rned
critter tew resk himself in thet ere fashion; an' I swan whar th' profit
comes in is agin me tew tell."

The Vermonter's inability to understand what Boyton was going to get out
of such a trip, appeared to be the subject about which most of the
people along the Connecticut were puzzling their brains. They would
invariably ask: "How dew yeou make it pay?" "Ain't yeou cold?" Many of
them would not respond when asked for information regarding the currents
and rough passages; but would permit him to paddle along uninstructed
in order that they "might have the full benefit of the show."

After cutting his dress he became chilled by the inflow of cold water
and was helplessly numb. A little stimulant would have done him a world
of good; but he could neither beg, buy nor borrow anything from the
spectators. When he reached Lower Waterford Bridge, his agent met him
with supplies, and there he stopped to repair his dress. He was only
about midway of the Fifteen Mile Falls. The suit was injured in the
first pitch and the accident might have been averted had any one in the
large crowd that watched him start in, given him information. As he
approached, he asked the onlookers where the channel of the river was.
They stared at him and on the question being repeated, looked at one
another and put their eyes on the river again. Almost immediately the
current swept Boyton toward the rocks.

Off Morris' place, Paul hailed a fellow in a turnip patch and as he
cautiously approached the river, the Captain removed the cover from an
air-tight jar suspended from his neck, took out a cigar and holding a
match in the rubber tube of his dress, lit the weed. The rustic removed
his hat, closed an eye and scratched his head in great perplexity.

"Wall, I swaw," he ejaculated, "ef yeou hadn't spoke er I'd er taken
yeou fur th' devil an' swore yeou that ere durned cigar Wuth th' end
o' yer tail, I wud, b'gosh. But ain't yer cold?"

Valley Hotel was the name of the tavern at which Paul and his party put
up for the night at Lower Waterford. How long before Boyton's visit the
last guest had registered there is problematical, but the landlady
proved hospitable. During the evening, her sitting room, which Boyton
and his party occupied, reviewing the incidents of the voyage, was
overrun with fellows who stalked in and looked at "the show" just as if
it was a menagerie of wild beasts into which they had free admission.
They gathered