ff pull of it, for the current of the Athabasca
here is at least six or eight miles an hour. But by heading up stream
they managed to land nearly opposite the place where they had started.
By the time they had returned for the second load all the packs
were off and the horses were ready for the crossing. Uncle Dick
thought that it would be best to cross the horses at once, as any
mountain stream is lower in the early part of the day than it is in
mid-afternoon, when the daily flood of melting snow is at its height.

The boys had often heard of this way of getting a pack-train across a
river too deep to ford, and now they were to see it in actual
practice. The Indian, wading out, showed that there was a shallow hard
bar extending some distance out and offering good footing. He pushed
the boat out some distance from shore and sat there, holding it with
an oar thrust into the sand. Uncle Dick rode his saddle-pony out a
little way, and led the white bell-mare, old Betsy, along behind him,
passing Betsy's rope to the Indian as he sat in the boat. Betsy, as
may be supposed, was a sensible and courageous horse, well used to all
the hardships of mountain work.

It is the way of all pack-horses to be given to sudden frights, but,
still, if they see that another horse has gone ahead they nearly
always will try to follow. All the other horses now stood looking out
at Betsy. As they did so the others of the party made a sort of rope
corral behind them and on each side. All at once Moise and Uncle Dick
began to shout at the horses and crowd them forward toward the water.
Although they plunged and tried to break away, they were afraid of the
rope, and, seeing Betsy standing there, one after another they
splashed out into the shallow water.

Uncle Dick sprang on top of his horse, Danny, once more, and headed
off those which undertook to come back to the bank. Then, once more
riding out to the boat, he sprang off nearly waist-deep into the water
and climbed into the boat, leaving Danny to take his chances with the
others. Both men now bent to the oars. Old Betsy, seeing her rope fast
to the boat for the time, swam toward it so strongly that they were
almost afraid she would try to get into it, so at length Uncle Dick
cut off the rope as short as he could and cast everything loose. By
that time, as good-fortune would have it, all the horses were
swimming, following the white lead-mare, which, seeing the shore on
ahead, and not seeing