eams touched his bowed head tenderly. He
lifted his face and looked up the rapid. Then he jumped to his feet
with sudden wonder; a great joy lit up his countenance.

Far up the river a low, broad, white patch appeared on the sharp
sky-line made by the level dark summit of the long slope of tumbling
water. On this white patch stood many figures of swaying men black
against the clear morning sky, and little Baptiste saw instantly that
an attempt was being made to "run" a "band" of deals, or many cribs
lashed together, instead of single cribs as had been done the day
before.

The broad strip of white changed its form slowly, dipped over the
slope, drew out like a wide ribbon, and soon showed a distinct slant
across the mighty volume of the deep raft-channel. When little
Baptiste, acquainted as he was with every current, eddy, and shoal in
the rapid, saw that slant, he knew that his first impression of what
was about to happen had been correct. The pilot of the band _had_
allowed it to drift too far north before reaching the rapid's head.

Now the front cribs, instead of following the curve of the channel,
had taken slower water, while the rear cribs, impelled by the rush
under them, swung the band slowly across the current. All along the
front the standing men swayed back and forth, plying sweeps full forty
feet long, attempting to swing into channel again, with their strokes
dashing the dark rollers before the band into wide splashes of white.
On the rear cribs another crew pulled in the contrary direction; about
the middle of the band stood the pilot, urging his gangs with gestures
to greater efforts.

Suddenly he made a new motion; the gang behind drew in their oars and
ran hastily forward to double the force in front. But they came too
late! Hardly had the doubled bow crew taken a stroke when all drew in
their oars and ran back to be out of danger. Next moment the front
cribs struck the "hog's-back" shoal.

Then the long broad band curved downward in the centre, the rear cribs
swung into the shallows on the opposite side of the raft-channel,
there was a great straining and crashing, the men in front huddled
together, watching the wreck anxiously, and the band went speedily to
pieces. Soon a fringe of single planks came down stream, then cribs
and pieces of cribs; half the band was drifting with the currents, and
half was "hung up" on the rocks among the breakers.

Launching the big red flat-bottomed bow boat, tw