' afore we got tew Holbrook's Bar, an' then
we jus' tuk it. Slap, bang we went, jus' run pitch right under thet 'ere
rushin' water'n come up b'low all right."

"What did the woman do? How did she act?"

"Wall, sir, yeou wuden't b'lieve it. She jus' guv one loud snort, shuk
herself out'n went right erlong."

The loss of his paddle caused Paul to remain at Northumberland all
night, and fortunately it was found among a lot of driftwood next
morning, enabling him to drive ahead again.

One of the drawbacks of the voyage was the difficulty experienced in
getting proper provisions at many places. Numbers of people were
either thoughtless, or they looked on Boyton as an uncanny sort of
creature, whom they did not care to have about. When he did get food, it
consisted of pie, which seemed to be the staff of life with most o