the rock under your feet giving way. Then Bob knocked Bill
back and caught Pud's coat. We thought it was all over with the two of
you, but Bill recovered his balance just in time to grab Bob and, I tell
you, we sweat some while you were tugging to get Pud back, for it was a
wonder that the rock under you did not give way and let you all down."

"You're a plucky lot of boys," said Mr. Anderson. "You will have to
remember not to go too near to the edge of these cliffs up here, for the
frost has made the face of some of them very brittle."

"We certainly won't forget it," said Bill.

"We've had enough excitement for one day," said Bob. "Let's go back to
camp and take it easy for the rest of the afternoon."

"I'll take it back. I'll take it back," said Pud, as he held up his
hands in mock terror.

"What's that you'll take back?" asked Bob.

"That I was bound to put on flesh up here. To get thrown out of a canoe
in the morning and to come within an ace of making a three hundred foot
dive in the afternoon is just about enough excitement to make any one
lose weight. I bet I lost five pounds in that minute and a half when Bob
had me by the coat, and I was wondering whether he could hold on to my
elephantine form; whether the rock would not give way, and whether I
could get back to safety. I sweat like a bull."

"It certainly made me sweat too," said Bob.

"That was because you were under terrific physical and nervous tension.
A minute or even half a minute under such conditions will exhaust one
more than half a day's hard work," said Mr. Waterman.

"Gee, I don't dare write home my full experiences of my first day at
camp," said Pud. "That mamma of mine would be up here taking me home."

"Yes, I guess we had both better let this story wait until we are home,
for it would only worry them," said Bob.

"That's the sensible thing to do, for it is very unlikely that you will
be exposed to such danger a second time," said Mr. Anderson.

The two canoes started across the lake. They noticed the small tree
dislodged by the bowlder. It was floating near the base of the cliff and
had been snapped off like a pipe stem.

In spite of the excitement of the day, the boys had a good appetite for
their supper. Afterwards they sat around the camp fire that had been
made in front of Mr. Waterman's tent and talked of many things. The
guides could be seen lying back on their balsam boughs before the fire,
talking and gesticulating.

"